Gluten-Free Chocolate Pecan Cookies
From PBS Kitchen Explorers
Alice Currah of SavorySweetLife.com


These beautiful cookies are gluten-free and fabulous! I love their chewy texture and how simple they were to make. At first I thought it would be too much work but quickly found out that everything came together in no time at all. I didn't have a stainless steel bowl (mine have rubber on the bottom) for heating up the egg mixture so I just used a small saucepan. I think we were able to get about 18 cookies give or take a couple. This recipe is a keeper, two thumbs up (and a snap) from the whole family!


Ingredients

• 1/4 cup sweet rice flour (I used almond flour since I didn't have any rice flour)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups of water
• 1 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped
• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Parchment paper

  
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together, set aside.

Place bittersweet chocolate chips and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 1 minute.  Stir the chocolate butter mixture and microwave again for 30 seconds.  Continue to do this until all the chocolate chips have melted and the mixture is smooth, set aside.

In a stainless steel bowl slightly larger than a medium pot, whisk the eggs, sugar, and vanilla thoroughly.

Boil water in a medium pot and reduce heat to a low simmer.

Rest stainless steel bowl with the egg mixture on top of the pot of simmering water.  Make sure the bowl is bigger than the mouth of the pot.Whisk egg mixture until it is lukewarm and then add it to the chocolate mixture, stirring until everything is well combined.

Add the flour mixture, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and pecans to the chocolate mixture.  Your batter will look like thick cake batter.  Don't worry they will bake up nice and look just like "real" cookies!

Scoop dough (it will look very wet and sloppy) into rounded tablespoons on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper 2 inches apart from each other.  Bake for 14 minutes until the surface of the cookies look dry and set.

With the cookies still on the parchment paper, slide them onto racks to cool.  Gently peel the parchment paper back after cookies have cooled for at least 30 minutes (We couldn't wait that long, 15 minutes and our cookies were good to go.)

Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies with Chickpeas and Walnuts

 
Ingredients

• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 3/4 cup of light margarine (I use Earth Balance)
• 2 egg whites (I used 1 whole egg)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 (15 ounce) can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 Nutella
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 2 cups flour (I usually do 1/2 whole wheat &1/2 all purpose)
• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a cookie sheet with cooking spray ( I use parchment paper)
2. Put chickpeas in food processor and process until smooth. Set aside.
3. Beat sugar and margarine together until smooth and fluffy in a large bowl.
4. Beat in egg (or egg whites) and vanilla. Add chickpeas and Nutella. Add flour, oats, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.
5. Drop by tablespoon onto cookie sheet.
6. Bake 11 minutes, cool and enjoy!

Happy National Ice Cream Sandwich Day!

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwich Recipe

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 pints ice cream (any flavor- I used vanilla), softened

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 15-by-10-inch cookie sheet with cooking spray or use butter; line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the two shorter sides.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together butter and sugar until combined; add in egg, vanilla, and salt and whisk again until combined. Add flour and cocoa, and mix just until smooth. Spread in prepared baking pan. Bake until cake edges begin to pull away from the sides, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely in pan.
3. Using paper overhang, lift cake onto a work surface. Halve crosswise. Place one half of cake, flat side down, on a large piece of plastic wrap. Spread with ice cream, then top with remaining half of cake, flat side up. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze until firm, about 2 hours.
4. Cut with knife, wiping off blade after each cut. Wrap individually in plastic wrap and freeze up to 1 week. Enjoy!
   

Notes: next time I think I'll put chocolate sprinkles along the edges. You can also wrap them in parchment paper and tie with string. Looks adorable! It also helps catch any melting ice cream. For some reason the kids thought the parchment paper was the cat's meow. This recipe is a keeper!

coriander-crusted salmon

This fish will rock your face off! It's super simple and has a ton of flavor. Serve on top of chickpea artichoke salad for a satisfying meal. My daughter loves this meal and said it was so good that she didn't even notice the red onions in the salad (she's 9).

coriander-crusted salmon

ingredients

• 3 tablespoons ground coriander (if you don't have coriander you can use cumin)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 4 salmon fillets (1 1/2 lbs total)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Combine the first 3 ingredients in a small bowl, set aside.
2. Preheat a large saute pan on medium heat for 2-3 minutes. While pan heats up rinse fish with water and pat dry, then coat both sides with coriander mix.
3. Put oil in pan, then add fish. Cook 3-4 minutes on each side and until fish flakes easily. Serve over chickpea artichoke salad (below).

chickpea artichoke salad

ingredients

• 1/2 canned quartered artichokes, chopped
• 1/4 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 bag of baby arugula leaves (4-5 ounces)
• 1/2 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup EVOO
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

1. Combine first 4 ingredients.
2. Whisk last 4 ingredients until blended, add to salad. Toss and enjoy!
   

Easy Lemon Cookies

This has got to be the easiest lemon cookie recipe ever! They were chewy on the inside and just a little crisp on the outside. The glaze on top was perfect. These guys were gobbled up in no time.

Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
Duncan Hines recipe

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1 package of Lemon Cake Mix (any brand will do)
• 1/3 cup of vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Lemon Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar (I used less, we like our glaze more tart)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Mix cake mix, oil, eggs, and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice together. Dough will be stiff.
Drop on ungreased cookie sheet 1" apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes or just until edges are slightly brown. While the cookies bake, make the glaze. Mix powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon lemon zest together. When cookies come out of oven, let them cool 1 minute then drizzle with glaze and enjoy!

Blackberry Honey Wheat Scones

I've always been scared to make scones. Anything I have to roll and shape scares me but when I saw this recipe on Savory Sweet Life I just had to try them! I love her blog, she's real. She admits to making pancakes and bacon for dinner (raising hand here) and she always has recipes that work for "real" families. Try these and you won't be disappointed.

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 egg slightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups frozen blackberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a food processor, add both flours, baking powder, brown sugar, and salt. Pulse the dry ingredients for a couple of seconds to mix everything. Add the butter. Pulse again until a coarse meal forms. Transfer everything to a large mixing bowl. Add the heavy cream, egg, honey, and vanilla extract and knead the dough inside the bowl until it comes together. Add the frozen blackberries and work the dough with your hands and fast as you can into a large ball. -The less you handle the blackberries, the less purple colored scones you’ll have. Frozen blackberries work great!
2. On a floured surface, flatten the dough ball into a disk one inch thick. Cut the disk into eight equal pieces. Place the scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the scones for 15-18 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown. Transfer scones to a wire rack to cool.

My suggestions: I did not use a food processor. Just used my fingers and it worked great. I did add 2 cups of frozen blackberries and it might of been too much so next time I'll stick to the recommended 1 1/2 cups. I think a sprinkle of coarse sugar on top would be nice too. They do get soft, I think it's because of the wheat flour but a quick reheat in the oven and they are good to go.

Weekly Menu

The kids are out of school and I'm trying to keep a routine but it's hard when you want to stay up late and sleep in! I finally made it to the grocery store yesterday, list in hand and ready to shop. I don't know why but I never learn.....never, I repeat, never grocery shop hungry. It's a bad mix. Anyways here's the run down of what we're eating over here. Sometimes we may not feel like eating what I have written down for that night so we'll exchange it with another night. We are pretty adaptable. Last nights dinner was grilled chicken kabobs, brown rice, and grilled asparagus. Today's lunch was turkey, brie, and green apple wraps, chips, and fresh fruit. I just love Granny Smith apples with brie.

Tonight was supposed to be Korean Beef Stir Fry but the littlest (who has been sick) put in a request for Sun Dried Tomato & Spinach Turkey Burgers. Works for me! I'll put together a salad, maybe some fresh fruit and we'll call it dinner. The rest of the week looks like this;

• Korean Beef Stir Fry, brown rice, and salad

• Roasted Chicken with Chickpeas, tomatoes, and cauliflower, roasted new potatoes, salad, and maybe some bacon cheddar biscuits

• Smoky ham, tomato, and sweet pea pasta, salad, and bread

Lunch is usually whatever we have left over or whatever is easiest to make.