Oatmeal Macadamia Chip Cookies

Last weekend there were two places I wanted to bring something to share for munching. But time was tight so I wanted one recipe that could be used for both. There wasn't much in the house but a quick search through the pantry yielded oatmeal, macadamia nuts & chocolate chips. Put those together and it's cookies. After seriously altering my usual chewy oatmeal raisin cookie recipe it didn't take long to make a double batch of these soft cookies. I used coarse sea salt for a sort of burst of salty-sweet flavor.

Oatmeal Macadamia Chip Cookies
100 g rolled oats (1 cup)
2 oz macadamia nuts, dry roasted, lightly salted (1/2 cup)
130 g all-purpose flour (1 cup)
1/4 tsp salt, preferably coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
75 g sugar (6 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
75 g light brown sugar (6 Tbsp)
1 lg egg
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

Put nuts in food processor, pulse until very coarsely chopped. Add oats, pulse 5 times or until oats are very very coarsely ground (not even close to flour).

Combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a bowl.

Cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg. Add applesauce, stirring until combined. Add flour mixture, stirring until just barely combined. Add oat mixture and chocolate chips, stirring until just combined.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for 9 minutes (convection) on until tops are lightly golden. Slide parchment off cookie sheets to cool.

Store in a tightly sealed container separated by parchment paper.

Makes about 30 cookies

100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

I recently got tired of paying as much for a single loaf of sturdy sandwich bread as for a bag of flour. Now, understand that while I make bread frequently, some of them even yeast breads, they are not the sort of bread you use to make a typical american sandwich. They are sweet, they are rolls, they are flat, they are anything but sandwich bread. This bread needed practice. Initially, there was too little dough for the loaf pan (a short loaf but nice). Then, rising too much (sunk in the oven). But finally, something that tastes good, looks good and is large enough for a decent sandwich. I think the flax seed gives a bit more flavor but it could be left out.

100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf
1-1/2 cups water (100°F - 110°F)
2 tsp yeast
2 Tbsp honey
2 tsp vinegar (cider, white, whatever)
1 Tbsp oil (olive, canola, whatever)
17.5 oz white whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp flax seed meal
1 tsp salt

Combine water, yeast and honey in bowl of stand mixer. Let proof for at least 10 minutes, until foamy. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Let sit for 30 minutes. Using dough hook attachment on mixer, knead at medium-low speed (2-4 on mine) for 10 minutes or until the dough is elastic. Add more flour if needed but really try to avoid it.

Put dough in a greased bowl, grease top of dough, cover with a tea towel and let rise until doubled. This usually takes close to an hour. For some reason this is taking 20 minutes for me right now. Just keep checking and don't let it get over risen. Same goes for second rise.

On a non-stick or lightly floured surface, punch dough down, press it into a 9" x 12" rectangle, then roll it up into a 9" wide log. Place into a greased 9" x 5" loaf pan, cover with a tea towel and let rise until doubled.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°F. The oven needs to be ready to go when the bread is doubled. Once dough is doubled, cut three diagonal slashes in top with a serrated knife. Place in oven and bake 20 to 30 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped on the underside when taken out of the pan (hey, better than saying take out when done). Let cool on a rack.

Korean-style BBQ Chicken

It's been warm so we've mostly been cooking on the grill. Or rather, I'm prepping things to grill and J. does the cooking. It pretty much comes down to what kind of meat is on special and what comes in our CSA box for the week. Yesterday it was boneless skinless chicken thighs, corn and cucumbers.

One of the foods I miss from Hawaii is Korean BBQ. You choose your meat and it comes with rice and choice of sides. My favorite meat choice is spicy chicken so that's what I decided to try making last night. I went with a basic teriyaki marinade and added sesame oil & chili-garlic paste. It didn't end up spicy, but it did taste somewhat like Korean BBQ. Next time, I'll try more chili-garlic paste and a longer marinade. Or maybe a sauce. It seems to have a spicy sauce when I get it at restaurants.

The corn was grilled, plain and in the husk which is our favorite. The cucumbers were just peeled, sliced and marinated for 20 minutes in rice wine vinegar with a bit of salt & sugar, kind of an ultra fast tsukemono. Maybe not what you normally get with your spicy chicken plate but what we had on hand that didn't require turning on the stove! Not that it stopped someone from complaining about the lack of mac salad...

Spicy Korean BBQ Chicken
1-1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/4 cup shoyu
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp chili-garlic paste (I used the Vietnamese one with the rooster)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 Tbsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp pepper

Combine everything and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. I think overnight would be better. Grill for about 3 minutes per side until done.

Lemon Cornmeal Cookies

Last weekend we went to visit some friends and I wanted to bring cookies. Something not overly sweet or heavy - summer cookies. So working with several different recipes I came up with these. When they first come out of the oven the lemon flavor isn't that strong but it seems to develop by the next day. They're soft, not crisp, which I like, but the cornmeal gives them some texture. The ginger doesn't come through so leaving it out might not make a difference.

130 g all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
65 g cornmeal
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
150 g sugar (about 3/4 cup)
1 lg egg
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine flour, cornmeal, salt, ginger & baking powder.

Cream together butter & sugar. Add egg and beat well. Add lemon juice, zest & extract. Mix to combine. Stir in flour mixture.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 1-inch apart on parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake for 9 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown and the tops are still pale.

Remove parchment from baking sheets and cool on parchment. They kind of stick to the parchment until they cool a bit.

This made 28 cookies using my scoop.

Beginnings (or the problems with notebooks)

I keep notebooks. Separate ones for different activities. Really just notes meant for me to reference later when I want to remember what I did to make a particular thing. For the most part it works, the necessary notes get written and they are legible. Still, I need to flip through the whole thing with no index other than the everything is in chronological order, more or less. That's easy when the notebook is mostly empty. Problem is they're mostly full.

Another problem is that every time someone asks for information, like a recipe or the history of abbreviations, I've got to find the appropriate entry or entries, type it up into something another person will understand, and then email it. If someone else asks about the same thing, chances are I don't have a copy of that email and I do it all over again. Seems silly.

So...here's to trying a blog.