I love you, chocolate chip cookies.

Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and I mean like right there at the intersection. So what are you going to do? Flowers? Candy? Movie? All of those are great ideas, and I personally think that the three should make it into your Valentine's Day. But what about those of us who don't live near a theater, or who's sleep deprived and busy lives have us totally exhausted and needing Valentine's Day to be an 'in house' experience. I have just the thing. The BEST chocolate chip cookies. EVER. Chocolate chip cookies radiate love and a dearness that just claims your never ending affection towards your ones and onlys. There is nothing more satisfying than watching your loves eat warm and gooey chocolate chip cookies.

This BEST EVER chocolate chip cookie has you melting the butter and adding lots of vanilla. I think those are the key to having these cookies go from good to excellent. This recipe is from Cooks Illustrated, and I am thankful that they have scientifically tested this particular cookie. It is a long story, but to sum it up, melted butter makes for a chewy cookie. When butter is melted, the fat and water molecules separate. When melted butter is added to a dough, the proteins in the flour immediately grab onto the freed water molecules to form elastic strands of gluten. The gluten makes an cookie chewy.

Yeah, science is cool. Anyway, here's the recipe. It will keep your loved ones close. To further the kind act of home baked cookies, you could sandwich delicious ice cream between two cookies and maybe a slather of hot fudge sauce. Just an idea. Show the LOVE!!


Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons unbleached all -purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1- 11/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips to taste.

Roll about 1/4 cup of dough into a ball. Place on a nonstick baking sheet, spacing them about 2 1/2 inches apart.

Bake until the cookies are light golden brown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, about 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time. Cool and enjoy! Belly up!!

Charred Grapefruit & Avocado Salad

I'll be the first to admit that I used to think there was not much joy in a salad recipe. But this recipe is more about using produce that is looking good this time of year, exciting cooking techniques, and ingredients that made it to Organic Gardening's 9 best foods to eat in January. What are those 9 besties? Grapefruit came in as number one, followed in hot pursuit by beets, brussel sprouts, turkey, cauliflower, pumpkin seeds, avocados, eggs, and yogurt. For more info on why these 9 contenders should make it to your plate, check out Organic Gardening's webpage.

I'm focusing on grapefruit and avocado today. The health benefits are amazing! Grapefruit is not only good for your nose and your ticker, but it's vitamin 'C' content has been found to reduce cold symptoms by 23%, and we could all use a cold fighting boost right about now! Avocados are rich in magnesium and monounsaturated fats which provide a more sustained form of energy than the quick burning carbs that folks tend to crave this time of year. Having sustained energy levels will keep your mood elevated too. Pair these two power foods together and prepare to conquer, or just be better equipped to face the day.

This salad is easy and requires just a bit of prep time. As a base, I used a blend of chopped kale, romaine, and beet greens. Use whatever greens you have on hand. I topped the salad with a good amount of avocado and grapefruit, tossed it all together with a scallion vinaigrette, and topped it off with some pumpkin seeds ( they are rich in magnesium which helps your body convert tryptophan into serotonin). The charred grapefruit flavor comes from a burnt citrus salt that lends a smoky and bright flavor.


Charred Grapefruit & Avocado Salad
serves 4

8 cups chopped greens- romaine, kale, butter lettuce, beet greens, or whatever you have
2 avocados- halved, pitted, and sliced
2 grapefruit- peeled and segmented (to segment a grapefruit simply cut eat slice between the membrane leaving you with the tender and juicy grapefruit segments)
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted and sprinkled with burnt citrus salt
scallion vinaigrette
burnt citrus salt

Toss the greens with a liberal amount of scallion vinaigrette. Divide dressed greens amongst four plates. Top each pile of greens with about half of a sliced avocado and half of a segmented grapefruit. Top each salad with 2 Tablespoons of toasted pumpkin seeds. Drizzle with a bit more scallion vinaigrette and sprinkle each salad with burnt citrus salt. This would also make a wonderful entrée topped with a portion of grilled salmon. Enjoy! Belly up!!


Scallion Vinaigrette
6 scallions, pale and dark green parts only, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
3 Tablespoons sherry vinegar (you could sub apple cider vinegar)
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon water
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped

Whirl the above ingredients together in a blender or food processor until blended well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. This vinaigrette tastes fantastic on grilled fish and vegetables too!


Burnt Citrus Salt
Use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest from 1 lime and 1 grapefruit. Place zest side up on an aluminum lined baking sheet fitted with a rack. Using a blowtorch, torch zest until lightly charred. Let cool. mince, and stir into 1 cup flaked sea salt. Store at room temp up to 1 month. This recipe and other burnt food ideas are from Saveur. It turns out I'm not the only one who likes burnt toast, burnt marshmallows, and burnt bbq bits!

Gingerbread Cookies

I know. I know. Another cookie recipe? I told you about my obsession with making cookies around the holidays, and so I just decided that I would revel in my cookie enthusiasm instead of trying to fight it. With the holidays comes joy, and joy is often found in cookies. There is nothing that I enjoy more than dipping gingerbread men in a hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning. It seems naughty. Or nice? Either way, I can't help myself. The spices of the gingerbread, the dark roast steeped in my French press, and the morbid act of dismembering cookie folks in the darkness of dawn creates this blissful memory. This is how December mornings should be. No matter how sleep deprived, living this memory makes the world right. And so I share with you, my beloved gingerbread cookie recipe, for which to tempt your own holiday memories.

This recipe has been modified from its original in Cooks Illustrated. These cookies are chewy and full of robust ginger flavor!

Gingerbread Cookies

2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or just use unbleached flour)
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 Tablespoons butter, softened but cool and cut into 12 pieces
3/4 cup molasses
2 Tablespoons milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Mix on low speed until combined. Stop the mixer, and add the butter pieces, and mix at medium- low speed until the mixture is sandy and resembles fine meal, about 1 1/2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low, and with the mixer running, slowly add the molasses and milk, and mix until the dough is evenly moistened, about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium and mix until thoroughly combined, about 10 more seconds.

Scrape the dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Cover the dough with another sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap, and roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Place the rolled out dough- still between the layers of parchment or plastic, on a cookie sheet, and freeze until firm- 15 to 20 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350. Remove the dough sheets from the freezer and cut into desired shapes. Place the cut outs on another baking sheet, and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until the outsides begin the brown slightly and the cookie seems set. Do not over bake. Allow cookies to cool. Dip into a hot cup of coffee early in the morning, or alternately frost and decorate the cookies.

Chewy Gooey Hot Chocolate Cookies

There is something about Christmas that turns me into a manic cookie maker. Cookies of all shapes and flavors come pouring out of the kitchen, and end up in the hands of teachers, coworkers, neighbors, and friends. Cookies are sort of like payments to enhance friendships, rejuvenate bonds between kin folks, and bribe the neighbors. You had a crappy day- here's some espresso shortbreads. Can you borrow me a bale of straw- please stuff your face with these gingerbread reindeer. Your car is stuck in a snow bank because the icy road you drive everyday has you wondering if you're on an episode of ice road truckers- please have some hot chocolate cookies. Yes, I'll fetch you a glass of milk.

Hot chocolate has warmed the souls of many a skier, ice climber, dog musher, and snowman maker. Warm, liquid chocolate adorned with melty marshmallows....the perfect ending to a hard day of snow play. I stumbled upon this cookie recipe on another food blog called, 'Fork, Knife, and Swoon' (super great name!). Laura, the creator, has plenty of fabulous holiday recipes if you are in need of a little inspiration! Hot Chocolate Cookies are not only the work of a master mind, but they are also flourless and full of chocolate. What's not to love?!

My husband photo bombed my cookie batter!

Chewy Gooey Hot Chocolate Cookies

3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp espresso powder (optional)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 egg whites
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
large marshmallows

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, espresso powder, salt and cinnamon and mix together until well combined.

In a separate bowl whisk together the egg whites and the egg yolk until light and fluffy and very well mixed together. Stir the eggs into the dry ingredients until combined. It may seem dry and stiff at first, but it all comes together in the end. Fold in the vanilla and the chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter in heaping tablespoons, onto a parchment lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 8 minutes, or until the cookies begin to puff and crackle. Then top each cookie with a marshmallow and bake an additional 2 minutes, or until the marshmallow puffs and begins to melt.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool 5 minutes. Transfer to a baking rack to cool completely. Serve warm and gooey to your dearests. Store leftovers in an air tight container. Belly up!!

Chewy Gooey Hot Chocolate Cookies

Chorizo & Cornbread Stuffing

I love Holidays, especially those that are geared towards eating and celebrating our gratitude! This Thanksgiving we have a lot to be thankful for. We are pleased to announce the arrival of the newest member of the family- our 2 week old, bright eyed daughter, Mavis Amellia! Girl power rocks our house as my eldest daughter prepares to teach Mavis all of her tricks, um... I mean skills. I am so thankful for my family! Without them, I wouldn't be where I am today, and I am in a really good place!

As much as I love to cook the entire Thanksgiving meal (the turkey, the sides, the pies- oh my!!), you should know that usually Thanksgiving is a collaboration of efforts. It's a gathering of skills, and my families best recipes, compiled into a magnificent feast. It's the greatest thing ever! We've got Mom's cranberry relish, Addie's famous drop biscuits, Jeremy's dreamy green bean hot dish, Geri's legendary dressing, and HAM from one of our trophy pigs. Ok, our pigs were not actually judged by anyone but myself, and I think they are trophy winners. And yes I said HAM! Maple and spiced glazed to be exact. But if you want some turkey pointers, here's a few:

~Brine the bird. Unless you don't have the refrigerator space to do so. The bird does best sitting in the brine overnight, and that needs to happen in the fridge. You can make your brine as complex as you'd like, but a simple ratio to start with is 1 gallon of water with one cup of salt and one cup of sugar dissolved into it.

~Food & Wine magazine highlights Alex Pope and his Kansas City store called The Local Pig. There Alex tells of his favorite way to roast a turkey; with pepperoni tucked underneath the skin. I think this is a marvelous idea!!

~Roast the turkey, breast side down, for the first hour of roasting time. This has the juices flowing into the breast, adding extra moisture to those sometimes dry turkey breasts.

I have been over thinking my side dish choices, and maybe it's because the center stage will be pork, but also because I just can't choose! There are too many delicious things to be eaten in one day!! How much can I cram into one meal! Uff-da!! I know for certain that I will be making stuffing. One cannot go through Thanksgiving without stuffing! It's mandatory! So this year it will be cornbread stuffing with spicy chorizo! I have to admit, that I can't commit to making the same stuffing recipe each year. There are just too many flavor varieties that need to be created. This year I'm combining the sweet and toasty corn flavor of cornbread with spicy chorizo. Delicious!! If you'd like more side dish ideas, I have a slew scattered in my past blog posts. May I suggest these posts:

~Mom's Cranberry Relish, ~Eat your way thru Thanksgiving, ~Chorizo & Sweet Potato Hash, ~Turkey & Kale & Wild Rice Soup, ~Root Vegetable & Turkey Stew, and ~Pumpkin Pie.


CHORIZO & CORNBREAD STUFFING

Olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
salt
1 pound spicy sausage (I used chorizo), casing removed, broken into bite sized pieces
3 cloves garlic
10 sage leaves, finely chopped
3 sprigs rosemary, leaves finely chopped
5 cups stale sourdough bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
5 cups stale cornbread, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cups dried cranberries- optional
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup cream

Preheat the oven to 350.

Coat a large sauté pan with olive oil, add the onions and celery and sauté over medium heat. Season with salt and cook until the veggies start to become translucent and aromatic. Add the sausage and cook until the sausage begins to brown. Stir in the garlic and sauté another 1 to 2 minutes. Add the herbs and cook for another minute, then remove form the heat.

In a large bowl mix together the cornbread, sourdough bread, cranberries, and the sausage mixture. Add the chicken stock and the cream and mix together with your hands until the breads are very moist. Taste to check for seasonings and season with salt if needed before transferring to an oven proof dish.

Bake the stuffing until it is hot all the way through and is crusty on the top, about 30 to 35 minutes. I like a lot of crust on the top, so I lean towards 35 to 40 minutes in the oven. STUFFING GOODNESS!! Belly up!!

Carrot Top Pesto

The carrots out of my garden are coming of age. They are beautiful and have the brightest green tops. I often feel slightly wasteful throwing the tops aside. They are very nutritious, and I keep thinking that there has to be something great that those carrot tops can aspire to.  Not one to leave random thoughts about carrots tops alone, I decided to make a pesto. The flavor of the leaves are earthy, with a slight parsley flavor. It's not a knock your socks off flavor, like fresh basil would lend to pesto, so I decided to make the pesto a little lighter on the green side, and with a bit more of everything else.




Carrot Top Pesto


1/2 cup toasted pecans


1/2 cup Parmesan cheese ( I actually didn't have Parmesan on hand, so I used this really awesome cheese from Carr Valley called Caso Bolo Manage. It's a blend of sheep, goat, and cow's milk and it has a really fabulous flavor!)


1 large clove of garlic


1 large bunch of carrot tops, leaves only, discard the stems


1/2 cup olive oil


salt and black pepper to taste


Blend all of the ingredients together in a food processor. Blend it thoroughly to make sure you've really pulverized the carrot top leaves. Add more olive oil if needed to help it blend really well. I served a dollop over roasted root veggies for dinner the other night, and it was great! Use as you would regular pesto. Belly up!!

Crabapple Butter with Whiskey & GInger

There is this small and ugly tree in my front yard. For the last two years, I have been thinking about cutting it down. It has been an unidentifiable tree- who knows what it could be. This year, this silly little tree is showcasing branches full of crimson crabapples. Who knew? My daughter and I tasted the crabapples, and sure enough, they delivered that tart flavor that makes your mouth want to instantly reject it. Now that the temps have been low and frost is sneaking in, the tartness has lessened. Perfect time for picking and making some crabapple butter!


I wanted to make a recipe that involved a slow cooker or some may call it a crock pot. I think I have now spent more of my adult life in rural living than urban living, and so with rural life in the mid-west, you must utilize a crock pot. I am still learning to embrace this phenomenon, but I know that good things come with cooking low and slow.


What you'll need to start is a peck of crabapples. This loosely translates into about 13 pounds. You could substitute other tart apples if you can't get your hands on any crabapples.  I use whiskey and ginger and a bit of vanilla and cinnamon to spice up this butter. Rosemary or sage would be good if you wanted to create a more savory butter to slather on say a grilled cheese sandwich or a pork chop. Serve your crab apple butter on a cheese plate, on waffles, on a P.B.&J.! Unlimited possibilities....




Crabapple Butter with Whiskey and Ginger


A peck of crabapples (about 13 pounds)
2 Tbls ground cinnamon
2 Tbls vanilla extract
1/2 cup whiskey- I used Jameson
1/4 cup fresh grated ginger
1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
1/2 cup brown sugar (more or less depending on the tartness of the apples)


Core and halve the crabapples. I leave the skin on- it adds to the color and the flavor.


Place the crabapples in a stock pot with enough water to cover the bottom of the pot- about 2 cups. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the apples are softened through.


Using an immersion blender or a food processor, process the apples until you can now longer see chunks of skin and you have a fairly even consistency of pureed crabapples. Place the pureed crabapples into your crock pot on low. Add the remaining ingredients.


At this point, you are just looking to reduce the crabapple mixture into a lovely, thick butter which could take about 6 hours in a crock pot on low. It's okay, your house will smell fantastic! The color will turn a dark reddish brown, and you should be able to taste all of those flavors like the ginger and the cinnamon and whiskey. Keep tasting your butter as the hours pass by. Some crabapples may require more sweetener, so just adjust it as you seem fit. Feel free to adjust the spices as well.


At this point you could can your crabapple butter. I like to can half, and refrigerate half for immediate use. Share with your friends and enjoy! Belly up!!