Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookies

I love dark chocolate.  I ALWAYS prefer it to milk chocolate.  Not only is it better for you (contains antioxidants) but it has a more complex and rich flavor.  I try and use dark chocolate whenever something calls for milk chocolate.  70% cacao is my favorite but for this recipe I used Ghirardelli 60% semi-sweet dark chocolate chips.  I bet you can’t eat just one of these delicious little chocolate morsels!

I winged it with these cookies.  I love really soft cookies so I like to add a little crunch with nuts.  Pecans are my favorite nut so I chose to use these for this recipe.  Honestly, these were heaven for me – my favorite chocolate and favorite nuts in a cookie?  You can’t go wrong!  Let these cool slightly and then dip them in milk until the soaked portion is just about to fall off.  Yummmm….ummmm….can I make these again???  Now???  They’re delicious.

Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookies

¾ c granulated sugar

¾ c packed brown sugar

1c butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

2 ¼ c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ c pecan pieces (or more if desired)

½ dark chocolate chips (or more if desired)

Heat oven to 375F.

Gently whisk egg in a small bowl.  In a stand mixer bowl, combine sugars, butter, vanilla and egg. 

Tip: Softening of butter is a very important step in baking cookies (and many other baking recipes).  Butter that’s too cold makes cookies hard and butter that is too melted makes cookies spread too much when cooking.  For best results, let butter stand at room temperature for 30-60 minutes prior to use.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.  Stir to combine.  Carefully add flour mixture to butter mixture with mixer on low.  Add nuts and chocolate chips.

Drop dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. 

Kitchen tool: Use a Size 16 spring-release ice cream scoop.  Scoop dough and run the scoop against the side of the bowl to ensure the same size cookies every time.  The spring allows for easy release of the dough onto the cookie sheet.  This is what mine looks like:

Bake 12-14 minutes or until light brown (center will be soft).  Cool cookie slightly and then place on a wire rack.

Serve with milk!  This recipe made 16 cookies. 

Rosemary Honey Spiced Almonds and Parmesan Crackers - A Busted Picnic

Possibly the longest blog post in our history: Rosemary Honey Spiced Almonds and Parmesan Crackers - A Busted Picnic. The weather in the Pacific Northwest is a fickle and manipulative beast sometimes. Just when you think you're IN THERE and it's going to be a great weekend, it pours. Just when you think you're going to start growing moss in your hair, the rain stops and it's gorgeous. Lesson #1 for living in or visiting the Pacific Northwest - HAVE A PLAN B. 

SO, as you may have gathered from the title, we were going to have a picnic, and from paragraph one, you may have also gathered, the weather mixed things up. Luckily in our almost 9 years up here, we've learned. Living room picnic it was.
 

For our picnic, I'd made Rosemary Honey Spiced Almonds and Parmesan Crackers (I also made No Knead Bread and Mango Chili Chicken Salad, and those are already posted.)

Rosemary Honey Spiced Almonds - from Recipes Interrupted
Preheat oven to 325
Makes 1 cup

1 cup unsalted almonds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh minced rosemary
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

 

Mix honey, oil, rosemary and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk until the honey and oil are well mixed. Stir in the almonds and toss until the nuts are all very well coated.

  

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pour nuts and all of the honey mixture onto the paper. Spread out nuts so they have lots of space. Bake at 325 until nuts are well toasted and the honey mixture has set, about 15-20 minutes (I pulled these out at 17 minutes.) Turn the pan once in the middle of baking for even cooking. 

Let the nuts cool completely on the pan and then break up any clusters. DELICIOUS. Maybe my new faves, even over these Spiced Nuts. Oh man, I don't know... very different flavors... I will make both again and again!

Parmesan Crackers - from Ina Garten

Preheat oven to 350

Makes about 2 dozen crackers

 

1 stick of butter, softened

1 cup shredded Parmesan 

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 heaping teaspoon dried thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

 

In a stand mixer, or with awesome arm muscles, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add in the cheese, flour and spices and blend until all ingredients are combined. Dough will be very crumbly.

 

Dump dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times until the dough starts to stick together. In a sheet of plastic wrap start to form a log about 12-14 inches long, like making a sushi roll. 

Once the log is formed, place in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Remove when the log is firm and slice into 1/4 inch slices and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. These crackers keep their shape well, so you can place them pretty close together. 

 

Bake for about 20-22 minutes or until crackers are very lightly browned. Let them cool on the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

While our outdoor picnic was a bust, the indoor picnic was almost as good... but par for the course, as soon as we had cancelled our plans and set out the food on the coffee table, out came the sun. We shook our heads and grabbed some wine. Sometimes its all you can do.

A few things about these recipes... 

I love making crackers. For some reason it makes me really feel like I'm cooking. These are great too!

I think these crackers would be GREAT with sage in place of the thyme. 

These nuts were insanely easy. Great for an impromptu visit.

Made this time last year...

Lasagna Rolls

Ham and Cheese Pinwheels

Zucchini Fritters

Banana Bread

What do you do with old, brown, leftover bananas???  I have the perfect answer to that question.  I know brown bananas may not look appetizing, but wow do they pack a punch when adding to a baked good.  I typically make muffins or banana bread.  This time, I made banana bread. 

Banana bread is considered a “quick bread” because it doesn’t contain yeast.  It uses baking soda and baking powder for the leavening process.  This significantly quickens the preparation of the bread – hence, the name “quick bread”.  This recipe is also lightened because it utilizes egg whites in place of some of the whole eggs and less butter than other recipes.  The amount of milk used is minimal so you can use any type of milk you have.

This recipe is easy and yummy.  Banana bread can make for a great addition to a weekend breakfast, or it can act alone as breakfast during the week.  It also lasts a while in the fridge.  Warm it up, top with a little butter and…voila!  A yummy and healthy breakfast! 

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

5 tbsp butter, at room temperature

½ c granulated sugar

½ c firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

2 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ c mashed, very ripe bananas (2 bananas)

1 ¾ c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking powder

1 tbsp milk

1/3 c chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray bottom of 9x5x3” loaf pan w/ nonstick cooking spray.

Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer set to medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat well until creamed.  Add egg, egg whites, and vanilla; beat well until blended.  Add mashed banana, and beat high speed 30 secs.

Tip: Ensuring the butter is at room temperature makes for good creaming and lighter (fluffier) baked goods. 

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in medium bowl.  Add flour mixture to butter mixture.  Mix in milk.  Add walnuts to batter; mix well.

Pour batter evenly into prepared loaf pan.  Bake until browned and toothpick inserted near center comes out clean, about 55-60 mins.  Cool bread in pan on wire rack 10 mins.