Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies Full of Comfort

Are you a big fan of oatmeal cookies? I'm still trying to decide. Love the taste, hate the heartburn... Love the goodness of oatmeal, hate the raisins... Until this recipe came into my life! Yes, it changed my very view of oatmeal in a cookie. The chocolate and fiber and goodness of oats for my heart outweighs the stinging of heartburn (OK, I'm weird, YES oatmeal gives me heartburn!) and, nope, no raisins!!

If you were one of those kids whose moms would give you chocolate chip cookies (or cookie bars in our house) and you were sure the world was alright after all, then this recipe really is for you!

You know, I know that there's more to life than what we eat. I know that food doesn't actually make anything better. But there is some moment of bliss and escape with just bunkering down with a cookie in some soft, cozy spot, taking comfort in something that is ...mmmmm!

And then it is also very sweet to share these with others. It's a wonderful communion to bite into a warm melt-in-your-mouth pocket o'joy and look at your husband and he has the same goofy "mmm" look on his face that you do, as if nothing else could be so yummy! I love sharing a [tiny] crumb of chocolate or sweets with my daughter and she says, with SO much gusto, "NUM-NUM!!!!!!!" And then begs for more, with all the manipulating puppy-eyes an 18-month-old can muster.

But my favorite thing about making these cookies is making them. I LOVE baking. I LOVE cooking. I LOVE feeding others! I like to share, but I LOVE to be the artful master behind the delectable morsel.

So I saw an episode of Good Eats a few days ago (I fall asleep watching Alton Brown most nights) where he was making several recipes with Oats. I want to try each of them, they were all pretty creative. So, since I was inspired, and I wanted sugar, I went with the cookie idea first. Now, when I went to The Food Network's website for his recipe, I found that I didn't like how it looked that much after all, so I also found another one on allrecipes.com and combined the two.... Then ran out of oats and added some stuff... And then some cocoa powder.... Plus a little more sugar and salt to balance that out... Then, well, my recipe didn't resemble anyone's! (Which I LOVE!!!!)

By the way, did I mention these are [mostly] GOOD for you!?!?

So here ya go:

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups wheat bran

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup Ghirardelli 60% cocoa chocolate chips

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
2 eggs

1/4 cup cocoa powder (Penzey's is BEST!!!!)

3 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. sea salt

HOW TO:

You know what, just mix it all together! Well ok, butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, and salt first. Cocoa powder next. And the rest just dump it in at will. Mix it up really well, and it'll turn out =)  Bake at 350.

I made these REALLY big cookies!!! I suggest you do the same, as well. It'll make your loved ones a little happier =)

Bosnian Zeljanica Burek Recipe

On 2/15 you might remember me mentioning a Bosnian recipe I saw in the newspaper that I was fascinated with, but couldn't find a name for at first (when I did it was called Zeljanica), and there was no recipe included in the article. Well, I'm happy to say that after a little research (i.e. Google) I found a bit more about it, made it, ate it, and LOVED IT!!!!!!!

Burek is a savory pastry, like a rolled up meat pie. YUM! It can be made with a sweet filling instead, or Zeljanica, which is the spinach and ricotta version. But I don't have a lot of patience when it comes to new foods, so I filled mine with spinach and cheese AND meat! Burek is also described in some places as street food (like our hotdogs), or an appetizer. I made mine as the main dish.

I compiled a few different recipes for this... Not only because I tend to do that with any new food, but especially because I've found with foods from other cultures it tends to be like our meatloaf here -- everyone has a differing recipe because everyone's mother's mother's mother's mother has been making it a special way ever since they first set stake to land. 

Considering I'm not much of a pastry chef, I didn't even bother trying to make the dough. I bought phyllo dough in the freezer section and used it - and it worked out great. If you would like to see how to make the dough from scratch, Baker's Corner has a great tutorial about it. It is a GREAT blog!!! (WHAT are you doing still reading MINE??? Head over to her's immediately!!!!!! =)

Or read what I did:

(By now you know exactly what I'm going to say, right? ... I didn't follow the recipe! My post-childbearing-brain doesn't remember ricotta when I have a list in front of me at the grocery store!!! So, this is what you get instead ... A lot of substitutions, and a happy yummy meal :-)

Melt 2-3 TBSP. butter on low heat.

As soon as it starts to think of bubbling, pour in just a very small bit of heavy cream (about 1 TBSP.), letting it heat back up and reduce slightly.

Do this several times, stirring constantly! I used almost a half-cup in this stage.

I did have on-hand some white cheddar, and about 3 TBSP. cream cheese. So, I first dropped in the cream cheese, 1/2 TBSP. at a time and let it melt. Then, same with the cheddar.

Next, I stirred in a half-pound of organic spinach.

You might have to add in a little more cream along the way. I ended up adding in yet another half-cup along the way... But I guess really you'd want to just buy ricotta (it's authentic to the recipe, and more artery-friendly!)

This needs to cook way down, so just keep stirring and as it cooks, add more.

Also, I salted and peppered this stage quite a bit.

In another pan, cook 1 lb. lean beef with salt, pepper, 1 TBSP. paprika, and 1 tsp. allspice.

When the meat is finished cooking, remove to another vessel and cook 1 diced medium onion.

Alright, mix it all together now!

Place two sheets of phyllo on a surface you can get buttery - because this stage is a mess! - and butter the top phyllo sheet, spooning in a line of filling, as seen in the photo at right.

Roll filled sheets up tightly, then roll into a spiral.

Butter it up! (This isn't a heart-healthy snack, this one, she ain't! *said in an excited Irish accent*)






I got an early birthday present today! My husband was SO sweet to give me a Pampered Chef Baking Stone!!!!! I've always wanted one of these, ever since I lived with my dear friend Mary Lou in Tennessee. She used her Baking Stone for everything from pizza to her AMAZING biscuits, and I've coveted one ever since!!! Finally, I've got one of my very own =)  PRAY I DON'T BREAK IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's usually my luck...

And for the finished product.........

YUM!!!

This recipe made 8 burek.

(I think they could've been made smaller, or rolled in a straight line and cut into sections.)

Truffles

Any food is only as good as the ingredients you use.... My favorite is Ghirardelli. It's not too expensive, and it's not chalky like Nestle.

WHAT YOU NEED:
12 oz. (1 bag) Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa Chocolate Chips
3 TBSP. unsalted Butter + a little tiny pinch sea salt
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup Ghirardelli Baking Cocoa Powder
4 oz. (1/3 bag) Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

HOW TO:
Place the 60% chocolate chips with room-temperature butter and salt in a mixing bowl.
Add vanilla to cream in a sauce pan. Heat on stove top to slight simmer, over medium heat. (This should only take a minute. Stir constantly. When cream gets too hot, it's done for...)
Pour over chocolate mixture in mixing bowl. Leave for about two minutes! Then, stir to mix well. (If it's cold in your house, or the chocolate chips or butter are cold, then you might have to do like I did and dump the whole mixture back in the pan to melt thoroughly -- that's okay, but take heed to ONLY bring it to the melting point, stirring vigorously!!!)
When melted together thoroughly, cover mixing bowl and leave in fridge for at least one hour.
When chocolate and cream mixture is well-set, use a spoon or ice-cream scoop to scoop out enough to make one-inch balls. Use your hands -- but only your fingertips, and be QUICK!!! The heat from your hands will surely melt anything they touch... Then your kitchen will be pretty grimy, like mine was =)
As you roll each truffle ball, set on a large plastic cutting board or a cookie sheet lined with parchment or foil.
Let these rest in fridge again as you prepare the toppings.
Pour 1/4 cup baking powder in a cereal bowl (or something large enough to just hold about 3-4 truffle balls.
Pour about 1/3 of the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips into a microwave-safe dish, and melt in microwave on high heat, at 20-30 second intervals -- STIRRING in between!!! (Do not cover the chocolate as it heats in the microwave!)
Pour that into a zip-top bag, squeezing out the air, and sealing it.
Remove truffle balls from fridge.
Roll in cocoa. Place back on cutting board, or whatever they came from =)  Make sure they are close, but not touching.
Cut a small hole in one corner of the zip-top bag, and squeeze semi-sweet swirls on top of each truffle.
Refrigerate to keep... They keep for a couple of weeks in a sealed container!!

I know, I know... Everyone says that Truffles taste best at room temperature, but I just don't like chocolate at any other temperature than straight-from-the-fridge! I always thought my Grandma was SO weird for keeping KitKats and M&Ms in the fridge, and now I see why =)

COST:
About $8 for 25-30 Truffles.
....Let's see here, you divide by... and add the 1... that's... Um, I'll check on my calculator.... between 27-32 cents/each
(Does anyone really care how much good chocolate costs? It's usually worth it!)

Homemade Preztels

My first job, when I was fifteen, was as the sample girl at Auntie Anne's in Rivergate Mall (a little north of Nashville). The sample girl... (You remember that, Ma?) Oh my gosh have I changed since then! And it has been 14 years since I rolled out a pretzel, but on Saturday I rolled out 8 edible and fairly pretzel-shaped treats that my family and neighbors loved!


Actually, I shaped six in the traditional form, and two I tried to make into cinnamon twists. The form was bad, but I mixed it up a little and included chopped almonds, dried orange zest, and cinnamon with a slight tad of sugar in the topping. AmaZing! UH-MAY-ZEEN!!!!!!

BEFORE

AFTER

I recently found this recipe in our newspaper, but it credits the original recipe to "The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion". It is definitely worth the work/time/wait!!!!!! (ummm, I don't know about copyright laws, so I'm just gonna take a chance and post it here):

Hot Buttered Pretzels
Makes 8 pretzels

Dough:

2 ½ cups unbleached flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast

7/8 to 1 cup warm water (see note)

Topping:

½ cup warm water

1 teaspoon sugar

Coarse, kosher or pretzel salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and beat until well combined. Knead the dough, by hand or mixer, for about 5 minutes, until it's soft, smooth and quite slack. Dust the dough with flour (to keep it from sticking) and place it in a plastic bag; close the bag, leaving room for the dough to expand, and let it rest 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets by spraying them with vegetable oil spray or lining them with parchment paper.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface and divide it into eight equal pieces. Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (about 22 inches long), and twist each rope into a pretzel. Dip each pretzel in the warm water mixed with 1 teaspoon sugar, and place them on the baking sheets. Sprinkle them lightly with salt. (Alternatively, brush with the sugar water and sprinkle with salt; easier to keep their shape this way.) Allow them to rest, uncovered, 10 minutes.

Bake pretzels in preheated oven 8 to 9 minutes, or until they're golden brown, reversing the baking sheets halfway through.

Remove pretzels from oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you've used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but that's what gives these pretzels their ethereal taste. Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave.

Note: Use the greater amount of water in the winter, the lesser amount in the summer, and somewhere in between in the spring and fall. Your goal is a soft dough.

Ok, so we're a whole-wheat-only family. I used slightly less flour, and wet the dough several times while kneading. They might have used even less flour, but they were great!


I also found that you do NOT need that half-cup of water to wet all the pretzels in the final stages if you are simply brushing the water on.


In anticipation of making these, I looked through my two Good Eats books, and then went online to find out if Alton Brown might have a pretzel recipe. He did have a Good Eats show on pretzels, which, although it might be full of fun historical facts, did not have an appetizing recipe. (Sometimes he has so many gimmicks leading up to the recipe that I honestly get confused by the end of the show on what I'm supposed to be doing...) I opted out of doing AB's recipe this time... Sorry, AB... King Arthur won this time =)



There was also an original recipe in the same article for mustard cheese sauce, but it was kind of crappy, so I'm not going to bother posting it here =)


If you make these, let me know how they turned out!