ginger chocolate chip cookies (sleepy's house cookies)

My mom has been making these cookies for us for as long as I can remember. It's a recipe that came from a friend, that probably came from her friend and so on... Regardless of where they came from, they are delicious and that's all that matters. They're like a standard chocolate chip cookie on steroids.

A couple of years ago my parents gifted a homemade cookbook to me and Colby and to my brother and his wife. It's a book of recipes that they have made for us over the years. They spent a couple years compiling the recipes and even photographing many of the dishes after they made them. It is such a treasure. We love this book so much and use it pretty frequently. Obviously, these cookies made the cut...

Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies (Sleepy's House Cookies)

You're gonna need...

3 cups of brown sugar
2 cups of butter at room temperature
2 eggs
4 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking soda
1 tbsp of cinnamon
2 tsp of ginger (or 1 tsp of ginger and 1 tbsp of crystallized ginger, chopped)
1 tsp of salt
3 cups of chocolate chips
2 tsp of vanilla
Powdered sugar

Cream butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Add the dry ingredients to your other bowl and mix well. Then add the chocolate chips.

Form dough into 1 inch balls and roll in powdered sugar. Bake on greased cookie sheet or parchment paper at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes 12 dozen cookies.

Enjoy!

weekend update + happy mother's day

After a couple weeks of warm weather, Utah did what it does best and got cold again. The rain came, and then the cold air came--and stayed. It should warm up by the middle of this week, but that still seems so far away. We planted our garden for this summer last weekend and that might have been a little early. I guess there's a reason they say wait until after Mother's Day...

Speaking of Mother's day, how was yours? My mom is away on vacation this week, so I wasn't able to be with her. But, I'll see her in a couple weeks to make up for that. Colby had to work today, but I woke up this morning to a card, some tea, and a handful of massages to get me through the last couple months of this pregnancy. Not a bad way to spend my "first" Mother's Day.

Now, I have some lentil stew on the stove and am ready for a cozy night. If this weather is good for anything, it's a great excuse to bust out some of my autumn and winter recipes...

Here's what we were up to this weekend.

1. Avocado toast is my friend
2. Hank taking it easy
3. A candle lit dinner from Colby
4. An early baby gift has become my bubble bath companion
5. Peonies are the best

an adventure in ice cream

In, what I assume to be, an effort to make summer come sooner, Colby surprised me with an ice cream maker a few weeks ago. I couldn't wait to dive into this cookbook. We have had some samples of these recipes made by friends over the years so I was confident it was a winner. I have seen pints of Jeni's Ice Cream in the market near our house and was dying to try it, but couldn't bring myself to spend $12 on it. I figured owning the cookbook was the next best thing. We went through the book multiple times trying to narrow down our first pick. I wanted to make the Savannah Buttermint, but found butter flavoring a little hard to track down in the stores around the area. So, that one will have to wait. For our first one, we chose The Milkiest Chocolate Ice Cream in the World.

I have never used an ice cream maker before. For some reason, I found it a little intimidating. I grew up on homemade chocolate ice cream, hand-churned with rock salt at family dinners in the summer, and it always seemed to be pretty time consuming and tedious. But this recipe was actually pretty simple. And, using the machine turned out to be the easiest part. The milk chocolate ice cream turned out to be incredibly delicious and certainly lived up to its name. It was so rich and creamy. I can only imagine what the other flavors will be like. Basically, I feel like a whole new world has been opened up to me and I can't wait to try out some new recipes.

The Milkiest Chocolate Ice Cream in the World

Makes about a quart

You're gonna need...

1 cup of whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of cornstarch
2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1 cup of evaporated milk
2/3 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of light corn syrup
1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon of fine sea salt

Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Chop the chocolate and put it in a medium bowl. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

Combine the remaining milk, the cream, evaporated milk, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, and bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Add the cocoa powder, whisking until it's incorporated, and continue boiling for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the chocolate. Add the salt and whisk until the chocolate is melted and incorporated. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.

Pour the ice cream base into the frozen canister and spin until thick and creamy. Pack the ice cream into a storage container, press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, about 4 hours.

Enjoy!

strawberry rhubarb blackberry crisp

It is finally spring and our rhubarb is already HUGE. We had a friend over for dinner last week and I figured it was as good a time as any to cut a few stalks down and make something tasty with it. We only had about six thin little stalks that were ready, so I made a crisp that included some other fruits to fill up the space. Here's what we came up with...

Strawberry Rhubarb Blackberry Crisp

serves 4-6

For the filling you're gonna need...

1 tablespoon of oat flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
About of cup of sliced strawberries
About a half a cup of blackberries
About four or five stems of rhubarb cut into 3/4-inch pieces
zest and juice of one lemon (I used two tiny lemons because that's what I had)

For the crumble on top you're gonna need...

1/2 cup of flour
1/4 cup of oat flour
1/2 cup of rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of cold unsalted butter, cubed into 1/4-inch pieces 

Preheat the oven to 375F. In a bowl, combine the flours, oats, sugar, and salt for the topping. Throw in the butter and use your fingers to incorporate it into the flour mixture. The final result should be crumbly and a little sticky. Set aside...

Then, make the filling. In a large bowl, whisk together the oat flour and sugar. Add the strawberries, blackberries, and rhubarb, and toss together until evenly coated. Pour the lemon juice into the bowl, making sure to remove all the seeds and add the lemon zest and toss again. Transfer the filling into a pie dish or baking pan (I used a dish equivalent to a 9x9 inch baking pan), then sprinkle the topping mixture all over the fruit. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the topping is crispy and golden and the filling is bubbly. Cool for about 15-20 minutes before serving. I served this with some freshly whipped cream, but ice cream is also a good option.

Enjoy!

it's been awhile + some good news

I feel like it's been ages since I have written anything on here. Probably because it has been... The last four months have flown by. Mostly, this is because this is just how life seems to be lately, and partly because we have had some big changes in our lives. But, I figured this rainy weekend would be a great time to dust off the cobwebs and jump back in.

In November, Colby and I found out that we are expecting a new, little member to our family this July. So, I guess now we're in the market for one of these... Shortly after we found out, I began to feel the effects of the infamous morning sickness. I was down for the count for a good three months. Then, slowly, I began to feel more like myself at the beginning of my second trimester. I still had very little energy and was sick often enough to not want to do much of anything, but I certainly felt better than before. We tried a mix of different medications to help curb the nausea, despite my desire to avoid any meds at all. But, I had to do something if I wanted to make it to work and have some sort of life outside my bedroom.

This week marks the start of my third trimester and we can't believe there are only 12 weeks left. Colby is working hard to finish up the walls in the baby's room and soon we'll be moving the furniture in. I have been busy making sure the baby is having the best time possible in my tummy by feeding it lots of tasty treats and getting to know all of its little kicks and movements. And, it's been fun seeing Hank investigate all of the new baby stuff we have accumulated so far. We decided to wait until July to find out if it's a boy or a girl and it has been so fun waiting in suspense. It really is the only true secret that can be kept.

In the time since Christmas, we have made a few trips home to Boise to see family--including my brand new, three week old nephew, August. We've also been trying to get the most out the ski season while my pants still fit, and ventured down to Southern California and San Francisco. Basically, trying to savor our time together with just the two of us while sharing this fun stage of life with our dear friends. I've been trying to journal the thoughts and feelings that I am having while getting to know this little life inside of me, because I am blown away by how fast the time is going by and I don't want to forget any of it. But, at the same time, I feel like time is crawling by...we just can't wait to meet this little one.

Here are some pieces of what else we've been up to since December...