042912 Pear, Pistachio, and Ginger Blondies

Since I'm not a big fan of ginger, I substituted pineapple for the candied ginger pieces. Also, since I couldn't readily find dried pears, I used dried mango. Given that, I'm sure I put a whole new twist on this recipe....at least I kept the pistachio in the mix. Very easy recipe to assemble. Actually, the pineapple-mango-pistachio combination wasn't too bad.....a blondie I've never experienced before. Not bad, but I'd like to revisit this recipe once I locate some dried pears.

042212 Cranberry-Pistachio Cornmeal Biscotti

Very easy recipe to make. I love the crunchiness the cornmeal adds to the biscotti cookie. And, the cranberry tartness blended with the nutty pistachios is a perfect combination! Oddly, the recipe didn't require the biscottis to be baked on both sides, i.e, after slicing the cookies, the 2nd bake is kept to one side of the cookie. For firmness, I flipped the cookies half-way through the 2nd bake time.

As with most biscottis, these were perfect with coffee/tea. My colleagues at work enjoyed them during the afternoon break.

041512 Chocolate Waffles

For this recipe, I borrowed my Mom's waffle iron which happened to be a Belgium waffle iron, i.e. deep pockets.  The recipe actually worked pretty good where it was more like a brownie cookie than a thin, soft chocolate cookie.  I omitted the chocolate icing to avoid too much sweetness - the powdered sugar was sufficient.  The cooking time was closer to 1 minute - one must be careful not to burn these cookies because we all know burnt chocolate goes in the round barrel.  Using the belgium waffle iron, the recipe only yielded 3dozen.  Very easy recipe to assemble and the iron allowed me to make 4 cookies at at time.  I'll probably revisit this recipe!

040812 Thin and Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies

My daughter chose this recipe today - simple but yet an all-time favorite! The bake time is on the high side- the cookies were ready in 15 minutes (not the recommended 20-25minute). Easy to assemble...basic chocolate chip cookie recipe except a little more butter and sugar to make it crispier and thinner. Kids love them...

040312 Rocky Ledge Bars

This bar recipe is a winner for the kids! It has chocolate chips, butterscotch chips , white chocolate chips, marshmallows and caramel! Next time, and there will be a next time, I think I'll add some nuts. The recipe is very easy to assemble and you don't need to pull out the mixer. To spread the dough in the pan, I used a plastic glove with a light spray of PAM. Excellent sweetness and great with coffee!! Another keeper recipe.