[Whipped Lightning, the world's first alcohol-infused whipped cream, and Sarah's spinach and eggplant lasagna]

Dice the onion and carrots. Heat a glug of olive oil in a large soup pot, then add in carrots and onions. Add in pressed garlic. Sauté for a few minutes. Add tomatoes, one (drained) can of chickpeas, stock, paprika, rosemary, and S&P. Bring to a boil, and continue simmering for another twenty-ish minutes, until the carrots are soft. Remove from heat and blend with an immersion blender. Add in the remaining chickpeas and return to the stove, cooking until the whole chickpeas are warmed. Tinker with the seasoning and serve.

Who knew that About.com published anything of value? Not me! At least, not until I read this totally thorough explanation of how to make the empanadas of my dreams a reality. The braided seal? It’s called the repulgue! And closing with fork tines? That is okay if you are frying them! There’s no point in rehashing all of the really helpful pointers here, but if you ever make empanadas, do yourself a favor and read this article. Then watch the YouTube videos of the women braiding the empanadas crazy fast. Then you, too, can make the magic happen yourself.

1. They cannot be eaten raw. Did you know this? I did not!

2. They are one of the few fruits I have ever kept in my kitchen that I can say have their own perfume. It’s really wondrous.

3. When baked, they’re sort of like apples. The woman at the farmers’ market suggested baking them with a little bit of cinnamon and sugar; Claudia Roden roasts them with sugar and a pat of butter. I found that it proved an excellent vessel for pomegranate molasses. You can do any of these things by baking a quince, whole, for about an hour or so in an oven heated to 375 degrees (until it is soft), and then slice it in half, remove the core, add whatever it is you would like to add, and bake for another 30 minutes to an hour. Next time, I will roast them with chicken and onions, and maybe a little bit of cinnamon and honey.

Notes for next time: It’s easier to make the crust in a food processor, if you happen to have one. The pie took a little over an hour to bake, so allow for that; it will be done once it stops being jiggly, except for maybe a little around the edges (the toothpick rule is bullshit here). Also, the bourbon could be cut by a tablespoon; as it was, I was gently accused of alcoholism.

2 small heads escarole
3 cans cannellini beans
2 onions
3 carrots
5+ cloves garlic
4 c. chicken broth
Olive oil

Saute the garlic, onions and carrots in a little bit of olive oil in a large pot. Wash and chop escarole, and then add to the pot. Once the escarole has wilted, add the broth and the beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 – 30 minutes, until the beans are tender. If you have a blender, blend about two cups of the soup and return to the pot. If you don’t have a blender, mash up the soup a bit with a potato masher. Salt and pepper to taste.

According to urban legend, some lady bought the recipe for Neiman Marcus’s chocolate chip cookies for $250 (originally thinking that she was going to get it for $2.50). Outraged by the rip-off, she flouted IP protocol and sent the recipe to all of her friends; there have been several variations of the recipe circulating for ages. Neiman Marcus finally decided to give the thing away for free and published their recipe online. And? It is pretty good—I like the addition of espresso powder!—but the trick here is actually that the recipe calls for one less egg than usual. (By “usual,” I mean “Tollhouse.”) This makes the cookies super thick! Plus a little crispier on the outside but still chewy on the inside.

The same can be said of Christina Tosi’s recipe for blueberry and cream cookies (Tosi is the mastermind pastry chef behind Momofuku Milk Bar). I altered the recipe, substituting blueberries with cranberries. Like the Neiman Marcus batch, these were pretty good! The secret? Not the milk crumbs, which Bon Appetit makes a big fuss about. Rather, fewer eggs!

While the recipe calls for two eggs, this is fewer than standard cookie recipes, based on the ratio of eggs-to-flour—usually, you’ll see about one egg for every cup of flour, whereas both the Tosi recipe and the NM recipe both cut this in half. Also, it should be noted that the Momofuku cookies took too long to make for what they were—making these took nearly two days from start to finish, which is way, way longer than any cookie should take.

So going forward, fewer eggs! Vegans should see this as a minor victory! And there are few victories for vegans.

Jim Lahey’s recipe, adapted for the Times, is here.

1 medium eggplant
1 medium zucchini
½ lb. whole wheat pasta
½ lemon
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Chop the eggplant and zucchini, and place in a bowl. Sprinkle salt and a little bit of olive oil over the vegetables, and toss until evenly coated. Roast on a foil-lined baking sheet for about 20 to 30 minutes, until they are toasted and soft. Meanwhile, cook the pasta. Wait until the vegetables and pasta are cool, then toss with a vinaigrette made with the lemon, a little bit of olive oil, and some salt and pepper. Makes enough for two rather hungry people or three less hungry people.

Whatever. I’m over it, and I’m glad, because these were awesome! I got the recipe from Wayne Bachman’s “Retro Desserts,” which is posted here. I back Deb’s spot-on suggestion that the sugar be reduced to about a cup; I also added a pinch more salt than was called for, which is a move I stand by. Also, making the cookies a day ahead is the way to go, because it allows them to become the right amount of stale.

Also, for those who are curious, the filling of the original Oreo cookie is no longer made from pork fat—it’s made with an undisclosed mix of vegetable oils in the Kraft/Nabisco factory in Richmond, Virginia. Knowledge is power!