Clear-Out-The-Cupboard Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can count the days left in this house on one hand (ACK!) which also means, it's my job to use all the food left in the cupboards, or it gets thrown out. I have a full bag of Ghiradelli chocolate chips, and I WILL NOT throw those out. So, tonight I set out to make chocolate chip cookies.

Step 1: check your ingredients!

Flour, yes. White sugar, yes. Butter, yes (well, soy margarine). Baking soda, sort of (if we count the fridge box). Eggs, no. Brown sugar, no. Vanilla, no. Measuring cups and spoons, no. Baking sheet, no.

Step 2: gather substitutes!

Aluminum foil, silken tofu, maple syrup, snack-pac of unsweetened applesauce.

Step 3: go for it!

So, I preheated the oven to 350. I creamed one stick of Willow Run with what I estimated to be about 1/2 cup of white sugar. I was also without a mixing bowl, so this took place in a large tupperware container with a fork. When it was creamy (or, I was tired), I added what I estimated to be 1/4 cup of maple syrup. To me, the maple syrup replaced both the brown sugar and vanilla I was missing. Then I added in applesauce and a little silken tofu, to replace the egg. After combining this well, I added about 1 cup of flour, a tsp of baking soda, and some salt. Can't forget the Ghiradelli chips that started this whole process. At this point I crafted a cookie sheet out of 3 layers of aluminum foil and dropped teaspoon sized cookies onto the foil. I baked them for about 10 minutes, and let them cool slightly.

The result, actually, quite delicious. Good to know, because I have enough ingredients to do this again tomorrow. Who wants cookies?!?!

Added bonus, they are totally vegan!

Spice Up Your Life

A while back, about a month ago, my housemates and I threw a 90s party. We compiled a play list of over ten hours of awesome 90s music, gathered a bunch of friends dressed to the occasion, and had a backdrop of Clueless and Wayne's World looping on the muted TV. It was, I might say, a fantastic success. Of course, there needed to be some food for the occasion. I made "RED HOT CHILI PEPPER salsa" (which was just salsa from a jar put into a bowl and labeled), "REALITY two-BITE brownies" (which was nothing new or fancy), and "SPICE GIRL cookies", which were incredible. The recipe called for crystallized ginger, and that intrigued me. I was not wrong - were these ever delicious. I only wish I'd thought to make two batches and save one for the next day.

1/2 cup white sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 egg white

2 tablespoons dark corn syrup

3 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2 large cookie sheets. Cream the butter and sugar. Add egg white and corn syrup, mix until fluffy. Stir in the crystallized ginger. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger and cloves. Stir this into the egg mixture. When dough starts to come together, mix with your hands to form a smooth dough. Form dough into 1-inch balls and roll in white sugar. Place 2-inches apart on a cookie sheet, and press down with the bottom of a glass. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Halloween Cookies!

Well these turned out MUCH better than the soup I made earlier in the week! There's been a couple of Fridays now at work where I've brought in baked goods. I think both times it was brownies. . . anyway, earlier this week, one of my students said to me, "So Melanie, I was thinking, since Halloween is on Saturday you should maybe make some kind of Halloween treat for us on Friday!" Because I really like this student, I said, Yeah, okay, why not. While you can go all kinds of crazy with Halloween baking (see Jenni's future post that I'm already jealous of!) I decided that for a weekday thing, for just my students, I would go for something easy that makes a lot: COOKIES!

My initial thought was chocolate cookies with orange and brown M&Ms. I didn't see any orange and brown M&Ms at the grocery store though. What I DID see however was Reese's Pieces, and since those are already Halloween colors, I bought them. After all, chocolate and peanut butter together is NEVER a bad idea.

I found this decadent recipe online for Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies and substituted 1 1/2 cups Reese's pieces for the 2 cups of chocolate chips, and I didn't use any of the optional walnuts. The only slight snafu was that the dough was really thick. I made it in my stand mixer and decided when it came time to add the candy at the end that I would just toss them in there as well. Luckily I only started with one cup. I added them in, put the mixer on the lowest setting, "stir," and they got crushed! Of course this wouldn't effect the flavor but I wanted to see the orange and yellow in the dark cookie. So I mixed the remaining half cup by hand. Also, I ran out of Hershey's cocoa powder but luckily had Ghirardelli cocoa on hand as well. The Ghirardelli is Dutch Processed unsweetened cocoa, which is darker and richer than the regular kind (I think I wanted it for a marble cake and/or chocolate ice cream at some point and that's why I had it). I can't say I wouldn't use the Ghirardelli next time as well! Boy is it good.

To say that these cookies are delicious would be an understatement. And having them warm out of the oven? CHOCOLATE AND PEANUT BUTTER HEAVEN!!! :)

Christmas Baking Madness

I've been pretty busy over the past week or so, and most of my business has involved BAKING, so I figured I'd write about it! Of course we're all busy around this time, trying to find time for holiday cards, gift shopping, seeing your friends and family, etc. On top of this, throw in baking five different kinds of holiday treats, fighting with your dishwasher, breaking your only large microwave-safe mixing bowl, recital time kicking in, and you've got my week. Oh, did I mention the disco ball cake? That's another post. . .

Let me fill you in on the baking because that's probably the most exciting of the above list. Several years ago, Scott and I journeyed to the White Mountains' annual Inn to Inn Christmas Cookie Tour (yes, I said COOKIE TOUR!) We checked in to whichever Inn we were staying at for the weekend, and they gave us a map of all of the other Inns. We went around to each, via car, and it was really fantastic. They were all decked out for the holidays (haha, pun intended). There were Christmas trees, wreaths, Nutcrackers, and of course they also had two or three different signature COOKIES to sample! So my point is, a few of the cookies I've made for the holidays since this memorable trip have been from the little cook book that they give you at the Cookie Tour for FREE. It's nothing fancy on the outside, but it's really all about the little treasures inside. This year I'm making the Peppermint Crunch Cookies (thanks to the Tamworth Inn), Inn at Crystal Lake's Crystal Lake Everythings, and Lavender Flower Inn's Pecan Balls. My own personal additions will include sugar cookies, Jenni's two-bite brownies with my mom's brownie recipe, and my own simple creation of white chocolate bark with sliced almonds and dried cranberries. I'll take a picture once I have a Christmas tin of these assembled for your viewing pleasure! Happy two weeks before Christmas!