No Girl Scouts needed

Chocolate-Peppermint Snaps
The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion Copyright 2004

1 ½ cups unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons peppermint extract or 1/8 to ¼ teaspoon peppermint oil, to taste I used the extract
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment ) two baking sheets.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and peppermint extract.
Add the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt, beating to combine. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes, until they’re slightly darker around the edges. Remove them from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool.

Yield: 6 dozen cookies.
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I've made cookies that were very close to Thin Mints - rolled chocolate dough coated in chocolate mint but these cookies give you the same flavor with much less aggravation (that chocolate dough was a real bitch to work with). Anyone can make a basic chocolate chip cookie.

At least one person mentioned that this was the cookie he gravitated towards the most this year. I'm not sure if I'll make these again next year. They were delicious and easy but if I had the time and energy to do something a little more special, I would. This year, I was just looking for simple recipes to fill out my tins.

I thought I'd review my 2006 Culinary Resolutions and see what I accomplished and what I didn't. (Key: green = success and red = failure)

1. Make my own pizza dough. I make pizza dough almost every Friday in my bread machine.

2. Make something in a tart pan. I used it to make this Peach Crumble Tart.

3. Make something in a springform pan. I made a fantastic Cheesecake.

4. Smoke something in an electric smoker. It's still in the box.

5. Use my new bread machine at least 6 times, hopefully many more. I use it to make pizza dough every Friday and I've made bread a couple of times and dinner rolls once.

6. $100 spending limit on new cookbooks. Um, yeah. Didn' t happen.

7. Make homemade marshmallows. I though I might fit this one in but it doesn't look like I'll get to these.

8. Make jam. I didn't get to this. I'd still like to try canning but I realized that we don't really eat jam so there was no real motivation to make it. Pickles might be a better idea.

9. Make something with phyllo dough. I never got around to this. Next year.

10. Even out my categories a bit more. I still have too many main dish recipes and too few side dish recipes but I think I made a lot more appetizers and breads this year. I need another green so I'm going to say I accomplished this!

So I accomplished half my culinary resolutions. I'll just roll the ones I didn't accomplish over to next year (except for that $100 limit of cookbooks - who am I kidding?) I'll focus better next year. This year, most of the year was gone before I remembered that this list was out there.

Blast From The Past: Spicy Meatballs with Fiery Chili Sauce from earlier this month. I made them again last night. So good!

Question of the Day: Was 2006 a good year for you?

Detoxing

Chinese-Style Broccoli
The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook Copyright 2005

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon canola oil
1 ( 1 ½ pound) head broccoli, cut into florets (6 cups)
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Heat oil in a large wok or high-sided skillet over medium-high heat. Add broccoli and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add soy sauce, garlic and lemon juice; continue to stir-fry until broccoli is crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Makes 4 (1-cup) servings. Per serving: 80 calories, 5 g fat, 0 g sat fat, 7 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 300 mg sodium
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Christmas is over and I've never been more ready to get back to eating normal meals again. I don't think we've eaten many vegetables over the past two weeks, unless you count frozen french fries.

This recipe is so simple but left to my own devices, I probably would have added the soy sauce or the lemon juice, not both and adding both was a great move. That's why I love cooking from recipes - I find these simple little twists that I might never think of on my own.

Blast From The Past: Crumb-Coated Dijon Chicken from September 2006. That's what I served with the broccoli last night. I think that's one of my favorite chicken recipes.

Speaking of chicken, don't forget to enter this month's cookbook giveaway - you might win my favorite chicken cookbook.

Question of the Day: What are your plans for New Year's Eve?

Something savory for a change

Crispy Herbed Chicken
The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook Copyright 1999

1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup scraped, diced carrot
1/3 cup diced celery
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons dry white wine
1 ( 3 to 3 ½ pound) broiler-fryer
¼ cup butter or margarine, melted
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil I used dried, about 1 teaspoon
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano I used dried, about 1 teaspoon
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme I used dried, about 1 teaspoon
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Combine first 5 ingredients; toss gently. Set aside. Remove giblets and neck from chicken; reserve for another use. Rinse chicken; pat dry with paper towels. Lightly stuff body cavity with reserved vegetable mixture. If desired, tied ends of legs together with heavy string. Lift wingtips up and over back of chicken, tucking wingtips under chicken. Place chicken, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Combine butter and next 5 ingredients. Brush chicken with butter mixture. Roast at 365 degrees for 1 hour or until a meat thermometer inserted in thigh registers 180 degrees. Place chicken on serving platter.

Yield: 4 servings
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This was actually something I made a couple of weeks before Christmas. It's not all that exciting but at least it's not a sweet. It was very good but I prefer roasting chicken in pieces. It doesn't take as long and it's easier to tell when it's done.

I'm looking forward to getting back into the normal routine. I got one new cookbook for Christmas, a Rachael Ray book which is new for me and I think I'm going to like it.

I also got a couple new appliances - an iced tea maker and a juicer, much better than the electric grater that my husband bought me last year (I returned that). I don't know what he's thinking when he buys Christmas gifts sometimes but the ice tea maker was actually a good choice. I've never been very good at making my own iced tea and the store-bought ones are never quite right, sweetener-wise, for me but I do buy them every now and then. I prefer my iced tea with just a touch of artificial sweetener or not sweetened at all.

The juicer, I considered returning but I think I'll keep it. It doesn't take up much space and it will come in handy if I want to make sorbets or Italian ices this summer. I can't resist a cooking gadget. I would have kept the electric grater last week but I didn't think it would work that well, based on product reviews I found online.

Question of the Day: Did you get anything cooking related for Christmas?

There's more!

Cherry Drop Cookies
Southern Living Our Best Recipes Copyright 1970

½ cup butter or margarine I used butter
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almost extract
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 (8 ½-ounce) can crushed pineapple, well drained
½ cup chopped maraschino cherries
1 cup chopped pecans (optional) I omitted these

Blend the butter and cream cheese together. Gradually add sugar; cream well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flavorings. Add combined dry ingredients gradually; mix thoroughly. Stir in pineapple, chopped cherries, and pecans. Drop by large tablespoonfuls onto unoiled cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees F for 12 minutes. I used my small scoop, added a whole cherry on top and baked them on parchment paper. They didn't take as long to cook (I probably overbaked them but they were still good.)

Yield 2 dozen.
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Yep, more cookies. You didn't think you were going to see a dinner post today, did you? That may be a while. I'm not sure when I'll be able to afford groceries again, never mind have the energy to plan and prepare real meals.

I took this picture a couple of days after making these cookies, so the cherries weeped a bit but these were one of my favorite cookies this year personally. They were light in texture and I happen to love maraschino cherries in cookies.

BTW, in case you were wondering, almond extract is not made from almonds or any other nut. At least not McCormick's (there may be 'real' almond flavoring out there).

I still have a few loose ends to wrap up, Christmas-wise, but the most stressful part is over. It actually wrapped up pretty smoothly. That 'extra' day helped. I like Christmas on a Monday. Overall, I wasn't that happy with my baking this year. I had higher aspirations but in the end I just muddled through. My cookies weren't festive. I didn't make the Ricotta Cookies this year because I always have trouble with iced or glazed cookies - they get sticky and don't work well on cookie trays. I'm challenged in the area. The sprinkles help and I should have made them but I was just too tired.

It doesn't get much easier than this

Two-Bit Wonders
The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion Copyright 2004

½ cup (5 ounces, 1 small can) sweetened condensed milk
2 cups ( 6 to 8 ounces) shredded coconut, preferably unsweetened

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) one large or two small baking sheets. I strongly recommend the parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combined the sweetened condensed milk and coconut. Drop the mixture by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 13 to 14 minutes, until the cookies are set and the coconut is golden brown. Mine were smaller and browned up much faster.

Removed the cookies from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool. These were soft so I cooled them right on the parchment. The milk kind of pooled around the cookie but I removed most of that when I took them off the parchment.
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I forgot I owned this cookbook. Damn. There are a ton of recipes in this book that I would have made. Isn't that always the way though?

My heart just wasn't in my baking this year. Well, my heart was but my body wasn't. I've been so tired, it's been a struggle to get this baking done. I've been making things up as I go along, because I'm too tired to think straight. These were a last minute decision since I had some unsweetened coconut in the cupboard and an extra can of sweetened condensed milk. I think I tried this recipe years ago and failed and I almost failed again. The milk pooled and the cookies were too soft to move to a rack but after I let them set on the cookie sheet and removed the pooled milk, they were fine.

Well, I may make one more cookie before I make up the tins for my coworkers but so far I made White Fudge, Five-Minute Fudge, Chocolate-Dipped Carmamels, Welsh Cookies, Fruit and Cheese Bread, Snickerdoodles, Coconut Butterballs, Chocolate Chip Brownies (with Christmas Kissables since I was too lazy to make the truffle cookies I had planned on), these Two-Bit Wonders, and Apricot Cream Cheese Thumbprints. I also had a bag of cinnamon chips that I bought a while ago but they were manufactured on a machine that processes peanuts too so I used them to make Cinnamon Fudge, a recipe that I got from Joe at Culinary in the Country. My son doesn't eat fudge. Well, he doesn't eat most of what I've made. That stuff is great.