Monday, February 18, 2013

High on Sugar

Getting close to turning the corner on February, and I am doing OK

Winter forces me to stay inside too often, facing tasks I hate to even think about, no less do, trying to fill the day, moving, moving, going nowhere. Cook, I say to myself, create, fill the house with wonderful smells and the grayness of the day will go away. I open up the fridge and it is filled with food that I made days ago for the same reason. Ignoring this, I continue on my pursuit to accomplish something. Soup, I will make soup. It is hardy, perfect for winter and I have all the ingredients.  I have made so much soup this winter, hubby has been complaining.  He reminded me the other day that he still has his teeth and would love something to chew upon.  So I make cookies, lots of cookies.  I take a few dozen with me to work on Thursdays.  They are all grateful and that makes me feel so good that I go home and make more of them.  The oven is going constantly; butter, flour and sugar must be bought on a weekly basis and if the sun doesn't shine soon and I continue with this obsession, Weight Watchers will cancel my membership and burn my card. 

Today I made the most scrumptious chocolate chip cookies.  Hubby came across this recipe on Yahoo and it was submitted by Alison Roman.  Alison, dear Alison, we could become best friends, because your cookies were Divine.   Here are the ingredients for......... Ta Da............

 Delicious Salty Chocolate Chunk Cookies. 



1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 cup of butter, room temperature
3/4 cup of packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup of  powdered sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 large egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
8 ounces of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chunks
Sea salt

Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat at 375 degrees.  Whisk flour, baking powder, kosher salt, and baking soda in medium bowl and set aside.

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar, sugar and powered sugar until light and fluffy - 3 to 4 minutes.  Add egg yolks, egg and vanilla.  Beat, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl, until mixture is pale and fluffy, 4 - 5 minutes.  Reduce mixer speed to low, slowly add dry ingredients, mixing just to blend.  Fold in chocolate.

Spoon rounded tablespoonfuls of dough onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.  Sprinkle cookies with ground sea salt.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

This is what you get.



Chocolate and salt, a perfect food!

The recipe said you would get two dozen, but I got three dozen.  I made them small because:  1) a smaller cookies gives me less guilt, 2) there are more cookies to love.

They say the cloudy cold days will continue till at least Saturday so there will be more baking going on.  Although I know not to fool around with perfection, next time, when I make these cookies I will use almond extract instead of vanilla and add chopped walnuts.  Hubby will like the walnuts as then he will have something to chew.  Got to satisfy those choppers.



 

38 comments:

  1. Ah yes, cook, keep busy, eat soup. Must keep warm :)

    Yahoo, those cookies look good enough to eat from here. And soup, ah yes, some soup. Over here, we had it mild for about an hour or so. Now they are predicting bitterly cold weather and snow in Britain by mid-week.

    You and hubby enjoy those cookies!

    Gary :)

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  2. We're in the same boat, Arleen. I cannot stop eating chocolate. Since quitting smoking, I've eaten twice a day. I can't do that without gaining weight. And, I can't not have chocolate in winter. This year, chocolate has been riding in on many other things, like cookies and fudge and alcoholic drinks. And I can't stop cooking either. feh.

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    1. Chocolate is good for you Laura, smoking is not. So proud of you for quitting.

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  3. Between soups and chocolate cookies your kitchen must smell wonderful. On the bleakest days that aroma would place me halfway between Atlantis and Heaven. Promise me you'll only use this magic for Good.

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  4. We have soup every lunchtime. In fact 'lunch' in France is known as 'La Soupe'.

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    1. Dinner in my house lately is "La Chicken" or "La Soupe". Then again, La Chicken" often end up in "La Soupe" and become lunch.

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  5. Those cookies are mouth-watering! I want some! I'd write a longer comment, but I'm off to find something to eat ...

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  6. Totally agree with the weather and trying to find something to lift our spirits! Yep....cooking, baking, knitting and spinning. With some house cleaning and laundry thrown in. An occasional trip to the grocery store is the highlight of the week! My 30 minutes of fresh air! albeit....frigid.
    Have a great week.

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  7. The weather is grimy here, too, Grey, wet, cold. There will be soup tonight, but that's OK. My sister has quite the repertoire. Sometimes it's real, real comfort food, like mac and cheese or meat loaf and mashed potatoes. Damn, it's only nine in the morning; I need to stop the food thing and get to work and .

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  8. Those cookies look divine ! I'm trying to cut down right now, every now and again a few extra pounds finds it's way to my waistline without my permission, and I have to get rid !

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  9. Dear Arleen, thanks so much for sharing that recipe. My brother is leaving on Friday for an extended fishing trip and I'll make them for him.

    As to Weight Watchers: I keep losing and gaining, but the trajectory is downward so I have hopes of reaching my goal weight by my April birthday! Peace.

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    1. Dear Arleen, I made three dozen of the cookies and took your suggestion for adding walnuts and almond extract instead of vanilla. I ate one so as to know just how good they were and ended up eating five!!!!

      Then a neighbor came to help me after we had a 12" snowfall on Thursday and I gave him a thank-you dozen. So I had nineteen left for my brother and his fishing buddy. I expect that soon he'll call me from the fishing cabin to tell me what the two of them thought about the cookies and the coconut quick bread I baked for them.

      That recipe is truly wonderful--the salt and the chocolate, who would have known that would make such a great combination! Thanks for sharing the recipe. Peace.

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    2. I am glad you enjoyed them. I took a few dozen to the community center where I work and they were gobbled up quickly.

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    3. Dear Arleen, my brother and his two buddies called from their fishing cabin in Texas to tell me how delicious the cookies were! And my brother--despite the fact that he's been watching his weight so carefully--said that another batch wouldn't come amiss!!!! So thank you for this great recipe. Peace.

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  10. The cookies look delicious! Glad your hubby finally had something that he could really sink his teeth into!

    Julie

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  11. We are having similar weather in England at the moment but today was cold and sunny - my favourite!
    Your baking looks scrumptious. Baking is undergoing a huge revival here recently with loads of TV cookery series devoted soley to cakes and cookies (or biscuits as we call 'em).
    Click here for Bazza’s Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

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  12. The cold winter weather does tend to make me cook more as well. those cookies look delicious

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  13. A big pot of hearty homemade soup is one of the best things about cool weather. We still have a little bit of leftover chicken soup in the fridge, but I bought an extra large portion of sea bass at the market today, so I can use the leftovers to make seafood chowder. And extra spinach so we can have spinach soup next week.

    As for baking, those cookies sound good. At first, I was thinking... salt on top? Really? Then I remembered how much I like chocolate-covered pretzels. What I've been baking a lot of lately is cheesecake. Sugar-free. I used to be a bake-a-holic, but my hubby is diabetic, so I had to learn to control myself. But he always loved the cheesecakes I used to make, so I decided to try making one with Truvia for his birthday. (And then another... and another...) Believe it or not, they're scrumptious, and taste darned near as good as the full-fat, sugary ones. (Now my hubby seems to think it should be a staple...)

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    1. I have not made cheesecake in years. You are giving me ideas, Susan.

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  14. Hello Arleen:
    Fortunately we do not have a particularly sweet tooth and so can easily live without biscuits. However, where soups are concerned we positively love them and should be delighted to come over and eat any of your surplus! Happily, here in Hungary, soup appears on every menu both for lunch and for dinner.

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    1. Not only do I have a sweet tooth, I have 27 others that tell me to seek sugar. Alas, my wisdom teeth are long gone.

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  15. It is snowing and slippery underfoot today so a walk would not be pleasant. I'm going to give the house a good scrub instead. I usually avoid housework like the plague so I'm throwing evil looks towards the scene outside.

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  16. The cookies sound delicious, and good of you to add walnuts for your hubby.

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  17. Those cookies look super-yummy and sound scrumptious. I bet those walnuts made a good recipe, superb. :D

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