Friday, October 15, 2010

Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies

ms blogger has a tea party

Shall we have a break from lentils and chickpeas? Yes, I thought so too!
Let me tell you about the tea party I had yesterday for a group of old friends whom I haven't seen since early summer.  Nothing really seasonal here but I could stretch it and say that with the cooler weather, the time to invite friends round for a chat and a cuppa is here again. I will start with the chocolate chip cookies that you can see in the picture. This recipe is again a real tried-and-tested one as it dates back to our days in Tokyo 25 years ago when our son was born. There, we started a little group of mums and tots and one of the mums was a glamourous young American woman called Joan. Now, Joan was not only glamourous but she had a marvellous recipe for that great American favourite, choc chip cookies, and despite seeing and trying countless other recipes since then, I always come back to hers. I love American cookie recipes as they’re always so positive: ‘Makes 36’ as opposed to our English ones which are so measly in comparison: ‘Makes 12’ if you’re lucky. So in our family, these are known as Joan’s Cookies. Life here became that bit easier once one could actually find chocolate chips in a packet in the supermarkets. This was only 2-3 years ago, mark you. Up till that point, I had to buy the bitter chocolate and put the pieces in the food processor. Not very arduous, but still, another bit of washing-up. Actually, I seem to remember beating a plastic bag with a rolling pin ....
A word about measurements: I personally am completely comfortable with kilos, ounces, cups, you name it. How about you? If you find you need to convert, there are many conversion websites out there: try www.cookaz.com/convert_weight, for example. Don’t mix your measurements, though.
In Turkey, confusingly enough, all measurements are given in glasses: water glass, tea glass, and even coffee cup!! But luckily for us, 1 water glass= 1 cup; 1 tea glass= ½ cup; and 1 coffee cup= ¼ cup so all is not lost.
Ingredients for Joan’s Cookies
Makes 36, maybe more
½ cup white sugar
½ cup soft light brown sugar
1 packet butter -250 g/8oz- softened
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1 tsp vanilla/vanilya
2 cups plain flour/un
1 tsp each baking powder, baking soda, salt
2 ½ cups oats/yulaf
Raisins, chopped walnuts (optional), semi-sweet choc chips

Joan's choc chip cookies

Method
§  Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F.
§  Mix together the butter with the sugars. Add the lightly beaten eggs, a little at a time, then the vanilla.
§  Add the flour bit by bit, and the BP, soda, and salt.
§  Now add the oats. You will be using a wooden spoon by now.
§  Add as many raisins, nuts and choc chips as you like. About ¾ cup of each is probably about right with maybe more of the choc chips.
§  Roll into balls the size of walnuts. The ones in the photo are a little bigger than that. Use the oven baking tray. No need to grease it. Place in the middle of the oven.
§  Cook for 12-15 mins.They turn a lovely light brown colour and smell divine. Wait a min or two before removing from the tray with a spatula otherwise they are a bit soft and may break. Place on rack to cool before putting in tins.
rolling the dough into balls
cooling on the rack
Tips
1.       Brown sugar is still something I bring back from the UK when I go: all sorts! I have heard that you can get it here now but I am not sure. Also decent vanilla as only the powdered version is available here.
2.       If you have an opened bag of brown sugar, make sure you slip in a bit of bread before closing it up again. This will absorb the moisture and keep it soft. Otherwise it will go as hard as stone!
3.       I had actually run out of raisins for this particular batch of cookies so instead used dried cranberries! Most dried fruit is interchangeable, I have discovered.

on the table and ready to serve
About the blog:

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Thanks from your faithful blogger.

Highlights - Colorado Summer 2010

Wow! Autumn is here again! Watching the colors changing, leaves falling, the wild turkeys roaming... I think back over our summer and all the memories that we've added to the incredible database in our craniums. One winter evening beside the fire, we'll pull them all out like old picture albums, gently dust them off and smile over all the fun times, reminiscing with each other - joking and teasing as we turn the pages.

This is just a taste of it - highlights from our summer in Colorado.

Dad, Mom, Jeremy and I were up there for five weeks straight. The rest of the family came and went at different times - sometimes to work, sometimes for play and once for a friend's funeral...but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

The main reason for this trip was to re-roof and paint the exterior of the house. Dad and I did the painting - Jer and Caleb the roofing. Perfect, because I wasn't about to get on that crazy-steep roof!



It was a vacation with the perfect mix of work and fun. I went hiking with some dear friends to Camp 2. I believe it was my second visit to this specific place.

Heading up to see if we can see some elk.

Trying to figure out the self portrait.


Taking a break.

Wood art.

We love farmer's markets. Evergreen hosts one of the best ones...at least, it's one of our favorites.

Fresh, organic produce.

Lovely flowers.

Yummy food.

And lots of inspiration for cooking - like these fresh chiles for Chile Rellenos.



Anna and I took a hike to Herman Lake. Surprisingly, this is the first year we've ever done this hike, or had even heard of it. Which is crazy since it's gorgeous and easy to access - though rather popular.


Three miles in and, of course, three back.


We've reached our destination - Herman Lake.

There's a storm rolling in behind us.

Heading back down.


Anna discovered a genuine smiley. Who knows if it happened naturally, or if someone before us made it...


One day the whole family (minus John who was in Oklahoma) hiked up to one of our favorite spots - the cabin. It had been a wet two weeks, so the Mushroom Hunting was amazing.

King Boletes - this guy is as big as your biggest salad bowl. No kidding!

And this cute one is very poisonous.

Jer and Anna at the cabin.

wild flowers



Check out Tera's blog Through My Eyes for some more beautiful pics from this hike.

It was about this time in our trip when Buff Rutherford, a lifetime local of Georgetown and a friend of ours died. It was a sad time, but I'm thankful that we were there. It was an amazing funeral - so beautiful, so real. Mom wrote a blog post about this wonderful man - A Celebration of the Life of an Incredible Man. Everywhere I go in Colorado brings back wonderful memories of Buff and his family. The horseback rides, the hikes, the bonfires and cowboy poetry, the visits over coffee... We miss you, Buff.


Jeremy, Dad and I went jeeping up Jones Pass.

Hiking from here to Herman lake would be a bit longer than the route Anna and I did, but someday, I want to do it.



Jeremy and I took a day to hike some 14ers - well, he hiked some 14ers - I only did one. Here's why...

This is the Sawtooth Ridge between Mt. Evans and Beirstadt.

Maybe I am a wuss for not sliding down the cliff to get to the narrow ledge below. Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I know I am. I think I'll try it next time.



However, if I hadn't stayed behind, who would have captured the triumphant moment (for three unidentified people) - standing on top of the world!



My view as I waited for Jeremy to return.

When he finally did, we hiked to the top of Mt. Evans. You know, they say that you should never say never and this was one of those times, as I said I'd never hike Evans in order to check it off my 14ers list. There's just something lame about hiking for hours to the top of a mountain where, instead of a rock to sit on and the quiet around you, there are crowds of tourists, a big parking lot filled with cars and a road that takes you all the way down. "Never!", I said, and I meant it. However, I was over half way there on the Sawtooth Ridge as it was and we thought we could get a ride down to our car at Summit Lake.



Would you believe it? We tried hitchhiking and no one would pick us up! Oh well. The walk down was great. We went right through a herd of mountain goats. Mt Evans is the only place that I see mountain goats in Colorado.

Heading down.

You can check out more pics from this hike on Jer's Clear Angle Photograph blog.

My last hike was to Camp 1 with some of the same friends I went to Camp 2 with. The guys packed a very heavy tent up to set up for hunting season. I just tried to look helpful.


Setting up the platform.

Then the tent.

We girls hiked down another way to pick raspberries. This aspen meadow is one of my favorites.

Who would think something this beautiful could hurt so much?


So that's a glimpse of it. Amazing. We live a truly blessed life.

Happy Fall, everyone!

~Sarah