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I am pretty sure that I am not cut out to be a chef, you see, at heart I am just a recipe follower. Perhaps I need the structure a recipe provides, that bit of guidance that lets you know you are on the right track. I am however, pretty good at modifying recipes so maybe all hope is not lost. But branching out and making something up, that I can not do. Or perhaps I should say haven’t done. Likely because I’m too scared of failing. This however is the type of cooking that I would love to be able to do. As well as finishing reading the five half finished books that I have stacked up on  my night stand, this fall I have also decided to challenge myself to create an original recipe.

As a kid we didn’t grow up having pie all together that often, my mom wasn’t much for making pies. I recall tackling the Thanksgiving pumpkin pie one particular time, while Ginger prepared the rest of the dinner and surprisingly enough, I always remember getting rave reviews. This may just be a figment of my imagination, but who’s to say really. So for my original recipe creation I have decided to play to my strengths and make a pie.

This recipe brings together a few of my very favourite things: fragrant and juicy pears, tangy lemon and a hint of the fresh-cut wood and rosemary flavour of lavender. I tested this recipe out a few times, once with the pear peels on and once with them off. I personally like the peel on, I think it helped to bring out a little more pear flavour. However you choose to do it I think that you will enjoy the lovely mending of flavours. Fanfare please!

Pear Pie Scented with Lavender & Lemon

For the crust:  Adapted from Bon Appetit
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon Fleur de sel (heaping)
1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
3 – 4 tablespoons ice water

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4 – 5 pears cored, halved and sliced thinly (the peels can left on or off)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon dried food grade lavender
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 lemon juiced

Directions
I always make my pies crust by hand, I’m hardcore that way/I don’t have a food processor. If you want to be hardcore too, make sure that you have all your ingredients on hand and measured out before you start working with the butter. The less time you spend working with your butter the flakier your crust.

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Add butter to the mix and blend using a pastry cutter or your hands until a coarse meal forms. Slowly blend in just enough ice water to form the dough into a crumbly ball. Flatten the ball into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the sliced pears in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the flour, sugar, lavender, lemon zest and juice over the pears. Lightly toss the pear mixture until evenly coated.

Removed the chilled dough and place it on a well-floured working surface. Using a rolling pin,  roll-out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Roll the dough up around your rolling pin and carefully transfer it to a 9-inch pie dish. Gently settle the dough into the dish.

Pour the filling and all of its juices into the dough-lined pie dish. Roughly fold the edges of the crust up over the filling forming a rustic crust.

Bake the pie for 55 minutes, until the pie crust develops a deep golden color and the pear juices are bubbling.

Place the pie on a rack and allow the pie to cool. Cut into slices and serve with whipped cream.

Nothing quite soothes the soul like a warm chocolate chip cookie on the first rainy evening in September. There is something so comforting about cookies, they seem to bring you right back to the good old days when you got to help your mom bake. Tasting the dough, watching the cookies slowly turn golden and eventually sitting down with a fresh cookie and glass of milk. In my case baking cookies seems to conger up memories of the time that my mom was baking cookies for guests that were arriving later in the evening and I did a super giant sneeze into the mixing bowl.

Anyway, enough about me and my cookie dough tragedies. This is a story about what may be the best chocolate chip cookie ever. In the world. Ever. You maybe wondering how on I came across the this recipe. Well, on Saturday Scott and I went on a Instagram walk and on that walk we met Jeff of @lostinkits. Jeff had ever so kindly baked cookies and brought them for all of us nerdy IGers.

After I ate my cookie I immediately had to chase down Jeff and get the recipe. Here is what he told me to do: mix the Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Cook’s Illustrated with David Lebovitz’s Salted Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies and you’re done. The result was pure magic: sweet, salty, rich, nutty, caramel… I could go on. This one will from now on be my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Perfecter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from David Lebovitz, Cook’s Illustrated & Little Nest 

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
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1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel + additional salt for sprinkling
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate chips or chunks
3/4 cup chopped pecans toasted

Instructions
In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour and baking soda. Next, over medium high heat, melt 10 tablespoons of butter in a light coloured sauce pan so that you can monitor the changing colour of the butter. Once the butter has melted continue cooking and swirling the butter until it is a dark golden colour and the butter develops a rich nutty aroma. This should take about 1-3 minutes. Once the butter has browned transfer into a heatproof bowl. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter to the hot butter and stir until completely melted.

To the melted butter add both sugars, salt and vanilla, beat until fully mixed. Add the egg and additional yolk to the sugar mixture and whisk until no sugar lumps remain approximately 30 seconds, then let the mixture stand for 3 minutes. Repeat this process of 30 seconds whisking and 3 minutes resting 2 more times. The mixture will be thick, smooth and shiny. Using a wooden spoon stir in the flour mixture until just combined, about a minute. Add the chocolate chips and nuts until both are just mixed.

Set out two pieces of plastic wrap. Scoop the dough onto the plastic wrap and form into two large logs and wrap tightly. Place in the freezer and allow to cool for at least one hour, perferably over night.

Once the dough is fully cooled, heat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper. Cut the dough into 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick rounds. Place on the cookie sheet with room between the cookies as they will spread. Top each slice with a small sprinkle of fleur de sel. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden.

*The dough will also keep nicely in the fridge for about a week.