Midnight Snack

Anthony was hungry and wanted a delicious snack so I decided to make no bake cookies. I googled no bake cookies and Food Network's Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies was the first recipe that popped up. I clicked on it, and liked it, so I cooked it. I only agreed to make such a sugary fat-laden snack for Anthony on one condition, which he thought of himself, that is that he take the cookies to his labmates. Anthony and I both know that I do not need these cookies sitting around the house.

Futuristic Cookies

Today I tried something new. I made cookies without a recipe. While Anthony and I ate delicious said cookies, we discussed whether heating cookies without an oven via a laser was possible. First, he asked me if I thought it was possible. I replied, "probably, with some adapting. People manage to cook by all sorts of mediums such as ovens, stoves, and camp fires." I asked Anthony if he thought making cookies using a laser to heat them was realistic. He said that 3D printing cookies and somehow heating them with a laser is an idea. Anthony added that lasers might be more efficient than all the wasted heat in the oven. One cookie could be zapped at a time. I added that maybe there could be a sensor screen in the oven, and a grid of lasers. A computer could gather info from the sensor screen such as the number of cookies and their locations and then the lasers could shoot the cookies.

Ice Cream Sandwiches!

Ingredients:

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Whipped Topping

Ground Cloves

Store in the freezer.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

This evening Anthony and I weren't really hungry for dinner because we had both had Baozi for snacks late in the afternoon. I had been seeing recipes for chocolate chip oatmeal cookies all over my kitchen lately from the oatmeal container to the flour bags to the brown sugar bag. I finally broke down and made them. My baby likes chocolate. She moves around a lot in my tummy when I eat chocolate. So I decided we both would like the cookies, all I had to do was talk Anthony into the idea. That was a little work because he likes to eat healthy, and he's concerned that I eat healthy before I go into labor. Well, he finally succumbed, I think after I told him the baby likes chocolate. The recipe I ended up using was the one on the side of my Baker's Corner All-Purpose Flour bag.

As I mixed the dough I wondered if I am the only one that does quality control on the brown sugar, trying it over and over because it is so good, and the chocolate chips. Maybe it's just a pregnancy thing. Of course that is my regular habit with the chocolate chips but it was a new one with the brown sugar.

The cookies turned out really well. I'm surprised we have so many left. I thought I was eating the dough continuously, and the cookies.

After I made them I had the audacity to look online for the health benefits of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies! I had to laugh out loud when I found an article talking about just that. The source was http://www.harvardcommonpress.com/the-health-benefits-of-oatmeal-chocolate-cookies/. I found it most amusing that the name Harvard was in the title. It reminded me of when we were in China this past summer and I was playing quite the lawyer with Anthony trying to convince him of the health benefits of ice cream such as calcium!

Test Kitchen: Curried Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Today I opened up a test kitchen lab in my apartment. I shared play by play updates on Facebook. This post will kind of elaborate on my Facebook posts via pictures.

Facebook Post 1

Test Kitchen in progress. On the menu: Curried Chocolate Chip Cookies with Red Pepper Flakes, Curried Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bacon Pieces, Curried Chocolate Chip Cookies with Dried Cranberries! Which do you think will be the best flavor? I Googled Curried Chocolate Chip Cookies to see if it's been done before. I did actually see some recipes for Curried Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies, Curried Cardamon Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, etc. If you are feeling exceptionally daring, come on over and try a few. Help me decide which flavor is outstanding.

Facebook Post 2

Update 1: The Curried Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is amazing! (I just added 1 Tbsp curry powder 

to my batch.) Now to add the other test ingredients . . .

Facebook Post 3

Update 2: I put 3 Tbsp Cranberries, 2 Tbsp Bacon pieces, and 1 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes in their respective bowls. Wow, those red pepper flakes pack a punch. The 3 cookie doughs taste good.

I made two rows of each flavor on each pan that I baked.

Facebook Post 4

Update 3: Cookies out of the oven!!! Warm, soft, melt-in-your-mouth ooey-gooey curried chocolate chip cookies:) As we had predicted, Anthony's favorites were the ones with cranberries. My favorites were the ones with bacon. The bacon added a nice, slight chewiness, and a subtle meaty flavor.

  

Hearty Hunky Chunky Peanut Butter Cookies

I have seen some random monster cookie recipes on Pinterest with everything except the kitchen sink in them, including but not limited to everything from trail mix, chocolate, M&M's, peanut butter, pretzels, oats, and bananas. I asked Anthony if he wanted me to try making some cookies similar to Monster cookies or if he wanted classic chocolate chip. He said I should try the ones with everything in them. He did specify however to leave out the bananas. I raided the cupboards for cookie worthy goodies. And here is what I threw together, without a mixer, and without measuring spoons. Sometimes, those are just not my style. Okay, a lot of the time.

I used the recipe on the back of the chocolate chunks bag to gauge my wet to dry ratios for all of my customized ingredients. I also cut the ratios in half because we did not need too many cookies.

Instead of regular butter, I used peanut butter. Instead of brown and white sugar, I just used brown.

Instead of flour, baking soda, and salt, I used part instant oats and part self-rising flour. Instead of the typical pecans or walnuts, I used MauiWowi trail mix (macadamia nuts, dried cranberries, dried pineapples, etc.) and cocktail peanuts. I also threw in an extra egg for more protein, and so that the dough appeared to be more the right consistency.

Delicious. Anthony could hardly stop eating them!