Coconut Nut

*

I’m a coconut nut! Whether it’s sweet or savory, I love the tropical, fresh flavor of creamy coconut mixed into a multitude of dishes. Last year, I was even lucky enough to taste freshly cracked coconut at a smoothie stand on St. Maarten (heavenly!) Anything from the unique, chewy texture of raw, shredded coconut, to the creamy smoothness of coconut milk to the crisp crunch of toasted coconut makes my taste buds go crazy.

Though I’m not too picky about my coconut, I have to admit that my favorite coconut dish happens to be a salad at my favorite restaurant. Yes, I did say “salad,” but no, it’s certainly not health food. Though it starts with a wholesome base of greens, strawberries, and slivered almonds, it’s topped with its crispy, amazing crown jewel, the coconut breaded chicken. I love this chicken so much that I will eat all the healthy ingredients first just so I am left with the fantastic chicken, just me and it, to savor and love.  It has a crispy, tangy outside with soft, tender chicken on the inside. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I LOVE it.

Unfortunately, the fried exterior isn’t exactly the most nutritious option, so I can’t indulge myself too often. Instead, I tried to create a slightly healthier version with smaller, baked coconut breaded chicken tenders. They still incorporate the creamy, chewy coconut flavor and texture without the greasy, fried crust. Though the coconut doesn’t crisp up as much with just the oven heat, the mild flavor of the tropical fruit is truly showcased alongside the unseasoned chicken.  My dad said they needed a little bit of sauce, and I have to say, for someone who doesn’t love coconut as much as I do, I can understand the need for a little extra flavor. Some recipes for coconut chicken that I found recommended orange or honey sauces on the side. I can't say that the recipe can truly compete with the amazing coconut chicken salad at Chocolate Avenue Grill, but as a healthy subsitute, it's not too bad.

*

To go with the chicken, I wanted to stick to bright, fruity flavors. I chose to make some steamed, orange rice topped with orange zest and toasted coconut.  The rice was slightly sweet with fresh squeezed orange juice flavor. The texture of the wild rice mixed perfectly with the crunch of the toasted coconut. I used my mom's method of placing a bowl with the rice and cooking liquid inside of a ceramic cooker with a lid. The  cooker is then filled with water about 2 inches up the side. The lid is then placed on the cooker on a hot stove where the water can boil and steam the rice in the bowl.

*

Baked Coconut Chicken

adapted from Spark Recipes

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 Cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 Cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 egg and 1 egg white, beaten together
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the panko and coconut in a small bowl.
2. On a clean and separate surface, cut chicken into thin strips.
3. Dip and coat the chicken individually in the egg mixture. Then, immediately dredge in the coconut and panko mixture. Coat to desired thickness. Place each piece on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Bake the chicken in the preheated oven for roughly 25 minutes. Cooking time varies with ovens and tender sizes, so bake until the coconut starts to brown and chicken is completely cooked through. (My chicken did not brown completely so I broiled it for 1-2 minutes at the end of the cooking time).

Orange Toasted Coconut Rice

• 3/4 Cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 3/4 Cup coconut water
• 1 Cup wild rice
• 1 tbs. orange zest
• 1/4 Cup toasted coconut

1. Prepare rice in whatever way you are most familiar with (I steamed it, as mentioned above), soaked in the combination of coconut water and orange juice.
2. While rice is cooking, toast coconut in the oven. (I toasted my coconut while the chicken tenders were baking. I scattered it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, placed it in the oven and checked on it frequently, removing it when it browned and crisped slightly.)
3. When rice is finished, stir the orange zest into it and top with toasted coconut.

*Sorry about the terrible pictures. My mom and I were quite hungry by the time this dinner was finished, and we completely forgot to take pictures. These pictures were taken about halfway through the meal.

The Birthday Trade-off

                    In late June, I started my first ever summer class. There are so many courses that I wanted/ needed to fit into my schedule for the fall semester that I felt the summer was a good time to get a required course out of the way. So, I decided to sign up for CAS 100 (Effective Speech) through my local branch campus.  Luckily, the class only meets twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays from six to nine, and it only lasts for roughly eight weeks. Also on the positive side, my professor is very relaxed and capable of putting the class at ease (which is very important when you have to prepare and give five speeches in front of that very class). So overall, even though I’d rather be out in the summer sun or spending time with my friends, my first summer class has not been an unbearably painful experience.

                There was one major downside to this particular summer class. It’s not the exams, or the speeches, or the three hours of sitting in a cold room. It’s that one of those Wednesday classes happened to fall on July 25^th. What’s so special about July 25^th? Well, it just happens to be my birthday. Through my 13 years of public school, having a birthday right in the middle of summer meant I never had to endure class, or worse, an exam on my birthday. I never had to wake up early or study or impatiently watch the minutes tick by on the clock while a teacher lectures on my birthday. It made for 18 years of blissful, stress-free birthdays. But, do to my first ever summer course and an unfortunate coincidence of dates, I had to endure not only a class on my birthday, but also, one of the two exams that the class requires. Instead of the typical birthday dinner that is our family tradition, I spent my evening studying for and taking an exam on effective speech tactic. Truly scintillating!

                Ok, I’m being a little dramatic. It really wasn’t that bad.  The exam was really easy, even comical. (My professor has a very pronounced sense of humor) The family dinner was rescheduled and was just as delicious a week after my birthday. I still didn’t have to wake up early and one 3 hour class is much better than an entire day of school. The occurrence of class on my birthday actually provided me with an opportunity that I had always wanted to have as a kid.

                In elementary school, the “cool” thing to do was to bring in your favorite baked treat to share with the class on your birthday. I saw and ate everything from homemade gooey chocolate chip cookies to the store-bought, brightly colored, whipped cream frosted cupcakes, depending on the tastes of the child whose birthday was being celebrated.  The treats were handed out by the birthday boy or girl on neatly folded napkins while the class sang “Happy Birthday” to him/her. I always enjoyed the treats and the singing, but there was a part of me that was a little jealous that I wouldn’t be able to share my favorite treat with the class.

                So, in true kindergartener-at-heart fashion, I decided to bake my favorite birthday treat for my class full of adult students.  I chose the chocolate cake that my mom always baked for me for my birthday, and formed it into individual, easy-to-handle cupcakes. I loaded the cupcakes with delicious peanut butter buttercream frosting, once again reuniting my two favorite flavors. I even brought my own colorful napkins for serving. The best part, though, was when my class decided to sing happy birthday to me! Even though I was celebrating my 19^th birthday, I felt like a little kid again, savoring the moment in the birthday spotlight.

                So, all in all, having class on my birthday was a nice trade-off for the opportunity to serve my cupcakes while being sung to.

Chocolate Cupcakes





 

• 3/4 Cup Salad Oil
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 3/4 Cup Unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 Cups Flour
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 2 tsp. Baking soda
• 2 tsp. Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1 Cup Milk
• 1 Cup Hot Coffee

1. Preheat oven to 350 degress F.
2.  In a mixer bowl, combine salad oil and sugar. Blend well. Add in eggs one at a time. Slowly add hot coffee and milk, making sure not to cook the eggs. Add vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. In small batches, combine the dry and wet ingredients.
5. Scoop batter evenly into a cupcake pan. (The cupcakes will rise so do not overfill).
6. Bake for 25 minutes. Check centers with a toothpick for doneness.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

• 3/4 Cup Butter
• 1/2 Cup Creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3-4 Cups powdered sugar
• 3-4 tbs. milk

1. Combine butter, peanut butter and vanilla.

2. slowly add in powdered sugar, being aware of the texture.

3. Add in milk (amount depends on desired texture).

 

COOL THE CUPCAKES, FROST AND SAVOR!

 

Splurge on the Urge

I’m a planner. I thrive on the consistent and the expected. I eat my meals at roughly the same time every day, maintain a fairly regular “bedtime,” and keep a normal exercise schedule.  My guess is that this is just an expression of my type A personality. Basically (extrapolated a little from my chemistry class), the world naturally tends toward entropy, or chaos.  If I maintain a consistent schedule, then I avoid most of the effects of chaos’ influence and keep my perfect, little, type A world (or, at least, I like to believe so).

                Unfortunately, there is that one thing that I just can’t avoid. I think its called human nature or something like that. Even when I think I know exactly what I should do, I change my mind and want to do something completely different… something new, something reminiscent or something just plain exciting. So, despite my propensity for planning, I sometimes have random urges to do certain things (some normal and some unusual). Some of my most recent urges include:

1.       Dip dying my hair purple (I got the dye, but I still haven’t done it yet)

2.       Going to the drive-in

3.       Seeing the Dark Knight Rises at midnight

4.       Starting a blog? (Ok, that wasn’t THAT recent)

5.       Having a tie dying party

6.       Playing paintball (unfortunately, I haven’t gotten ahold of a paintball gun)

7.       Taking a day trip to Philly

8.       Going to see a musical

Despite this random list of things, my most common “urges” are the ones that require a kitchen, some delicious ingredients, and some good old oven heat. I’ll just be sitting at a table, reading a book or watching TV and my Martha Stewart senses will start tingling. Thoughts of cookies, cakes and pies will start running through my head, and I will make my way to the fridge to start scoping out ingredients. Then I let the internet, the family recipe book and my imagination guide me to the ultimate reward for following my intuition- some delicious food!

So, recently, as I was sitting at the table drinking my tea and reading the newspaper (Do the comics count?), I had the urge to bake something. To add to the strength of my impulse, I was going to be hanging out with a group of friends that night so it just made sense to bring them a tasty treat.  I started perusing the family recipes and came across a forgotten sugar cookie recipe. The last time I had these cookies was when I was in eighth grade (that was in 2007…). My mom got the recipe from a friend of my sister’s grandmother and decided to bake them for my basketball team. They were a hit! She ended up making them for every single home basketball game. All of the players would anticipate the sight of the box of gooey, cakey sugar cookies, covered in crunchy sprinkles, after a hard fought game.  My mom didn’t mind such a responsibility, though, because the cookies were quick to whip together and produced a bounty of oversized cookies.

When I came across the recipe, I knew I had to make them. What’s more fun to bake for friends than a batch of massive cookies topped with whimsical rainbow sprinkles? Unfortunately, we were out of sour cream and cream of tartar. So, what did I do? Try another recipe? Wait until later to bake? Sit and sulk because I didn’t have the ingredients? NO. I grabbed my wallet and headed to the grocery store just so I could get those two simple ingredients to make my cookies! (Not a very planner-like decision)

Oh boy! It was worth it! Even with tablespoon size globs of batter, the cookies came out huge. They were super soft, just as I remembered them, with a sweet, cakey inside and a moist, lightly browned outside. Some came out a little funny looking because I forgot how much they spread, so I decided to improve the looks of those particular cookies with a simple vanilla glaze, topped with MORE sprinkles. I can’t believe I lived without these cookies for 5 whole years of my life!

Grandma’s Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

·         1 cup margarine (benecol)

·         2 cups sugar

·         3 eggs

·         4 cups flour

·         1 cup sour cream

·         2 tsp baking soda

·         1 tsp cream of tartar

·         1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 375° F.

2.       Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, beat until creamy.

3.       Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar. Add flour mixture to butter cream, little by little.

4.       Add sour cream and vanilla. Blend well.

5.       Use a small or medium cookie scoop and drop on a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Allow the cookies plenty of room to spread.

6.       Sprinkle with colored sprinkles, cinnamon sugar or leave plain. Bake for 8-10 minutes (until edges are lightly browned).

7.       Remove from sheet and allow to cool. If you decide to glaze the cookies, wait until they cool.

Simple Vanilla Glaze

Ingredients

·         2 cups powdered sugar

·         2 tbs milk

·         1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1.       Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

2.       Whisk until a thick, even glaze comes together.

3.       Adjust consistency by adding more sugar or milk.

4.       Drizzle or spread on cooled cookies.

Stranded at the Drive-In

“Summer sun, something’s begun but oh, oh those Summer Nights!” – Grease

When I was little, I thought that I should have been born in the 50’s. Somehow, I was convinced that I looked much better in a poodle skirt than I did in the colored leggings/ pants my mom used to dress me in (probably, because anything looked better than those leggings). Instead of following the boy band craze, my best friend and I would sing and dance to the oldies. I waited all year for the annual elementary school sock hop, just so I could spend one evening with a scarf in my hair, dancing and twisting to a little rock and roll. So, naturally, when my dad told me one day that there was a drive-in theatre only 45 minutes away in Dillsburg, I had to go! I thought about Danny from Grease, stranded at the drive-in, and I wanted to be there to.

We loaded up our car with chairs, radios and enough snacks to feed a pack of hungry teenagers, and took the drive on the highway to Dillsburg. When we arrived at HAAR's Drive In, it was everything I had imagined. We paid the minimal fee (two new movies for the price of one) and found ourselves a good parking spot in front of the giant screen. Just as we loaded our car, we quickly unloaded and arranged the gear so we had the perfect audiovisual perspective. Soon, the warm summer air began to cool as evening approached. In preparation for the start of the first movie at dusk, we divided up our snacks, bought any foods we may have forgotten at the bustling snack stand, and settled in with our blankets and chairs. Beneath the stars, surrounded by the authentic environment of an old-time drive-in theatre, I watched two movies late into the night with my family. On the car ride home at 1 AM, with my eyelids heavy with fatigue, I thought happily of the amazing night I had just spent and the memories I had created.

The movie theatre is now celebrating its 60^th anniversary. For six full decades, children and adults alike have been dazzled by the immense screen and the unique environment of HAAR’s. In honor of the unique memories and opportunities that the theatre has given to so many people I know, a close group of friends and I loaded up a van and decided to relive the excitement of the drive-in theater.  Arriving at the theatre at 6:30 (two and a half hours before the movie was scheduled to start), we picked a prime spot to set up ourselves near the projector. Once we set up our chairs and coolers outside, we huddled back into the air conditioned van to escape from the sweltering heat outside. We spend two full hours playing card games and telling stories, laughing about our summers. I felt like a kid again, just as excited as I had been as a little kid while waiting for the movie to start. Whether you’re 8 or 18, there are certain summer traditions, like going to a drive-in, that bring out the child in you and spark an unquenchable feeling of youthful excitement. 

So what does this have to do with food? As I mentioned about my first experience, part of the journey to the drive-in theatre involves packing the car with enough snacks to last for two movies. When I was younger, we packed enough food to “feed a pack of hungry teenagers.” This time, I had to bring enough food to feed an actual pack of hungry teenagers. I must admit, there is the added help of the AMAZING snack stand which sells countless mouthwatering concessions, including burgers, fries, snow cones, milkshakes, popcorn and Dillsburg’s famous Dill pickles. With such a low fee for the movie tickets, I’m convinced that the theatre makes most of its money from the continually crowded snack stand. Regardless of the aid from the stand, I had to bring snacks that were easy to pack, fun and satisfying. I chose to bring honey cinnamon bugles, sparkling grape juice jello and traditional whirly pop buttered popcorn.

Honey Cinnamon Bugles

(Modified from Farm Bell Recipes and Joy of Baking )

Ingredients

·         2 Bags of Original Bugles

·         Butter Pam (or similar cooking spray)

·         2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

·         ½ cup honey

·         ½ cup vegetable oil

·         1 cup packed brown sugar

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 300°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.       Empty the bags of bugles into a large bowl with room for tossing. Lightly spray the bugles with pam and sprinkle two tablespoons of cinnamon on the bugles while tossing them.

3.       Measure the honey, vegetable oil and brown sugar into a medium sauce pan. Bring the ingredients to a boil, stirring constantly, so the ingredients dissolve and combine completely. Once at a boil, remove the pan from heat, add the vanilla and quickly prepare it for pouring.

4.       (This step may require 2 people) Slowly empty the contents of the pan over top the bugles, constantly tossing them at the same time. Toss the bugles until they are coated evenly, then spread them in one even layer on both pans. Sprinkle the bugles generously with cinnamon sugar.

5.       Place the bugles in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, stir the bugles and return for the oven for another 10 minutes. (If the pans were on two separate racks, rotate them at this time. When the honey has browned, remove from the oven.

6.       Allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes. Before it cools completely, gently break the pieces apart with your fingers.

White Grape Juice Jello

(Modified from The Jello Mold Mistress)

Ingredients

·         2 packets Knox unflavored gelatin

·         ½ Cup sugar

·         1 ½ Cups sparkling white grape juice

·         2 cups boiling water

·         1 pint raspberries

Directions

1.       Set shot glasses or plastic Dixie cups (This is what I used, but they were a bit large and ended up with SOLO written across the top of them) in a glass baking dish.

2.       Combine the packets of gelatin with the boiling water and stir immediately. Add the sugar and the white grape juice and stir to dissolve and combine.

3.       Ladle the mixture evenly into the cups or glasses. (My liquid foamed at the top)

4.       Place the baking dish in the freezer or fridge for 5-10 minutes just to cool slightly.

5.       Wash and prepare the raspberries.

6.       Sprinkle the berries evenly into the jello cups and return to the fridge until the jello solidifies.

7.       To remove the jellos, poke a small hole in the top of the cups and run the outside edges of the jello cups under hot water. Allow them to wiggle and jiggle out with a little shaking.

The bugles came out very well, especially when fresh from the oven. The honey flavor was quite strong, so if you don’t like honey, I wouldn’t recommend this recipe. (If you want to try different flavors, you can experiment with other granola recipes. Bugles make a great blank canvas for sweet toppings). The cinnamon and vanilla added a unique flavor. The only downfall was, when left out in the air for too long in the heat, the bugles began to absorb the moisture and go stale quickly.

The Jellos were a little bit hard to handle. They were difficult to remove and difficult to eat in one bite (Though the latter complaint made for a very entertaining scene when my friend attempted and failed to eat the jello in one bite) the carbonation was not maintained within the jellos and most of the bubbles ended up on the tip of the cups. Regardless, the flavor was good (probably because I just enjoy the taste of white grape juice). I really enjoyed working with the unflavored gelatin. I’m excited to use it to make jello out of all my favorite fruits and juices.

July (The Epitome of Summer)

 

July is, without a doubt, my favorite month of the year for a few reasons.

1.       It is my birth month!

2.       It is smack dab in the middle of summer vacation (June, you are still settling into summer and, by August, you are rushing to get ready for back-to-school).

3.       Its warm days and cool nights have an innate laid-back spirit that cannot be replicated at other times of the year.

Beneath the sweltering sun, the need for perfection seems to melt away. By July, I have traded my meticulously kept notebooks for beach towels and bathing suits. Even the work that I do have to accomplish seems more leisurely when done during the lazy summer hours. I find myself feeling truly grateful for the time spent enjoying the weather with my friends and family while grilling outside, swimming in the pool, and spending time catching up. It is all too easy to fall into the relaxed state that July naturally creates.

               

To embrace the spirit of July, I decided to take on a craft project that both recycled and welcomed imperfections. This T-shirt bag is made from an old tie-dyed T-shirt (size small, but you can use any size) and I especially loved the warm colors that made the bag appear bright yet still relaxed. In the making of the actual bag, no sewing is required, simply cut off the sleeves and neck and slit and tie the ends. To decorate and utilize as much of the bag as possible, I cut strips from the sleeves and braided them. Then, I loosely hand-sewed the braids onto the bag. I left them a little uneven to continue the laid back feel of the bag (plus, I was too eager to get out into the summer sun to spend the time making the perfect edge). To add a bit of decoration, I sewed a few buttons beneath the braids. The bag itself can be made in less than ten minutes. It is perfect as a quick purse or a casual bag for running to the store or the gym. With the cute imperfections and completely homemade, recycled feel, it is the ideal July bag.

In an effort to waist as little as possible, I continued to use leftover fabric from the sleeves to make a quick braided wrap bracelet. I lined up the three pieces (on top of each other), sewed a button on to keep the pieces together, and stretched, braided and tied the pieces. When the strands are stretched, this bracelet wraps around my wrist three times.

A Sparkling Secret

I’ve been making jewelry, or at least stringing beads, my whole life. My earliest memory of “making jewelry” consisted of me sitting for hours on my grandparent’s living room carpet, stringing oversized wooden beads onto a shoe lace. I would make a strand, show my grandma, wait for her pleased reaction, and then take them off and start again. I just sat there, with the warm sun bathing me through the window, making countless patterns of cubes, spheres, reds and blues. As I got older, I would follow my sister through the craft store as she searched for yarn. When she was thoroughly ensconced in picking out the right colors for her next blanket, I would sneak to the jewelry section. I would marvel at the endless variety, mentally pairing beads and imagining necklaces, bracelets and earrings. With the beautiful beads and charms in front of me, I would stand there until my sister would come find me (eventually, she figured out where I would disappear). I began to use the internet to find new ideas, such as different ways to work metal or patterns for mixed media jewelry. I then sat on the floor of my room trying to replicate and modify my new found techniques. When summertime came, I would go with my mom to various craft fairs. We would spend hours strolling down streets lined with various stands. The colors and shapes of the artists’ passions were on display, carefully protected and separated by white, covered tents. I always noticed the jewelry first. I loved the beautiful twists of wire, the shimmer of glass beads, and the sparkle of gold and silver.  The intricacies of the artists’ works inspired me to fine-tune my skills and continue to create. Through the years, jewelry became a small passion of mine. I was known as the tall nerd who played sports and was in the band, but making jewelry was a way to quietly express my artistic side. It was my little, sparkling secret.

This is one of my favorite pairs of earrings. I love the combination of blues and greens with the silver, flower bead.

I brought this pair of earrings with me when I took my senior pictures. It's hard to see, but I am wearing them in this pic. (A little hint to my sparkling secret)

As I said before, much of my inspiration comes from the internet. I found the idea for these while browsing jewelry-making sites, and I decided I had to replicate it.

These earrings remind me of summer. I love the bright colors that make a whimsical look.

These are an example of a mixed media earring. I used beads, chain and buttons to make them.

Cookie Class (of 2012)

I attended my alma mater’s 2012 graduation recently because I wanted to see a few of my younger friends process. I expected the crowds, the excitement, the crazy, and the dressed up parents loading up their cameras and herding their families into the seats. What I didn’t expect was how OLD I felt. Ok, I realize that I’m not old, but it was weird to see all those kids in their caps and gowns, taking the seats that my class held just one year ago. All that wonderment about the expectations of college and leaving home has slowly faded into a more practical knowledge of the challenges and opportunities of college. I still enjoy the ability to hang out with friends and grab lunch with them at any time, or the countless free concerts and events, but the idea of college as the ultimate goal for the end of high school has changed into the idea of college as a small part in my path to education and success.

Regardless of my own feelings, I was very proud of the accomplishments of my class of 2012 friends. I swear, they grew so much, physically and mentally, while I was away. They won competitions, collected awards, aced tests and grew into themselves, slowly discovering who they are and who they are striving to be. As I listened to the valedictorian give her speech, standing at the same exact podium where I spoke just one year ago, I realized the hardships and adversity that my friends had gone through in just this one year and how well they handled it. Their maturity through tough weather and dark days has helped them blossom into respectable citizens and now, alumni.

The reason I’m getting all sappy and torturing any potential readers of this post is that I baked these cookies as a present for one of my graduating friends. I found the recipe for these Levain bakery copycat cookies a couple months ago at Love from the Oven (by the way, this is an awesome blog and you should definitely check it out!). I’ve made them a couple times since I found the recipe and brought them to various parties and gatherings. They are always well-received. I’ve seen people in the room take two or three at a time and come back for seconds. The only complaint I’ve ever received is that the cookie wasn’t actually a cookie (due to its soft gooey texture) and that it bothered the eater that he couldn’t figure out what it was. My friend probably has eaten at least a dozen of these cookies since I found the recipe and always seemed very pleased with them.

The real reason I decided to make these cookies for him was actually the discovery of a very unique ingredient. I found some turquoise chocolate candies at Wegmans in their amazing candy section and decided I had to give them to him. I don’t know if it’s because he has spent way too much time in a pool or just that he likes the hue, but aqua (or turquoise) is, by far, his favorite color. Instead of just giving him the candies, I decided to bake them into cookies with another special ingredient, peanut butter. He has always told me how much he likes the combination of chocolate and peanut butter (and really… who doesn’t?), so it was an easy and obvious substitution.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 stick butter or hald a cup of benecol
1/2 cup peanut putter (preferably creamy)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cups light brown sugar
3/4 cups dark brown sugar
2 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour
1 & 1/2 tsp salt (I prefer sea salt)
2 tsp cornstartch
1 & 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 cups M and M's or chocolate chips 
Optional – 1/2 block of semi-sweet or dark chocolate (not unsweetened baker’s chocolate)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. In a large bowl/mixer bowl, cream together cubed butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, until well mixed.
4. Add flour, salt, cornstartch, baking powder, baking soda & salt to butter, sugar and egg mixture until just combined. This should be a very thick mixture, and not sticky. If your dough is still sticky, try adding more flour, 1/8-1/4 cup at a time.
5. Add in chocolate chips and nuts. If you are using a block of chocolate, you will want to grate it and add it in as well.
6. Combine the dough and chocolate chips. My dough was so thick that I had to do this by hand, a bit like kneading bread.
7. Divide into portions to bake. I scaled back a bit from the giant Levain Bakery size cookie and instead of making 12 cookies with this recipe, I made about 18. I worked the dough into balls, and put them on the cookie sheet, leaving ample room between them. I did not flatten the dough out at all. I also did not use a silpat, parchment paper or grease the cookie sheets. I’m a baking rebel when it comes to putting my cookies on the cookie sheets.
8. Put into the oven to bake. For my 18 cookies, each sheet took approximately 10 minutes. Larger cookies will obviously take a few more minutes. Watch them closely and don’t over bake, or you will ruin the gooey wonderfulness inside. I pulled mine out as soon as I saw them start to lightly brown.
9. Let cool and remove from pan.

* A few hints about the addition of peanut butter. The dough is a little bit softer than the regular dough. It remians sticky even after more flour is added. Instead of dividing the dough, I portion it using a large tablespoon (and making roughly 3 dozen cookies) and placed them on cookie sheets in the freezer to allow them to set. Because my cookies were smaller, I baked them for about 12 minutes and they were still very soft and with a perfect, light crust.