A Tale of Two Cookies

From left to right: Coconut-Almond and Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Cookies

My due date is fast approaching and I've been crazy busy trying to get ready for my little bundle to arrive. Can you say nesting? It must be contagious because my husband is doing the same thing. For the past few weeks, while I've been cleaning and organizing around the house, he's been rounding up our son's old baby stuff from the garage and assembling baby furniture. Oh yes, I got very emotional the first time I saw the crib. I never thought we'd be going through this again. I feel very blessed.

In the meantime, my oven's been neglected and I think it's starting to get depressed. So I thought I'd bake up some cookies for the sweet folks at my doctor's office. I made a double batch of my simple shortbread cookies and added different flavors to each batch.

I had an extra bag of shredded coconut from my macaroon experiment so of course I used it for my first batch. I also found some sliced almonds in the pantry. I was thinking about making some almond croissants but I got lazy so I decided to add the almonds with the shredded coconut. Waste not, want not. As for the second batch, you can't go wrong with chocolate. Everybody loves chocolate, right? I tossed in some chocolate chips and I was going to add some dried cranberries but decided to add cocoa powder and cinnamon instead.

The verdict: they really liked both flavors. My doctor even said he kept his box of cookies to himself. Good thing I gave the staff their own box :-)

Hmmm...what other flavor combination can I try out next?

Shortbread Cookies
Allergy Note: contains wheat, milk and tree nuts
Makes about 4 dozen cookies, 2 dozen of each flavor

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract

for Coconut-Almond:
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup slice almonds

for Chocolate Chip Cinnamon:
1 tsp. cocoa powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour and salt. Set aside.

Using a separate mixing bowl and an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar till smooth. Add vanilla extract. Stir in the flour mixture and mix until combined. Divide the dough in half. Add the coconut-almond ingredients to one batch and the chocolate chip cinnamon ingredients to the other batch.

You can either roll the dough into logs, chill them for an hour, then slice and bake them (see chocolate chip cinnamon cookie above); OR use a small cookie scoop and bake them right away (see coconut almond cookie above). Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool completely.

Jackfruit-Coconut Macaroons

Here's an exotic twist to the Egg-Free Macaroons I made last year. Jackfruit is a tropical fruit commonly found in Southeast Asia. It has a spiky green exterior, similar to a durian, and the seeds inside are surrounded by a yellow fleshy fruit that is sweet and crunchy.

For this recipe, I used canned jackfruit in syrup. They're mostly sold in Asian supermarkets and specialty stores.

Jackfruit-Coconut Macaroons
makes about 3 dozen
Allergy note: contains wheat and dairy ingredients

14 oz. bag sweetened flaked or shredded coconut
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup canned jackfruit in syrup, drained and chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mat

In a large bowl, combine sweetened flaked/shredded coconut, flour and salt. Pour in sweetened condensed milk and chopped jackfruit. Mix until combined. Drop tablespoonfuls (or use a cookie scoop) onto the cookie sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely before removing from cookie sheet.

Lemonade Stand Award

Awww...this is sooo sweet! My very first award. Thank you Sandy from Sandy's Stamp N' Stuff for giving me the Lemonade Stand Award. I'm so touched. Thank you, thank you, thank you :-)

What I love about this award is that I get to nominate and give recognition to fellow bloggers who've inspired me with their great attitude and gratitude.

Here are rules to this this cool award and they're easy:

1. Comment on this blog.

2. Copy the award logo for your own blog.

3. Nominate 5-10 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude.

4. Link to your nominees within your blog post.

5. Comment on their blog to let them know they've received the award.

6. Lastly, link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.

And here are my nominees:

1. Kelly - for sharing her recipes and her story about raising a child with food allergies. Thank you for making me feel like I'm not alone in this day-to-day challenge. I've learned so much from reading your blog.
2. Libby - also for her recipes and her story about raising a food allergic child. Thank you for connecting all of us moms with food allergic kids and sharing helpful resources to us.
3. Helen - for her awesome Macarons 101 tutorial and inspiring me with her fabulous desserts. If only I could be as awesome as you. I can only dream. (sigh)
4. David - for his fantastic blog about his sweet life in Paris. Thank you for tempting me with all your French desserts and making me smile with your funny stories about living in Paris. You make me want to pack up my bags and move to Paris :-)
5. Deeba - for sharing her mouthwatering sweet and savory recipes. I'm getting hungry right now just thinking about your blog. lol
6. Melody - for her passion and enthusiasm for making desserts. Thank you for posting your incredible cake creations, gorgeous desserts and awesome tutorials.
7. Louise - for her incredible blog about cake decorating, recipes and sugarcraft. Her blog is very informative and I've learned so much about the art of cake decorating from her. Thank you Louise for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us :-)

Fudgy Egg-Free Brownies

I was searching online for an egg-free brownie recipe and the first one that came up was from allrecipes.com. There were a lot of positive reviews for it so I thought I'd give it a try. It's quite an interesting technique. The first step is to cook flour and water in a saucepan until thick. This was a little strange because, if I remember correctly, this is exactly how I made paste when I was a little kid. I even read the recipe twice to make sure I was following it correctly. Hmmm, let's see how this turns out...

Well, the resulting brownie was suprisingly good. It was light and cakey, which isn't exactly the way I like my brownies, but nonetheless I was impressed. I made some slight adjustments to this original recipe so I could turn it into a fudgy, chewy brownie.

Fudgy Egg-Free Brownies
Allergy note: contains wheat and dairy

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13 inch pan with aluminum foil. In a heavy saucepan combine the 1/3 cup of flour and water. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until thick. Transfer to a mixing bowl and set aside to cool.

In a small saucepan, melt butter. When butter has melted, add the oil and cocoa powder; mix until smooth; set aside to cool. Beat the sugars, vanilla and honey into the cooled flour mixture. Stir in the cocoa mixture until well blended. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, stir into the batter until just blended. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with some moist crumbs attached (it's okay if the toothpick looks moist but no wet batter should be clinging to it). Cool completely then flip the brownie over to a cutting board. Peel off the aluminum foil and cut the brownie into bars.