Cookie Delivery

Before I begin, I just want to say this:
Shelled pecans are dangerous little nuts that should come with warnings on their packaging:
WARNING Do Not Attempt To De-Shell Entire Package With Fingers-or- Excessive Pecan Shelling Can Be Hazardous To Your Thumb.


Stupid innocent looking nut

I learned this the painful way.

-On a side note: I also discovered that the most efficient way to get the little buggers out (if you, like me, do not own a nutcracker) is by throwing them hard on the ground. They crack open quite beautifully this way-though some might question the ingeniousity of the method on the basis of hygienic concerns-

The reason I was shelling pecans of all things was because I wanted to use them in the chocolate chip cookies I was baking for my brother.

The last time I'd attempted to offer my cookies to him was during his birthday last year. I baked an assortment of cookies, put them in a pretty tupperware box, ventured out to the post office, endured looks of ridicule from post officers, paid for express delivery! only to have the cookies ROT in some obscure post office in Shanghai due to the fact that my brother was not home to receive the package and never went to collect it.

*breathes* I have gotten over that.

Since I am visiting him in Shanghai for the weekend, I figured that I could make a personal cookie delivery.

Bahtiyar once mentioned his like for Famous Amos and Mrs Fields, so I thought he might appreciate homemade cookies since you can't get either kind in China. You can get big cookies at Subway but they just suck.

I decided to bake him chocolate chip cookies using a recipe from Smitten Kitchen (a food blog I've come to like very much).



The thing about the recipe is that it calls for ALOT of chocolate chip, I'm talking about A WHOLE FREAKING LOT. The chocolate chips hold together the dough instead of the other way around...


...which is supposedly a good thing.

You see, personally, I don't appreciate chocolate much. I'm more of a nut-nut. I have great difficulty sympathizing with nut haters. If I had it my way, there would be nut chip cookies with no chocolate. If a chocolate chip cookie did not have nuts in them, I would not even want to try them. (but this isn't about me)

According to Smitten Kitchen, chocolate lovers apparently dislike having nuts because they don't want the "glorious" taste of chocolate to be overpowered by the nuts.

So I chopped up the pecans to the point where they were just nut specks. It was like mincing garlic but more fun.


Fact: Talia experiences maniacal pleasure when chopping chocolate and nuts. It is possibly the funnest part of baking.

I usually make my cookies big and soft, but my brother is a bit of a couch potato and I thought he'd enjoy having bite-sized ones.

BAD IDEA.

I almost burnt the little balls of dough and they came out really hard.


I fed two to Andy who, between loud crunches, informed me with all the decorum of a diplomat, that they were indeed slightly overcooked. He then proceeded to eat some of the cookie dough and declared that they were destined to be hard cookies.

Suspecting that I shouldn't have skimped on the butter, I threw the rest of the batter into the fridge and whipped up soft oatmeal cookies.

Those thankfully turned out delicious and beautiful. I divided the dough into three parts and made raisin, pecan and orange zest flavored oatmeal cookies.



I then baked the chocolate chip cookie dough at a higher temperature, making them bigger this time and watched over the oven like a hawk.

This time they came out chewy.






Anyway, my brother ate them just now and he liked them. He is usually very picky with food. I am happy. Blistered fingers and all.

Cookie Monster Unleashed

I am probably one of the biggest carb-o-phobics you will ever meet.
Yet I love baking, and I love homemade cookies.


The carb-hating cookie monster, just another lovely physiological conflict in the mental world of Talia



I rarely make cookies, for fear of going into some kind of crazy binge, not unlike the actual sesame street character in question.

Since discovering what an awesome cookie baker I am, I developed a somewhat superior attitude towards all commercially packaged cookies-Oreos? Chips Ahoy? Famous Amos? So Not worth the calories.(which I suppose makes me a Picky Cookie Monster)

Anyway, I baked two batches last Saturday to share with my boyfriend, who was sweet and agreed to be my gastronomical guinea pig.


It doesn't help that I also happen to be an awesome cookie baker

Here's what I made:
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

¼ cup margarine, softened
¼ cup virgin olive oil
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch salt
1 cup quick cooking oats
½ cups rolled oats
½ cup dark raisins
½ cup golden raisins

1. Before doing anything else, soak the raisins in boiled water and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and olive oil with the sugars until smooth. Then add the vanilla and beat in the egg. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
3. Stir the flour mixture into the sugar mixture by spoonfuls, and then stir in the oats and raisins (drained).
4. I usually refrigerate my cookie dough for at least an hour, or overnight, depending on how soon I want it.
5. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Take a tablespoonful of cookie dough and shape it into the size and thickness that you want it to be (the end product will be a little bigger and flatter). Place it onto ungreased cookie sheets or aluminum foil and repeat with the rest of the dough (this much be the dumbest sounding recipe in the world)
6. Bake for about 10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them and when they look just about done, remove cookies from the oven and let them stand for ½ a minute or so if you want the bottom to be crunchier. Remove from sheets, and allow to cool. I got about 12 medium, soft cookies outta this.



Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

-recipe adapted from AllRecipes-

½ cup margarine
½ cup peanut butter (crunchy, smooth, salted, unsalted, whatever you have)
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup quick cooking oats

1.In a large bowl, cream together margarine, peanut butter, sugars and vanilla. Then beat in the egg.
2.In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add this mixture by spoonfuls to the sugar mixture. Stir. Add oatmeal and stir.
3.Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheet. Bake at 175 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes, or until cookies are a light brown. Remove from oven and allow them to cool. I made about 18 cookies from this.

The peanut butter cookies came out just okay. I think it's because I used salted peanut butter this time (that was what we had in the kitchen). Also, the original recipe makes peanut butter cookie sandwiches, which are prettier looking.

They turned out better the last time I made them, filling and all:



This is the filling step I'd skipped:
Cream 3 tablespoons butter or margarine with the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, and the cream. Spread filling onto half of the cooled cookies, then top with the other half to form sandwiches.