11. bake something new once a month

we used lemon zest in something a few weeks ago, but had an extra lemon left over. so i told myself i HAD to use it before it went bad. usually when we have left over lemons or limes they sit in the fridge until they mold. we like lemons & limes ... we just forget about them. so today i made lemon coconut oatmeal cookies. it was a recipes i mostly found online - i swapped the granulated sugar from brown sugar and added toasted coconut. they are quite tasty. the lemon is subtle, but taste-able. they spread a lot in the oven, which was a little disappointing. i mean, they taste great. but i was hoping for a thicker, more substantial cookie. i wonder if using cold butter would have helped. i generally always use cold butter, regardless of what the recipe calls for (mrs. fields says that's her secret to great cookies), but this time i let it get to room temp as suggessted. that may have helped them spread. but they are yummy. nice & chewy. mmmm.

i'm cleaning unused files off my ftp server. so if you come across a broken link or missing photo, let me know. and give me an opinion - should i keep this basic layout (which doesn't look the same if you're using a pc & ie) or change it? i want to come up with a layout that i just keep forever. this one seems okay since i can swap out the banner on top easily when i get bored without changing the entire page. and i like the links on the right ... but some people might see those on the bottom, and i don't like that. it's just a blogger template i modified, but yeah. what do you think?

three years ago

this was my post from three years ago today. there was no text, just the photo. we were celebrating dr. seuss' 100th birthday. and nothing says happy birthday like a rice krispy cake. mmmm.

11. bake something new once a month

jalapeno, lime, coconut sugar cookies. yumm-o.

i took my trusty sugar cookie recipe and modified it using lime juice instead of milk/vanilla and adding some coconut, lime zest and a jalapeno. they were too soft to roll out & cut, although i could have refrigerated them to do it, but they came out beautifully in little scoops. they kinda look like herbed mashed potatos. but they taste like sugar cookies with jalapeno, lime and coconut. the coconut's very subtle - i think i may toast it first next time.

the jalapeno taste becomes more prominent the older the cookies get. as in, i made them sunday & the taste is more prominent today - not as in i've had them sitting around for three weeks.

i wonder how they'd be with one side dipped in dark chocolate. i do like chocolate & jalapeno together.

that makes two baking adventures for february. my march weekends are pretty busy, so i'll have several get-togethers for which to make something new.

triple-chocolate peanutbutter cookies

one of my goals for the year is to bake something new each month. and baking sounded good today. so i adapted a recipe on laure's site (look at the jan. 25 entry for her version) to include peanutbutter - and they were quite yummy. i've always admired laure's willingness to experiment with cookies & make her own recipes. so i decided today would be a good time to jump in & try it out myself. not that i made a lot of changes to her recipe, but enough that to make it my own. and that's good enough for me.

i started today looking for a cookie recipe that called for jalapeno peppers & lime. i made salsa this morning & have half a jalapeno and half a lime left. i really thought it'd be pretty easy to find such a cookie recipe, but i was quite wrong. i found mention of a jalapeno coconut lime sugar cookie - but no recipe. so i think later this week i'm going to pull out my trusted sugar cookie recipe & do some tweaking. i'm thinking they're gonna be pretty tasty. i'll let you know. :)

triple-chocolate peanutbutter cookies:

beat together:
3/4 c. peanutbutter
1/4 - 1/2 c. milk (i started with 1/4 & then added more at the end to moisten the dough)
1 egg
1 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 t. vanilla extract

mix in:
1 t. baking soda
3/4 c. cocoa powder
2 c. flour
1/2 c. dark chocolate chips
20 chopped peanutbutter m&ms (i don't measure chocolate add-ins, i just tossed 'em in 'til it looks right)

Bake at 350º for 10 minutes