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I remember the day when Elvis died: Tuesday, Aug. 16, 1977.
I’d been playing tennis for a couple hours in the hot Texas sun with some of the other kids I grew up with when another one of our buddies joined us and broke the news.
In those days, the cool musicians to listen to included Commodores, Rita Coolidge, Andy Gibb, Pablo Cruise and Helen Reddy. Elvis hadn’t been on top of his game for a while and was trying to make a comeback with his last studio album,”Moody Blue.” The single “Way Down” from that album had broken into the Top 20 pop hits for a couple weeks after the album’s release and was already tumbling down the charts.
By the time he died, Elvis had become the butt of many jokes. "What's green and sings?" one riddle went. The answer: "Elvis Parsley." After Aug. 16, we had to change up the joke: "What was green and used to sing?"
Every single one of us experiences our own ups and downs, and now, looking back, it’s clear that few people in the 20th century made as much impact on popular culture as Elvis did. He was indeed the King of Rock and Roll.
Despite his flamboyant stage presence and lifestyle, his taste in food remained pretty simple. Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, then his family relocated to Memphis when he was a teen. Raised on down-home Southern-style food, he continued to relish fried chicken, cornbread and cheeseburgers. He also had a penchant for fried peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwiches. And cookies.
Duff Goldman, part-time musician and the celebrity chef featured in “Ace of Cakes” on the Food Network, came up with a cookie recipe that honors Elvis. Fashioned only out of common ingredients, it’s rich and complicated:
ELVIS COOKIES
Cooking spray
3 cups sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth, your call)
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Big pinch of baking powder
1 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 very ripe bananas
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1¼ cups chocolate chips
5 ounces hard pretzels, smashed (about 3/4 cup pretzel crumbs)
10 bacon strips, cooked crisp and chopped fine
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spray a baking sheet or sheets with cooking spray.
- In a big bowl, mix the sugar, butter, peanut butter, molasses, vanilla, baking powder, garlic and salt until it's all one color. Add the bananas and mash them up real good in there.
- Add the flour and gently mix until incorporated, with no lumps.
- Fold in the chocolate chips, pretzel pieces and bacon.
- Using two spoons, form balls about the size of a large walnut and drop them on the prepared baking sheet(s) at least 2 inches apart. Place the sheet(s) in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes.
- Bake for 12 minutes or until golden on the outside and super gooey in the middle, just like the King would want them. Let cool on a wire rack off the baking sheet.
Our assessment: "I can taste all the different ingredients," my colleague Mark Fisher said. "I like the fact that the edges get nice and dark and crispy, but the middle is still chewy, moist and buttery."
“They’re good — a little weird — but good,” he added.
I totally concur, but these cookies are a little fussy. If you don’t chill the batter and the baking sheets, they will spread out more than you would like them to. I experimented and what made me happy was chilling the batter for a few hours. I also chilled the baking sheets, gave them a good coating of cooking spray, then dropped the batter on the sheets and baked immediately. Stick to walnut-size batter balls for the best results. Before removing them with a spatula, allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet several minutes — the cookies are indeed gooey in the middle and need the time to set.
From the book: "Duff Bakes: Think and Bake Like a Pro at Home" by Duff Goldman and Sara Gonzales; 344 pages, $27.50. Published by William Morrow, 2015.
What you get: This collection covers cakes, cookies, muffins, pies, breads and cakes, of course.
In his own words: Baking is just like playing music. I've always found a striking relation between playing music and baking in that they both require harmony to have quality. Music is constructed in a such a way to certain notes sound good coming before or after other notes. Baking observes these same rules." — Duff Goldman
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