Bake crispy chocolate chip cookies with me while enjoying a Vinho Verde red blend
Tastes + Toasts first episode
These crispy, golden cookies are easy to make. They are packed with crunchy, crispy chocolate chip goodness. I’m sipping an effervescent Vinho Verde red blend while they bake. Its bright acidity and dark fruit notes perfectly pair with baking this sweet treat. Join me for some baking and sipping. Saúde!
The recipe
1 cup salted butter melted
2 eggs at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tbsp vanilla bean paste
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp espresso powder
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups organic brown rice crisps cereal (or you can use rice krispies)
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 400F
mix butter and sugars together until fully combined
add the eggs, vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract and espresso powder and mix until fully combined
add in your flour, baking soda and baking powder, mix on low until combined
add rice crispy’s and chocolate chips, mix or stir until combined
scoop onto your baking trays and bake for 10-13 minutes, depending on your oven, you want to take them out when they are golden brown on top
let them cool and then enjoy! (you can freeze dough rounds for 2 months and already baked cookies as well)
The wine
Casa da Tojeira 'Tojeira' Premium Red Blend 2023*
This wine is great to enjoy while you are baking up a storm. It's effervescent, light-bodied, and super flavorful. Its a fun wine to enjoy while baking, cooking or relaxing. Open it with friends, as most people have most likely not had a red Vinho Verde wine before. What a fun way to get the wine conversations flowing.
Casa da Tojeira is in Faia, Cabeceiras de Basto, east of Fafe. It is in the Basto sub-region of the Vinho Verde wine region. This is a stunning region; in 2022, we made an offer on a house in this exact area. Unfortunately, the owner didn’t want to sell to Americans. Lame indeed, they didn’t realize we would live there year-round, not for vacations. Anyway, life goes on and we will find a home there again one day in the future. It worked out for the best timing wise anyway.
The winery is set on twenty hectares of vineyards and extensive gardens. They all surround a stunning 17th-century manor house. They make white, red, rosé, and sparkling wines.
This wine is made from three native Portuguese grapes, Vinhão, Borraçal and Amaral. Vinhão gives the wine its super dark, inky appearance. The wine has notes of blackberries, red currants, and crushed raspberries. There are subtle hints of violet and some herb notes. They come alive when you pair it with the right foods. Which is why I love to pair it with a roast chicken, lamb, or goat dish. For the vegetarians, a roasted veggie dish with thyme, cumin, and rosemary would be nice.
Now, a note about my YouTube video. I am a newbie to this whole recording oneself and not completely rambling at a camera. I still ramble, even after filming it three times. I finally decided how I wanted to do these videos, so this one is the tester basically and is not perfect. But if I waited for perfect I never would publish it. So, apologies to those who only like perfection- maybe just skip watching it!
If you have any recipes or wines you’d like me to film, please leave me a comment or send me a message!
*To purchase this wine visit thevinho.com
For those looking for wine related gifts this holiday season, I have a few (I have so many actually, but I have such an aversion to marketing myself but I will market anyone else all day long). So, here are just a few in one place. I do have a black Friday sale going on for a few of the items, if you want the discount code, just ask.
Shop my wine chillers here