Nutella Cookies (because sometimes Trader Joe's is out of Dark Chocolate Caramallows

Earlier today I was challenged to decide the better cookie between Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Caramallows and straight up Mallomars.  Anyone who knows me knows that is a challenge I will readily undertake.  Times being what they are (6 days before Chrimbo) Trader Joe's is sold out of their Caramallows.  The jolly employee in the elf hat was happy to tell me that the cookies would be back the third week of November, 2013.  I have some time.  If I did not have the new cookie to compare, there was NO way I was going to another store for the control cookie.  Great, now all I can think about are cookies.  And the bottle of wine I bought at Trader Joe's.

So I came home and decided to make a cookie off my Pinterest board.  I have many, many, many, many Nutella recipes pinned and have only made one.  I looked around and had all of the ingredients for Nutella cookies.  Here they are:

So get all that stuff plus some of these:

(mini semi-sweet chocolate chips)  Actually, you should always have these on hand for emergency chocolate chip pancake purposes.

First you take a 1/2 cup of unsalted butter (I used salted and it was fine) at room temperature and throw it in  your mixing bowl.  I am always happy to use mine.  Here she is in all of her splendor:

The recipe calls for beating the butter by itself until it is fluffy, but I totally spaced on that and added the 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of light brown sugar to the bowl while I was waiting for the butter to come to I-am-too-impatient-to-wait-for-the-butter-to-come-to-room-temperature-so-I-am-nuking-it-to-room-temperature and I think the cookies turned out fine.  

Next, beat until the butter and sugars are light and fluffy:

 Go Mix Master Go!

Next add one egg and 1/2 tsp of Frangelico.  My Frangelico pouring hand got a little heavy so I think I added about 1 tsp.  Not that you can tell, but Santa knows when you are lying so. . . . . .

Mix it up for a couple of minutes.

Next get out your Nutella and measure out 1/2 cup.

Looks good, right?  Ok, here is another:

Make sure it is a heaping 1/2 cup because Nutella is known for sticking to measuring cups and you end up having to scrape out the remaining Nutella with your finger and eating it plain.  I ended up adding another good two knife-fuls of Nutella because you just never know.  And the world is supposed to end tomorrow.

Add to butter/sugar/egg/Frangelico mixture:

Now, in a small-ish bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt.

I know, pretty boring especially after the Nutella picture.  And you cannot even make out the salt and baking powder but they are there.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the Nutella mixture:

And mix until combined.

Now, measure out 1/2 cup of mini-semi-sweet chocolate chips:

I think I may have over-done it by adding 3/4 cup but oh well, world ending tomorrow and what not.

Mix until combined.

Now get your mini scooper and scoop dough onto cookie sheet.  Crap.  Realize mini scooper is broken (silently blame your children), think a few swear words and throw out mini scooper.  Stop making cookies and put mini scooper on your birthday list (does mini scooper need to be hyphenated?)  Now, spoon out onto cookie sheet.  Not sure if the cookie sheet needs to be greased or not but I use the Silpat so I do not need to grease.  These are GREAT baking sheets.  

Yes, I know they look like drops of poop but they are glorious Nutella cookies so shut up.

Bake at 350 for 6-7 minutes.  The first batch I did for 6 mins and 15 seconds and they were a bit on the underdone side.  The second batch I did for 6 mins 45 seconds and they were better.

Now for the verdict.  They are very good but just not quite Nutella-y enough for me.  So, being who I am, I took it upon myself to take the advice of one of the reviewers of the original recipe and create a Nutella sandwich Nutella cookie:

And because the above-mentioned wine said it was good with chocolate:

Much better as a sandwich.  Would probably also be vair, vair tasty with vanilla ice cream.  Going to enjoy before the little ones come home.

A Walk in the Woods

Getting outside, getting into nature and making our own discoveries.

Asheville

Double decker bus for coffee and hot chocolate

Fudge

So this is the fudge recipe that has been handed down from my grandmother through my dad.  We affectionately call it "Daddy Fudge."  There are variations - I have made some chocolate with almonds, a peanut butter and a Nutella version, but this is the classic.  

In a large pot combine using a wooden spoon.

3 cups sugar

pinch of salt

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Hershey's because that is what Dad used)

You know how some people are very proud of their seasoned cast iron skillet? 

You can only get this kind of chocolate-y coloration after years of fudge making.  No, I do not play around when it comes to chocolate.  And yes, this is spoon is only used for fudge.  

Put pot on medium high heat and add 1 1/2 cups milk (2% or whole) slowly until combined.  The recipe says to stir constantly until it boils but I never do because I am always trying to do four other things while making this stuff so occasional stirring also works.  

After it starts boiling, leave spoon in and let sit.  Do not stir!!!  

Set timer for 10 minutes.  During this time, you can get out your:

1/2 stick of butter

1 tsp vanilla

Platter

2 tbsp butter

Clear glass cup or measuring cup filled about 1/2 up with cold water.

Butter the platter with 2 tbsp of butter.  If you are clumsy like me and have recently burned your fingers, using your hands to butter the platter will serve a double purpose.  

After 10 mins, gently pick up spoon from boiling fudge and let a little bit fall into the cup of cold water.  Stick your hand in and try to form a slightly squished up ball with the fudge.  If it falls apart or does not even come close to coming together then continue cooking.  At this point I would check it every 2 mins or so using a clean cup of cold water each time.  Once it comes together in a soft ball, take fudge off heat and put near the buttered platter.  

Add 1/2 stick of butter and 1 tsp vanilla.  The vanilla should bubble up when you add it - that is my favorite part.  Tilt the pot to one side and beat the fudge until your arm is tired.  Actually when you see the fudge starting to set up around the edges, it is probably good - at this point it should be a little thick.

Pour onto buttered platter and let set for a few minutes.  It is perfectly ok if some fudge does not make it out of the pot.  This will be your quality control sample.

Cut into squares with buttered knife.

I have been making this stuff for years and have had a few failures along the way.  My dad and his sister have told me that sometimes the weather can factor into fudge making.  I don't really buy this and think it is just an excuse to not do anything on rainy days, but we will see.  Actually I think I have made this while living in Seattle and never had a problem so there.  

Spinach Topped Tomatoes

Day 1: Starting again. Have found app for blog and can now post from phone! Here is a good side dish or appetizer.

Gone Girl

So I finally read a book in less than a week!!!  It has been taking me a lot longer to read lately as there are only so many hours between the time the kids go to bed and the time I finally pass out from trying to do too much.  

I have read a lot about "Gone Girl" lately but I usually like to start at the beginning of a writer's catalog so I borrowed Gillian Flynn's first two from one of my book buddies.

Her first book, "Sharp Objects," seemed interesting.  About 7 pages into it I called my book buddy and was all "Um, what kind of messed up demented *$&@ do you read?"  And then she said that the first two were pretty dark and I should probably just skip to "Gone Girl."  If the first two books follow the level of darkness that I read in the first 7 pages then these books make black holes look like . . . . well, a big bright light thingy.  

If you have not read "Gone Girl" and do not want spoilers, then STOP RIGHT HERE!!!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Ok, just giving all one of you a chance to not see anything by accident.

So here is what I thought about who-dunnit.

At first I thought she just ran away.  Not sure why and I totally did not skip ahead to find out, but SCORE!  I totally got this one!

Then I thought Nick's (the husband) dad did it because he seemed like the shifty elderly type with Alzheimer's and a violent streak.

I never thought the Nick did it.  Right again!  

The  Nick is a cheating jerk but he did not do it.

Nick totally sucks.  

Her neighbor chick is totes cray cray.  She could have done it.

Uh oh, the two people at the cabin are totally going to rat her out (p.s. Amy totally did run away).  You are going down Amy!!!

Actually they just might kill her randomly then the police find her dead body and the cops / court / judge will fry  Nick.

Now Amy will run away from the cabins and the two cabin people will report her and Amy will kill herself.  Then so will Nick.  Andie (Nick's young mistress) will be the new Bachelorette.  Go (Nick's sister) will open a chain of bars.

Now Amy will kill the two cabin people and feel guilty and kill herself and Nick will go to jail.

The two cabin people totally robbed her.  Now Amy will be so depressed with no money and she will off herself and Nick will fry.

Desi will kill Amy for trying to leave him and then kill himself and Nick will go to jail for both of their "murders."

Amy will escape Desi, go running back to Nick and Nick will either really kill her conniving ass or just be all "bitch please."

Amy will escape Desi, will come back to Nick and Andie will kill Amy.  Or both Amy and Nick.  Andie will not go to jail because no one really cares that these two messed up people are dead.

Desi holds Amy for a long time.  Nick goes to jail for "murdering" his wife even though there is no solid proof and no body (obviously.)  On the same day Amy escapes Desi or tries to contact Nick, someone kills Nick in jail.

Ok, so Amy goes back home to Nick.  The police are questioning her.  Maybe she incriminates herself or Desi's house has cameras to proof she is pyscho.

So no cameras in Desi's house.

She is too smart (read "sociopathic") to incriminate herself.

Ok, she will fess up to Nick and the cops or Feds have wired his house.

Damn, that bitch is good.  Only confessing while they are both in the bathroom with the shower running and she whispers after checking Nick for a wire.  Thoroughly.  I'll give her this, she is prepared.  Not normal and definitely not someone I would ever want to meet, but prepared.

Oh.  So it ends like that.  Uh.  Well, good luck with that.  

So, I give it is 4.5 stars (out of 5) because I did not like the ending at all.  But a very good book.

My Day in Pictures

Just kidding, I totally did not do that one.

Then got the crap scared out of me by this:

While watching this:

P.S.  Should I give up trying to do this 40 days in a row?

Day 2 - Scones Part Deux!! Now with pictures!!!

I was going to say that I am going to be somewhat lazy and repost a scone recipe from July, but le fact is that I made 3 batches of cheddar herb scones today and took a lot of pictures documenting the process so that is a far cry from lazy.  Here it is!

Cheddar Herb Scones

3 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

About 1 tablespoon of dried Oregano or dried Italian seasoning

1 cup-ish of cheese (I used sharp cheddar today)

Olive oil

1/2 stick butter

2 cups chilled whipping cream

2 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted) melted

Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly butter 2 heavy large baking sheets or use a silicone mat on a baking sheet - no butter.   In a large bowl (larger than you would think) combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt and oregano or Italian seasoning.  Cut up 1/2 stick of butter into small chunks then smush them into the flour mixture.  Add cheese and stir together.

  

In separate bowl, beat cream until stiff peaks form.  Go mixmaster!!!

Fold whipped cream into dry ingredients.  I am just going to go ahead and warn you right here, there is not much folding that can be done unless you have some magic folding technique.  I basically fold the cream in a couple of times and end up dumping the whole mess onto a moderately heavily-floured surface and just smush it up from there.  

Turn dough out onto slightly heavily floured surface.  

Knead gently until soft dough forms, about 2 minutes.  Form dough into ball.

Pat out to form a flat round.  

Mine is not terribly thick, about like this:  (I even busted out a ruler for y'all!!)

Melt about 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil with 2 tablespoons of butter.  Brush entire circle of doughy yumminess with this melted goodness.  

Sprinkle with about this much (or more or less if you like) Kosher salt.

I cut mine with this gadget that I love:

into this many pieces:

that are about this size:  (More ruler!!!)

Transfer wedges/pieces to prepared baking sheets.  

As you can see above, I use the wonky bits and just pile them on to other wonky bits because this stuff is so good I do not want to waste a morsel.

Bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes.

The bottoms will look like this (some may be darker than others)

Cool for approximately 49 seconds and perform quality control taste test.  Slightly burn mouth but do not care because you just ate one of the best scones EVER!!! 

If you put them in a freezer bag right after they have cooled, they will taste fresh when thawed.