Tag: Cookies

Cookie Monster

CarrieLeave a comment

Here’s an easy way to make a small tot happy. Surprise them with a cookie monster. Simply cut a cookie in two and put a layer of frosting between the two halves. Then pipe two dots of frosting onto the top half and place chocolate chips in the center for the eyes. Insert chocolate chips around the outer edge for a mouth. Now you have a friendly cookie monster for your little one.

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Getting on the Bandwagon

Sadie1 Comment

So I’m not sure about you, but I keep stumbling upon pictures of Miley Cyrus out and about everywhere.  Miley is obviously a celebrity at this point, but I’m not 100% why.  She earned her celebrity status in a traditional manner through nepotism and a television show, but what has she done lately?

Though she’s young and I’m sure she has a lot ahead of her in her career, right now she reminds me a little of people like Jessica Simpson.  Yes she was a popular singer at one point.  Yes she successfully transformed that into several brands and business ventures.  Why exactly do the paparazzi follow her around now?

Anywho, confusion aside, Miley has recently been happy to endorse the option of going gluten-free.  I find this option extremely appealing, but seemingly impossible to practice.  While I do believe it would be beneficial to my digestive system, I would hate to put what seems like an extreme amount of effort into meal planning.  Especially since I don’t feel I have severe medical reasons for doing so.

But then I saw this decadent recipe from Martha, and gluten-free never seemed so delicious:

Flourless Double Chocolate Pecan Cookies (Gluten Free)

From Martha

Yields about 12 depending on size

Ingredients

  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 5 oz. chopped bittersweet baking chocolate
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (I also saw a version in her magazine with macadamia nuts)
  • 4 egg whites (room temp, FYI baking with egg whites only works with real eggs, not egg whites from a carton)

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 325.
  2. Combine sugar, cocoa, salt, chocolate, and pecans.  Stir until mixture is uniform.
  3. Add egg whites to mixture and stir to make sure mixture is wet throughout, but try not to over mix.
  4. Drop dough as flat discs on parchment lined baking sheets.  The cookies will expand slightly in the oven.  Bake for 25 minutes.  The cookies will look dry and cracked when they’re done.

I enjoyed these because they an intense chocolate flavor and because of the egg whites they have a meringue-like consistency to them.

Double Trouble

Sadie1 Comment

What do you know about Hartford, Connecticut?  My answer is: not much.  Which is interesting because that is where I am spending the summer.  I got a great summer internship in Hartford, so I had the fun task of finding a place to live for 10 weeks.  I hate apartment hunting, I seem to do it too often.  This is my 6th apartment since college, which doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but I had my five year college reunion this year.  That means I average less than a year in each apartment (not to mention a few stretches at the parents house between places).  At this point I can move with the best of them.

Pack the apartment? easy.

Cancel my utilities and start the new utilities?  no problem.

Deal with the cabel guy(s)? with pleasure.

Forward my mail? duh.

Change addresses for everything important? no sweat.

Hand over the old keys and get the new keys? ok.

Corral my brothers to do the heavy lifting and UHaul driving?  I’m going to need back up:

Dark Chocolate Cookies with Espresso

From Martha

Yields about 2 dozen (maybe less)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs at room temp
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 Tbs espresso powder
  • 8 oz bittersweet chocolate (4 oz to melt, and 4 oz to chop)

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Sift together dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt), and set aside.
  3. Cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer.  Add eggs and vanilla.
  4. Add espresso powder to melted chocolate and combine with wet mixture.  Make sure the chocolate is not too warm because it will cook the eggs.  Combine slowly and keep mixing to avoid this problem.  Slowly add in dry mixture.  Finally, fold in chopped chocolate.
  5. Spoon dough onto parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Remove cookies and allow to cool.

I’ve concluded that there is no such thing as an “easy move,” and my brothers will be in bad mood reguardless of the baked goods provided.  But these are certainly a step in the right direction and a much needed shot of sugar/chocolate/energy, during a long day of moving.

Do you have any good tricks or advice to make a move easier?