I've been so very wrong

Almost three decades have gone by and I have been ignorant. Raised on a notion that what I believed was true was actually false, misleading. Whether those responsible knew of their misconceptions, I know not. But the damage has been done. My eyes are open now and I can't wait to explore this new realization.

This is the truth I held, that this image below was the only thing to be called a Macaroon.

And now I find that this is also a Macaroon*.

Oh, dear Confectionary Gods I am down on my knees repentant! I have been blinded by my ignorance! I should have known there was more than one way to make a macaroon and as penance for my lack of faith in your sugary all reaching power, I will now go on a pilgrimage to find these rainbow sandwich macaroons and consume them in thy name. Let no man call me a disbeliever.

*thank you Wiki for the photos and just to let everyone know the green one is really called a Macaron but it seems the terms are interchangable in America. At least among us lay-people.

I'd make Bill Cosby proud

We've all had those 2-in-1 desserts; Apple Pie Ice Cream, Cheesecake Brownies, Cookie Brownies, Ice Cream Cake, and the like. For some reason, people have a compulsion to add a desert perfectly delicious on its very own to yet another singularly delicious desert therefore creating a sugary black hole of euphoric bliss. I think it's added a thousand pounds to my hips  teriffic.

While recipe hunting on http://www.tastykitchen.com/ I found yet another double-your-pleasure caloric wonderland dessert: Pudding Cookies by fellow blogger Double Dipped Life. O.M.G. Here they are fresh from the oven. Perfection.

I tend to get all worked up over desserts which is good because I need to expend much energy to counteract all the scrumptiousness I consume. That I can, in fact, actually bake worth a darn is both a blessing and a curse when a delight of a recipe, like the pudding cookie, falls into my slightly-sweets-padded lap. Easy to make, simple ingredients, quick bake time; we have a winner folks.

And just to make you drool a little more...

Ravioli Factory

Today, I forced little laborers to crank out almost a hundred pumpkin/butternut squash raviolis (before you start yelling at me, I totally helped). We're expecting company on Saturday and I haven't seen my dear friend Chellie* since she moved up north and I want to make her visit to our house a nice memory on her crazy East Coast tour. And maybe if I distract her with yummy food she won't notice the dirty parts of the house we're probably going to miss.

Super easy and fun to make I got the recipe off some site but as is true to my nature had to change the darn thing because I could. I cooked up a BNS I had in the fridge, gutted it and pureed it with a can of pumpkin, tossed in nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice without really measuring and about a cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Wetted the edges of precut wonton wrappers with some whisked up egg and filled each with 1/2 tsp filling, folded in half and pressed shut.

The kids decided these were just the greatest thing to chef (it's a verb of cooking in case you were unawares) and could be filled with so many things, as the kids mused, like cheese, peas or orange juice. Just whatever your stuffed-pasta heart desires. 

There's a sage/butter sauce that goes with this and I'll toast up some pine nuts from the pantry to go along. Add a side salad and some yummy chocolate cherry brownie cookies and the bliss will be so overwhelming she might think I live in Martha's house. At least I can hope.

*Chellie is a funny zombie loving librarian musician that can be twittered @chelliemo

Kitchen Sink Cookie Recipe

I threw together a nice little recipe for you guys today. It starts with a chocolate chip cookie base and gets interesting from there. I call them Kitchen Sink Cookies, not because of the amount of dishes, but because they can have anything and everything in them...but the Kitchen Sink. Just raid your pantry for things that look good together and let's make some cookies!

-First make your base, this is a plain cookie dough.

Ingredients

3/4 cup brown sugar packed

3/4 cup white sugar

1 cup of butter (melted, this is important)

2 large eggs

1 good splash of Vanilla or Almond extract (or whatever you'd like to add to the mix ins)

1tsp baking soda dissolved in 1tsp hot water (again important!!!)

2 1/4 cup white or wheat flour

1tsp salt

- Mix together the sugars and butter, then add each ingredient after in order, mixing thoroughly between. There's your base. Now, we get creative!

The one I made today has

3/4 cup mini semi sweet chips

1/2 cup slow cook oats

1/2 cup crushed up walnuts

1 jar of maraschino cherries, brutally chopped

And I call them Nutty Chocolate Cherry Cookies, you can divide the dough up into different batches and experiment with ingredients. Check out some suggestions at the bottom. Make sure to keep track of what you made in which batch so if you like them you can recreate them! The dough will loook runny, that's expected, just keep going.

-Preheat the oven to 375 and stick the cookie dough in the fridge to firm up while you wait for the oven to preheat. By the time that's done the dough should be firm enough to scoop. I love my pampered chef cookie scoop for this.

-Cook for 8-12 min. Depending on your ingredients the cooking times may change so be watchful. The Nutty Chocolate Cherry cookies took about 12 min on a dark pan and made approx 2 dozen cookies. They spread out too, so give them lots of room to grow. Remove and let cool and Enjoy!

Some other ideas could be:

-smushed up banana and peanut butter and chocolate chips

-strawberry jam and peanuts

-mint extract, chocolate chips and nuts

-dried fruit and nuts

-caramel chips, chocolate chips, oats, nuts

-coconut shreds, chocolate chips, nuts

-m&m's or other candy, coconut, chips, nuts

Please post if you used the recipe and what you made! I love getting new ideas!