Do you have a favorite cookie?

This afternoon I was baking chocolate chip cookies for my teenage grandsons. They were coming to visit for the weekend, I thought “ I prefer oatmeal raisin”. I knew their preference. Chocolate Chip

A cup of butter and 2teaspoons vanilla, tasty chocolate chips what could be wrong? Well, not wrong but I actually thought of making a batch of oatmeal cookies, too. (I know some friends omit the raisins.)

“…various ingredients and techniques can affect the taste, texture, and appearance of your chocolate chip cookies” the Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies if you want to see varied results click the guide here

Here’s the recipe I used from the back of the bag of chips

Poppyseed Roll. Yes or no?

Poppyseed roll . Yes or no?

“Poppy seeds are particularly rich in manganese, a trace element important for bone health and blood clotting” https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/poppy-seeds-health-benefits#1.-Rich-in-nutrients-and-antioxidants

This one baked in Millvale by Jean-Marc Chatellier

Ten years ago the subject was Hungarian Nutroll baked by Erika’s Aunts click link for slide show

And here’s the blog post about poppyseed and nut roll

Hot Cross Bun Season

Hot Cross Buns. I just read that they are to be eaten on Good Friday. Ooops!

Listed as Easy Hot Cross Buns – King Arthur Baking Company Recipe with dried fruit and currants. Do you like Hot Cross Buns?

And From All Nursery Rhymes

The song was first published in the “Christmas Box” London, 1798. However, the song appeared earlier as a street cry. The “Poor Robin’s Almanack for 1733” published the following lyrics:

Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!
One ha’ penny, two ha’ penny,
Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons
One ha’ penny,
Two ha’ penny,
Hot Cross Buns!

Kitchen Sink Cookies

Butter, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, oatmeal, raisins the basic start to a cookie……but then you add Grape-Nuts, chocolate chips, and coconut, toasted pecans…..Kitchen Sink Cookies (click for recipe). There are other recipes that add potato chips, pretzels and toffee.

Idiom “everything but the kitchen sink”

“……first print reference can be found in 1918 in the newspaper The Syracuse Herald. The expression became popular during World War II, where it was said that everything but the kitchen sink was thrown at the enemy.

No wheat germ on hand but I did toast the pecans
Parchment paper is essential

A Favorite Appliance

Do you have a favorite appliance? My friend just repaired the pin that holds the head onto the body. It had worked its way out so the head wobbled when being used. I was so pleased it could be fixed as this Kitchen Aid mixer was a gift from my dad in 1986. It’s been a reliable workhorse in several kitchens where we’ve lived. A lot of birthday cakes and batches of cookies have been produced with it. And when I realized how happy I was it was fixed, I decided it’s my favorite appliance (with my toaster I received for my 50th birthday a close second).

Steady workhouse since 1986

Gato de Muez de Pesah Walnut and Orange Passover Cake

I am at my sister’s in NYC and sifting through old recipes and photos. This is from 2011.
When I googled this recipe title, from the one she wrote down on a piece of composition paper, I discovered that it is from The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York by Claudia Roden who says it is the Passover Cake of Istanbul and it is imperative to use walnuts that are not stale! You can see the actual recipe in the link above, if you have trouble viewing the handwritten version

Here is a  link to a Youtube Video with
Claudia Roden an Interview on Jewish Food from the British Library 

The photo of the recipe cuts off the word STIFF but that is how you need to beat those egg whites.