Categories
Dessert Uncategorized

Make Michelle Obama’s Award Winning Cookies for Your Next Holiday Cookie Party

3-Chip Cookie
Michelle Obama's 3-Chip Cookie

In October 2012, Family Circle Magazine conducted its 6th cookie bakeoff between candidates for first lady. As in most years, the winner of the cookie contest also won the White House. It was close. Michelle only won by 287 votes. Luckily, her husband’s margin was wider.

For the contest, Michelle Obama submitted a recipe authored by Eleanor ‘Mama Kaye’ Wilson,  the godmother of her two children. Interestingly, this recipe has an extra stick of crisco as compared to the traditional Nestle Tollhouse recipe. An extra stick! Michelle has set aside her usual approach to food with this indulgent cookie. But hey, that’s fine once in a while, right?

The best part about these cookies, is the subtle hint of mint chocolate brought in by the crushed Andes Creme De Menthe Thins. Since I couldn’t include the nuts in this recipe (I work at a nut-free school), I increased the overall chip content leaning in favor of the semi-sweet chips and playing down the other two slightly. It was great.

Make these for your next Holiday Cookie Party. Just sprinkle some red and green sprinkles on top and you’ll be in business.

 

Mama Kaye’s White and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 5 dozen cookies
Prep: 15 minutes
Bake at 375° for 12 minutes per batch

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsaltedbutter, softened
1 stick Crisco butter-flavored solid vegetable shortening
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup each white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips and mint chocolate chips (or Andes mint pieces)
2 cups chopped walnuts

Method

1. Heat oven to 375°.

2. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter, vegetable shortening, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract.

3. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. On low speed, beat in flour mixture. By hand, stir in white and milk chocolate chips, mint chips and walnuts.

5. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto un-greased baking sheets.

6. Bake at 375° for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Michelle Obama's Cookie Recipe
Michelle Obama's Cookie Recipe
Categories
Fish & Shellfish Pumpkin Sides Uncategorized

Pumpkin Ale Battered Fish & Chips

Pumpkin Ale Battered Fish & Chips
Pumpkin Ale Battered Fish & Chips

I’m seeing the world through pumpkin-tinted glasses these days, so when my eyes settled on the Buffalo Bill Pumpkin Ale display at the market the other day, I just knew I had to cook something with it. You see, it’s day 14 of 31 Days of Pumpkin and time for something completely different.

A beer batter video came across my desk while working on my other project, StreamingGourmet: Where You are the Food TV Star (join today!) and I knew just what to do. I’ve always wanted to master deep frying with batter and today, I think I have. In the past, I’ve struggled with keeping the coating on the food and having it crisp up just right. Well I’m not exactly sure what went right today, whether it was the consistency of the batter, the high temperature of the oil, or the fact the oil was the right depth, but I got perfectly fried fish every time and it was a cinch. I ate the fried calamari too quickly to photograph it. Sorry.

Categories
Appetizers Uncategorized

Homemade Sweet Potato Chips: Baked vs. Fried – The Lip Smacking Smackdown

Sweet Potato Chips
Sweet Potato Chips

Today I decided it was time to use the mandoline I recently purchased and what better way to give it a test drive than to slice sweet potatoes for home-made chips? I waited a long time before purchasing a mandoline. I had always wanted one, but whenever I saw one in a store, it was too exorbitant. Not so anymore. I purchased my Swissmar Borner V Slicer Plus for only about $40 and I learned today that it works great. Click on the photo to learn more.

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