I've been abusing my blog, I know. I've been kinda out of it for a few weeks. First with the injured toe then just dealing with some personal stuff, plus having family over for Thanksgiving, not enough sleep, selling at another show (more aout that later), and completing an order for 360 cookies in 3 days (more about that later, too)-I lost it a bit. Me and Laurel have been in full Mad Baker Woman mode. Finally stuff is slowing down, even though it's just for a few days, haha.

Next up, buy presents for my parental units, pack a box off to Kon overseas, possibly another box to my friend Tami, make plans to take over the world, finish cleaning the house, bake more, eat more, cook more, help get Christmas stuff out, deck the halls, train seahorses to jump through a ring of fire for my school's talent show.....

Ok yeah, that last part was just to make sure you were paying attention. I'm pretty sure college doesn't have talent shows! What a ridiculous statement of me to make.

Anyways. A few weeks ago I made these.....
The original recipe was Pumpkin Butterscotch Chip Cookies, but we don't ever use butterscotch chips, so I used chocolate chips instead. They were weird cookies, foreign to me in texture and consistency. They were like...tiny cakes almost. They were full of air and so light it was like eating a meringue or something, only with a much more rich flavor. Yes I know, enough blabbing, on to the recipe:

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Cookies
2 C unbleached AP flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 C sugar
1/2 C canola or corn oil
1 C canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C chocolate chips (or buttersotch...or prolly really any kind of chip)

Heat the oven to 325 F. Line your baking sheets with parchament. Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Set aside. In a large mixer bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and lightened in color. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides when needed. On low speed, mix in the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended. Mix in the flour mixture. Stir in the chips. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop mounds of dough onto the prepared sheets, about 2 1/2 inchs apart. Bake eat sheet until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out dry, about 16 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes then let them cool on a wire rack completely.

AND THEN! Last Monday I also made these.....
Jumbo black-bottom macaroons. Oh jeeze, these were prolly the best cookies I've had in a looooooooong time. They were by far the best macaroons I've ever had. The natural sweetness of the coconut and the mild crunch the toasty-ness on top mixed with the chocolate is such a brilliant combination, I wish I could meet the person who invented these and hug them. The only changes I made, I didn't have almond, so I just added extra vanilla.

Jumbo Black-bottom Macaroons
2 2/3 C shredded sweet coconut
1/2 C sweetened condensed milk
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg white
pinch of cream of tartar
1 tbs sugar

9 oz. semisweet chocolate
1 tbs canola or corn oil

Heat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchament paper. In a large bowl, stir the coconut, condensed milk, salt, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Set aside. In an impeccably clean bowl, beat the egg white with the cream of tartar until the tartar is dissolved. Beat on medium-high until soft peaks form. Beat in the sugar. Fold half of the whites into the coconut mixture, then fold in the rest. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop large mounds of the batter onto prepared pan, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake until the bottoms and tips of the cookies are light brown, about 17 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack. For the chocolate coating: put the chocolate and oil in a small saucepan. Over medium-low heat, stir until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and let sit for about 10 minutes to let it thicken slightly. Dip bottom half of cooled cookies into the chocolate, and place on a cooling rack positioned over a cookie sheet to drip. Let the chocolate set on the cookies for 2-3 hours, or until firm.

Oh and both these recipes came from my Big Fat Cookie cookbook. Great book, btw.

That's all for now. I hope you are all doing well, and haven't suffered much without me :)

By the way, I wasn't kidding about that conquering the world thing.

~lacey
"Food is good. Food is great. I like food when it's on my plate." -Randy Ragan