4 ingredient Coconut Macaroons and Surgery

Time is of the essence right now. I pre-make all my lunches, pre-prepare my protein shakes at night so my breakfast is drinkable, set my to go cup under the coffee maker so I just have to press a button, and after much trial and error have all my clothes laid out in the most time efficient manner so that when the alarm goes off at 4AM, I can hit snooze once, and then tumble out of bed and into my work clothes. Brush my teeth and let the dogs out after I hit the coffee button, brush my hair, put on some mascara, grab my lunch, kiss the hubs, and pet the dogs, and BOUNCE out the door to get to work on time.

It's dark when I get there, it's dark when I go home, but the OR is filled with bright lights, and of course blood, guts, etc.

It's a privilege to be able to see inside the human body, to be able to stick my hands where no one else's hands have ever been before. Which sounds totally odd and gross, but it's such a surreal feeling when you realize, hey, that's small intestine that I'm touching, or hey, that's a beating human heart that I just suctioned blood out of...it's nuts.

Then, if you're lucky, you get to suture. Take the U shaped needle in the needle drivers, and the forceps (not to be called tweezers as I was informed), and get to work on some tissue. Got vertical, go horizontal, no...hold it like this! Like a pencil, why are you putting your fingers like that? Don't tear the tissue! Excellent, that's right. Do it again. It's ridiculously exciting, and worth standing there for 10 hours barely suctioning and not spoken to, to have the privilege of feeling things, seeing things, and maybe even suturing things.

But time is definitely of the essence--study when you can, sleep as much as you can, eat when you can--my bastardization of a common phrase in surgery.

For me, bake when you can. Hence the 4 ingredient coconut macaroon that turn out delicious in under and hour. Dip them in chocolate, add in nuts, dried fruit, or any other flavors you want...crushed candy cane for the holidays? Pumpkin puree for the fall? Anything really...the macaroon is your oyster.

one kind of bad picture...I was too busy eating them to get a better picture

4-ingredient Coconut Macaroons 

3 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla or almond flavoring
salt

Mix egg whites, vanilla, and salt together. Add in the coconut. Mix together. Let rest for 10 minutes. Then form into mounds with your hands or a scooper if you have one. Make sure they're well stuck together.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, and then enjoy!

Chocolate-What-You-Got-Cookies

The clumsy cook indeed. Apparently the forgetful cook as well. I went hiking with a lovely group of ladies from school earlier today and forgot all the things in two different cars. Well, really just my glasses case and my phone.

Sounds okay, yes? But NO. I was NOT okay. I was actually surprised at how attached to my smart phone I've gotten. I was sitting there, staring like a lost puppy, at the place my phone was supposed to be in my back pack. I pawed at the back pack 2-3 times thinking, maybe now I've developed enough magical powers to just make my phone appear? Or...there must be a secret compartment I haven't discovered in 6 years!

Finally, I accept the awful truth: I had left my phone in a friend of mine's car. Yes...I was phone-less. Not un-contactable mind you, but phone-less. Where would I read the newspaper (online.), where would I read my books (real paper.), where would I text people (my texting app on my computer.), where would I play RUZZLE (the true horror.)

All of these thoughts came crashing towards me as I sat, mildly catatonic, on the edge of my bed, clutching my landline. I finally stepped into gear, after much growling and snarling at my puppy...as he was the only live creature around at the time...an act that he took as love and play time...it only served to fuel my irritation. I called my friend and she was nice enough to drive my phone back to me. That's right, she brought it back to me. Her super-niceness pushed me to realize a few things that I have to say.

Either way, valuable lesson:

1. Nice people are nice, and will be nice enough to drive your phone back to you when the red line is experience serious delays. You are now immortalized in my blogpost for being nice. Thank you :-)

2. Hello, my name is Mita and I am a cell-phone addict. Yes, I am that person on the T who is texting or reading, or moving her finger rapidly on her phone in an attempt to beat a random user at a word game. Yes, I am that person who freaks out when her phone gets slower by a fraction of a second. Yes, I am that person who resort to neanderthalic-like grunts and slamming when my phone freezes. My name is Mita, and I have a problem.

I joke, but it's a legitimate problem. I am constantly being mentally-stimulated by the barrage of information my phone throws at me...updates from the NYT, information about celebrities I didn't know I cared about, and heart-wrenching losses at Ruzzle (if you haven't played...you just don't know). But at the same time I talk about important it is to just have time to yourself to think, to be, to contemplate. Some of my best thoughts come from being forced into boredom .

After all, that's why I took the summer off between 1st and 2nd year. I wanted to be bored...to not think or do, but just be. Why not? Being bored is a privilege that I'm lucky enough to have and I get that it's not going to come back. Life is happening and it'll keep on happening, so why not just enjoy the boredom I will pay so much for in the future?

So! I hereby take this vow...to try to use my phone more judiciously and responsibly. You might see me on the T using my phone, or sitting at a bus stop, or walking down the street, but I promise I'll be using it to expand myself...and, I'll also just use it straight up less.

In celebration of my addiction recognition--cookies! Now I've searched long and hard for good chocolate chip cookies, and I believe I found my answer on Smitten Kitchen. I tweaked the recipe a little, so now I'm calling them my Chocolate-What-You-Got-Cookies. In my case, I had trail mix, coconut flakes, and chocolate chips. BOOM, delicious.

Chocolate-What-You-Got-Cookies
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

0.75 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
0.5 cup white sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2.0 cups all purpose flour
0.5 tsp. salt
0.5 tsp. baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips

EXTRAS -- you can mix and match, use them together, use only one...up to you!
0.5 cup of your favorite trail mix
0.5 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
0.5 cups crushed pretzel sticks


Preheat oven to 325 F

In a bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients: salt, baking soda, flour. Cream together the melted butter, and sugars. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Slowly mix in the flour ingredients into the wet ingredients until just mixed. Then stir in the chocolate and any extras by hand.

Scoop out 1 tbsp on to a parchment paper covered baking sheet, about 3 inches apart. Bake them for ~10 minutes. They should be crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside...enjoy!

Also, you can freeze any extra dough for future cookies.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

There are so many things I could have blogged about in the past week:

• My thoughts on the birth control/insurance coverage dilemma
• How my awesome dinner par-tay went. It wasn't just a party, it was a par-TAY. 
• My dear hubby waking up, remembering it was Valentine's Day (Mita-Tyler Love Day*infinity) and saying "Happy Valentines Day!" first thing, in his sleepy voice. 
• The cheesecake I made with my 5 minuted microwave lemon curd
• The fun dessert sweet-swap at went to
• The awesome Pho restaurant I went to

But, the thing that really captured this week, double chocolate chip cookies I made. Super chocolate-y, sweet but with a small taste of salt that offset it, goo-ey goodness that hardens up into yumminess. Overall, great cookies, and quite easy. 

Anyways, Happy Love Day everyone. Take today to remember all the people (or animals!) in your life that you love, that love you, and to show some love. And maybe enjoy some chocolate :-) 

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

1.5 cup all purpose flours (180 grams) 

0.5 cup white sugar (101 grams)

0.5 cup brown sugar (light or dark, depending on which you like better) 

0.5 cup. butter, softened
1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

0.25 cups cocoa powder

0.5 tsp. baking soda

0.5 tsp. baking powder

0.5 tsp. salt

0.5 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies 

Preheat oven to 350F

Cream the butter and sugars together until it's fluffy (3-5 min on medium high in a mixer). Reduce the speed, and then add in the egg and the vanilla, mix well. In a separate bowl, sift the all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder, and salt. While the mixer is on slow, slowly add in the flour mixture until it's all just combined. Then with a spatula mix in the chocolate chips. 

Then roll out the dough into 1.5 in. balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes (depending on how soft you like your cookies). 

When they came out, I put little candy hearts on them, since I was taking them to a Valentine's Day theme party, but they taste great with a cold, tall glass of milk as well :-) Enjoy! 

Favorites with an Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cocoa Nib Cookie

I haven't posted since last year.


It's 2012! January 2nd, 2012 to be specific [well, when I first started writing this it was January 2nd]. A day of birth for my mother, the day before I go to work for me, and just another day of break for my graduate-student husband. Ahh, life. 


I haven't posted in a little while since I was enjoying break by indulging in a few books, a few glasses of wine, and a few interesting recipes. One of which is this oatmeal chocolate chip cocoa nib cookie, which is my new favorite I believe. 


So what happened this last year? 


Oh yeah, I began my second year of teaching, took a road trip up Highway 1 and saw the beauty of the California coast, turned in my application for medical school, worried over medical school applications, got accepted to medical school (!!!), planned a vacation with my best friend, got a second dog, oh yeah, and married my most wonderful man <3 


2011 was awesome. I feel lucky, I am lucky. 
So anyways, enough about me, let's talk about favorites...I figured my end of 2011 tribute would be a list of my favorite STUFF that I may or may not have found in 2011, but I did devour in 2011...enjoy! 


Favorite Blogs
Joy the Baker -- by far, she has the most beautiful pictures of food, and a very true to self voice in her writing. It always makes me smile.


101 Cookbooks -- Heidi Swan is awesome. She's got an awesome cookbook that I bought, Supernatural Everyday, and her blog is just that, supernatural. Filled with awesome, easy to do, vegetarian recipes. 


David Lebovitz -- He lives a life I dream of, in Paris. Also, he's a genius. Amazing black pepper chocolate ice cream. Amazing. 


ReadBreathRelax -- I love this blog. It's a woman who reads an obscene number of books, in the young adult, fantasy genre and reviews them. It's what stops me from looking around confused at the library :-) 


Hyperboleandahalf -- hilarious online comic strip, I love this woman.


Favorite Books
Most of the links are to a book review of these books


Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini -- basically a high school girl finds out she's a greek demi-god and awesomeness ensures.


The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross -- basically a girl finds out she's the daughter of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and awesomeness ensues.


The entire Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare -- basically a girl finds out she's part of an ancient, mysterious group of superhumans that protect the regular world, and awesomeness ensues.


The entire Infernal Devices Series by Cassandra Clare -- prequel to the Mortal Instruments Series, and awesomeness ensues.


Catching a pattern? Awesome female leads, and awesomeness always ensues. But sadly, nothing has come up to par with my all time favorite, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Series. 


Favorite Discoveries of the Year (or things I really used a LOT this year)
Google Reader -- Helps you compile all the detritus you read on the interwebs into one, easy to access place. LOVES it. 


Dropbox -- discovered this a while ago, but used it SO much this year to share resources with my other co-teachers, or even to make sure all the work I did on one computer was accessible from anywhere


iPhone -- I was late to this game but boy oh boy, I definitely see what all the hype is about. I thought I wouldn't need it or use it. Wow, I was wrong. 


The New York Times Op-Ed page including Paul Krugman, Maureen Dowd, and Gail Collins -- In the craziness that has been the 2010/2011 congressional elections and primary run, these wonderful op-ed contributors remind me of the sanity left in the world, and make me smile with their witty, and awesome commentary.


My Favorite Recipes/Posts
December -- Lemon Olive-Oil Kale Salad
November -- Pumpkin Pie Bars with a Hazelnut Almond Shortbread Crust
October -- Not So Slow Food 
September -- Homemade Sugar Scrub
August -- Shortchanging our Students. Shortchanging our Future.
July -- Raspberry White Balsamic Fruit Tart
June -- Weiner's Bride: An Example of Sexism in Politics
May -- Two of 'em! A Nice Guy and Should Gays Boycott Straight Weddings?
April -- President Obama 2012
March -- Springbreak + Chocolate Scones
February -- Lemon Curd
January -- Sweet Potato Pie


And of course, my first recipe of 2012, oatmeal chocolate, cocoa nib recipe below!

 Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cocoa Nib Cookies
Adapted from Joy the Baker


1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
0.75 tsp salt
2.5 cups rolled oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
0.5 cups cocoa nibs


Preheat your oven to 350 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 


In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Turn it off and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Then turn the mixer onto medium and cream in the two eggs. Then add in the vanilla. 


In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well, turn your stand mixer to low, and add in the flour mixture in until just incorporated. It's okay if there are little bits that aren't incorporated yet, you'll get to that later.

Then combine the oats, chocolate, and cocoa nibs in a bowl. Remove the stand-mixer bowl from the stand, and then using a spatula incorporate the oats-mixtures until it's all well mixed and there are no more extra bits of flour.


Then use a tablespoon to scoop out balls onto your baking sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes, or until the edges are brown and the middle looks only mildly goo-ey. Let them cool, and then eat 'em! 




Hope you had a wonderful 2011, and I really hope these cookies help you have an even better 2012 

Rosemary Lemon Shortbread

So Thop and I had some friends over for dinner on Thursdays, H- and J-. Tyler met them last year when we started going to the rock climbing wall. I had met H- before, a great chica with amazing rock climbing abilities and a fun personality, but I hadn't met her boyfriend J- yet, also a baller rock climber and a generally cool person. Anyways, dinner was a success. The menu? 


Spinach Salad
Beet and Mascarpone Salad (AMAzing) 
Fresh Pasta with Homemade Pasta Sauce
Lavender and Walnut Scones with Lemon Curd and Fresh Berries 


Overall, the night was filled with yummy tastes, good conversation, and a plan to go rock climbing! 


For those of you who haven't rock climbed before: 


1. Do it, it's super fun.
2. The people that are making it look easy are LYING. They just practice a lot.
3. It's scary when you get up high and look down. No matter how ballin' you are, it's scary. 
4. Seriously do it. It'll be an experience that's simultaneously heart-pounding and addictive.


So we went out yesterday night to the site, our backpacks packed with various and sundry items, including multiple nalgenes, over 4.5 gallons of water, climbing ropes, shoes, and a tooth brush. We were well packed. Setting up the tent was loads of fun, I realized both A) how useless I was in that matter B) how much I am definitely from the city. But we managed, I learned, and Tyler and I fell asleep under the starry Texas night with Jacques standing guard. Honestly, he woke me up every hour on the hour by growling at a shadow in the distance. Our protector--a 12 lb. neurotic poodle. 

Anyways, we woke up at the ungodly hour of 5AM, with the sun still down, but the coffee definitely on, and were packed up and headed out to "demon mountain" by 7:00. It's not really called demon mountain, but I shook my fist at it vigorously several times, so I decided to name it that. 


Man alive was that hike hard! Seriously, I was like, "oh cool, a fun little hike, how nice" LIES. H-, J-, and Thoppy were running up that beast of a mountain, while I was huffing and puffing like a 40 year old smoker with emphysema behind them, flashing the thumbs up sign when they looked back so as to not look like a lost and confused puppy. Meanwhile, the real puppy, Jacques, who was on a leash in my hand, was bounding around, jumping gleefully from rock to rock. It was as though the "wilderness" had turned him from normal poodle-dog, into poodle-wolf, capable of a great many feats of jumping that his person was clearly incapable of doing. 12 lb dog > me on a hike. 


We finally made it up to the top of the mountain, where I spent my time vacillating between admiring the gorgeous view of the desert-area, greenery, and sunrise, and looking over the precipice trying to internalize my impending doom. Clearly unable to comprehend my deep-seated fear, H-, J-, and Thoppy happily went along setting up the rock climbing gear, and made their way individually up the climbing routes. I must say, I gained a new respect for Thoppy--he showed that mountain whose boss...until he twisted his ankle, and a bit after too. I, in turn, simply stared at the whole situation of them climbing the demon-mountain, paralyzed with fear. I politely declined climbing, saying "who would look after the dog? He's clearly afraid" [Reality: poodle-dog to poodle-wolf transformation was complete. He was not afraid.]

My big accomplishment there: I actually stood up on the slanty mountain by myself, and looked over the edge. I think that me and that mountain are going to become friends some day. Don't the best friendships start with rooted fear? 


Anyways, long story short, we hiked down again, and I climbed a smaller mountain [Reality: not a mountain, a large rock]. Yes, that's right, victory was mine. I took on my fear by climbing, and claiming, my very own rock. I grabbed on to "holds," I maneuvered, and I learned how to do it properly and better, so that next time maybe I will go on demon-mountain. 

After that crazy day, what do I need to do to unwind? Make rosemary, lemon shortbread cookies! I got the inspiration from this lovely lady, but I didn't have any thyme, so I figured I'd try rosemary and see how it worked out. 

GREAT. That's how. These cookies have a light flavor of rosemary (if you want it heavier, use more than I used) with the lemon kicking in later. Great for afternoon tea, a thank you gift for someone, or just a snack. 


Enjoy! 


Rosemary Lemon Shortbread
Modified from 17andbaking.com


1 cups of granulated sugar
3 cups flour
3 sticks butter
1 tsp. vanilla
0.5 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1.5 tsp. lemon zest (one medium lemon) 
1 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped up


Preheat the oven to 325. Attach the paddle attachment to your mixer, and blend together the bugger and sugar until it's light and fluffy, about 2 min. Then add in the vanilla, the salt, the lemon juice, the zest, and the rosemary. Mix on medium-high until incorporated. 


Then, turn your mixer down to slow, and add in the flour. When it's all added, turn your mixer up to high for 30 seconds, to make sure all the flour is mixed in properly. 


Divide the dough into two equal balls. Get some plastic wrap, and wrap the balls up and refrigerate for at least 30 min. 


When you want to bake it, role it out to about 1 in. think, and either cut it into square, or cut out shapes (I used hearts). Be careful, if the dough gets too warm, it'll be hard to work with. It's better to do it when its cold. 


Place them on a parchment paper or silpat lined baking sheet, and cook them for about 10 min, or until they are golden brown on the edges. Pull them out, let them cool for about 5 min. and then try one!

Chocolate Walnut Cookies (Gluten Free!)

As promised, here's what to do with the whites left over from the Raspberry White Balsamic Fruit Tart: make some gluten free cookies!

I have always been raised to not waste things.


Peeling Potatoes and carrots? Use the skins to make a tasty veggie broth! 
Really hungry? Don't load up your plate, go for seconds!
Spilled something? Use a napkin you can wash instead of throw away!
Have a banana that's about to go bad? Freeze it and make banana bread eventually! 


Part of it stems from the fact that my parents were immigrants and they literally came to this country with nothing. They worked their butts off, faced culture shock, racism, poverty, and more. So they have always had this mind set of don't waste. 


This isn't exclusive to immigrants of course. I would argue that my best friend is the same way. I think the mindset really comes from growing up and not always being able to get something when you want it, usually because you can't afford it. I appreciate that my parents have instilled in me the value of not wasting, and most importantly, how hard it is to earn and save a dollar. 


This is why I didn't have the heart to throw away those egg whites. 


So I decided, since I made a not-gluten free friendly dessert that was AMAZing, I would make a tasty gluten-free dessert for dear ol' Maa. 

Ergo, chocolate walnut cookies. These are...very chocolate-y. Seriously. You have almost no structural integrity when coming out of the oven, but they will after they cool. They're crunchy on the outside, and chewy on the inside, and super easy to prepare. 


Feel free to vary it a little, add some oats, or dried tart cherries, or ohhh, even some almond extract (maybe 0.25 tsp?). Make them, your GF loved one will LOVE you, and non-GF friends won't even know there is no flour in it! 


Chocolate Walnut Cookies
modified from whatsgabycooking.com

3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup chocolate chips 
1/2 cup and 2 tbsp. cocoa powder (dutch processed)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 egg whites
0.25 tsp. salt
0.5 cups chopped walnuts


Preheat oven it 320 degrees. 


In a bowl or in a food processor, mix together the powdered sugar, the cocoa powder, and salt. Then stir in the chocolate chips, and chopped walnuts. Stir in the egg whites, and vanilla extract. 


It's wicked easy if you have a food processor to make this, but it's also quick in a bowl as well. 


Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, scoop out cookies into 2 inch mounds, and bake them for 15 minutes.


Let them cool for 15 minutes out of the oven, and nom on them! 

Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten Free!)

So we are on vacation. It’s wonderful. I love it. I love the air here, I love the rooms, I love that its nice and cool, I love that I have to wear a sweater and its summer, I love it.

I brought a tasty gluten free dessert with us, a cheesecake with an almond crust, but I underestimated how tasty it was…and its almost gone. Recipe for that soon to come.

So in our somewhat barren vacation kitchen, I was grappling with what to make that is gluten free, easy, and won’t make too much of a mess and my little eye spied a jar of peanut butter. 

  

And magically, an hour later I had 2.5 dozen tiny cookies. These cookies tasted awesome. I would not have guessed they were gluten free if I hadn’t made them. Oh yeah, and mom loved them :-)

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies

modified from glutenfreegirl.com

1 cup peanut butter, creamy

0.75 cups sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

0.25 tsp. salt

1 egg

Some sugar and cinnamon for rolling

Preheat 350F

Cream together the sugar, peanut butter, and salt. The mix in the baking powder and then the egg. Then we want to make little balls for the cookie. The smaller the balls, the better they’ll hold together. The mixture will be quite sticky, but more fun that way! 

Anyways, I used a melon baller to make tiny cookies. Then I rolled them in cinnamon sugar. Put them on a baking sheet with parchment paper, bake for 10 minutes. Right when they come out of the oven, use a times of a fork to make the peanut-butter cookie indentations.

Coconut Macroons! (Gluten Free)

Ever since coming home, I have focused more and more on gluten-free cooking. I have made a gluten-free pizza crust which was surprisingly good, some gluten free Indian foods, and other cool stuff. 

                                       

But for Father's Day, I wanted something that my mother could eat too for dessert...so I though, maybe my chocolate-sprinkle rice krispies treats? No...Maybe some french macroons? Naw, too time intensive, and she'd want me to hang with the family...ah ha! Coconut Macroons...light, beautiful, and not too much sugar. Epic.


They're really not time intensive...so mixing, so cooling, some baking, and you're done. You can jazz them up any way you want, you can pipe some ganache on them after they're cooled, you can dip the bottoms in chocolate like my inspiration did on 17andbaking, or you can dip the tops in chocolate and call it an opposite mountain. 

I opted against that...preferring a plain, simple, presentation. No chocolate, no fuss, no nothing. Also, I was lazy. 

Oh yeah, this is a picture of my dog. Doesn't he look like a Macroon? 


So a Happy Father's Day to y'all, I hope your fathers all had a lovely day!


Coconut Macroons
adapted from 17andbaking.com


3 cups sweetened coconut
0.75 cup egg whites (~4-5 large eggs)
slightly less than 0.25 cups of granulated white sugar
1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
0.25 tsp. almond extract


In a medium saucepan mix together the egg whites, the coconut, the sugar. Mix over medium-heat for about 7 minutes, until the mixture goes from liquid-y to kind of pasty but not dry. Take it off the heat and mix into extracts. 


After that, spread it out on the mixture on a sheet pan, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 


Preheat oven to 300F.


Pull it out, and either scoop it into the a mini-ice cream scooper or spoon it into a 1/4 cup measuring cup for a dome shape. Place each coconut dome on a parchment paper lined sheet pan. 

Put them in the oven and bake for 25 min, or until brown on top. Pull them out, and let them cool on a wire rack. 


After that, you dip them in melted chocolate(6oz. chocolate with 1/2 cup heavy cream over a double boiler), and let them cool in the fridge on parchment paper, or you can serve just as they are...or on top of a tasty scoop of ice cream! Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.


Bon apetit! 

OMG...Two-Bite Cocoa Jam Cookies (and they're vegan too!)

I found this blog a little while back, 17andbaking, which just had the most beautiful pictures and excellent writing that I added it to the list of blogs that I read regularly. 


As I was searching through the recipe list after T- left for Dallas, I found this recipe...I didn't have any eggs in the fridge, so it appealed to me because I needed a sugar fix. 

Plus I haven't found a cookie that I like a lot yet, so I figured I might as well try it! 


O


M


G
These cookies are freaking awesome. I keep wanting to give them away...but then whenever I open the container, I just pop another one of these suckers in my mouth. I have to say it again...they are so freaking good! 

No eggs, no dairy...simply awesome. Chewy in the middle, crispy on the edges...the perfect mini-treat after a day at the gym, or a day at work, or just because...:-)


Anyways, MAKE THESE. They're easy, they're good, and you can modify them in any way. When I first saw the recipe, they were made with raspberry jam. But...I didn't have any of that, so I used some strawberry rhubarb Tyler and I bought at a farmers market. But seriously, you can make them with any jam you have available. Next time: Hot Pepper Jelly (homemade by the lovely author of Laurie's Little Kitchen)


Two-Bite Cocoa Jam Cookies
Adapted from 17andbaking 


0.5 cup + 2 tblsp your favorite jelly or jam
1 cup sugar
0.33 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
0.5 cup cocoa powder
1.5 cups flour
0.75 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp salt
Sugar for sprinkling


Preheat oven to 350F


Sift together all flour and cocoa powder. Mix in the sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl mix together the jelly, the oil, and the extracts. Mix them into the dry ingredients.

Creepy cool picture

Honestly, to mix the wet and dry ingredients here, it's best to work the dough with your hands. It's supposed to be a little crumbly, but wet enough for you to roll it into small, walnut sized balls. 


On a cookie sheet (either sprayed or lined with parchment paper), roll out the dough into walnut sized ball. Stick them in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. 

The size they should be when you stick them in the oven

When they come out, flatten them slightly with your finger tips, and sprinkle with some sugar. 

Tasty goodness!

TMDSAS, AMCAS, and Lemon Bars!

So medical school applications opened this past week for Texas and AMCAS. I'm busy pecking away at the key board trying to find the right words (but under 5000 characters) as to why I want to be a doctor. I definitely thought 5000 characters (with spaces) was more than what it is...so now I'm anxiously trying to cut down on the essay to make sure I'm not leaving out any important parts. 


But I figure I'll be writing A LOT of essays anyways, so whatever I don't say in this one will get covered in another one. 


I'm surprisingly excited about this whole process, the medical school application. The scary process is actually...soothing in a way. After a year of teaching, which is most certainly no walk in the park, it is nice to have something...concrete. Something I know I can do, something I want to do, something I want so bad. So -- in a sick, masochistic kind of way, I'm looking forward to it. 


So! To celebrate the process, and to get T- off my back about making these again, I decided to make lemon bars! 


I used a recipe from the great Ina Garten...but I just modified a tad bit. 


Try them -- they're so good. If you've never had them before, let me try to describe them...


they're like lemons, but sweeter, with biscuits on the bottom, but flakier, with eggs, but it's not at all eggy. It's wonderful.


My first try with the recipe today, was terrible. I forgot to turn the oven down when I was cooking the lemon custard stuff on top, and it turned into lemon scrambled eggs. BLERGH. epic fail. 

At least he thought they were tasty

So I let the dog eat some, after I threw a mini-fit about ruining them. 

woof

Try 2 = perfection. I turned the temperature down, checked them like an insane person every 10 minutes. Beautifulness. 


Enjoy!


Lemon Bars
Recipe modified from Ina Garten


Shortbread Crust
0.5 lb butter, room temperature
0.5 cups sugar 
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F

Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixer with the paddle blade. Add in the flour slowly (I did about a 1/2 a cup at a time), and add in the salt. 

Yep, I ate some.

You can change the amount of salt for how salty you like things to be...I like more salt to contrast the sweet, but it's really up to you. 

Spread it in a 9x13in evenly, and toss it in the oven for 15 min. When it's done, pull it out. 

It was good.

Ready for the oven!

Lemon Topping
6 large eggs
2.5 cups sugar 
1 cup flour
1 zest of lemon
1 cup lemon juice

Lower the temperature of the oven after the shortbread crust comes out to around 250F.

Whisk all these items together. I suggest the wet ingredients first, then the flour slowly to prevent any clumping. If you don't have zest of lemon, seriously, don't worry about it. I did it the first time without, it's not a big deal. 

Pour this on top of the shortbread crust after its cooled for a bit. 

hello, beautiful.

Put it in the oven for 30 min at 250F, but check it every 15 min. You don't want the eggs to scramble, that's why you lower the temperature. You want it to set like a custard (kind of like lemon curd, but thicker). 

Yum yum yum

Tasty :-)

After that, pull it out, let it set and cool, and sift some powdered sugar over it! 

Tasty goodness :-)