Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm thinking about my dad today, so I have to post something by Everything, a band my dad did sound for when they were on the college circuit. They have so many good songs, but this was the only one I could find a link for, so it will have to do. "Hooch" by Everything

My dad loved chocolate, so as recipe posts go, I guess it's time to write down some chocolate chip cookie deliciousness. I've had many a bad chocolate chip cookie in my day. I can't even begin to tell you how many recipes I've tried, looking for the perfect one. Low and behold, I purchased a baking sheet from Nordic Ware and on the back of the cover paper attached to it was the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. The only changes I made was the type of flour and the sea salt (I omit it).

This is one of those situations that further proves my point; you never know where you will find the perfect recipe.

The batter needs to be refrigerated for at least an hour before baking, so keep that in mind when figuring your prep time. This makes about 80 cookies at 1 T of batter per cookie, so feel free to half the recipe. Or double it. They're that good.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 C whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 C light brown sugar
3/4 C granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
2 tsp vanilla extract
20 oz semisweet chocolate chips (I prefer to use the mini ones)

* In a medium bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

* In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add the vanilla and eggs, one at a time, to sugar mix and combine.

* Add dry ingredients to the sugar mix and stir until just combined. Add chocolate chips and incorporate by hand.

* Cover and refrigerate at least one hour. Can be refrigerated up to 48 hours before baking.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cover baking sheet with parchment paper and measure batter w/ T, shape into cookie form, and place on baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for about 15 min or until golden brown. I bake a little longer for my husband because he likes crunchy cookies.

Zucchini Bread

I recently received a request for my zucchini bread recipe, so I figured now was the perfect time to post it and get some post-garden bitching done. Don't get me wrong though; I am very grateful for the wonderful food the soil in my yard produced.

This was my second year of gardening, and I still haven't learned that I only need to plant one zucchini seed for all of my zucchini needs. I guess I just got a little nervous because my garden didn't do so well last year, so I planted three zucchini seeds.

Wow! There was an entire month where we ate zucchini for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Aside from that, I was also able to fill an entire freezer shelf with shredded zucchini, make a double batch of zucchini relish, cook up a nice zucchini crusted pizza, and bake four loaves of zucchini bread plus muffins. Oh! I also gave some away and guess what! It's still growing!

So without further Ado:

Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 C all purpose flour plus a little extra
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 ground clove
1/4 ground ginger
1/4 nutmeg
2 C granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 C oil (I use safflower)
3 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
2 C shredded zucchini
1 C chopped walnuts
1 C chopped dates

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

* Grease and flour 2 loaf pans. Set aside.

*Combine sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla in a large bowl.

* In med bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, clove, ginger, and nutmeg.

* Place walnuts and dates in a separate bowl and dust with a little all purpose flour.

* Add flour mix to sugar mix and combine. Add shredded zucchini, walnuts, and dates and combine.

* Separate into 2 greased and floured loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.