Chocolate pecan cookies!!!

So I made cookies! I was trying to use this recipe:

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

But I didn’t have some of the ingredients. So I changed it almost entirely. Here was the result. They came out really well. Kinda cakey. Like most cookies that do not have eggs they tend to break up and fall all over while you eat them. But they are really tasty.

They could probably be easily done with margarine and some sort of vegan chips (carob or very dark chocolate) and be vegan (the dry milk is unimportant I think).

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup White All-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup Whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 T dry milk
• 1 3/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1 cup slightly crushed pecans
• 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

1. Sift together dries (flours, soda, baking powder, dry milk and cloves) and set aside.
2. Soften butter and cream in the sugars then mix in the juice, chocolate chips, nuts and vanilla. Stir well.
3. Mix in the flour mixture. It should be fairly stiff by the end so I sifted in the flour mixer slowly stirring as I went.

Posted in Cooking

Eggnog

I made a very successful batch of eggnog last night. I was really happy with it and it seems a lot of other people were too (there were many complements).

I based my recipe on the recipe at: http://256.com/gray/recipes/eggnog/. However I’ve made some significant changes I think so I’m gonna describe my recipe here.

Ingredients:

Eggs	8
Sugar	1 1/8 Cup
Spiced Rum	1 Cup
Whole Milk	2 Cups
Heavy Cream	3 Cups

Instructions:

1. Separate egg whites from yokes into 2 bowls.
2. Add half the sugar (1/2 cup) and then beat egg whites until they make soft mounds. Or beat the eggs and then add the sugar if you prefer.
3. Add half the sugar (1/2 cup + 1/8 cup) and then beat egg yokes or just mix them if you prefer.
4. Gently fold the yokes into the whites again. The direction is important. Add the yokes to the whites.
5. Fold the rum slowly into the eggs. Don’t stir too much as it can make the egg collapse.
6. Fold the milk in.
7. Fold half the cream (1 1/2 cup) into the mix.
8. Whip the other half of the cream so it makes soft mounds.
9. Fold the whipped cream into the mix.
10. Serve in small-ish mugs or glasses with a dash of nutmeg (fresh ground if possible) on top.

Notes:

The rum I used this year is Sailor Jerry Rum (92 proof). Last year I used Captain Morgan (70 proof), but I think the Sailor Jerry is better. Also there is only 1 cup of rum so the increased proof doesn’t increase the alcohol content of the result very much.

Other recipes for eggnog I have seen say to beat the egg whites and cream to make peaks but I think it’s easier and produces better results to just go for mounds because it mixes better with the other ingredients.

Posted in Cooking

Office recipe: Sweet potato with sweet butter sauce

This is the first of what may be a series of recipes designed to be made in the office with little or no cooking equipment. This one I did with a paper plate, a plastic knife and a microwave.

Ingredients:

• 1 uncooked sweet potato
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• a large dash of cinnamon and powdered ginger

What to do:

1. Before you leave home you can throw everything but the sweet potato together in a little microwave safe tupperware.
2. When lunch time comes, microwave the sweet potato and the container. Check the container every 30 seconds. When the butter melts remove the container. Leave the potato in for another 5 or 7 minutes until it’s soft in the middle.
3. Stir the melted butter and spices and sugar together.
4. When the potato is done, cut it in half and cut slits in each half and stir the butter again and pour it onto the potato.
5. Wait for it to cool and find a fork and then eat it.

I thought it was really good. But I should warn you I’ve only tried it once. Maybe I just got lucky.

Posted in Cooking