It seems like forever ago, but once upon a time my ability to cook was a well-kept secret. For that matter, so was this blog. But these days, everyone from my kids’ teachers to college acquaintances know about it. And hey, that’s ok with me. The more the merrier.

But when people know you can cook, they start to expect things. For instance, hints get dropped about trying some of the recipes I am testing. And bringing non-homemade food anywhere? A total no-go.

So, last summer when I met my cousins for a beach day and said I was bringing cookies among other things, they expected homemade. Unfortunately, I was swamped with work that morning and just couldn’t whip any up. No matter that I’d made homemade iced tea and other yummies to take. And no matter that I picked up a couple of boxes of cookies that were pretty tasty … they just weren’t homemade.

I totally heard about it (and for the record, it was all in good humor).

This year, I wanted to be prepared with a fabulous cookie recipe that’s fast, easy and travels well. I wanted it to be a little hearty, but not so dense it’s off-putting. I wanted a flavor combination that it’s not typical for a cookie. Meet my signature Blueberry White Chocolate Cookies.

Tart dried blueberries and sweet white chocolate chips are always a favorite combination around here. Even our very favorite pancake recipe includes both. And I love the body that even a small dose of oats gives to cookies.

I don’t think anyone will be disappointed if I bring these to the beach this year.

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My kids surprise me sometimes. Choosing to eat things I never imagined they’d like (anchovies, for example), and then loving them. Begging for delicious, exotic foods. Polishing off a whole batch of palmier cookies.

That last one? It happened last month when I was working on a recipe for palmiers for Tablespoon. Palmiers, which are also called elephant ears, are crispy layered cookies with sweet fillings. That batch was a basic sugar recipe, and I was shocked – SHOCKED – to find out they ate the whole batch while I was out one afternoon.

Talk about recipe success.

Almost immediately after, Will asked if we could make more. But he wanted to try a different filling. Together, we devised a plan to fill them with peanut butter and chocolate. I didn’t immediately have time to try it out, but Will didn’t let me forget (his memory takes after mine!). So, I finally did whip up a batch to take to a dinner party for dessert recently.

Oh my. They were good (and were gone super fast).

Making these is easy. Really, really easy. You start by spreading peanut butter all over puff pastry dough (I use the frozen dough from the supermarket — make sure it’s good and defrosted).

Then you sprinkle it all over with mini chocolate chips. The mini ones are the perfect size for this, since they form an even layer without lumpiness.

Next, you roll the dough up — start at one end and roll, stopping at the center point. Then repeat with the other end.

Cut the rolled dough into slices.

Arrange it on a cookie sheet. And then bake.

Hands on time? About five minutes … 10, if you move slowly.

Nothing like a dessert that can be ready to eat in 30 minutes or less. Right?

Do you have a favorite palmier variety? Share!
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Happy Memorial Day everyone! Hope you and yours are enjoying a lovely day together.

We woke up late this morning, had a little breakfast and then made a big batch of these cookies together. These cookies are a little hardier with a touch of oats, which makes them perfect for ice cream sandwiches (just take two cookies, spoon a little ice cream in the center, smush together and freeze until set). These will be the perfect dessert for the pool party we’ll be attending later today.

As for cooking with kids, cookies are perfect for making with your children since they offer ample opportunity for kids to get involved — even very young ones. Just be careful to realize if a step is just beyond your child’s ability. For instance, Paige today dropped two spoons into the running mixer while adding the flour … turns out, she still needs help holding spoons since she tends to let go once the flour is added.

What have you been cooking with your kids (or grandkids or nieces and nephews) lately? Share!

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With the mixer already swirling together butter, sugars and vanilla beans yesterday, all I could think was how much I hate that famous quote about necessity being the mother of all invention. It was playing on repeat in my head since mid-baking, I discovered that we were out of all-purpose flour.

So, I abandoned the recipe I was making and made Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies with a good amount of vanilla beans. My departure ended up creating these wonderful, chewy, chocolatey cookies … oh, they are divine. Buttery flavors, a fabulous texture and all that chocolate … YUM!

Something else good that came from making these? Will got to try something new … he broke the eggs for the dough. A few weeks ago, his school had a lovely Mother’s Day tea and one of the other moms mentioned that she loves to bake and her son often bakes with her. In talking about it, she told me that he loves breaking eggs, which is something that I have shied away from letting Will do before.

With a little help though, I discovered that Will is ready for this task … and better yet? It’s the most effective egg breaking I’ve done in a long time. Recently, I’ve had a problem getting a good clean break when cracking eggs. But this time? Clean and perfect. Guess I have a new egg breaker!

He also added the dry ingredients to the mixer, something he’s an old pro at.

I love cooking with Will. He loves to understand all the hows and whys of what we do. And while his never ending questions are really never ending, they are also such great questions. Why are you adding baking powder? What does it do? Why do you use so much flour? And even when he doesn’t help me make something, Will always wants to know how foods are made. He asks me about what ingredients I used, what steps I took … it’s awesome.

Are your kids interested in cooking? How do you encourage their interest?

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Yesterday, I was having one of those days where no matter how much I got done, there seemed infinitely more to do. Work needed to be tended to, the kids needed attention, the dogs wanted lots of petting … and in the middle of all the chaos, I decided to take a cooking break.

It might sound a little strange: having so much to do and just stopping for something that wasn’t on the must-list. But sometimes stopping is just what you need to keep going. Know what I mean?

So, while the kids looked on and asked many, many questions (I love their thirst for knowledge and understanding!), I whipped up these bars. Though the recipe might seem a little on the long side, it’s actually really speedy to make. And it’s also super easy.

The results were these delicious bars with layers of graham, almonds, toffee and chocolate. The sprinkling of sea salt at the end really took these from really, really good to OMG great. In fact, I did something I never do yesterday: I emailed a friend and told her that these were so good and she had to make them too. Her immediate response? Asking for the recipe.

And yes, the whole family devoured them as dessert last night. They are just amazingly good.

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Last week, when I really wanted cookies, I discovered that we were out of semisweet chocolate chips and brown sugar (although I have since discovered the missing sugar — it was hiding on an unreachable shelf). It could have totally sidelined my plans, but thankfully I have a very wise four-year-old. Will’s reaction? “Mommy, you can just write a new recipe!” So I did.

Using my favorite sugar cookie recipe as a guide, I adjusted the ingredients, making it more lime-y (though the lime is subtle, for sure) and less vanilla-y. The white chocolate is a nice sweet counterpart to the tang of the cookies. These cookies have a delightful crunch to them too, something I loved.

As for the kids? They couldn’t get enough of them.

Also, thank you to everyone who took my survey a few weeks back. Your answers really helped me think about the future of this site. Here’s a few things that I learned:

• Healthy recipes posts are by far the favorite around here.
• You want more recipes … healthy and otherwise.
• The majority of readers could do without interviews — and that’s fine. I can work that content into regular posts if it’s something worth sharing.
• Desserts are appreciated.

Again, thank you. I’m now thinking hard about new recipes and cooking tips. As we enter spring, I will be sharing garden photos like last year (likely on Saturdays … but we’ll see) and I may share my weekly meal plan going forward as I did last Sunday. I hope you all like what you see!

So, onto these cookies … Sure, they aren’t a waist-trimming dessert, but they are tasty. Read the rest of this entry…

In thinking about today’s post, I thought it was a little ironic that I wrote about getting your kids more active on Friday and am writing about sweets today. But irony aside, these things can really coexist. Afterall, raising a healthy family and leading a healthy life is not about deprivation. It’s about moderation, balance, joy … all wonderful things. So, yes, you can have a delicious cookie bar and a slim waistline.

When I decided to have a healthier 2010, it never once crossed my mind to stop baking things like these bars. My kids love to cook and I love to cook with them. Seems like a win-win, right?

Last weekend, Will and I made Chocolate Covered S’mores Grahams and they were dessert for most of the week. He actually wanted to make them again, but I spied a recipe for Butterscotch Blondies in Gorgeous: The Sum of All Your Glorious Parts, a book that I reviewed a few years ago. The idea sounded good, but I wanted a bar that was just a little different. So, I got out my trusty notebook, made some alterations to the recipe (adding chocolate, taking out nuts, trading half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat, etc).

When the time came to bake on Sunday, I got out an big bowl for Will to mix in. The ingredients filled only a small portion of the bowl, but using an oversized bowl is one of tricks of cooking with kids that makes it easier and more stress-free. Yes, the smaller mixing bowl would have been perfect for this recipe, but the larger bowl gives him room to move the whisk around in. That way, he learns how to work in this confined space, while allowing margin for error. The result? Far less flour spilled. And I noticed as he mixed that his movements are becoming more fluid. He really is learning how to sift gently. How awesome is that?

There are so many opportunities for kids to help with a recipe like this. I’ve notated in the recipe the sections that are perfect for kids to help with. And working together like that, to create something, is a great experience for them.

Anyway, back to the recipe. Once we finished mixing, pressing and baking, we were left with sweet cookie bars that are brimming with buttery richness and chocolatey goodness. I liked them. Shawn liked them. The kids adored them … What more could I ask for?

These will make a fab dessert for the kids this week. And for the adults too. Read the rest of this entry…

Ever since Will was old enough to stand, he’s been helping me in the kitchen. Paige too. They can spin salads to remove water like nobody’s business. They know how to tear lettuce into bite-sized pieces, measure ingredients and sift. They can mix and fold. Will knows how to add the flour mixture to wet ingredients s-l-o-w-l-y and without making a mess.

They love to cook, and so do I.

One of my goals for 2010 is to share more about cooking with kids, including recipes that lay out how kids can help you. Cooking with kids is a great way to spend quality time … and it gives them a great sense of accomplishment when they can say that they helped make it. You should see how my kids beam when they’ve made something delicious.

This first recipe is easy, easy, easy and totally kid-friendly. Kids will love being able to help make it, and then will love being able to eat the sweet, crunchy, chocolate-coated grahams too. Does it get any better than that?

First, you break graham crackers along the perforated lines into rectangles. If you have grahams that break easily, then this could be a kid-step, but mine weren’t easy to break. In fact, this was the hardest part for me. It took a whole sleeve of grahams to get the 24 that we needed for this recipe. Will didn’t mind though … he got to eat the causalities.

My advice? When you are breaking the grahams, take your time and be gentle. Really. I mean it.

Next, you line a baking sheet with waxed paper. You aren’t going to bake anything, but this is a good staging area for the grahams at all the stages of making them. If you tear off the paper, then your child can do the lining (and almost certainly ask “What’s next?”).

The next step is a kid-step too: spreading marshmallow fluff on the crackers. Will used a training knife, that came with a toddler silverware set. If you don’t have one, don’t worry — a dull plastic knife will work too. Don’t worry if they get a little overzealous with it — more is better. And bonus: for preschoolers, this is a great fine motor skill building exercise. We all know how important that is.

Also, you might want to have a spoon handy to let your child lick a little marshmallow off. They will probably want to lick the knife … and that just isn’t a good habit to get into.

The last step is for adults. You melt up some milk chocolate (I use the Trader Joe’s Pound Plus bar — about half a bar is perfect for this) in double boiler set over water. Don’t have a double boiler? Use a nonreactive metal bowl over a pan of water. Just don’t let the water touch the bowl.

Finally, you coat the grahams in chocolate, let them cool and then refrigerate them. As you are coating them, be careful not to touch the area where the marshmallow fluff is. It’s way easier than that sounds. I swear. Also, these actually get better with age, so make them the day before you want to serve them (don’t worry, it’s okay to snack on a few in the meantime!).

How do your kids help in the kitchen? Share! Read the rest of this entry…

Twas the afternoon before Christmas. No, really. It was.

While Paige napped on Christmas Eve, Will and I set about to make some Oatmeal Scotchies – one of my very favorite cookies. We measured and mixed, and everything was going perfectly … until I discovered that we were out of the rolled oats (as in the canister of unflavored oatmeal). What we did have was a canister of quick-cooking steel-cut oats from Trader Joe’s. Without another thought, I measured and mixed the oats into the dough and we finished making cookies.

I didn’t question the plan until I slid the first tray into the oven. Would the oats cook enough not to have that raw, crunchiness? Would the flavor be off? Would they totally flatline in the oven?

Twelve minutes later, I had my answer. These cookies are dense, with a slightly different texture that mimics the oatmeal that you make with this cut of oat. The flavor is rich, though less buttery than the traditional recipe, and dotted with the sweet little hints of butterscotch. They were good. Very good.

But the true test is what everyone else thinks, right? Will and Paige enjoyed them, and Shawn raved about them.

These get better with age, so make them a day ahead and store them in an air tight container. Also, you should know that these are more filling than your average cookie, so don’t be surprised if your kids only eat half of one. With the size of the batch, you can easily freeze some to have on hand when the sweet tooth strikes.

You may also like:

• Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
• Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Hint of Oats
• Blueberry Oatmeal Cake

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Today felt like summer again, with temperatures that encouraged us to shed the socks and pants and re-embrace our leg-baring attire. When I felt how warm it was, I silently wished that the weather would make up its mind: is it winter or summer? But I didn’t really mean it. Summer can stick around all it wants, and I am happy to oblige.

It seems like everyone shares in my sentiments about this past summer: it felt too brief, cut short by the incessant rains of June and the short-lived hot spell. I was happy to barely run the air conditioner this summer, but would have loved a few more hot days where the best relief you can find is in a crystal clear pool. There just wasn’t enough of that.

Despite the summery temperatures today, it was an in-the-kitchen day for me today. I was able to purchase a big crate of tomatoes for a song this weekend, so they needed to be tended to (tune in tomorrow to learn all about that). But I also wanted to make something sweet. Peanut Butter Cup Cookies at Sweetnicks recently caught my eye, and having just picked up a bag of dark and milk chocolate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Miniatures, that seemed perfect. Unfortunately, when I went to the kitchen, I discovered that we were missing a key ingredient: Peanut butter.

Maybe the warm air hit me in the right way or something, but as I contemplated what to do, I remembered a treat from my childhood summers. There were these shortbread cookies with a center of creamy chocolate that debuted when I was in elementary school. Totally smitten, I couldn’t get enough of them and ate them compulsively. I loved the way the milk chocolate was in smooth contrast to the crumbly cookie.

So, that’s how I ended up doing a shortbread cookie with a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Miniature pushed into the center. The cookie itself is buttery with a punch of vanilla. It’s crumbly and on the dry side, but it holds its shape. Next to the smooth chocolate and peanut butter center, it’s just dreamy.

Not into the peanut butter cups? No worries, these work equally well with other small chocolate bites — Hershey’s Kisses, other miniatures, even Lindt Truffles. Heck, if you were in a pinch, you could just chop up a bar of chocolate and push a square into the center. Don’t you just love versatility?

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