Once a month BU’s own Karen Jacobs EdD, OTR/L, CPE, FATOTA hosts the Sargent Choice Test Kitchen-East at the Hillel House Dining Hall on Bay State Road. In addition to featuring Sargent Choice-approved recipes, all foods made are Kosher. All are welcome to come cook, eat, learn, and engage with other students. We hope to see you next month!
On Thursday Night, January 17th, I had the pleasure of joining Professor Karen Jacobs at the very first Sargent Choice (SC) Test Kitchen-East! The east campus edition of the Test Kitchen took place in the Hillel House dining hall where we made delicious chocolate chip cherry cookies!
This SC Test Kitchen is different from Karen Jacobs’ weekly Sargent Choice Test Kitchen at StuVi2 in many ways. One major difference is that in the SC Test Kitchen-East, the laws of Kashrut have to be followed since it is held at the Hillel House. At a basic level, the laws of Kashrut (or Kosher) state that meat and dairy cannot be cooked or consumed together and all ingredients used for cooking must be approved by a Mashgiach. A Mashgiach is a person who supervises a Kosher-dining establishment. The BU Hillel Mashgiach is in charge of supervising all food that comes in and out of the dinning hall, as well as keeping an eye over anything that is cooked in the dinning hall to ensure that the proper rules are being followed. The Mashgiach had a great time cooking with us and learning about the benefits of choosing Sargent Choice options!
A second difference between the two SC Test Kitchens is that in the east campus edition, we got to cook in an industrial kitchen. It was very fun to be able to use large mixing bowls, spoons, cookie sheets, and the industrial size oven. Normally, these cookies need to be cooked for 12-15 minutes, but in the industrial oven, the cookies were fully cooked in just 9 minutes!
About 15 other students joined Karen and I to bake these warm, ooey-gooey, healthy cookies. The recipe to make these sweet treats is at the end of this blog.
The Sargent Choice Test Kitchen East Campus Edition is going to continue meeting at the Hillel House once a month for the rest of the semester. The dates are: 12/28, 3/21, and 4/11. Come join us from 7:30-9 on these days for a fun and healthy time! All are welcome!
Sargent Choice Chocolate Chip Cherry Cookies
Makes 30 cookies
Preheat over to 350 degrees
Ingredients:
• 1 cup 100% whole white wheat flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2/3 cup dried cherries (we did half dried cherries and half cranberries) + Hot water
• 3 Tbs semi-sweet mini chocolate chips or regular chocolate chips roughly chopped
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Measure out 2/3 cup dried cherries into a bowl and cover with hot water. Let sit while mixing together other ingredients. (If using cranberries, soak them with the cherries)
3. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife
4. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a
whisk.
5. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed
until well blended
6. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. With mixer on low speed, gradually add
flour mixture. Mix just until combined. If batter seems too thick or will not
stir together well, add 1 Tbs of water
7. Drain cherries and fold into batter with chocolate chips. (If your batter is
dry, you can opt to not completely drain the cherries and use some of that
water to moisten the dough)
8. Drop mixture by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated
with cooking spray. (It may help to flatten the dough into disks)
9. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or just until set. Remove from oven; cool on
pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.