oatmeal kitchen sink cookies

As in "everything but the ________."

Oatmeal Kitchen Sink Cookies
(adapted from a recipe I found online, I changed the flour amount and added more interruptions,* so I now consider the recipe to be my creation)

Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts)
1/2 cup raisins (opt. if you don't like raisins, if so increase nuts to 1 cup)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon cinnamon (opt.)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C)
2. In a large bowl, cream together softened butter and sugars with an electric beater. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla.
3. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir into the butter/sugar mixture until just blended.
4. With a large spoon or stiff spatula, mix in oats 1 cup at a time, nuts, raisins, and chocolate chips. Dough will be stiff but it will all come together, I promise.
5. Drop dough onto UNGREASED cookie sheets in ping pong ball size spoonfuls. Tap each cookie lump just a little on top to flatten slightly.
6. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies should be just golden brown. Let cookies rest on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool.

Notes:
-It is important that the butter be softened or the cookies will lose their shape in the oven. Stick the unwrapped butter on a place in the microwave for 10 sec intervals, 30 sec total--don't do 30 sec altogether or the butter will explode, trust me.
-You can make the cookies in bigger than ping pong ball size lumps, just extend baking time a little. The original recipe called for "heaping spoonfuls." I guess my heaping spoonfuls were more generous than hers, because my cookies were huge. Also if you make bigger cookies, flatten them more before baking.

*interruptions are what a friend of mine calls ice cream add-ins.

Avgolemono!

I made this deeelicious soup last night. It is perfect for cold weather and I suspect would be very nourishing if one had a cold. It is also surprisingly good left over, I say surprisingly because it even seems to improve the next day.
I will post the recipe when I get a minute sometime (ha ha). I tweaked the recipe a tiny bit. I think because I love eggs that I would add an additional egg yolk next time, if I was feeling extra indulgent, to thicken the broth a little more. Also, because the egg flavor is so important, I would use really good eggs.
This is not a "normal" avgolemono soup, because it includes zucchini. I also want to try asparagus and dill, including tiny bits of sausage, carrots and celery, etc... really its just a great soup base. Also I think it could easily be made with pearl barley instead of white rice.

pauvre appareil numérique

My digital camera has pretty much bitten the dust. The forward/back buttons for reviewing photos on the camera do not work. Neither do the flash selection buttons or macro setting buttons work, since they are the same as the forward/back buttons. Add to that the lag time which has seemed to increase as the camera aged, not to mention the very poor low-light performance and the nonexistent motion stabilizing... and you have a useless piece of digital equipment. A moment of silence, please...
My blog will display greatly diminished photo whimsy for now.
Sadly, this also means that my dear readers will not be able to view the cute apple clafoutis I made this past weekend as a treat for Mike and me. But I have a recipe:

Mini Apple Clafoutis

fruit:
2 fresh apples: one Granny Smith, the other red cooking (I used McIntosh)

custard:
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup half and half
pinch cinammon
dash nutmeg
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon edible lavender flowers (optional)

Accompaniment: Vanilla Ice Cream

special equipment: 1/2 cup ramekins, set of 4

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Halve and seed apples (I use a melon baller). Do not peel. Cut into ~1/4 thick bite size pieces.
Butter ramekins. Fill 3/4 full with assorted apple pieces. You will have excess apple to snack on. Place ramekins in a casserole pan.
Whisk eggs well. Add about 3/4 cup of milk and 1/3 cup half and half (sorry, I didn't measure, I'll post more accurate measurements when I make it again). Whisk to combine. Add sugar, spices, and lavender. Whisk again.
Dole out the custard evenly among the ramekins.
Use a teapot to carefully add water to the casserole, surrounding the ramekins with water about halfway up their sides.
Bake for 20 minutes or until light brown on top. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream.

Chef's notes: I might try making this with the asian pears I just picked. And you could change it a little by adding citrus zest and omitting the lavender.

Happily, though my digital camera is dying, another major machine in my life, my yellow velo, is back on its wheels and all 8 gears. Working in tandem (har har), Mike and I tinkered for a bit and fortunately it didn't take long to locate the problem (cable too tight, probably because it got cold out and the metal shrank), and solve it.

dogwood jelly

A success! Very tasty.

Corneliancherry Dogwood Jelly (edited 9/13/2011)
(make sure the fruit you gather is from Cornus mas. I'd advise looking it up in a plant ID book and making sure you have the right kind of tree before you embark on eating any of the fruit)
Makes 6 cups of jelly

• 4 packed cups of Cornus mas fruit (measure after you pass whole fruit roughly through a food processor or blender)
• 1 cup water
  
• 7 cups sugar
• 1 packet of SureJell
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
  
• canning jars (with two-part lid)
• Fine mesh strainer
  

Instructions: Set fruit and water to boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Meanwhile, boil water and wash canning jars all over with boiling water.
When fruit and water mix is at a boil, turn heat down. Measure sugar and SureJell together into a bowl, then sprinkle into fruit mixture while stirring. Stir until sugar and SureJell are fully incorporated. Add cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg. Simmer for 5 minutes more.
Strain fruit mixture through fine mesh strainer into a large bowl. Press on the fruit solids to remove as much liquid as you can. Ladle jelly liquid into canning jars. To clarify the jelly further, you can use cheesecloth or a small strainer as you ladle the liquid into the canning jars at this step.
Immediately as you fill each jar, wipe each jar rim with a moist cloth kitchen towel and twist the lids just into place. Wipe the jars down of any jelly liquid which has dripped on the outside. As the jars cool, continue to gently tighten the lids. Some of the jars may seal on their own (you will hear a *pop* as they seal and the lid will be concave on top). If you want to be sure your jars seal, process in boiling water per directions in SureJell packet or your canning equipment. Be sure to refrigerate until use any jars that do not seal. Cool on the counter for 30 minutes before storing.