Friday, April 3, 2020

Small batch chocolate chip cookies

Is everyone else carbo-loading their way through this lockdown? Baking is a great learning tool for my toddler, keeps us occupied for awhile, and keeps us flush with comfort foods. Can you be sad about being stuck in your house while you’re shoveling warm chocolate chip cookies into your mouth? I think not. 


The problem I always have with recipes is that I am feeding two people, and one of us is 3, so it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for us to make a batch of 40 cookies. For these cookies, I modified this recipe and ended up with a dozen cookies. It was perfect for our family!

7 tbsp butter, just melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla 
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar 
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 

Beat together butter, sugars, vanilla, and vinegar. Add egg yolk and beat again. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat it. Stir in chocolate chips. Roll into balls. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown. Eat warm for best results. 




*edited to add: at room temperature, these are reminiscent of Mrs Fields chocolate chip cookies, so you really can’t go wrong when eating them. You’re welcome. 

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Coconut Macaroons

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These are macarons.



This is Macron. (photo credit)



These are macaroons.




They're basically what would happen if a meringue and a coconut got it on. 


My three year old loved making them because egg whites are f*cking magical. He then loved eating them because they're light and fluffy and essentially melt in your mouth. Recipe here, followed exactly. I rarely cook from cookbooks anymore, but this one is a gem. Many of my cookies come from here, although I have found a gingerbread recipe I like better elsewhere.

Freezer enchiladas

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Let me start by saying, I felt like such a badass today! I simultaneously made dinner and prepped freezer enchiladas... with a baby! While on Corona-lockdown! 

Okay, now that that's out of the way. Freezer enchiladas. Pictures coming soon.

Shredded chicken
Enchilada sauce (I prefer green, but that's just me)
Cheese
Tortillas

Pop open your enchilada sauce. Pour a little sauce in the bottom of your pan and also mix a little bit into the chicken. Spread some chicken along the middle of a tortilla (just like you would for a burrito, but pretty much to the ends). Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Roll up like a burrito, but with the ends open. Put in saucy pan with the seam down or to the side so it won't unroll. Repeat. Once all of your enchiladas are nestled together in the pan, pour more sauce over the top. Sprinkle with more shredded cheese. 

For immediate consumption: bake for 15 minutes at 400° then broil for about 5 minutes to crisp up the cheese on top.

To freeze for later: wrap with plastic wrap and aluminum foil, pushing them close to the surface of the food to remove as much air as possible. Defrost in the fridge before eating, then follow the directions above.

I usually make a batch of these in my favorite 8x8 Pyrex pan that has its very own lid (love!) to eat right away, but I REALLY needed to cook the ground beef that was in the fridge. Ya know?