Andres Max Salmeron

Author: amsal

  • Investments

    A series of financial disclosures, both previous and current holdings, with my thoughts. Updated Nov 3, 2021

    1. Tesla (2010)— First stock I ever bought. Also the most successful. Also the only reason why there’s the list below. [Update: I sold when it hit $419 at 21x ROI. Had I held for another couple years, it would have been a 210x ROI. Just add a zero!]
    2. Microsoft (2011)— I’m a big fan of the innovation at Microsoft over the past five years. Seems like they’re investing heavily in interesting projects.
    3. General Motors (2011) — Read an article about how GM was Tesla’s most formative competition. Wanted to invest to cover my bases.
    4. Ford (2011)—Covered my bases.
    5. Nokia (2012)—Thought Microsoft would buy them and expand Windows Phone. They did.
    6. Pandora (2012) — Figured Apple or Google would buy them. I was wrong. Google instead bought Songza, and Apple bought Beats and Lala. Ah well.
    7. Jamba Juice (2012)—This was a stupid investment. I saw the rise of the juice craze, but didn’t realize Jamba wasn’t seeing the same success as other juice brands. Also, Jamba started shutting down stores. Don’t invest in seasonal businesses.
    8. Bitcoin (2014) — Like Tesla, I wish I had invested far more when I could have. [Dear Past Self: you could have then too.]
    9. Nuance (2015) — As I watched the rise of Siri and Google Now, I figured Nuance would be ripe for acquisition. Instead, companies developed their own voice recognition tech. Such is life.
    10. Twitter (2014 & 2015 & 2016) — Definitely losing my money on this. [Update: I did not lose my money on this.] I’ve doubled down on Twitter a couple times, as I still believe in the company’s future, despite the mediocre leadership. It’s a great tool that’s highly sticky and useful, at least in the media/tech industry. Also, it’s the app I use the most, by a long shot.
    11. 21st Century Fox (2015) — Should have got Disney instead, but that was a bit too costly.
    12. Yelp (2015) — I thought it would get acquired by Apple or Facebook honestly. It’s got a lot of data. Though now maybe I should look into getting some Yext. Yelp feels slimy to me.
    13. Shopify (2015) — Noticed their rise thanks to Tim Ferriss. [Sold this too early…. Then got in again in 2020, loathing my sell and vowing to never sell again]
    14. King (2015) — I got this because of a Planet Money episode about overvalued stocks.
    15. Facebook (2015) — Zuckerberg is smart, and the company is a money machine.
    16. ShakeShack (2016)— Thought it might be the next generation of McDonalds. Probably wrong.
    17. GoPro (2016) — DJI ate their lunch.
    18. Corrections Corporation of America (2016) — Owning this made me feel bad about myself. Had to sell it quick. Scum.
    19. Netflix (2016) — Reed Hastings is a smart guy. Not sure how I feel about all their debt though.
    20. Square (2016) — Quietly great company. Too bad Twitter hasn’t seen the same stock success. [Update: they did eventually.]
    21. Coca-Cola (2016) — I think beverage companies will grow in popularity as we destroy our public water sources.
    22. Bank of America (2016) — Got these on the advice of a friend. Should have got Goldman instead.
    23. [One of my worst sell events, almost everything listed prior to this – thought Trump would win and the markets would tank. They did… for like… two hours… Had I stayed in, I would have made a stupid amount of money. Live and learn.]
    24. Direxion (2017)—Got this because of r/wallstreetbets or r/robinhood. Probably not a great idea to get advice from internet forums. But I only got a couple shares.
    25. Inverse Natural Gas (2017) — Also got this from Internet people. Again, don’t listen to people on the internet.
    26. Twilio (2017)—Interesting tech company that seems to fly under the radar while powering much of mobile tech. [Update: Insanely good investment!]
    27. Snapchat (2017) — Instagram is going to crush Snapchat, and I’ve come to realize that Snap’s performance will most likely end up looking much like Twitter. Both are useful, addicting, and feature a loyal user base, while struggling for Facebook’s meteoric expansion rates and income.
    28. Activision Blizzard (2017)—This purchase happened after I heard that eSports will become a huge industry.
    29. Everspin (2017)—Remember how I said don’t take stock advice from Reddit? Well sometimes it pays off.
    30. Ethereum (2017)—Not as big as Bitcoin, but seems like the tech behind this is more interesting. [Great investment!]
    31. Whole Foods (2017)— Thought they might get acquired. They did.
    32. Applied Materials (2017)—Another Internet people recommendation.
    33. General Electric (2017)—I think a family member recommended this pick.
    34. Houston American Energy (2017)—Recommendation from Internet people. Just put in a little bit.
    35. Blue Apron (2017)—Oooof what a terrible investment. Only got two shares though. Amazon is going to crush them.
    36. Target (2017)—Got this around the time Amazon acquired Whole Foods.
    37. Micron Technology (2017)—Internet people recommendation.
    38. LTC, ZEC, ETC, BCH, DASH, EOS (2017) – A hodgepodge of altcoins I grabbed just in case. Radiolab has an interesting story about ZCash if you like podcasts.
    39. Cisco (2017)—Another Internet people recommendation.
    40. Taiwan Semiconductor (2017)—Despite stiff competition, chip makers in general will do well as the future progresses.
    41. AMD (2018)—Ditto.
    42. Cronos Group (2018)—Was interested in buying something in a marijuana company. Perhaps this wasn’t the best choice.
    43. Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (2018)—When MoviePass’s parent company cratered, I decided to buy low on the off chance there was a miracle.
    44. NIO (2018) – Electric car company in China, let’s see if they can compete with Tesla.
    45. CRWD (2019) – ~~~ Cybersecurity ~~~
    46. CHWY (2019) – People take care of their pets. I see Chewy.com boxes everywhere.
    47. WORK (2019) – I’ve used Slack at almost every place I’ve worked.
    48. HAIR (2019)
    49. AQUA (2019) – Looked up water companies and bought randomly.
    50. CRON (2019) – Weed will be legal everywhere eventually.
    51. TGT (2019) – Target and Walmart aren’t dead yet.
    52. XLU (2019) – Utilities sector is allegedly recession proof.
    53. UBER (2019) – Yes, they are a Bad company. I also think they might take over the world and I might as well profit from that.
    54. ACB (2020) – Another weed company.
    55. PINS (2020) – I don’t use Pinterest, I don’t know many who do, but those who do use it quite a bit.
    56. PRPL (2020) – Saw a tweet about how they were so much better.
    57. KF (2020) – Purchased when I saw how well South Korea was dealing with the pandemic.
    58. ENZL (2020) – Purchased when I saw how well New Zealand was dealing with the pandemic.
    59. BHR (2020) – Hotels! Travel was struggling, and I think it’ll come back.
    60. AUPH (2020) – Pharma
    61. NLS (2020) – Similar to Pelaton.
    62. VXX (2020) – S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN.
    63. TWN (2020) – Taiwan was doing great with COVID so I searched up “taiwan” and bought randomly.
    64. KODK (2020) – Asinine investment. Sometimes meme stocks are just memes.
    65. SLV (2020) – Price of silver.
    66. RIOT (2020) – cryptocurrency mining operation in North America
    67. PFE (2020) – The “best” vaccine.
    68. LUV (2020) – Southwest Airlines has a great reputation and people will fly again.
    69. GPK (2020) – Packaging corp –
    70. GDRX (2020) – Love this company! Saves people money on medicines. Great marketing.
    71. PLTR (2020) – Don’t love the company but I do have confidence that the Paypal Mafia will continue to be profitable.
    72. SPH (2020) – Propane and gas will be needed as we do more outside (space heaters, grills, etc)
    73. Opendoor (2020) – Real estate is booming!
    74. FTCH (2020) – “luxury fashion goods”
    75. MGI (2020) – “cross-border peer-to-peer payments and money transfer services” wonder if Square will acquire them, or something…
    76. ADPT (2020) – “immune medicine”
    77. APHA (2020) – Cannabis! Merged with Tilray.
    78. TPC (2020) – “one of the largest general contractors in the United States”
    79. INAQ (2020) (now MILE) – “leading digital insurance platform and pay-per-mile auto insurer” I got this before the merger, not particularly optimistic about this one
    80. NWL (2020) – household purchases are up! “manufacturer, marketer and distributor of consumer and commercial products with a portfolio of brands including: Rubbermaid”
    81. UL (2020) – Unilever, a massive conglomerate.
    82. SHOP (2020) – I hate that I sold this early. Got back in. Amazon competition.
    83. INGN (2020) – “develops, manufactures, and markets portable oxygen concentrators to patients” (COVID!!!)
    84. LAZR (2020) – “vehicle sensor and software company for passenger cars and commercial trucks”
    85. BEAM (2020) – “precision genetic medicines for patients suffering from serious diseases in the United States”
    86. GME (2020) – One of the only stocks I’ve sold since my 2016 debacle. Smart sell.
    87. ABNB (2020) – Maybe overvalued (like most stocks during the later half of COVID) but interesting company. I try to invest in things that I use regularly.
    88. NEE (2020) – sustainable energy
    89. QS (2020) – “lithium-metal batteries for electric vehicles and other applications.”
    90. UPST (2020) – “aggregates consumer demand for loans”
    91. SI (2020) – “bank holding company for Silvergate Bank that provides banking products and services to business and individual clients” common tech bank
    92. CNST (2020) – what is this
    93. ARKF (2020) – ARK Fintech Innovation ETF
    94. ODT (2020) – “therapeutics for the treatment of cancer”
    95. BILI (2020) – “entertainment services for the young generations in the People’s Republic of China”
    96. Masterworks.io – Basquiat (2020) – Love this artist; love the concept of investing in art.
    97. NVTA (2021) – “medical genetics company, integrates genetic information into healthcare decision-making by clinicians”
    98. IPOE (2021) (Now SOFI) – Really bullish on SoFi; they’ve done a great job of thoroughly expanding their product suite and brand recognition in the space.
    99. ACEV (2021) – Convergence Acquisition Corp
    100. AFRM (2021) – Max is so thoughtful; I have a ton of confidence in his efforts.
    101. WOOF (2021) – Once heard that people will always provide for their pets versus buying things for themselves.
    102. IPOF (2021) – Chamath! Might be snake oil, might be something great (like SoFi). A tiny gamble here.
    103. PRCH (2021) – services for home inspectors, homebuyers and homeowners
    104. DM (2021) – 3D printing systems
    105. TLRY (2021) – weed!
    106. POSH (2021) – One of my colleagues uses this service so made the best.
    107. AMC (2021) – got in on the reddit fervor and incredibly made money
    108. BB (2021) – ditto except for the making money
    109. Dogecoin (2021) – made me some money but a garbage coin
    110. WISH (2021) – garbage company, lost money
    111. HOL (now ASTR) – Rockets to space!
    112. DMTK – non-invasive genomics tests to diagnosis skin cancer
    113. VGAC (now ME) – 23andMe is interesting, if not unnerving.
    114. CTRM – ocean transportation of dry bulk cargoes worldwide
    115. STIC (now BARK) – Things for dogs. People love their pets more than their children.
    116. ZYNE – “clinical stage specialty pharmaceutical company” with weed!
    117. TCEHY – Tencent! China!
    118. AIRT – “overnight air cargo, ground equipment sale, commercial jet engines and parts”
    119. F – Ford!
    120. PLG – exploration and development of platinum
    121. Ethereum – great investment, should have gotten more
    122. SUMO – Don’t remember why I got this so I must have seen a tweet.
    123. CVS – In a world without competent governance, private companies like CVS are going to be making a killing off the health care market.
    124. RKT – I’ve heard enough ads for Rocket Mortgage to make this move.
    125. CPNG – “largest online retailer in South Korea, focusing on the speed of delivery” (Amazon rival?)
    126. BIGC – saw a twitter thread about this Square competitor. More bullish on Square still.
    127. HIMS – leading telehealth company, good brand recognition and marketing
    128. EVFM – “biopharmaceuticals”
    129. RHHBY – getting into some medical diagnostics stocks
    130. HOLX – “diagnostics products, medical imaging systems, and surgical products for women’s health through early detection and treatment”
    131. DGX – Quest Diagnostics – COVID and STD testing, both things I expect will continue to grow.
    132. FIGS – Similar to Allbirds in proliferation in the upscale medical apparel industry. If they’re smart, there’s a lot of room for collaboration and growth.
    133. RVLV – “next-generation fashion retailer for Millennial and Generation Z consumers” lol probably garbage
    134. CQQQ – “provides broad, vanilla exposure to Chinese tech firms.”
    135. H – Hyatt! Hotels are interesting to me right now thanks to COVID, traveling, and the future of remote work.
    136. ATAI – “Life Sciences”
    137. ACWI – An ETF someone must have recommended.
    138. SPT – I have a new rule; if my work uses it, I buy some. Sprout is what we use for monitoring and responding on social. It’s fine.
    139. PAYO – Not sure why I bought this, more bullish on TransferWise.
    140. GNOM – ETF for genomics!
    141. WCLD – ETF for cloud companies.
    142. DUOL – I used this app back in school and found it helpful; now half of my family uses it.
    143. HOOD – Robinhood is a clear leader right now; let’s see if it’ll last. I’ve heard good things about Public. Plus the DOGE debacle is not inspiring confidence.
    144. ASAN – I don’t like Jira but everyone uses it.
    145. IAU – Gold! Who knows!
    146. AA – Aluminum is likely to become a more sought after material.
    147. ZEV – e-Bikes are becoming a big thing, will probably become even bigger.
    148. FTT – Did little research here, but have heard enough to get a little.
    149. AGLD – The latest meme crypto. Probably garbage.
    150. SOL – Allegedly the next Ethereum. We’ll find out together I suppose. [Update: wow shout out to myself for getting in June 2021}
    151. XRP – Twitter is abuzz.
    152. SRM – Again, a few tweets.
    153. MAPS – Weed stock.
    154. BNTX – Listened to a podcast about the future of vaccines.
    155. TTD – Tip from a feller in a restaurant.
    156. CRM – Ditto.
    157. KNX – Saw some tweets about the supply chain and wanted to invest in trucking.
    158. Enjoy – I’m a bit neutral here since I’m not convinced of scalability or interest but I bought because I applied to work there a few years ago.
    159. LendingClub – Mentioned in some fintech circles I’m in.
    160. NerdWallet – A major player in the finance space. I see them as The Wirecutter but for everything finance which seems more lucrative.
    161. AllBirds – I own enough pairs to invest a bit too.

  • The Internet’s Banana Nut Bread

    The Internet’s Banana Nut Bread

    • 1 cup (128g) all-purpose flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1 stick of butter OR 100g coconut oil
    • 3/4 cup (150g) brown sugar
    • 1/4 cup (50g) white sugar
    • 1 cup (300g) mashed overripe bananas
    • 2 eggs beaten
    • 1/2 cup (60g) chopped walnuts
    • 1 tsp vanilla
    • 1 tsp cinnamon
    • 1/4 tsp of nutmeg
    • 1/4 tsp of cloves

    Directions

    1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9×5 inch loaf pan.
    2. Cream the butter and sugar. 
    3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add vanilla extract.
    4. Mix in mashed bananas.
    5. Mix in dry ingredients to wet in three batches, scraping down after each, then stir in nuts.
    6. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the crown of the loaf comes out clean.

    Adapted from AllRecipes’s Virginia Sista & Serious Eats

  • Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies

    • 4 ounces/113 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
    • 3/4 cup (120ml) tahini, well stirred
    • 1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar (or half brown, half white)
    • 2 eggs
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 150 grams all-purpose flour
    • ½ teaspoon baking soda
    • ½ teaspoon baking powder
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 1 ¾ cups/230 grams bittersweet chocolate chips
    • Flaky salt, like fleur de sel or Maldon

    Directions

    1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, tahini and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla and continue mixing at medium speed for another 5 minutes.
    2. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and kosher salt into a large bowl and mix with a fork. Add flour mixture to butter mixture at low speed until just combined. Use a rubber spatula to fold in chocolate chips. Dough will be soft, not stiff. Refrigerate at least 12 hours; this ensures tender cookies.
    3. When ready to bake, heat oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking mat. Use a large ice cream scoop or spoon to form dough into 12 to 18 balls.
    4. Place the cookies on the baking sheet at least 3 inches apart to allow them to spread. Bake 13 to 16 minutes until just golden brown around the edges but still pale in the middle to make thick, soft cookies. As cookies come out of the oven, sprinkle sparsely with salt. Let cool at least 20 minutes on a rack.

    Adapted from NYT’s Julia Moskin

  • Molasses Cookies

    Molasses Cookies

    • 133g coconut oil OR 3/4 cup butter
    • 200 g sugar
    • 1/4 cup (85g) molasses
    • 1 egg (possibly another if dough isn’t coming together)
    • 270g all-purpose flour
    • 2 teaspoons baking soda
    • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
    • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
    • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
    • 1/2 teaspoon ginger

    Directions

    1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment.
    2. In the KitchenAid, beat melted coconut oil and sugar until fluffy.
    3. Add egg and molasses. Then dry ingredients.
    4. If the dough isn’t coming together, add another egg.
    5. Form cookies, roughly the size of Reese’s peanut butter cups. If you like, roll the cookies in more sugar (or sprinkle atop).
    6. Bake for ten minutes, making sure the tops are cracked. 

    Adapted from Brenda Hall’s AllRecipes

  • Mom’s Apple Pie

    Mom’s Apple Pie

    • 2 1/2 cups (300g) AP flour
    • 1 tablespoon sugar
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 cup butter, cut in chunks and kept very cold the whole time
    • 1/4-1/2 cup ice water

    Directions

    1. Peel, chop up roughly ten apples of varying types. Enough to fill two large Pyrex glass bowls with lids. Put in with the apples some cinnamon, vanilla extract, some lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon per bowl of apples) and a bit of sugar (about 1 teaspoon per bowl or none at all).
    2. Let the apples sit in the bowl with the lid on a large plate for 24 hours. Once or twice during that 24 hours, flip the bowl over.
    3. Now it’s time to make the crust. Mix the 300g flour, 12g sugar, and pinch of salt in the food processor for about 15 seconds.
    4. Chop the butter into 1 tablespoon pieces and stick in Cuisinart, pulsing for another 15 seconds. Dough should be coarse meal.
    5. Add  1/4 cup ice water. Pulse. Your goal is to pulse as little as possible but get it to form clumps (size of lima beans), not one big ball.
    6. Add a bit more water, little by little, until you get the clumps. Better not to add all of the additional 1/4 cup.
    7. Put a large piece of saran wrap on the counter. Dump the dough onto the plastic. Touch the dough as little as possible.
    8. Close up the saran wrap and mush the dough into a disk shape. Put in the fridge at least one hour.
    9. Dough should be somewhat flexible when you roll out on floured surface. Move it constantly so it doesn’t stick.
    10. 10. Move it into the pie plate when you can see that it’s larger than the size of the pie plate.
    11. 11. Drain the apples into the sink, then put in dough and cover.
    12. 12.You can put egg wash or milk on the dough to stain it.
    13. 13. Either bake for 25 minutes at 425 degrees and then 30-35 minutes at 375 degrees. OR 20 minutes at 450 degrees and 40-50 minutes at 375 degrees. I don’t know which one is better.
    14. 14. If the dough looks like it’s getting too dark, cover it with tin foil.

  • Chocolate Cake

    Samin’s Chocolate Cake

    • 1 oz Dutch-process cocoa powder, preferably Valrhona
    • 5.25 oz sugar
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 4.6 oz all-purpose flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • 50 grams neutral-tasting oil
    • 3/4 cup boiling water
    • 1 large egg at room temperature, lightly whisked

    Directions

    1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Set a rack in the upper third of the oven.
    2. Grease an 8-inch cake pan, then line with parchment paper. Grease and sprinkle generously with flour, tap out the excess, and set aside.
    3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, salt, flour, and baking soda, then sift into a large bowl.
    4. In a medium bowl, stir the vanilla and oil together. Bring the water to a boil. Add it to the oil-vanilla mixture.
    5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and gradually whisk in the water-oil mixture until incorporated. Gradually whisk in the eggs and stir until smooth. The batter will be thin.
    6. Pour the batter in the pan. Drop the pan onto the counter from a height of 3 inches a couple of times to release any air bubbles that may have formed.
    7. Bake in the upper third of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cake spring back from the touch and just pull away from the edges of the pan. An inserted toothpick should come out clean.
    8. Cool the cakes completely on a wire rack before unmolding them from the pan and peeling off the parchment paper.
    9. Serve with whipped cream.

    Adapted from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

  • Flan

    Mom’s Flan

    • 1/2 cup sugar
    • 3 eggs
    • 14oz can of condensed milk
    • 28 oz of regular milk

    Directions

    1. Put a larger glass Pyrex bowl on the counter.
    2. Take about 1/2-2/3 cup of white sugar. Put it in a nonstick pan. With a wooden spoon, and don’t use something else, stir the sugar over the heat. Do this until it’s caramel like. Immediately, pour it into the bottom of the Pyrex bowl and move the bowl around so that the caramel covers the bottom and some of the sides, if possible.
    3. In a food processor, put 3 eggs, one container of condensed milk and then, fill the empty condensed milk can twice with regular whole milk. Mix.
    4. Put this into the Pyrex bowl above the caramel. If you hear crackling noises, it’s the mixture hitting the caramel.
    5. I suggest covering the Pyrex bowl with a lid and sometimes I put under the lid, a layer of tin foil.
    6. Put the Pyrex bowl in a Le Creuset pot that has about two inches of water in it. That water should be boiling. Bear in mind the height of the water mustn’t exceed the height of the Pyrex bowl. And you will want to make sure that there is always water in the pot. Don’t ignore it and think everything is fine.
    7. The tricky part is knowing how long to cook the flan. Generally, I think you’re fine if you put the bowl in the bowl when the water is boiling, keep it on a low boil about 45 minutes. Then, turn off the flame. Don’t try to remove the glass bowl. Let it cool there and when it’s cooler, remove it.
    8. When the flan is room temperature, put it in the fridge overnight.
    9. Next day, run a knife around the edge of the dish. Get a plate larger than the bowl. And probably larger than you think you need. Holding it over the sink, flip the flan onto the plate.
    10. 10. Most flans taste eggy. This doesn’t. If you use a smaller Pyrex bowl and make two smaller flans, I’d suggest cooking it for 30 minutes.

  • Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Chocolate Chip Cookies

    • 241 grams cake flour
    • 241 grams bread flour
    • 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
    • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
    • 1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt
    • 284 grams unsalted butter
    • 284 grams light brown sugar
    • 227 grams granulated sugar
    • 2 large eggs
    • 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
    • 680 grams bittersweet chocolate chopped (at least 60%)
    • Sea salt

    Directions

    1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
    2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
    3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
    4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.

    Adapted from New York Times

  • Vanilla Ice Cream

    Vanilla Ice Cream

    • 1 cup (250ml) whole milk
    • A pinch of salt
    • 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
    • 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
    • 2 cups (500ml) heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream)
    • 5 large egg yolks
    • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

    Directions

    1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.
    2. To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.
    3. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.
    4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula and reached 175 degrees.
    5. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight, potentially in bowl of ice.
    6. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

    Notes:

    1. You can combine the milk/sugar/bean and let it steep overnight in the fridge. 
    2. Don’t worry if when you pour the egg mixture into the strainer some of the egg doesn’t go through. You can use a spatula and push some but it’s OK if some doesn’t make it. And you can use the spatula on the bottom/outside of the strainer to remove stuff too.

    Adapted from David Leibovitz

  • Shortbread Cookies

    Shortbread Cookies

    • 1 stick butter
    • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
    • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
    • 3/4 cup flour
    • 1/4 cup rice flour
    • 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1/8 teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

    Directions

    1. Cream 1 stick of butter with 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
    2. Work in 3/4 cup flour with 1/4 cup rice flour, 1/8 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/8 teaspoon salt.
    3. Pat dough into 8 inch circle on cookie sheet. Score the dough.
    4. Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

     

    Adapted from Laurie Colwin’s More Home Cooking.