www.TopSecretRecipes.com

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CONTENTS

Introduction 3

Kellogg’s® Eggo® Waffles 4

Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe® Chocolate Cake Mix 6

Starbucks® Rocky Road Cake Pops 7

Milo’s® Famous Sweet Tea 9

Kobe Ichiban® Steakhouse Shrimp Sauce 10

Cracker Barrel® Fried Apples 11

Cracker Barrel® Baked Apple Dumplin 12

Orange Gatorade® (from Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step) 14

Mrs. Fields® Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step) 16

McDonald’s® Big Mac® (from Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step) 18

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INTRODUCTION

Congratulations agent! You have achieved Security Level Beta and are granted access to this highly classified intel from Top Secret Recipes HQ. Please note that this information is CONFIDENTIAL and cannot be shared with individuals who have a TSR security clearance level lower than yours. We ask that you please be mindful of who is in close proximity when you are experimenting with these formulas to help protect your mission from the possibility of exposure to sleeper cell anti-clone recipe groups or individuals. If, for any reason, any of these ten formulas make it into counteragent hands, please be aware that we will be forced to disavow all involvement in your activities, and you will have no choice but to go rogue (at least that’s what we will make the other guys think you are doing!).

The truth is, since you are such a valuable asset to us, we will remain in constant contact with you via email with weekly notices disguised as “newsletters.” We will continue to send you the secret links to newly hacked recipes and will keep you informed about new developments and intelligence here at Top Secret Recipes Headquarters. Still, take careful measures to ensure that you are never seen in possession of this Secret Stash. You may, of course, serve your friends and family an unlimited amount of the fantastic food that you produce with The Secret Stash. But, if asked where you got any of the recipes, we recommend that you say, “It came from Gwyneth Paltrow’s website,” and quickly change the subject.

What follows are the ten formulas from The Secret Stash. The first seven recipes are never-before-published and much-requested formulas that came out of development in the underground lab, like the Fried Apples from Cracker Barrel, Starbucks Cake Pops, or the famous Shrimp Sauce from Kobe Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse. The last three are a sneak peak from the new book Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step, that includes Orange Gatorade, Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies and McDonald’s Big Mac.

We fully expect you to thoroughly analyze, inspect, and dissect this new intel, then cook with it and eat all that really great looking stuff you just cooked. We here at TSR hope that you find this intelligence satisfying and delicious.

We are happy to have you on the team at TSR Security Level Beta and look forward to many tasty kitchen missions together in our future. Until then, happy cloning agent!

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KELLOGG’SEGGO WAFFLES

BASIC RECIPE (HOMESTYLE)4 eggs 2½ tablespoons granulated sugar 1¼ cups whole milk ½ cup water ¼ cup buttermilk ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted2 tablespoons vegetable oil16 ounces (3 cups) all-purpose flour 4 teaspoons baking powder 11�8 teaspoons salt

OPTIONAL8 drops yellow food coloring

On November 18, 2009 Kellogg Co. reported a nationwide shortage of its popular Eggo frozen waffles until the middle of 2010 because of interruptions at two of the four plants that make them. Historic amounts of rain closed a plant in Atlanta, and production lines at the bakery in Rossville, Tennessee were closed indefinitely for repairs. Once I heard the news I bounced to my local supermarket and snagged some of the

last few boxes of Eggos on the freezer shelves to pound out a recipe for the homestyle version of these waffles (plus three other popular varieties—see Tidbits). Now the Eggo-deprived could fill the hole in their freezer with a worthy substitute until the real Eggos returned. But I never did print the recipe in a book. Eggo Waffles are round, so I looked everywhere for a waffle iron that will produce round waffles small enough to fit into your toaster. No such luck. I finally called off the search when I decided that waffle shape is an unimportant detail. What really matters is that your waffles taste the same as Eqqo Waffles, and heat up the same way in a toaster as Eggo Waffles when you are ready to serve them. So that’s how I designed this clone. With this recipe you make waffles that are slightly undercooked so that they can be frozen and reheated later in a standard toaster without overcooking. Most waffle irons produce rectangular waffles that fit nicely into a toaster, but even the waffles that come out of round waffle irons are easy to break in half or in quarters so that they completely fit all the way into the toaster slot when you’re ready to eat them. Just be sure to set your toaster on its lowest or second lowest setting when you heat them up. Today Eggo Waffles are plentiful on store shelves. But if there is ever another shortage in this waffle’s future, you are now prepared.

Difficulty: Easy

Yield: 8-10 waffles

Active Prep: 10 min.Inactive Prep: 20 min.

1 First-Time Hack

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1 Heat up a waffle iron.

2 Beat eggs with sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer for 1 minute on high speed. Add milk, water, buttermilk, melted butter, and oil and mix until combined.

3 Add flour, baking powder, and salt to the bowl and mix for about 30 seconds or until the batter is smooth with no lumps. Mix in the food coloring if you want your waffles to be the same color as real Eggo Waffles.

4 Spray a waffle iron with non-stick oil spray. Pour ½ cup to 1 cup of batter (or whatever your waffle iron requires) onto the waffle iron, close it and cook the waffle for 1 to 2 minutes, or until just light brown and slightly undercooked.

5 When the waffles are cool, seal them up in freezer bags and freeze.

6 To prepare waffles for serving, cook them as

you would the original product: in a toaster on the lowest setting until hot all the way through. If your waffle iron makes giant waffles you may have to cut or break them in half so that they fit all the way into your toaster.

 TIDBITS You can make clones of three other varieties of Eggo Waffles by making minor adjustments to the above recipe: FOR BUTTERMILK WAFFLES Change to: ¾ cup milk and ¾ cup buttermilk.   FOR BLUEBERRY WAFFLESAdd ¾ cup dried and chopped blueberries to the basic recipe batter. Stir in blueberries after combining wet ingredients with dry ingredients.   FOR WHOLE WHEAT WAFFLES Use 8 ounces (½ cups) all-purpose flour and 8 ounces (1½ cups) whole wheat flour. Also, don’t use food coloring.

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DUNCAN HINESMOIST DELUXE

DARK CHOCOLATEFUDGE CAKE MIX

2 cups all-purpose flour1¾ cups baker’s sugar (superfine sugar)¾ cup cocoa2 teaspoons baking powder1 teaspoon baking soda1¼ teaspoons salt4 tablespoons vegetable shortening

TO MAKE CAKE11�3 cups water½ cup vegetable oil3 large eggs

Let’s say you want to make some chocolate cake that tastes like those popular mixes that come in a box but you don’t have much of a craving for propylene glycol mono- and diesters of fats, polyglycerol esters of fatty acids, cellulose gum, mono- and diglycerides or xanthan gum. If you’re making cake from a box mix, that’s what you’ll be eating. But you don’t have to eat those ingredients when you hack your own cake mix. Simply combine the dry ingredients here with shortening and you will have a mix that is shelf-stable until you add the wet ingredients the same way you do with the brand-name boxed stuff. And, you can use this mix to replace the box cake mix called for in the following recipe for Starbucks Rocky Road Cake Pops. Sweet!

Difficulty: Easy

Yield: 2 9-inch cakes

Active Prep: 5 min.Inactive Prep: 30 min.

1 First-Time Hack

1 Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Add shortening, then use an electric mixer on medium speed to blend shortening into dry ingredients. Mix until no chunks of shortening are visible. This is your cake mix, which you can keep in a sealed container for up to a couple months until you are ready to make the cake.

2 To make the cake preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the sides and bottom of two 9-inch baking pans or one 13x9-inch pan. Lightly flour the greased pans.

3 Blend dry cake mix (from step #1) with water, oil and eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer at low speed until moistened. Increase speed to medium and beat for 2 more minutes.

4 Pour batter into pans and bake for 30 to 33 minutes for 9-inch pans, and 35 to 38 minutes for 13x9-inch pan. You can also make cupcakes with the mix. They take 19 to 22 minutes.

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STARBUCKSROCKY ROAD CAKE POPS

1 18.25-ounce box chocolate cake mix (such as Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker)11�3 cups water½ cup vegetable oil3 large eggs1 cup chopped mixed nuts (pre-chopped/mixed topping)

Starbucks introduced Cake Pops in 2011 to celebrate the company’s 40th birthday and they were an instant hit. Rocky Road was one of the three first flavors to go on sale along with Tiramisu and Birthday Cake, and you can make dozens of your own clones of this flavor with a few supplies from your local craft store. Any hobby store with candy making supplies will have the Wilton Candy Melts, lollipop sticks and Styrofoam blocks you’ll need to make around 4 dozen of these great cake pops that are perfect for a special celebration. Also try to find the super small marshmallows called Mallow Bits from Jet-Puffed—they are perfect for this recipe. If you can’t find those, you can still make the recipe work great by chopping up some mini marshmallows with a sharp knife.

H Difficulty: Hard

Yield: 42-48 pops

Active Prep: 1 hr.Inactive Prep: 2.5 hrs.

1 First-Time Hack

1 3-ounce jar Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits (or 2 cups mini marshmallows, chopped)1 cup plus 2 tablespoons chocolate fudge frosting (from a 16-ounce tub)

2 14-ounce packages dark cocoa Wilton Candy Melts42 to 48 4-inch paper lollipop sticks4 12x4-inch Styrofoam blocks

1 Make the cake in a 9x13-inch baking pan following the directions on the box using water, oil and eggs. Cool completely.

2 If you can’t find super-mini marshmallows (Mallow Bits), chop the mini marshmallows in small batches with a clean, sharp knife until each piece is about the size of a pea.

3 When the cake is cool, gently crumble the cake into a large bowl using your hands. Make sure there are no large chunks of cake. Mix 1 cup of the marshmallows and ½ cup of nut topping into the crumbled cake. Spoon dollops of the frosting into the cake and mix it up using a large spoon just until mixed in.

4 Roll the cake into 1½-inch balls between the palms of your hands and arrange the balls on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Freeze for at least two hours.

5 While your cake pops are chilling, use a lollipop stick to make 12 holes, about 2 inches apart, halfway down into each of the Styrofoam blocks. This is where your pops will set up.

6 When the dough balls have chilled, pour the cocoa candy melts into a microwaveable glass or ceramic bowl. Heat them for 1 minute on high, and then stir them until smooth. If the candy melts are not completely melted, pop them back in the microwave for another 15 to 30 seconds, and gently stir.

7 To coat the cake pops, take just a few balls out of the freezer at a time. Press a lollipop stick about

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halfway into one of the balls. Dip the ball into the candy and then swirl it up and out of the chocolate. Gently tap your hand on the side of the bowl so that the excess drips off. While the coating is still tacky, move the cake pop over an empty bowl and quickly press several marshmallows into the chocolate, then sprinkle chopped nuts over the chocolate while spinning the pop. The nuts that do not stick will fall into the empty bowl and you can use them again.

8 Use your finger to wipe away any excess candy

that may have dripped down the stick, then stick the pop into a hole in the block of Styrofoam. Repeat the process with the remaining pops. You may need to reheat the chocolate candy coating a couple more times during the coating process. Simply zap the coating in the microwave on high for 20 to 30 seconds and gently stir before continuing with the coating. Place the finished pops into the holes in the Styrofoam and keep them in your refrigerator until you are ready to eat them. After they are chilled you can also store the pops in bags in your freezer for several months.

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MILO’SFAMOUS SWEET TEA

4 Luzianne family size iced tea bags8 cups boiling water11�3 cups granulated sugar8 cups cold water

Milo Carlton opened the first Milo’s Hamburger Shop in Brirmingham, Alabama in 1946 serving hamburgers, pies and freshly brewed iced tea which customers would sweeten from a bowl of sugar on each table. But because of a sugar ration caused by the war, Milo was forced to do something no one had tried before: he took all the sugar bowls off of the tables and pre-sweetened the tea. When customers realized the tea was better than they could make themselves Milo’s Famous Sweet Tea became as popular as the food. In the late 80’s Milo’s began selling the Famous Sweet Tea in gallon jugs in grocery stores in the Birmingham area and it has been a growing successful product ever since, recently becoming a national brand. To duplicate a Southern sweet tea like this you absolutely must start with Southern tea bags, and that means Luzianne. This New Orleans tea company crafts its tea blend especially for iced tea and you will get the best clone of Southern-style sweet tea with this brand. If you can’t find Luzianne, you can still make great tea with Lipton Iced Tea Bags.

Difficulty: Easy

Yield: 1 gallon

Active Prep: 15 min.Inactive Prep: 2 hrs.

1 First-Time Hack

1 Bring 8 cups of water to a boil in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan over high heat.

2 When water is thoroughly boiling turn off the heat, add the tea bags and cover. Allow the tea to steep for exactly 15 minutes then remove the bags. Stir in sugar until it is dissolved.

3 Pour the cold water into a pitcher that holds 1 gallon.

4 Add the warm tea to the cold water and stir. Chill for several hours, until cold, before serving over ice.

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KOBE ICHIBANJAPANESE STEAKHOUSE

SHRIMP SAUCE

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons mayonnaise5 teaspoons lemon juice4 teaspoons granulated sugar2 tablespoons water1½ teaspoons soy sauce1 teaspoon paprika½ teaspoon garlic powder1�8 teaspoon ground black pepper

For years and years I’ve been hearing about a delicious shrimp sauce “at the Japanese steakhouses,” that is an amazing dipping sauce for seafood. A variety of Japanese steakhouses were named as having the best sauce, but it was the name “Kobe” that came up most often. The problem with this is that there are many unrelated Japanese Steakhouse across the country using the name “Kobe” so I had trouble tracking down the right sauce to hack. That is, until I had a speaking engagement in Orlando, Florida where I discovered an 11-unit chain in the Orlando/Tampa area called Kobe Ichiban. This “cook-in-front” hibachi steakhouse—which looked a lot like a Benihana—did indeed have the light orange creamy dipping sauce that everyone raved about. And they were right, it was fantastic. It was sweet and sour and salty and creamy, and it tasted amazing on the shrimp—as well as on everything else. But it didn’t seem like it would be too hard to reverse-engineer. So I poured some into some small plastic containers I had with me (always come prepared!), then popped them into a cooler for the long trip back to Las Vegas, where, in the underground lab, a clone for this much-requested sauce was finally acheived.

Difficulty: Easy

Yield: 1¼ cups

Active Prep: 5 min.Inactive Prep: 1 hr.

1 First-Time Hack

1 Whisk together all ingredients until smooth in a medium bowl. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.

2 Stir again before using as a dipping sauce for grilled or sautéed shrimp, seafood, and vegetables.

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CRACKER BARRELFRIED APPLES

3 golden delicious apples, unpeeled2 tablespoons unsalted butter½ cup apple juice¼ cup water2 teaspoons cornstarch

Cracker Barrel’s Fried Apples side dish have been a popular dish at the chain for years. So popular, in fact, that they sell jars of it in the gift shop. But no need to buy it there when a Top Secret Recipe will do the job. What makes this prep so nice is you don’t have to peel the apples. Just cook them with the peels on until the apples are tender just like the original, and they’re ready to eat. These are great by themselves or as a topping on ice cream. They are also used as the filling for the Baked Apple Dumplin clone recipe that follows.

Difficulty: Easy

Yield: 4 servings

Active Prep: 10 min.Inactive Prep: 20 min.

1 First-Time Hack

¼ cup light corn syrup2 tablespoons granulated sugar1�8 teaspoon ground cinnamon1�8 teaspoon ground allspice1�8 teaspoon salt

1 Without peeling the apples core them and slice them into 8 slices each, so that you have a total of 24 slices.

2 Melt butter in a 2 or 3 quart saucepan over medium heat. When the butter has melted add the sliced apples. Cook, while gently stirring the apples occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until you see some light browning on the apples.

3 Combine the apple juice and water in a small bowl or glass and stir in the cornstarch. Add this to the apples along with the remaining ingredients.

4 Cook apples for 8 to 10 minutes once they begin to simmer. Apples are done when they are tender but not mushy, and the sauce has thickened to a syrup.

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CRACKER BARRELBAKED APPLE DUMPLIN

CRUST12 ounces (2½ cups) all-purpose flour3 tablespoons granulated sugar1 teaspoon salt¾ cup cold unsalted butter¼ cup cold vegetable shortening¼ cold water1 egg yolk, beaten

STREUSEL TOPPING1�3 cup granulated sugar1�3 cup all-purpose flour¼ cup finely chopped pecans (chips)½ teaspoon baking powder

One of the best choices you will make in life is having this dish for dessert when you’re at Cracker Barrel. They call it a “Dumplin” but it’s really just your own little streusel-covered apple pie, served up hot in its own small baking dish with two scoops of vanilla bean ice cream on top, and drizzled with a warm apple/caramel sauce. Take a bite and you’ll notice the apples inside taste just like Cracker Barrel’s own Fried Apples side dish. So that’s what we’ll use here. Check out the previous recipe (page 11) for that secret formula and prepare to make two amazing small pies that will serve a total of four people.

Difficulty: Medium

Yield: 4 servings

Active Prep: 5 min.Inactive Prep: 2.5 hrs.

1 First-Time Hack

1�8 teaspoon salt3 tablespoons melted butter

APPLE FILLING1 batch from previous recipe for Cracker Barrel Fried Apples (on page 11)

APPLE TOPPING¼ cup Smucker’s Caramel Sundae Topping¼ cup apple cider

TO SERVE4 scoops vanilla bean ice cream

1 Make the crust by combining the flour with the sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Add the butter and shortening and combine with a pastry blender or large fork so that the fats are well distributed into the flour. The texture should be crumbly. Combine the beaten egg yolk with the water and pour it into the dough. Mix with a large spoon until you can bring the dough together into a ball with your hands. Flatten the dough into a thick disk, then wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it for a couple hours or overnight.

2 Make the streusel topping by combining the sugar, flour, pecans, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Pour the melted butter over the

mixture while stirring with a spoon until mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

3 Prepare the Cracker Barrel Fried Apples clone in the recipe on page 11. This is your filling.

4 When you are ready to assemble your mini pies, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. F.

5 Split the dough in half and roll out one half on a floured surface until about 1�8-inch thick. Use a knife to trim a piece of dough that would fill the bottom of a 12 ounce baking dish. Lightly grease the dish then lay the dough into the dish. Use your fingers to press it flush with the dish then use a

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sharp knife to trim off the excess dough so that the top edge of the dough is about flush with the top of the dish.

6 Spoon half of the apples (or whatever fits in your dish) into the dough add a little of the streusel on top of the apple filling then cover with another piece of dough. Trim so that the edge of the top piece of dough matches up with the top edge of the other piece and gently press them together. Repeat with the other dumplin, then bake them for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F or until the tops are light brown. Sprinkle a handful of the streusel topping of each dumplin,

then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and bake for another 17 to 22 minutes or until the tops are nicely browned.

7 Make the apple caramel sauce by combining the ingredients in a small bowl and microwaving for 1 minute or until thick.

8 Serve each Baked Apple Dumplin by adding two scoops of ice cream on top of each one, followed by a generous drizzling of the apple caramel sauce.

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GATORADEORANGE SPORTS DRINK

(from Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step)Difficulty: Easy

Yield: 64 ounces

Prep Time: 5 min.

1 First-Time Hack

Researchers at University of Florida’s College of Medicine developed Gatorade in 1965 when the head coach of the Florida Gators football team requested a specially designed drink that could replace lost fluids during hot weather games. With players pounding the new sports drink, the Gators went on to take their first Orange Bowl victory in 1967 against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. When the head coach of the Yellow Jackets was asked why his team lost, he said, “We didn’t have Gatorade. That made the difference.” Later that year, Gatorade became the official drink of the NFL. The secret to making Gatorade at home is not just about getting the flavor right but also about locating a simple source of the drink’s important supplemental ingredients, potassium and dextrose. Potassium (along with salt) replaces electrolytes that are lost when you sweat to ensure proper functioning of your brain and organs. I discovered that a good source of potassium is Morton’s salt substitute, which is made with potassium chloride. Most supermarkets should have it stocked near the salt. Dextrose, on the other hand, is a natural sugar that absorbs quickly into your body to restore glycogen in muscles lost during physical activity. Bodybuilders and athletes use it during and after games and workouts to speed up recovery and stimulate muscle growth. Luckily, I was able to find the perfect product that added just the right amount of dextrose to 64 ounces of water and that also came in the perfect orange flavor: Willy Wonka Pixy Stix. Find the large 1-ounce size in the giant plastic straw, and grab two. I found them online for 50 cents each. Dump everything here into a 64-ounce pitcher of water, stir to dissolve, and in just a few minutes you’ll have the same taste and energy benefits of one of the two original flavors of Gatorade, but at about half the price.

2 quarts (8 cups) water7 tablespoons granulated sugar2 1-ounce (1�3 cup total) orange-flavored Willy Wonka Pixy Stix ½ teaspoon citric acid (aka sour salt)¼ teaspoon orange-flavored unsweetened Kool-Aid powder¼ teaspoon unflavored gelatin1�8 teaspoon salt1�8 teaspoon Morton’s salt substitute (potassium chloride)

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Combine everything in a 2-quart pitcher and stir until all the solid ingredients have dissolved. Serve cold.

TIDBITS The orange-flavored version of Gatorade was one of just two flavors sold for almost twenty years. The other was lemon-lime. The University of Florida receives 20 percent of Gatorade sales every year which totals around $12 million annually.

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MRS. FIELDSCHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

(from Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step)

It was over 25 years ago that I received a copy of the infamous chain letter claiming to reveal the secret recipe for Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies. The letter, which has now become the stuff of legend, told a tall tale of a woman who had purchased the formula at a Mrs. Fields store, and included the recipe for mediocre cookies that tasted nothing like the brand-name version. The chain letter recipe was so widely shared across the country that the company was forced to post signs in all Mrs. Fields stores debunking the

letter’s claims. It was a big problem for the company since people who tried the recipe, without ever tasting the original cookies, thought the real Mrs. Fields Cookies must be as ordinary as those made with the recipe. The uproar over this "secret" letter made me realize how much home cooks hunger for famous copycat recipes, and that's when my ongoing adventure in food hacking began. This was the first recipe I made for the Top Secret Recipes series of books. Since then I have learned a lot about reverse-engineering famous foods. When I had the opportunity to visit Mrs. Fields headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2011 for my CMT show Top Secret Recipe, I was allowed to witness the company's cookie-making process in their own test kitchen, where I picked up several important tips and tricks to help me produce this improved clone version of the famous cookie. For the most accurate clone you’ll want to track down some Madagascar vanilla, high-quality chocolate chips (I like Guittard), and a 2½-inch ring mold or a can with both ends cut out for forming the dough into disks to be frozen.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 5 ounces (¾ cup) dark brown sugar, packed 5 ounces (¾ cup) granulated sugar 1½ teaspoons salt 2 large eggs 2 teaspoons Madagascar vanilla extract

14 ounces (2¾ cups) all-purpose bleached flour 1¼ teaspoons baking soda ½ teaspoon baking powder 1 12-ounce bag (about 2 cups) premium semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 Combine butter with sugars and salt in a large bowl using an electric mixer on high speed until it’s the consistency of peanut butter.

2 Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.

E Difficulty: Easy

Yield: 20 cookies

Active Prep: 15 min.Inactive Prep:1 hr. 20 min.

Improved Hack

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6 Preheat a convection oven to 300 degrees F (or a conventional oven to 325 degrees F). 7 When you are ready to make the cookies, flip over each of the frozen dough pucks onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheet (so that the smooth side of the pucks is on top) and bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until a couple of the cookies show slight browning around the edges. If using a conventional oven, rotate the sheet of cookies halfway through the cooking time.

8 When you take the cookies out of the oven immediately slide the parchment paper with the cookies on it off of the baking sheet onto your counter top to prevent further cooking. Allow the cookies to cool there for 5 to 10 minutes before handling.

3 In a separate large bowl combine the flour with the baking soda and the baking powder. Pour this dry mix into the wet stuff and mix until combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.

4 Use an ice cream scoop (or ¼ cup measure) to scoop out ¼ cup portions 2 to 3 inches apart on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.

5 Place a 2½-inch ring mold (or biscuit cutter, or empty 2½-inch diameter can with the ends cut out) over each portion of dough and press down on the dough with your fingers so that it is formed into a disk. Remove the mold while holding the dough down with the fingers of your other hand. Place the dough disks into your freezer for 1 hour or until the dough is frozen.

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McDONALD’SBIG MAC

(from Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step)Difficulty: Medium

Yield: 4 burgers

Active Prep: 20 min.Inactive Prep: 1 hr.

Improved Hack

In a cooking demonstration posted to YouTube in the summer of 2012, McDonald’s Canada, Inc. Executive Chef Dan Coudreaut shows us exactly how a Big Mac is made. Well, not exactly. He does make it clear that the recipe he is demonstrating in his home kitchen isn’t made with the exact same stuff McDonald’s uses. He says the ingredients in the Big Mac are “similar” to the type of items you “could buy at your local grocery store.” And Dan doesn’t give us any measurements. Oh what a tease you are, Dan. So, while this video did provide many clues as to how I could improve my twenty-five-year-old clone recipe for a Big Mac, there was still plenty of work to do. One thing I had to figure out was how to easily form the patties into the perfect size each time without having to track down a specialty baking ring. As I was looking at other objects that could do the trick I noticed that a large tuna can is the perfect size to shape the patty—and even better, we don’t need to open the can to use it! Just press the ground beef onto the top of the can to form perfect circles. In addition to this tip, the special sauce formula has been entirely re-hacked for the best Big Mac sauce clone ever published.

SAUCE2�3 cup mayonnaise1�3 cup sweet pickle relish2 teaspoons yellow mustard¾ teaspoon white vinegar½ teaspoon paprika¼ teaspoon garlic powder¼ teaspoon onion powder

14 ounces ground beef (20 percent fat)SaltPepper4 sesame seed hamburger buns, plus 4 additional heels (bottom bun)8 teaspoons finely minced white onion2 cups coarsely chopped iceberg lettuce4 slices American cheese8 to 12 dill pickle hamburger slices

YOU WILL ALSO NEED:12-ounce can of tuna (or other can with 4-inch diameter)

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1 Mix together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, then cover and chill the sauce until it’s needed.

2 Use a kitchen scale to measure out 1¾-ounce portions of the ground beef and form it into balls (or estimate making balls that are slightly bigger than golf balls). Press each ball of ground beef down flat onto the top of a 12-ounce tuna can with a 4-inch diameter. Invert the can to peel away the patties and arrange them on a wax paper-lined sheet pan. Cover the patties and place them into your freezer for one hour.

3 Pre-heat a griddle or large skillet to medium/low heat.

4 Slice a thin layer off of the bottom of each of the extra bun heels. These will be your center buns, or clubs.

5 Lightly brown the faces of all of the buns (both sides of the club) on the hot griddle or pan.

6 When the buns are browned, cook the beef patties on the hot griddle or pan for 2

to 3 minutes per side. Lightly sprinkle salt and pepper on each patty as they cook.

7 While the beef is cooking prepare each sandwich by spreading a couple teaspoons of sauce on the face of the bottom bun and on one side of the club bun.

8 Sprinkle about a teaspoon of onion on top of the sauce on each bun, followed by about ¼ cup of chopped lettuce.

9 Lay a slice of American cheese on the lettuce on the bottom bun, and 2 to 3 pickles on the lettuce on the club bun.

10 Arrange a beef patty on the cheese, and another one on the pickles, then place the club bun onto the bottom bun and top off the sandwich with the crown. Microwave on high for 15 seconds to warm and soften the buns as if the burger had been packed in a box.

TIDBITS The burgers McDonald’s uses for Big Macs are called 10-to-1 patties, which means that there are 10 patties in a pound, or 1.6 ounces each. For the purpose of this

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recipe I’ve rounded the weight up to a measurement that is more likely to register on all kitchen scales (1¾ ounces). If your sesame seed buns are large (McDonald’s buns are relatively small) you may even want to make your patties 2 ounces each and press down on them on the wax paper with your fingers after molding them to make the diameter even larger to fit your buns.