Lime and coconut….

Sounds like a tropical party! Lime just adds the perfect amount of zest and fragrance to cookies, I LOVE it! I just never seem to have any limes in my house. However, last thursday I had two juicy limes in my house just begging to be used up. I made these Lime, Coconut, and White Chocolate oatmeal cookies and brought them for my last day on the Coronary Care Unit (CCU). They were gone by noon, it was crazy! Everyone highly approved…so you should make them too some time =)

Lime Coconut and White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (the recipe is copied into my little recipe binder and I have no idea where I originally got it…oops!)

1/2 C brown sugar
2/3 C white sugar
1/2 C unsalted butter – room temp
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
zest of 1-2 limes ( I just used 1…zesting is hard!)
couple drops of fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 C AP flour
1 1/4 C oats
~ 3/4 C coconut
~ 1 C white chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit.

Cream butter with the sugars. Then add the egg and vanilla. Finally, add lime zest and juice, mixing briefly.

In a seperate bowl, combine salt, baking powder, baking soda, and flour. Add this to the wet ingredients, mixing just until blended. Then add oats, chocolate, and coconut.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes. I made 36 cookies.

What the world needs now…is cookies, sweet cookies.

This past weekend, I was on friday/sunday call. Now, for those people who don’t know what that means…it means that I was working in the hospital, from 8 AM Friday morning, to 11 AM Saturday morning. I got one hour of sleep. And then…back to work Sunday 8 AM to 11 AM Monday morning. Needless to say, I was a little sleep deprived, and a whole lot of grumpy. So to offset the grumpiness, I made cookies after my nap on saturday afternoon. And yum, these cookies were good!!

I brought them to work and shared them with the nurses on sunday, and my team on monday. Unfortunately, the original recipe called for peanut butter chips, which I thought I had…but didn’t actually. So I substituted and put in toffee chips and more chocolate chips! Delicious variation, though I may try to original way with pb chips eventually.

Chewy Brownie Peanut Butter Chip Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour (I substituted for 1 C whole wheat, 1 C all-purpose)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar (I used about 2/3 cup sugar)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups combo of chocolate chips and peanut butter chips*or chopped up peanut butter cups (I used 1/2 cup of toffee chips, and 1 cup of combo of chopped dark chocolate and chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. With the mixer on low, beat in the flour mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary, and continue to beat until all of the dry mix has been incorporated. Do this slowly to avoid dusting your kitchen with flour and cocoa. Stir in chocolate/toffee by hand.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheet (dough balls were a bit larger than 1 inch in diameter). Leave about 2 to 3-inches between cookies to allow for spread.
Bake for 9-11 minutes, until cookies are set at the edges and tops are slightly cracked looking. Cool on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.
Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Makes about 4 dozen. (I got 46 cookies)

DELICIOUS!

Just add milk.

Chocolate is my biggest downfall. Well, chocolate and peanut butter. And tortilla chips. And ice cream of course. Oh dear, you can’t forget CUPCAKES!

…Okay, fine, chocolate is one of my biggest downfalls.

Joff left a box of those seashell chocolates in my Lloydminster house a week ago and they have slowly but steadily been dwindling in numbers. I snatch one before I go back to clinic in the afternoon as a “boost”. I sneak one before dinner to “tide me over”. I’ll have one at night to “appease my sweet tooth”. You get the idea. So I decided I had to get rid of them.

And cookies are a perfect way to get rid of them This is a simple, one-pot recipe, which is GREAT. The fewer the dishes the better! Instead of chocolate chips, I used a cup of the seashell chocolates, chopped up, and topped it up with about 1/3 cup of chocolate chips. This might be my go-to cookie recipe in the future, so yummy and easy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from twopeasandtheirpod.com)

1/2 C unsalted butter
1/2 C firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup your choice of chocolate

1 – Heat the oven to 350 degrees (180 C). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment (I lined one baking sheet, but didn’t line the others)
2 – Put the butter in a medium saucepan and set over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted. Slide the pan from the heat and add the brown sugar and granulated sugar. Whisk until no lumps remain. Set aside to let cool, about 5 minutes.
3 – In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk until well blended. Once the butter mixture has cooled, add the egg and vanilla and whisk until blended. Pour in the flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4 – Using a tablespoon, drop dough onto the prepared cookie sheets, arranging them about 1 1/2 inches (4cm) apart.
5 – Bake 1 sheet at a time (make sure to use a cooled sheet for the second batch until the cookies are light golden around the edges and puffed, about 11-12 minutes. If these cookies are over baked, the won’t come out chewy. Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Using a spatula, lift the cookies from the sheet onto a rack and let cool completely.

Makes 26 cookies.

The day before the real world begins

Tomorrow is the first day of clerkship. It seems like a momentous occasion, but I start with Pediatrics Emergency and I don’t have a shift until Tuesday night (midnight to 8 AM!)…so all I have tomorrow is an Orientation in the morning. I have no idea what to expect, and I have no idea what I should be doing to prepare myself!

…So I decided baking was as good a way as any. Right?

Apple Pie
I had a craving for apple pie. Nothing else would satisfy it. So my friend and I made apple pie for a BBQ. Let me tell you, rolling out that dough was quite a workout! I think I deserved a big slice after all that work I did. The calories even out in the end, right?

The filling came from The Hummingbird Bakery, which my friend brought over. The crust came from an old recipe of my mom’s that I am too lazy to go dig out right now =) I don’t think I made it quite the same as she did…more practice with pies will be necessary to perfect the technique, I believe! I’ll just post pictures. We used the leftover crust to make a mini-blueberry pie.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Two Peas and Their Pod)
These cookies are QUITE tasty, especially when fresh out of the oven. They were more of a cakey-like consistency, and I think I personally prefer the more chewy-type…but they definitely hit the spot when paired with the delicious Rutherford Rose tea my friend’s mom got out for us. mmm…tea….

Ingredients:
2 sticks of good unsalted butter.
1 cup of white Sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
3 Eggs
2-3 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2-3 Cups flour (I used 3)
Bag of quality chocolate chips. (I used 1/3 chopped Callebaut dark chocolate, Callebaut white chocolate, and milk chocolate chips – I’d probably use even more next time)

1. Cream together for at least 5 minutes. (I creamed it good and long.) It takes at least 5 minutes sometimes more depending on the temp of the butter.
2. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well.
3. Add flour. Mix well. If needed add an additional 1/4 cup of flour but not too much (I didn’t add any more flour). Once the chips are in you can’t mix for too long so any flour you add may not get mixed in completely.
4. Bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes depending on size of cookie. We got about 51 cookies! Yummy!!

Turtle Brownies (From Martha Stewart)
* FOR THE BROWNIES
* 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
* 3 ounces good-quality unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 1/4 cup whole milk
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* FOR THE TOPPING
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/3 cup heavy cream
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans (about 4 ounches)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a buttered 8-inch square baking dish with foil or parchment paper, allowing a 2-inch overhang. Butter lining (excluding overhang); set aside.
2. Make batter: Put chocolate and butter in a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; stir until melted. Let cool slightly.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in another medium bowl; set aside.
4. Put sugar and eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture, milk, and vanilla, and mix until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until well combined.
5. Pour batter into prepared dish. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of brownies comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, 27 to 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
6. Make topping: Bring 1/3 cup water and the sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. When mixture comes to a boil, stop stirring, and wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Continue to cook, swirling pan occasionally, until medium amber, 5 to 7 minutes.
7. Remove from heat, and immediately add cream,vanilla, and salt. Gently stir with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula until smooth. Add pecans; stir until caramel begins to cool and thickens slightly, about 1 minute.

8. Pour caramel over cool brownies; spread with an offset spatula. Refrigerate until cold, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
9. Let brownies stand at room temperature at least 15 minutes before serving. Lift out, and cut into 16 squares, wiping knife with a hot, damp cloth between each cut. Brownies can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 2 days.

DELICIOUS!!!!