The best chocolate chip cookies

Every night we've been curling up on the couch after dinner and tuning into the Olympics. I'm sure many of you are doing the same. I've really been into women's volleyball and gymnastics. I can't wait for track and field to start next.

And what goes perfect with the Olympics? The best chocolate chips cookies, of course. After much searching for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe online, I stumbled across three different posts about Kim Boyce's whole wheat chocolate chip cookies. Luckily I had borrowed her cookbook, Good to the Grain, from a friend so I had the recipe in hand.

Her cookbook is organized by the types of whole grain flours she uses in her recipes. Amaranth, barley, buckwheat, corn, kamut, multigrain, oat, quinoa, rye, spelt, and teff. All of the recipes sound amazing, like figgy buckwheat scones, quinoa and beet pancakes, olive oil cake, or apricot boysenberry tarts. It's a great cookbook to bake from and it will get you to buy whole grain flours you haven't used before.
Kim uses whole wheat flour, but I used spelt instead and they still turned out magical. The perfect salty and sweet combination, as my husband says. If you don't own a kitchen aid mixer, don't sweat. You can use a food processor to cream the butter and sugar.

Changes are coming to the blog and I'll be sharing that with you next week! Until then make these cookies, share with those you love, and enjoy the Olympics.

Orange pumpkin chocolate chip bread

I don't have a kitchen pantry. I have a long row of shelves above the counter instead. They're bright red and without doors. Someday we'll paint them grey, but for now they'll do. Since they're open and all of our dry goods—as well as bowls, glasses, and plates—are on display, I keep them organized. I can also keep tabs of the inventory pretty easily. But occasionally something gets pushed to the back, and I forget all about it. This happened a few weeks ago when I was moving things around, and spied a lonely can of pumpkin puree. I had purchased it with the intention of making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies last fall. (Someone in our house was addicted to the ones from Whole Foods.) I moved the can to the front of the shelf as a reminder to use it.

A few weeks passed by, and I got an inkling to make banana bread. I walked into the kitchen, looked at the fruit bowl on the counter, and realized we didn't have any bananas. Then I looked up and saw the pumpkin puree.

I quickly remembered a recipe I had bookmarked last November. I tinkered with it a bit, adding almonds instead of hazelnuts, orange juice and zest, as well as a few tablespoons of chocolate chips. I also added an apricot-date puree with a splash of maple syrup in place of the sugar. It tasted subtly of pumpkin, with deep orange and spice notes, and bits of dark chocolate. The cookie lover in the house even approved.

Give the apricot-date puree a try. It's so easy and an excellent replacement for sugar. Last fall in my chef classes, we made a date puree to sweeten granola. I loved the idea and made a note to try it again. I think it provided the perfect sweetness to this quick bread. Note: If substituting the puree for regular ol' sugar, you may need to increase the dry ingredients or decrease the wet ingredients, to get the right consistency for your dough or batter.

Apricot-date puree*

2/3 c dried dates & apricots, pitted

1/2 c warm water

Blend on high until smooth. 

Makes about 1 cup.

Orange pumpkin chocolate chip bread
1/2 c almonds or almond meal
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ginger
3/4 c pumpkin puree
1/4 c coconut oil
1/2 c apricot-date puree*
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp orange zest
2 organic eggs
juice from 1/2 an orange
3 tbsp dark chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly oil a loaf pan with coconut oil or butter. Line with parchment paper.

Toss almonds in food processor and blend until a fine meal. In a large mixing bowl, add the almond meal, whole wheat pastry flour, salt, soda, powder and spices. Sift or whisk together well. In a separate bowl, add the remaining ingredients, minus the chocolate. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix well. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

Pour into the oiled loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes. Remove and let cool before serving (unless you're impatient like me, and wanted a warm slice).

Enjoy as an afternoon snack with tea. I think this would make an excellent gift for a friend.

Raw chocolate truffles

Morning! Man, it's hard to get going after a great long holiday weekend. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Now Christmas is really just around the corner. I heard so many Christmas songs and saw many trees tied to the roofs of cars on my drive home yesterday. People were outside stringing lights and decorating in 70 degree weather. It's amazing how fast we switch from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Last year we screenprinted these tea towels for friends and family for Christmas gifts. So we've been trying to come up with some new ideas this year. I'm thinking about making edible gifts. If so, these truffles might just make the list.

These treats only contain four ingredients, but yet they seem decadent. They're raw, because they aren't baked or cooked. The nuts are soaked overnight and the dates are soaked before blending together. I also tried a batch without soaking the dates, but I prefer the texture of the soaked dates. You could add other flavors like dried cherries, cinnamon, orange zest or mint extract.

Raw chocolate truffles

Makes about 20-24 bite-size balls
1 c walnuts, soaked

1 c dates

4 T cocoa power

1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt

~1/4 c unsweetened, shredded coconut

Soak walnuts for about 8 hours, drain. Soak dates for 15 minutes, drain. Put walnuts and dates into a food processor along with the cocoa, vanilla and salt. Blend until smooth. Roll into bite-size balls (0.75 inch round) with your hands. Then roll through the coconut, covering completely. Freeze for at least an house before serving. I keep them in the freezer and let thaw about five minutes before eating. But they didn't see to ever freeze all the way.

A sweet, healthy Friday treat

I woke up with a craving for a sweet breakfast this morning. I remembered I had two very ripe bananas on the kitchen table and this recipe bookmarked.

I love the use of almond meal instead of flour here. I was low on almonds, so I added some hazelnuts too. And I used two tablespoons of honey instead of the sugar. This recipe made six muffins, which is perfect for two people. A dozen tends to be too much and gets thrown out or donated to friends.

I like eating them warm right out of the oven, but they make a perfect mid-afternoon pick-me-up too.

And yes I did put chocolate in the middle. Hey, it's Friday!