Mint Chip Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

I've posted about reverse chocolate chip cookies that I made. Well, around November or December I bought peppermint extract for a recipe that failed, and decided I needed to put it to use.

Then, around the same time, our best friends in Israel asked us for some mint chips. My dad was going to Israel and we always bring them tons of stuff from the US. Their daughter, Moran, and I were born one month apart, and both our parents were Israelis living in the states. She was one of my bridesmaids. here she is on the left at my shower with Eden:

and here she is getting ready for the wedding:

Okay tangent aside. Actually wait. I realized that I was out of the daily blogging habit during all the wedding events and realized I owe all of you some catchup posts. Look forward to posts such as creative ideas, emergency lists, how to keep yourself organized, etc.

Tangent aside for real - back to COOKIES! Well, this last visit, they asked for 6 bags of mint chips. No problem I thought, I've used those before!

Well, for some reason, I couldn't find mint chips at Vons (safeway), Smith's, Fresh and Easy, Whole Foods, or Trader Jos. Since Charlie I are amazon prime members, I bought about a dozen bags of these and they delivered 1-2 days later. 

With this begin said, this recipe calls for these. So go buy some of these, and while you're at it, order some cinnamon ones too! I like the guittard brand - a bag of 6 on amazon is under $20.

So with about 6 bags leftover, I had to use these chips, and my peppermint extract. And here go some yummy, chocolaty, minty cookies!

Ingredients:

-1 bag of mint chips (you can vary amount)

-1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (I use hershey's)

-1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract (it's strong, a little goes a long way)

-2 sticks butter

-1 cup brown sugar

-1/2 cup white sugar

-1 egg

-1 tablespoon of milk

-1 teaspoon of salt

-1 teaspoon of baking soda

-2 1/4 cups of bread four

I made these during a cookie baking spree with some other cookies, so here are the ingredients exclusively for this recipe:

Instructions:

1. Cream butter, sugars, and cocoa powder in a mixer on low. Add peppermint extract, egg and milk and stir to combine.

2. Mix salt, soda, and flour together, and add in batches and mix until just combined. 

3. Add mint chips and stir with a metal spoon to combine.

4. Using a size 40 scoop, scoop into mini muffin tin sheets, and refrigerate them.

5. After they have been refrigerated for 1 hour at the least (a few hours or overnight is better, but cover with tinfoil), bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. You can bake them in the mini muffin sheets, or take them out onto cookie sheets. They hold their form well, so if you want them to be more cookie shaped, use a greased fork to press them down.

Here is how they look when they were baked in the mini muffin sheets:

Here is from a cookie sheet:

And here is when I have them as a midnight snack!!

PS - I am writing this from my bedroom and two of the dogs were cuddling with me. When I looked back, it was teeny little Lee and Maya, not Odge and Maya! I feel a bit betrayed by Odge, but am so weirded out that it's Lee! He never cuddles - he always "guards" the house from the couch looking out the window, right outside my room. Maybe Odge bleached his hair white? Weird.

Shabbat Shalom, ya'll!

Reverse chocolate chip cookies

I was taking a bit of a blog hiatus just because I've been wedding planning and taking care of lots of odds and ends at the house with Charlie (who came back less than a week ago and already accomplished so much, hurrah!).

I made these cookies last night and HAD to post. I suspect I'll have about 32 posts in 3 days because I have all these back logs of pictures to upload. And stories too.

Since I made my grandma's brownies (I will post the recipe soon and you will never be able to eat a different brownie again without pouting)...well since making my grandmas brownies, I've been enjoying the thought of using cocoa powder in everything (chill anyone?). Why not my "OMG cookies" with some chocolate in the dough?


(sidenote, I made a regular batch as well and they just didn't turn out right for some reason. I think maybe the dough didn't cool enough. I guess even I can screw up my own cookie sometime!)

I had a bag of white chocolate chips in the pantry (note to self, buy more of these to have around). I thought it would be better to have white chocolate chips in the chocolate cookie. The result was AMAZING. Charlie had 4, and he's been doing so good with being healthy. Whoops!

Recipe (modified from original omg cookie)
Ingredients:
-2 sticks of room temp butter (or just melt it in the microwave if you're in a rush)
-1 1/4 cups brown sugar
-1/4 cup white sugar
-5 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder (I buy the Hersheys brand)
-1 egg and 1 yolk
-2 tbs milk
-1/2 tbs vanilla
-1 tsp kosher salt
-1 tsp baking soda
-2 1/4 cups of bread flour (remember, bread flour! important)
-2 cups (about one package) of white chocolate chips (I used nestle tollhouse but store brand would work too)

Directions:
1. Put the butter, brown and white sugar, and cocoa in a mixing bowl and use a hand mixer to mix together.
2. Add in the egg and yolk, vanilla, and milk, and mix to combine.
3. Add the salt, soda, and flour, one cup at a time, combining between each cup of flour.
4. Add the white chocolate chips and use a spatula or spoon to mix the batter together.
5. Refrigerate for at least one hour, but more would be better. Use a 1.5 ounce scoop (3 tbs), to scoop out the batter on to cookie trays, and bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

Let them cool just long enough to not burn your tongue, and watch as your fiancé eats four.

citrus butter jam cookies

I attempted a new cookie recipe. They were good. Maybe a B- compared to the A+ OMG cookies. But I mean, most food is a b- compared to those.

After making the lemon-poppy cookies, I was excited at the idea to make another citrus cookie.

I googled it and found a few different ideas, and decided to make up my own recipe. (probably why it was a b-).

After I had my dough, I decided to make a jam cookie out of it. The dough was not sweet raw, you won't really want to lick the batter. Once cooked, it's yummy though, and the jam makes it great. I just need to find a better flour ratio and this will be much better!



I don't want to post an exact recipe just yet because they are not perfected, but here is a rough idea.

Basic butter cookie recipe (these are less sweet and "harder" than sugar cookies).
Try this recipe. Or this one.

-Omit vanilla and other liquids besides butter
-Add zest of one lime, one lemon, and one orange.

-Add juice of half lime, 1/4 lemon, 1/4 orange

Mix all together, and let sit overnight so it hardens.


Using a teaspoon, scoop dough and roll into balls using your palms. Place on an un-greased cookie sheet.

Use your thumb to make an indent in each ball:


Then scoop your jam of choice into the middle.


My "niece" Hannah helped.

These are best if you freeze for about an hour before baking.

I baked at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Pat's daughter Sandy lives in the house she grew up in, and they still have the same oven. We had to preheat - I had never actually seen this before and was excited:


The cookies came out not as structured as I wanted them to, but still yummy in your tummy:

Lemon-Poppy Cookies

Craving: a recipe that will get rid of extra poppy seeds

Hi again. Sorry for the lack of posts - no readily available wi-fi is killing me! I am staying at the Marriott in Atlanta right now for a conference and I paid to get this wi-fi. But this recipe is so worth the $12.95 in wi-fi fees. I know you will love it!

A week and a half ago Charlie and I stayed at his parents' for the weekend and I got kitchen access (I posted this enchilada recipe from that weekend). For dinner one of the nights I decided to make Mom's strawberry-spinach salad, but they had no poppy or sesame seeds. I could only find a larger containenor of poppy's at the store, so I had to make up a poppy recipe to use them!

My thought? Cookies of course!

First let me start by saying that I made about 100 batches of my OMG cookies, and in a few of them I used butterscotch chips instead of chocolate chips. I now call those OMFG cookies. Try it.

I thought I could tweak this recipe to make a lemon poppy cookie recipe of similar texture but different flavor. The result was SO good, and some of the folk there claimed these were their favorite of all the cookies I had made!

Lemon-Poppy Cookies


Ingredients:
-Juice of 1 lemon
-zest of 2 lemons (you will have a naked lemon in your fridge, it will last just fine)
-1 egg and 1 yolk
-2 sticks of salted butter at room temperature (or unsalted, and add 1 tsp kosher salt)
-2 tsp vanilla
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1 tbs and 1 tsp poppy seeds (this is 4 tsp)
-2 cups of bread flour
-1/4 cup all purpose flour

Directions:
1. Cream butter, brown sugar, and sugar using a hand mixer on medium.


2. Zest your lemons. Add zest, juice, vanilla, egg and yolk, and poppy seeds. Mix until combined.













3. Add dry ingredients (flour, baking soda). Mix until combined.




4. Refrigerate at least 1 hour (up to 24 hours - after that, seal and freeze it).

5. Scoop onto cookie sheets using a 1.5 ounce (3 tbs) scoop. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, rotating halfway through cooking time and moving from top to bottom and vice versa.

Let cool - cookies will look a little raw in the middle while hot, but will harden.
Cooking time may need adjustment based on oven temperatures.

O.M.G. Cookies

I have posted the recipe for these before here when I first got the recipe from Ilana, but have very slightly modified them. I also have made these so many times by now that most people associate me with them!

The key to these cookies in order of importance:
1. Bread Flour
2. Refrigerating the dough
3. Browning the butter
4. Bread Flour
5. Bread Flour
6. Okay, whole wheat Bread Flour works too, but only bread flour!

These cookies come out big and thick and chewy, and stay moist and delicious for days.

My friend, Becca told me "I think you need to change the name of the OMG cookies to "D***it cookies" because that's what you say after you scarf them down and not even realize how many you had.

Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
-2 sticks of unsalted butter
-2 1/4 cups of bread flour (the last batch I made I used whole wheat bread flour from winco, it worked almost as well)
-1 teaspoon kosher salt
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 1/4 cups brown sugar
-1 egg
-1 egg yolk (I have omitted this when I ran out of eggs once and they came out fine)
-2 tbs milk (I have used all sorts of milk - they all work)
-1/2 tbs vanilla
-2 cups chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet)

Directions:
-Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium/low heat for 10 minutes, or until the foam has subsided. Stir every few minutes to ensure that it does not burn. Remove from burner and let cool completely.
-Add the sugar and brown sugar to the cooled brown butter, cream on medium speed with a hand or stand mixer. Add the egg and yolk, milk, and vanilla, and mix until combined.
-Add the salt, baking soda, and 1/4 of the flour. Mix until combined. Keep adding the flour 1/4 cup at a time.
-Add the chocolate chips and mix together.
-Refrigerate for AT LEAST one hour. Over night is fine too. I have frozen the dough as well.
-Using a 1.5 oz scoop, scoop onto baking sheets, about 6 cookies per sheet. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes (rotating halfway through baking, and switching oven racks). Ovens may vary - the cookies should be soft but cooked through, and slightly brown at the edges.

Once cool, put in an airtight container. The ones that are left that is!

Perfect Saturday

We woke up early compared to our schedule lately, at around 715 and went to hike at Red Rock. We met one of the spouses Nikki and her pit/lab mix. We did a bit over an hour hike. I HATE going downhill especially when it's climbing. Im such a baby. I also had a runny nose because of the weather and didn't bring tissues. I felt so high maintenance, but then Charlie did point out that I sounded like I have a cold (I don't, just wind/allergies etc). I was so proud of myself hiking w/no breaks. I know it's not nearly as intense as Masada but that was a wake up call to start stair climbing and it helped!

We went over to my parent's house to hang out for a bit and decided to go to brunch. My dad goes to sweet tomatoes every weekend and really wanted to go but I was starving from the hike and wanted breakfast as did Charlie so we convinced him. We told him we'd go tomorrow. We went to the griddle in the vons shopping center and it was eh. Not totally impressed w/the menu. I would have rather gone to babycakes!

We noticed a new boba shop so my mom and I went in and when we came out this is how we found our men:

Twins! So cute.

Mom and I went to my house while the boys did boy stuff (probably broke something on the computer) and we discussed some details for the summer (she'll be visiting etc etc) and spoke about some other mommy/daughter stuff and then made a menu for tonight. The Sals are moving so we invited them for dinner along with Adina and Rick and my parents' 80 year old Japanese neighbor whose husband passed at NINETY-EIGHT! Amazing. What amazing people that my parents think to invite her. My mom said she was so pleased and asked what she could bring, and my mom said anything she wants, she doesn't have to, so she's bringing sushi! Note: invite her to my house too, it's a mitzvah.

I baked my famous Ilana Shapiro cookies (well my cookies now since I only make that recipe!) and took a batch over to Sheila at the front gate. Mom is giving one to someone and I am bringing the others to Jaren's tonight - she and Jessi and I are making posters for Roger and Joe's return. Roger comes home on Wednesday and I think Joe has about 3 weeks (hopefully!). Here are some of the cookies:


If you haven't made these before, please reference this recipe. They are perfection. Big and chewy and just yum. The secret is a, you have to have bread flour, and b, you have to refrigerate them for at least an hour before you pop them in the oven!

Dad dropped Charlie off and took the dogs to their house (he missed them) and then sent me this picture of Odgie cuddling with "squirrel". Squirrel is actually a stuffed dog (that is totally disgusting) that Odge has had since I was in college or something like that. The picture was really unclear and dark so I didn't instagram it, I DOUBLE instagrammed it. That's right!


Okay Jessi is here and I'm being totally rude and finishing this. Plus I need to wake up Charlie and make my pizza from the pizza dough I made. Reports on that later, and the recipe I made up if it's a success.

Pre-risen

Ilana Shapiro's cookie recipe

The day we got engaged I went over to Ilana's house for Israeli dancing right after - my mom had to drive me I was so jittery. We were dancing up a storm and Ilana made these cookies. They were huge and thick and chewy. So So SOOOO good. Here is her recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 2 sticks unsalted butter

• 2 1/4 cups bread flour

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 egg yolk

• 2 tablespoons milk

• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

3. Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips (or whatever you want to add in).

4. Chill the dough for at least an hour, then scoop onto baking sheets ( Ilana uses a 1.5 oz scoop) , 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes at 375 or until golden brown, checking the cookies every few minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. This makes around 20 cookies...and they are big and thick. Enjoy!!

Modification - I made them a smaller the second time around because they were going to serve a lot of people, (I hosted a DG bbq at our house - by the way, our neighbor across the street is a dg alum!). I reduced the cooking time to about 10 minutes, and they came out really good, but a tiny bit browned at the bottom, so if you are going to make "normal sized cookies" I would suggest 8 or so minutes. They come out so good though when they are thick (they are chewy either way).

Enjoy!!!

a bit of cooking

A few weeks ago I decided to utilize our 'engagement" herb garden. A lot of the herbs had died from it just being too darn hot, but since I cut all the dead leaves off, and used a lot of the good ones, they have now grown back quickly and are staying nice and green! 

Above is the basil I was able to use. I made a pesto and marinated some chicken. It's in the freezer still - will use for a big batch of weekend cooking at some point.

This is the curry plant. A lot of it had dried up from the heat. I used this with some tikka paste and chicken broth and chicken in the crock pot. It came out spicy and delicious, and lasted us FOREVER. The last bit of it I served over pasta and mixed goat cheese into the sauce. Yum!

A week and a half ago we had the Schlossbergs over for Shabbat dinner. Remy was my student in 8th grade and she is now in 10th grade, and I still have a very close relationship with her. This year they have taken in a girl named Noa who is a junior in high shcool from a reform jewish community in Israel that my synagogue sponsored to come as a student ambassador for four months. I wanted to make an Israeli dinner so I had a specialty bread made that you always get in Jerusalem and eat with zaatar, I made cheese bourekas, served Israeli pickles and olives, fresh pita, and we had rice and "ktzitzot". Ktzitzot are basically "patties" of anything, and they are usually about the size of a meatball, but flat. They can be meat (usually) but you can also do turkey or chicken (what I usually do) and you can make them with anything! You can shred up vegetables and bind it with egg, coat it in breadcrumbs and pan fry it, and it's a ktzitza! I made two different kinds. 

In the left bowl is a packet of very lean turkey meat, a small bit of lean beef, an onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, and ketchup. You basically mix it all up in a food processor, add salt and stir it in (if you put salt in the food processor it can dull the blade), let it sit for a bit in the fridge, and then form it into small meatball sized patties, and pan fry it. 

On the right, I have ground chicken, peanut butter, fresh ginger, cilantro, green onion, an egg, and panko breadcrumbs. I had made these once before and they turned out good, but I used too much peanut butter this time and they came out dry. I also should have added some soy sauce or some liquid to the mix. Any suggestions? I mixed up the two ktitzot with sauce for leftovers though and this one was fine. The other was great!

I don't really bake besides cheesecake (although I have recently discovered Ilana Shapiro's cookie recipe, and they are the best cookies in the world - seriously, they are). I've wanted to make a peanut butter cheesecake for forever so I did! It was Gail's birthday, and Anthony/Jess were arriving later that night for the weekend and it was Jess's birthday, so I made two cakes. This was what was remaining - plain cheesecake (that came out too lemony for plain, but not lemony enough for lemon), and peanut butter cheesecake.

We had a great time having a few drinks with Anthony and Jess when they came in, and the next day we went to a huge breakfast together (Charlie completed a dish that was on man vs food). We both had stuff to do that day, but that evening we joined them at Fleur for Jess's birthday dinner. It was great to finally meet them and I can't wait to go to their wedding in Antigua next month!!!

Here is some homemade chocolate yogurt that I made about 5 weeks ago. 

I made this the same exact way I made the regular yogurt which I have referenced before, but I used chocolate milk instead. At the end of draining, I added a a teaspoon of vanilla, and splenda to taste (don't remember how much). It was SO good. I had a bowl one night and gave Charlie a bite, and he literally just took it away from me and ate it like he hadn't had a meal in days! I made another batch about a week ago and something didn't work - I even tried to restart it and it just failed. I think the milk was getting old and it only works with fresh milk. I'll try again and report - it was so good!