January Secret Recipe Club: Chocolate Chip and Heath Bit Oatmeal Jumbles (Cookies)

Cookies!!

The end of January is upon us. It's the season of birthdays, and that calls for cookies! You all know how much I love cookies, so that is exactly what I went looking for when I got my January Secret Recipe Club assignment: Lavender and Lovage! Karen has a lovely blog filled with herbs, seasonal cooking, and fabulous photographs. Oddly, I've missed having to make crazy conversions from American to European measurements now that I'm back in the States, so I was thrilled that her measurements were in grams. Of course, then I proceeded to break out Bender's scale for measuring hops and measured everything in grams instead of converting. Ah, the wonder that is my mind.

These cookies were delightful. I have changed a few things up from the original recipe, but that had more to do with my lack of all-purpose flour  and a hankering for toffee than anything else!

I used this baking opportunity as an excuse to break out my Christmas presents! 

Jumbles: Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Cookies
minimally adapted from Karen at Lavender and Lovage

Ingredients:

125g butter

75g caster sugar

75g soft brown sugar

1 large egg (beaten)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

125g all purpose flour

50g self-rising flour

50g oats

50g chocolate chips and/or heath bits

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375F. Grease and/or line two baking trays.
2. Gently melt the butter in a large saucepan and then take off the heat and add both the sugars, mix well before adding the rest of the ingredients, stirring them well.
3. Using a large spoon, scoop the mixture into small mounds on the prepared baking trays, making sure they are set well apart as they spread during baking.
4. Bake in pre-heated oven for 10 to 15 minutes until JUST golden brown and just firm, they firm up a lot on cooling.
5. Allow them to cool for 2 minutes on the tray before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Store in an airtight container for up to one week.

September Secret Recipe Club: Classic Foolproof Fudge

September is almost over. While I'm embracing fall completely, I'm going to the beach this weekend. Yep. That's right. I'm heading to the beach on Friday. Everyone else has made their summer vacations, but mine will start (and end) this weekend at the beach. It's why the recipe I chose for my Secret Recipe Club post fits perfectly this week!

I was assigned the blog Life and Kitchen, hosted by the fabulous Lindsay. Her blog is definitely for her fans, but it's mostly focused as a resource for her daughter when she grows older. Like a journal through the kitchen. Very fun.

Lindsay posted fudge earlier this month to say goodbye to summer, the beach, and vacation. I'm posting it to say hello. Though this recipe is ridiculously simple, I found myself playing the fool in this Classic Foolproof Fudge. That's right. I overcooked the chocolate. I used baking powder instead of baking soda. I used Kosher salt instead of table salt. And ya know what. It was still awesome. I managed to pull out about half of the baking powder and replace it with baking soda and the big flakes of salt actually improved the fudge and made it more of a salted chocolate. Awesome. So yes, this fudge is indeed, foolproof. 

Classic Foolproof Fudge

barely adapted from Lindsay at Life and Kitchen, originally from Cooks Illustrated

14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate (chopped fine)*
16 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Mix the chocolate with baking soda and salt. Add the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Melt the mixture in bowl over boiling water (or in double-boiler) until mostly melted. Stir frequently so as not to burn it. Take it off the heat and keep stirring until smooth. Pour into a greased baking pan and cool in the fridge for 2+ hours.

THOUGHTS:
*Okay, I need to tell you a story. A ganache story. The first time I made ganache I swore I'd never every make it again. I made ganache as an icing for Tabitha's birthday cake and painstakingly shaved every bit of chocolate. It took me two hours! Two hours! As I was complaining to her two days later (I couldn't complain about it the same day I served it to her!), she asked me why I used a knife instead of just throwing the chocolate into my food processor. I made up some excuse, probably saying I didn't want to dull the blades of my food processor. But honestly, it hadn't crossed my mind to use my mini food processor. The reason it took me so long is that I took the phrase "chopped finely" very seriously and made my chocolate pieces uber tiny. About a year later I had my mind blown when I watched a cooking show and saw someone actually make ganache. I don't remember who the host was, but their "chopped finely" in no way resembled my "chopped finely." Their pieces were way larger than the big Ghiradelli chocolate chips. Since then I have learned that chocolate will melt fairly easily, even if you don't get the pieces perfectly tiny. The moral of my story? Aim for chocolate chip size, but don't fret if your pieces are a little larger. 

As far as the recipe goes: Um, yes, please. I'll take more of that. Oh, and others too, yeah, they'll eat it!

VERDICT: 

Two-thumbs-up: 6 votes!

Secret Recipe Club: Ewwy Cashewy Chocolate Bark

Ewwy, cashewy, bacon bark

Secret Recipe Club is back, baby!

Don't worry, I'm not posting late for Secret Recipe Club, I just switch groups from B to D. Group B posted the same week as Daring Cooks and I found myself unable to complete both. When the opportunity presented itself, I opted to leave group B and try out D. And I'm very pleased with that decision. Want to join in the Secret Recipe Club fun where we cook, bake, blog and share? Head on over to the Secret Recipe Club!

Double Take: Crispy, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Crispy, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies served on a cake plate

Welcome to week two of the month: Featured Blogger week! For today's post, Tabitha and I not only picked a blogger, but a theme: COOKIES. (Make sure you read that word with a Cookie Monster accent) I adore cookies, but I tend to stick pretty faithfully to two recipes.

1. Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
2. Reese's Peanut Butter Chip Chocolate Cookies

They are both good cookies, though as we learned earlier, they don't always translate well with non-American ingredients. I have definitely become a fan of chilling my cookie dough and did so for this recipe as well.

Secret Recipe Club July 2011: Cheesecake Bars

Fresh blueberries and cheesecake? Patriotic yumminess!

One of the blogs I lurk on recently introduced me to the Secret Recipe Club. This club is composed of food bloggers who are interested in increasing exposure to their blogs and the blogs of others. I immediately signed up. Unlike the Daring Cooks challenges, everyone makes something different. Each month I will receive the name of a blog and will be required to make one recipe from that blog. But here’s the reason I joined so quickly: I can pick any recipe from their blog that I want to make. I normally hesitate about such things because Bender is a pretty picky eater. But if I can pick the recipe, I’m pretty certain I can find something that even he would like. Are you interested in joining our little club? If so, click here to fill out the form!

Double Take: David Lebovitz's Whole Lemon Bars

Are you ready for this?

I think I should rename this post: Not All Lemons Are Created Equal.

About six months after I started my job, one of my coworkers went on a Lemon Bar making binge. He wanted to find the perfect recipe that wasn’t too sweet, and had the right amount of tart. Perhaps binge is the wrong word since he only made two batches before giving up. I’d completely forgotten about it until 8 months later when I read David Lebovitz’s post on Whole Lemon Bars. David did go on a Lemon Bar making binge for us and came up with the perfect recipe. And since Tabitha loves lemon bars too, I knew we had to make this recipe.

Double Take: Key Lime Bars with Graham-Cracker Pistachio Crust

Key Lime Bars with Pistachio Graham-Cracker Crust
Photo courtesy of Holly Ballenger

Remember my disastrous lemon meringue pie? Remember the solution recipe I gave you? Well, take the delicious lemon pie, make it lime, put it in a different crust (rectangular rather than pie-shaped) and you get Lime Bars with Pistachio Graham-Cracker Crust. Many thanks to Culinary in the Country for bringing this recipe to my attention!

This recipe was so close to my lemon meringue pie recipe that I knew it had to be good. I've frequently turned my lemon meringue pies into key lime meringue pies, so I knew the lime would be perfect. And adding pistachios to the crust? Oh my. I love graham-cracker crusts, I love pistachios. Match made in heaven! And so darn easy to make! Just read the directions before you start or things will take longer than needed.

Things to remember before you start cooking:

1. You need to melt butter before you start!

2. The crust has to bake (8-12 min) and cool (30 min) before you put the filling together. 

Double Take: St. Patrick's Day

Dig in! You'll be pleased you did! 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!

I think I’m the only person in my office wearing green today. St. Patty’s Day is just not a big deal here. And that leads me to one of the things I like most about the US: we have everything. The people in the US are so culturally diverse that we take a little bit of this and a little bit of that and turn it into a magical mix of everything. I’ve heard some people say recently that the US is turning into a stew pot more than a melting pot, meaning that we’ve been stewing so long that everything in the pot tastes exactly the same. I beg to differ. Granted, we’ve put our own twist on most things, but I’m cool with that. Some days I can be a bit of a staunch purist, but when I step back from my high horse, I’m generally greeted by something so much better than the original. Like beer. But that’s a whole other post entirely. Expect that one when Bender starts brewing again. 

Double Take: Mississippi Mud Cake

A Sweet Ending to a Not-So-Sweet Week

Mississippi Mud Cake. 'Nuf said.

I did it again. I was away from my kitchen for a long time and the first opportunity I had to cook in it, we went out. You see, since the last post, our lives have been kinda crazy. Bender’s passport was stolen (Not intentionally, someone intentionally stole his bag, and his passport just happened to be in there.) so we had to make an emergency trip to the embassy to get a new one since we would be flying overseas in three days time. Amazingly, the embassy was incredibly nice to us even though we didn’t have a copy of his passport page, etc, etc, etc. Passports in hand, we boarded the plane Sunday, excited for our journey that we’d be looking forward to since we randomly planned it one night in September. We would be at our destination for five full days, and we had something planned to do all but one of those days. We’d use the fifth day to relax and revisit one of the four places. The first day, however, things did not go as planned. We woke up late so we decided to stay in town and go to a museum rather than venture out of town to see the popular landmark on the outskirts of town.

Double Take: Lemon Meringue Pie

What is it about the word meringue? For some reason, I just can’t spell it. Nicely my word processor has spell check so you don’t have to read three different versions of the word throughout the post, but that’s just one of the words with which I have major issues (Sandwich and lingerie also give me fits. Am I the only one who has trouble these words?).

Pretty on the outside! Tabitha and I had a long discussion about the beads on the meringue... some people like them, some people don't because they imply you rushed the cooling process. I say, do what makes you happy!

Daring Cooks Challenge: Soufflé

Slightly fallen but oh-so-delicious Hot Chocolate Soufflé

When I first saw the Daring Cooks Challenge for November, I was dismayed. My oven still isn't fixed and the hosts for this month made it clear that you had to use the oven. I told Bender what the challenge was, explained to him that our oven doesn't keep the correct temperature, and then he came up with a brilliant suggestion: Why don't you use someone else's oven? Duh. How dumb am I? Of course someone will let me use their oven if I promise him/her soufflé! 

Double Take: Fresh Peach Pie

Peaches! Peaches are loved here. Not quite as much as in nectarines or strawberries, but peaches are easy to come by when they are in season. They’ve been sweet and gorgeous this year. But when all the other blogs were posting about peach cobbler (with blueberries), Tabitha and I decided to make peach pie (without blueberries).

Just cut an X in the peach before you dip it in boiling water.

Double Take: Party-Perfect Strawberry Shortcakes

Surprise! I'm back! And with a recipe at that! 

We decided to take a short, three week summer break. I do hope you don't mind! My original intent was to deliver you with blogs on Sundays, but alas, the month without internet got me out of the habit of turning on my computer in the evenings. And my left hand got a much needed break from typing. I've been spending 8 hours on the computer at work daily for the last couple months, and my tendinitis has been flaring up. Thus, I've been feeling less inclined to type. But I'm back!

Daring Cooks Challenge: Nut Butters

When I saw the new challenge for this month, I wasn't quite sure how to react. The idea of making a nut butter has always been intriguing to me, but Hubby is not a huge fan of nut butters, so I wasn't sure how easily I'd be able to pull off the taste. But then I realized a holiday was near. And holidays means parties. Parties mean food. Plenty of food... which means I can make whatever I want on the side as long as Hubby has enough food. And oh boy, I went to town on this challenge.

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

Double Take: Key Lime Tarlets

"Key Limes! Pastry! I'm making it!" That was my reaction to reading the title to this week's Double Take: Key Lime Curd Tartlets. Yum. It just sounds good, doesn't it? How can you go wrong with these fabulous ingredients? Don't worry though, you can... just add water.

This recipe is also another one of those that is impossible to look up in the index: both tart and dessert leave you befuddled. I guess Pies and Pastries don't count as dessert. You can find this recipe on page 354 of the all-new ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, but I'm not sure why you'd bother. There have got to be better recipes out there.

The curd itself is relatively tasty and easy to make: combine butter, eggs, key lime juice (go for the bottled stuff, squeezing them yourself takes way too much time and effort), and butter. Heat until thickened, strain, stir in lime rind, chill 4-6 hours.

Tabitha and I failed to strain the curd (Did I mention we actually got to make this in the same country?! In the same kitchen?! At the same time?! Yipee!), but in the future I'll be straining my curds.

Super Amazing Brownies

Hubby and I both love brownies, and I started making them from scratch several years ago. I always used the Baker's One Bowl Brownie Recipe with great success, but when we moved to Germany, Baker's Chocolate was no longer an option. And unsweetened chocolate was no longer an option. I found some baking chocolate that is about 60% cocoa, and I made decent brownies with that by reducing the sugar in the recipe. But I'm an avid blog watcher, and my watching paid off.

In the bowl over the pan, just before the butter melts.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Heaven!

I never knew cookies could be so complicated.  


My family loves Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies.  We made them frequently, and they were made even better by the lovely  Mexican vanilla sent up to Georgia from family in Texas. The flavoring mingled perfectly with the Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Cookies were the one thing that I liked to make in the kitchen, though everyone raved over my younger brother's cookies.  Okay, that's not entirely true (my younger brother's cookies are great and still get raves), I also liked to make deviled eggs.  That is, until that time when I was 12, picked up the completed plate of eggs, turned around to move them to the table, and half of the eggs slid off the plate and landed yolk side down on the floor.  It was about then I threw in my kitchen towel until I moved out on my own.