Tony Caputo's Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/4 cups butter, softened
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 3/4 cake flour
1 3/4 cup bread flour
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
16 oz high quality semi sweet chocolate
fleur de sel, or coarse sea salt


In mixer bowl beat together butter, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat together for 5 minutes until batter turns a pale brown. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.

In a separate bowl mix eggs and vanilla together. Slowly pour and incorporate into the sugar mixture until barely mixed in. Mix in both flours until barely fixed in. Do not over mix. Mix in chocolate until barely mixed throughout.

Scoop into .25 lb. balls, place on parchment lined tray.

Refrigerate cookie dough overnight or up to 6 days.

Preheat oven to 350° before baking.

Place 4-5 cookies on baking sheet. Bake the cookies for 9 minutes then rotate and bake other 8 minutes, until tops or golden.

*These are special occasion cookies, not everyday. They are ridiculously delicious! We used all purpose flour instead of bread flour (did use the cake flour called for) and they still turned out great. We used Guittard semisweet chocolate and it was great.

Herbed Orzo with Feta

source: Ina Garten

Salt and pepper
1/2 cup good olive oil
3/4 pound orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
1/2 cup lemon juice (3 lemons)
1 cup thin sliced scallion (green onion) green and white parts
1 cup small diced red onion
1 cup chopped fresh dill
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup diced cucumber
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Boil pasta in large pot of water with 1 tsp salt and splash of olive oil. Add the orzo and simmer for 8-9 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it is cooked al dente. Drain and pour into a large bowl. Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Pour over the hot pasta and stir well.

Add the scallions, dill, parsley, cucumber, onion, 2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper. Toss well. Add the feta and stir carefully. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour to allow the flavors to blend, or refrigerate overnight. If refrigerated, taste for seasonings and bring back to room temperature for serving.

*We discovered this recipe while searching for menu ideas for Kaitlyn's 20th birthday. It was a big hit! One of our all-time favorites now.