White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies & 100th Post

It’s my 100th post! Yay!

I don’t know what but the number 100 sounds like a big deal, huh? It’s like reaching a milestone. It did take me a year to reach 100 posts but still, it is some sort of an achievement considering that I’ve had homepages in the past that I haven’t attended to after the novelty wore of… However this time, I don’t think I’ll ever outgrow this blog, at least, not for a very long time.

This past week turned out to be eventful for us -- an action packed, hair-raising thrill of an experience. I’m not talking about the Twilight movie (which was neither scary nor suspenseful) but rather, I’m talking about our REFGRIGERATOR CATCHING FIRE!

Yep, we had fireworks right in my own kitchen. Imagine the horror of having our fridge burst into flames right before me? You don’t see that everyday, do you? We had power outtage one evening, and the surge of current when the electricity came back on apparently was too much for my old, faithful fridge that she gave up on us. She went out not just with a bang but with fireworks to boot… literally!

Thankfully, the fire didn’t catch any paper, plastic or cloth nearby (there wasn’t any, whew!) so it went out immediately just as instantly as it happened. But of course, I already screamed “FIRE!” to the top of my lungs that Mr. J must have leaped from upstairs going down to the kitchen as he was there in an instant. Scary thing, huh? Once again, I am just so grateful that nothing worse happened – it could have razed our house to the ground, you know.

Well, this leaves us with no choice but to get a new fridge! Yipee! And who wouldn’t want a new fridge? Yeah, I wish that the timing was better (with what’s going on in the economy, I don’t think we should be spending on anything right now), but this case is an exception. We gotta do what we gotta do, right?



After all that excitement, I certainly needed something to calm me down .. something familiar, comfortable and easy but yummy - like this white chocolate macadamia cookies.

This is Mr. J and I's all-time favorite cookie. It's especially good for me as I need to stay out of caffeine, which dark chocolates (or regular ones for that matter) have plenty of. Though technically, white chocolate is not really chocolate - but it's a good enough subsititute for me. I'm willing to be fooled, if it's this good.

So, do you like your cookies crunchy or soft? Well, I'm kind of in between. I like them not to crunchy - I like them a bit softer, so I underbake them a little bit (about 2-3 mins), and just leave them a minute or two on the cookie sheets before removing them. Also, I feel like it's better to toast the nuts before mixing them in the batter as it helps heighten the flavor of the macadamia in the cookies.

Keep these away from you... They're dangerous. You don't want to eat them all at once, do you?



White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
10 ounces white chocolate* (chips or bars cut in chunks)
1 cup macadamia nuts*, chopped into chunks

1. Heat oven to 375 F. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt with electric mixer until creamy.
2. Add eggs, beat well. Stir together flour, and the baking soda; gradually add to butter mixture,beating until well blended.
3. Stir in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.
4. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Make sure to space them evenly to allow for spreading, about 1-2 inches apart.
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. (Edges are golden brown and center is set.)
6. Cool slightly, remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool completely.

*NOTE: Use good quality chocolate like Ghirardelli, Callebaut or Godiva. It makes a difference. If you're toasting the nuts, make sure that you cool them first before adding on to the batter. If you can't find macadamia around, probably a good substitute would be cashew nuts. As mentioned above, undercook slightly for softer cookies.

Cranberry Cookies - Lasang Pinoy Sunday Edition #27

We watched a children’s Christmas musical yesterday.

Children have all the advantages in productions – they can do no wrong. They can forget their cues, mess up their lines, or even do nothing but stand on the side – yet they are guaranteed to steal the show regardless. They are just too cute. Too bad they grow up so fast, huh? ;oD

The kids in the musical were, I believe, ranging from 3 to 10 yrs old with a total of about 25-30 participants. It was just a wonderful play with a very good message befitting the holiday season. The kids were amazing. Such wonderful talents displayed at such tender age.

But what’s even more remarkable to me are the people behind the scene– the director and production staff involved. They must be extremely patient individuals who are so dedicated in what they do. You and I know that it ain't a piece of cake managing 30 kids in one room. Their attention span is very short. Throw in some tantrums here and there and that’s a guaranteed formula for mayhem to break loose. How challenging it must have been to put together such a big production like that, yet they managed to come up with an awesome presentation. So my kudos go to them all. And of course, let’s not forget the parents. Their support and commitment in taking their children to rehearsals every week made everything possible.

Watching the kids musical yesterday unexpectedly made me nostalgic. I had been involved in a number of musicals myself as a kid, and I remembered my parents - my Mom especially. She passed away last year. My mother was my #1 fan and my avid supporter. As I watched the kids, I thought that my mother no longer has the opportunity to see her own grand kid/s on a production like this some day. This made me shed a tear. I just had a moment - blame it on Christmas.

Anyway, growing up the only thing I know about cranberries are those that of the bottled ones, juice -that is. Being from a tropical country, hardly any berries grow in the Philippine climate. (There’s only one place in the Philippines (up north) that I know of where strawberries grow – in Baguio - a hilly land that’s approximately about 5,000+++ feet above sea level.)

My first encounter of real, fresh cranberries was only six years ago. It was a surprise to discover that these particular berries are super tart! Thankfully, my friend Holly introduced to me these delicious cranberry cookies – hmmnnn... This is definitely the way to eat these fruits.
These cookies are a part of my friend’s family’s Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition. They are yummy! I particularly love the tang from the fruit balanced out by the sweetness from the glaze, and the texture from the pecan just rounds up everything. You won’t be able to stop eating them, promise! They should come with a warning sign like this: DANGER, THESE ARE ADDICTING!

My friend was kind enough to share with me her Aunt’s recipe of the cookies. And since then, I’d been making them every year during the holiday season.
In deference to my friend’s aunt, I will not publish the recipe here. But if you’re interested, do let me know and I’ll ask my friend’s permission if I can pass her recipe on to you. Email me at jescelc@hotmail.com.
I am serving these cookies to Lasang Pinoy-Sunday (La.Pi.S) Edition #27 (a weekly Food Photography meme, Filipino-style) and to Susan of Foodblogga for her Eat Christmas Cookies Season 2.

Come and help yourself to these wonderful cookies. Merry Christmas!

Taste & Create XII: Ginger Cookies

It's really true. Time flies by so quickly when we are busy. I've had a full plate at work and at home lately, so it seemed just like a few days ago when I received the information on who my partner was for this month's Taste & Create... and before I knew it, I am a few days away from the deadline! Fortunately, I already know what to do and I got the ingredients on hand, so all I really had to do was to make time to do it! Nike's got it -- just do it!

For this month's Taste & Create, I am partnered with Divya of Dil Se. Divya is of Indian (Asian) descent. She, like me, somehow found her way here to the U.S. She is based in California, which is a melting pot of different cultures from all over the world. No wonder why her blog reflects this mix of Indian as well as American/Western cuisine.

It was easy for me to decide which one to do for the event. When I saw this in Divya's blog and read the recipe, it made my mouth water. That's a good sign, isn't it? So, I thought no further... Ginger Cookies it is!

Ginger is one of the most common spice for Asian cooking. The root has a strong, pungent flavor, while the dried/powdered ones have this sweet-spicy smell to it. A lot of Westerners do not really like it, or can't stand much of it in a dish. The flavor is indeed very strong when one is not used to it.

As for me, I grew up with it, so I love its flavor. Ginger also happens to have lot of medical benefits as well. In the Philippines, we have a traditional drink called "Salabat" which is made from boiling ginger roots in water (with a bit of sugar). I remember my Mom used to make this concoction for me whenever I get colds. Just try and see how effective it is. And hey, drinking salabat has a side benefit. It is supposedly good for your singing voice! So whether you're a professional singer or just a huge Karaoke singing enthusiast (like most Filipinos are), I urge you to try this and see if you won't be belting out tunes in no time. Hahaha.. (How about that, Susan of SGCC?)

While I love ginger in savory dishes, I love it in sweets just as much. For instance, gingerbread. I love this holiday treat but I've never gotten around to try baking one from scratch. And I thought that this cookie might have the same taste as that of gingerbread, so I decided to do it.

The recipe was easy and very simple. There was nothing more that I did to it; I simply thought of adding cyrstallized (candied) ginger on top for more flavor (and for looks too).

And boy was I right. The cookies have the same flavor going on as gingerbread with the combined spices of cinnamon, ground cloves and the ginger in it. The ginger candy at the center gives you that nice sweet-spicy-chewy bite that's just enough to give this cookie a little kick. Hmmmn.... the flavors of Christmas -- they're happy flavors!

Next time maybe, I'd minced the candied ginger and mix it in the batter so there'll be little specs of ginger goodness all throughout the cookie... what do you think?

This recipe is definitely a keeper. I will for sure be making lots of these come Christmas holidays. Thanks, Divya for a great recipe. No wonder why you love these cookies! And I love 'em too.

Maybe this will be Santa's new favorite cookie too?

(Taste & Create is a monthly food event created by Nicole of For The Love Of Food. Bloggers are paired off with one another and they have to do a recipe of their choice from each other...and of course, blog about it!)

Hazelnut Tulipe

Ice cream!

It's got to be my husband and I’s favorite dessert. We are both so bad. We can possibly gorge down a whole container of ice cream in one sitting... if we don't control ourselves. But I'm glad to say that it hasn't happened yet, not so far anyways. Hahhaha.. Not that we are planning on doing it anytime soon, or ever. God forbid.

But I got to say, I've never had this much ice cream indulgement until I came to the US. In the Philippines, ice cream is more of an occassional treat for most families, so I've never really enjoyed a lot of it when I was growing up (except for the local ice-cream from the push-cart being sold in the street, which is more like a sherbet actually). But everything changed a bit when I started working. Ice cream became a familiar treat to my palate, as it was present on every birthday celebration there was in my office. That and cake. Couldn't be badder (yeah, i know, wrong grammar), but couldn' be better at the same time (now you know, I wanted my words to rhyme!). Ice cream and cake is the yin and yang of every birthday celebration, in my opinion. One is not the same withouth the other.

Anyways, back to my advent in the US. Imagine my delight in discoving the BUY ONE, GET ONE deals in the groceries for ice cream! Sweet!!! (Yeah, literally) My ice-cream starved pysche dictated that I should buy everytime there was a sale, so I began hoarding them in my fridge. Actually, I'm over exaggerating... but I was buying them more often than I should. But don't worry. I'm over that stage now (though I admit ice cream BOGO is still pretty hard to resist). 

Since summer is here, cool treats are in! And so, to celebrate my love for this frozen dessert, and to surprise Mr. J with something a little special, I made a tulipe - which is actually a hazelnut cookie curl.

I really do think that the addition of finely ground hazelnut made the cookie extra special. This was my first time to try doing this, so I was proceeding with caution. Yeah, some cookies did not come out successfully, but I did manage to get 4 good tulipes out of the 6 that I made. Pretty good for a first try, don't you think?

Next time though, I'll make it a point to follow the instructions to the T. I thought that the amount of the batter required for the cookie was too little that I doubled it. That was a major mistake. For the tulipe to be pliable, it has to be as thin as possible; mine came out a tiny bit thicker. Also, I chose to leave it a few minutes longer in the oven than called for, because I wanted crispier edges.. So as you can see, they are short of being burnt!

The ice cream is, of course, store bought. I have yet to try making a homemade one, when I get my ice cream maker that is. The recipe recommended vanilla ice cream, but I decided that Neapolitan is more exciting with its three different flavors.

Oh, the raspberry sauce is also homemade. Initially, I thought of doing a chocolate ganache for drizzling on top, but the dessert is already rich as it is, so I decided to go with the fruit puree instead.

As you can see, the presentation came out elegant. The tulipe surrounds a mound of ice cream in a crunchy embrace while it rests on a pool of raspberry sauce. No wonder the hubby exclaimed, "OOOH!".

That was music to my ears. :o)

Hazelnut Tulipe
Cookies
1/3 c shelled hazelnuts (filberts)
1/4 c butter or margarine
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp rum extract
1/3 c unsifted all-purpose flour

Raspberry Sauce
2 pkg (12 oz size) frozen, unsweetened raspberries, thawed
1/2 c sugar
1-1/2 quarts vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
1/2 pint fresh raspberries (for garnish)
Mint leaves, for garnish(optional)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F. In a shallow pan, bake hazelnuts 10-15 mins or until skins crack. Remove from oven; wrap in towel. When cool enough to handle, roll nuts in towel to remove as much skin as possible. Let cool; finely chop cooled nuts in food processor or blender.

2. Pre-heat oven to 400F. Grease and flour three large baking sheets. In a small saucepan, melt butter; cool. In a small bowl, whisk egg whites with 1/2 cup sugar, the salt and rum extract until foamy. Whisk in melter butter, then flour. Add nuts.



3. Use the rim of a glass to make two 5-in circles on prepared baking sheets. (I made the marks at the back of the parchment paper). Spoon 2 level tablespoons batter onto each circle. Spread evenly to fill circle. Bake 5 minutes or until edges are brown. Spray the bottoms of six 6-oz custard cups with non stick cooking spray.



4. Using pancake turner, lift cookies from baking sheets; invert onto greased bottoms of custard cups. With fingers, gently mold around cup. If cookies are too brittle, reheat briefly in oven. Cool tulipes completely on wire rack; then lift tulipes off cups and place on wire racks.

5. Make raspberry sauce. Combine thawed raspberries and 1/2 cup sugar; let stand 20-30 mins. Using back of large spoon, press berries and any juice through a strainer set over a large deep bowl until only seeds remain; discard seeds. Cover raspberry puree and refrigerate until serving.

NOTE: I did not have rum extract, so I used coconut rum instead, and it worked! If you don't have hazelnuts, you may use toasted almonds. In this case, Amarretto Liqueur might be good to use since it's almond-flavored. Also, you can use strawberries for the sauce in place of raspberries. The puree can be made ahead and will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. For a lighter alternative, you can fill tulipe with a low-fat frozen yoghurt. Or, you can fill the bowl with slices of fresh tropical fruit such as mango, kiwi, pineapple and papaya; top with vanilla yoghurt.

The Last Supper

Just a few days before they leave for their 3-year missions trip to South Africa, we had the pleasure of having our dearest friends, the Logans – Kevin, Holly, Emily & Katie – join us for dinner at our home last Saturday. As in the past times, it was a joy to have them, but this particular Saturday was somewhat a bittersweet time, at least for me, knowing that we’re going to be missing these people who we’ve come to consider not just as friends, but as family.
Before I go all mushy here……….Needless to say, I wanted a special dinner for them. Alas, it was not so hard to think of what to cook because I know that both Kevin and Holly are smitten (haha!) with my hubby’s steak – the “Joe-steak” as Holly has called it to be. (Actually, Holly DID request the Joe-steak..)

So off I went to the grocery on Saturday, carefully picking out the most beautiful pieces of rib-eye steaks that I could find. Then, I made it a point to season the steak hours before grilling them, to make sure that the meat has marinated well in the spices. The rub that I used was one that my hubby mixed together himself, inspired by Emeril’s Southwest seasoning. His twist was to add about 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar to the mixture.

What goes well with steak? I bet 90% of those who are asked with this question will say “potatoes”. Well , while at the grocery, I got attracted to a bag of fingerling potatoes. They’re finger-sized/shaped potatoes - hence the name - in different colors (some gold, some red, some purple). Fingerling potatoes to me, are tastier, sweeter – pricier, but definitely worth it. And so, I grabbed that.

And then to accompany the potatoes, I also got some pencil asparagus – to be roasted, as well.

Because the steak is already flavorful as it is, both the potatoes and the asparagus need not be complicated. So I decided to do another Emeril-inspired recipe – this one I saw him do during his tv show, The Essence of Emeril. It looked so good and was very easy to do so I remembered this particular recipe very well.

The potatoes are just seasoned with a mixture of fresh herbs - sage, rosemary and thyme - then blanched, sautéed and roasted. The roasting part was my twist to the recipe, as I thought the potatoes would come out better that way.

As for the asparagus, they were sautéed in walnut oil and then roasted and garnished with toasted walnuts, of course. Again, the roasting part was my twist. Can you imagine the smell of my house as I was roasting both the potatoes and asparagus? Hmmmnn… so good!

Then ,there's one more item to the menu –Insalata Caprese (Caprese salad). This is yet another simple but very good dish. The key to this is to use fresh mozzarella (not the processed kind) and use a good extra virgin olive oil. Also, I used a mixture of tomato for different shapes – vine-riped and cherry tomatoes. A little lemon juice, salt and pepper and a chiffonade of basil leaves and …. voila!! A real pretty and yummy appetizer!

For dessert, I did a simple one - some Hazelnut-Chocolate Chip cookies from Giada de Laurentiis’ recipe (I love her!). The cookies, I would say, wasn’t as attractive looking as I would have liked them to be – but do not be deceived! They sure tasted delicious. The only change I made to the recipe was by using ½ semi-sweet and ½ bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips (because I thought I had enough semi-sweet chocolate in my pantry).

It was a joy preparing this meal for our friends. As the saying goes, “ the way to a man’s (i.e. friends’) heart is through their stomach”. So, I hope this meal was good enough to remember us by! :oD

Love you guys, God bless you and the Joe-steak will be waiting for you when you get back here in 3 years! PROMISE!