quarter pound pb and jelly cookies

What was it, a year ago when I was on my quarter pound cookie obsession?
And vowed that a peanut butter version was next?
I finally got around to doing just that.
Actually I'm kind of glad I waited so long--it made me think of adding a jelly center to the cookie.
Genius right?
I mean if you're going to have a 1/4 pound peanut butter cookie then one should have a touch of jelly in it.
They are almost a 1/4 pound cookie and definitely each cookie is a meal in of itself.



I was going to write a story up along with these cookies, but I don't think anyone is going to read it.
Be honest, I know I wouldn't; I would skip right to the recipe and see if I have the ingredients to make these cookies tonight.
But that's just me.... :-)



Fairly easy to make.
You just have to make a good well in the middle of the cookie for the jam.
Then make sure the edges are well sealed.













Easy right?


quarter pound peanut butter & jelly cookies
print recipe

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold & grated (use European butter for best results)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ts vanilla
1 cup chunky peanut butter (you can use creamy)
3 ¼ cups all purpose flour
3/4 ts sea salt
1 and ¼ ts baking powder
½ ts baking soda

¼ cup more/less of grape jelly (or whatever jelly your prefer)
coarse sugar for rolling the dough balls in

Cook notes:
Why use European butter? It has a higher fat content and lends a better taste/texture to this kind of thick cookie.
I highly suggest rolling your cookie dough balls in coarse sugar before baking. I forgot this step and it was sorely missed.
Keep in mind this is a very dry dough, and is a little hard to mix, so I used my hands for easier mixing.
Keep this dough cold. If you work in hot kitchen, just keep placing it in the fridge to firm up.

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer (or by hand, which I prefer), beat butter and both sugars just until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat just until incorporated. Then add in the peanut butter.
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add to the wet batter and stir just until blended. Do NOT overmix at this point. Cover bowl with plastic wrap (really well, we cannot have air getting into this) and chill for a few hours or overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees; divide dough into 12 – 13 big 4 oz lumps. Cut doughball in half, using thumb press down on one side making a little cup/indentation to place the jelly inside. Place a teaspoon or less of jelly in there. Take other half of cookie dough ball, place on top, crimp edges to seal up nicely (see photos).
Once cookie dough ball is stuffed, keep it in a giant golfball shape size; do not press flat!
Roll cookies in coarse sugar.
Place on parchment lined cookie sheets.
If it’s hot in your kitchen you might want to chill the dough balls before baking (chill 20 minutes)
Put the cookies in a 375 degree oven and set timer for 8 minutes. When timer rings, reduce oven temp to 365 degrees, rotate pans and bake another 9-10 minutes.
You know cookies are done when the middle of the cookie appear set. Cookies will still be slightly soft.
Do not look for golden brown edges—this means you overbaked them; only the bottoms should be golden brown. This is a dry cookie and can overbake fast. The cookies will crinkle a bit this is normal.

Makes 12-13 cookies

friday links

There seems to be a lot of people on the paleo, primal way of eating? I'm curious about it too, and have dabbled in it.
Found this wonderful website Marks Daily Apple. All about primal living (exercising) and eating.
He talks about what foods are primal (is it primal?), shares reader weight loss and health stories, as well as recipes (good ones, not crazy ones).

Do you like garden houses? Then you'll love this.


The incredible hyperreal paintings of Luigi Benedicenti at London’s Albemarle Gallery. Love this.

(I didn't even know this existed) Orthorexia: when healthy eating turns obsessive.

Top healthy and "portable" high-protein snacks. (I love pumpkin seeds)


Life size (real) dollhouse.

15 famous authors and why they write.

22 Kettlebell exercises. I just bought a kettlebell this winter. I should start using it.

Do you love to read adventure books? I do. Here are few written by women. Great list--great for summer reading:



Why you should spiral cut your hot dogs before grilling. (hint: you can fit more toppings on this way).


Well written write up and interview about Chef Mark Samuelssons' new memoir book. From NY Times.

Paleo chocolate cake. Done really (really) well.

A trip to deserted island: Tortugas Island (florida keys). I had never heard of this place.


Giveaway over at Bake or Break. You get to choose what you want as the prize. Those are the best giveaways. Head on over.

Crave cucumbers in the summer? Spicy Sichuan Cucumber Salad with Persian Cucumbers.

How to make easy Gazpacho.

Strawberry-yogurt popsicles.

Savannah Buttermint Ice Cream. I am dying to make this.

Fight muscle soreness with cherries. (anyone know if this is true? or do you just have to consume like a ton of cherries for this to work?)

80 healthy recipe substitutions. Excellent list!

What's on your summer reading list? Here are a few of mine:


At Home on the Range by Margret Yardley & Elizabeth Gilbert

"This book is a beautiful time capsule that looks back to the roots of American gastronomy, when the values of gardening and fresh ingredients were the primary inspiration. Margaret Yardley Potter’s warm, witty stories and recipes show us that our great-grandmothers instinctually understood that food is central to a life well-lived." ~~Alice Waters


Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff by rosemary mahoney. "...When Rosemary Mahoney, in 1998, took a solo trip down the Nile in a seven-foot rowboat, she discovered modern Egypt for herself. As a rower, she faced crocodiles and testy river currents; as a female, she confronted deeply-held beliefs about foreign women while cautiously remaining open to genuine friendship; and, as a traveler, she experienced events that ranged from the humorous to the hair-raising--including an encounter that began as one of the most frightening of her life and ended as an edifying and chastening lesson in human nature and cultural misunderstanding. Whether she's meeting Nubians and Egyptians, or finding connections to Westerners who traveled up the Nile in earlier times--Florence Nightingale and Gustave Flaubert among them--Mahoney's informed curiosity about the world never ceases to captivate the reader".


The Hidden Staircase: Nancy Drew mysteries. Yep! Every summer I LOVE to dig out my old Nancy Drew books and re-read them. As a kid I could never get enough of her.


The Secret of the Old Clock.


The American Heiress by daisy goodwin. Love Downtown Abbey? "...."Anyone suffering Downton Abbey withdrawal symptoms (who isn't?) will find an instant tonic in Daisy Goodwin’s The American Heiress. The story of Cora Cash, an American heiress in the 1890s who bags an English duke, this is a deliciously evocative first novel that lingers in the mind." --Allison Pearson, New York Times bestselling author of I Don’t Know How She Does It and I Think I Love You. Be careful what you wish for. Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts’, suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage...." from amazon review


Yes Chef: A Memoir by marcus samuelsson. The NY Times really made me want to read this. I love chef memoirs.

Have a great weekend?

lemon and vanilla oreo ice cream

Almost three years now we've been living in our new home. The first few weeks of living in my new home, each night, as I would fall asleep, I'd go through my mental list of "things to repair" in the home first. And each new week something new would be added to the list. You see back then, we had a tiny bit of extra money set aside to do minor repairs.
As those weeks turned into months, the things I wanted to fix for aesthetics turned into our quarterly property tax bill came in. And soon that list of things to repair went away--vanished.
We haven't done any repairs to the house; that list is now renamed "what needs to be fixed before the house caves in".
Sad but true. With the recent torrential downpours here in the northeast our gutters have been having quite the workout. This i know will be a very expensive repair.



On Tuesday we had something like three inches of rain in a matter of four hours. Unreal. And now as i type this, the weather report says sun for the next week (thank you!).
I know florida (the panhandle areas) had something like 17-24 inches of rain with tropical storm debby. Unreal.
Any of my readers from that area? How much rain did you get? Hopefully no damage to your house/basement/property?
Back a few months ago, I watched a program on the weather channel about long-term weather predictions (10-20 years) for the USA. In summary they said the northeast would have a few more feet of rain than whats been the norm, the midwest would have more storms (tornadoes), while the west would have more drought.
Curious if anyone else heard the same?



Onto the ice cream. Fact: I've never made a lemon ice cream. Not something I'd order either if I was out at an ice cream stand. Kind of like ginger ice cream--not really my thing. But throw some cookies in there and I'm game. Kidding.
In summer my body craves lemon, for whatever reason. Could be I'm deficient in vitamin C.
If lemon is your go-to ice cream then this recipe is for you.





If cookies don't sound appealing to you, then add in a nice blueberry coulis.



lemon & vanilla oreo ice cream
ice cream base adapted from tartletteblog.com
print recipe

Finely grated zest of 3 lemons
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
pinch of salt
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
½ - ¾ cup vanilla Oreo’s, optional but wonderful

In a non-reactive bowl, mix the lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar. Cover bowl and refrigerate one to two hours to blend flavors (I did this overnight).

In a large bowl, slightly beat the egg yolks.
Heat milk to an “almost boil” in a large heavy saucepan.
Gently mix the hot milk into the eggs. You do this by starting with a teaspoon of hot milk and adding it to the eggs; and slowly by teaspoon-full to double teaspoon-full; all the while mixing/whisking mixture. Gradually build up to a tablespoon at a time until ¾ the hot milk is mixed in, then add in the rest and continue to whisk.
Pour this mixture back into the saucepan and heat up until the custard forms and/or coats the back of a spoon/spatula.
Place this in a bowl, let sit at room temp for about 15 minutes before covering and placing in fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.
When ready to churn: Combine chilled milk mixture with heavy cream.
Give your lemon mixture a good stir, then add this in with the milk mixture.
Pour into ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's directions. The last five minutes of churning, add in the chopped vanilla oreo chunks.
Remove ice cream and place in freezer-safe bowl, cover and freeze until ice cream has set up.
Makes about 1 and ½ pints.

modern milkshake: mocha-cardamom shake

Cardamom.
In a milkshake?
Like with dairy as in milk?
Yes, oh yes.
Unbelieveable winning-tasty combination.
The genius behind this is Adam Reid, author of "Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes".
There is a blog-wide "great shakes of 2012" event happening Monday June 25, 2012. Several top food bloggers are participating in this milkshake event. The list of participants is here.


Click me for preview

I love when I get a chance to review a book that has creative recipes. Taking the milkshake, old and new, and turning them into modern day creations.
From the publisher: "The time-honored combination of milk, ice cream, and syrup has satisfied ice cream lovers for generations. In this collection of 100 new recipes, Adam Ried brings America’s favorite concoction into the twenty-first century with familiar ingredients turned into foolproof shakes. Featuring a wide range of blended treats such as the bold Mexican Chocolate Shake with Chipotle and Almond and the traditional Malted Caramel, Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes gives us a whole new take on the shake."

About the author: "Adam Ried is a columnist for the Sunday Boston Globe Magazine and a regular guest on America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country from America’s Test Kitchen. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts."

A few of Adam's creations:


Malted caramel shake. Pg. 175

Cold buttered rum shake. A delish concoction of butter pecan ice cream, with dark rum, a few spices. Pg. 172

Date-buttermilk shake. Made of ice cream, buttermilk and dates! So good. Pg. 140

Bananas Foster Shake. Made with bananas, amber rum, ice cream and a couple spices. Pg. 112


Peanut-molasses shake. Pg. 159


Cholado. Pg. 179 "....Cholados come from Colombia, but I encountered them first in the Latino neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens, in New York City. There is no ice cream involved, so a cholado isn't a shake per se. With distinct fruity, icy, and creamy elements, you might think of it as fruit salad meets Slurpee meats melted sherbet. Eat the fruit with a spoon, and by the time you're done, the ice will have melted and blended with the syrup and milk. The mixture will be ice cold and thick, yet liquidy enough to slurp through a straw....."

I made the mocha-cardamom shake from page 97.






top with espresso powder. truly a tasty, unique shake.

mocha-cardamom milkshake
from Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes
print recipe

1/2 cup cold whole (or lowfat) milk
2 ts instant espresso powder
1/4 ts ground cardamom
4 medium scoops coffee ice cream (about 1 pint), softened
4 medium scoops chocolate sorbet (about 1 pint), softened

Place the milk, espresso powder, and cardamom in a blender and blend to mix thoroughly, about 15 seconds. Add in the ice cream and sorbet and pulse several times to begin breaking them up. With the blender motor off, use a flexible spatula to mash the mixture down onto blender blades. Remove hand and spatula, place cover back on blender and continue to pulse, stopping and mashing again (if needed) until mixture is well blended, thick, and moves easily in the blender. Pour into chilled glasses, and serve at once.
Does not re-freeze well at all. Should make about 3 1/2 cups or 28 ounces.

friday links

I made these bacon-cheese hot dogs for dinner saturday night.
Did you know they hold super powers with your spouse ? (neither did I).
They do!
If you make these cheesy hot dogs (cheesy in a good way) your spouse automatically does the lawn and all the other odds & ends that have been on the "honey-do" list for ages.
Magical I tell you.

bacon & cheese hot dogs
print recipe

Around the web:

Learn a little about the history of the espresso machine.

Eating onions in salads? Soak them in water for about 10 minutes to take the edge off.


Salad in a jar. I love this new trend. Do you?


I saw this on Pinterest and had to share it with you.
Will you look at that cute little butt?
And the wee paws?

Do you get bored with egg salad? Try these ways to kick it up a notch (or 8).

This recipe for Korean BBQ has been very popular in the food blogging world. (from TheKitchn)

Carrot cake cookies from serious eats.

Strawberry shortcake cupcakes! (from serious eats).


This is Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur California. Who's ready to go? Maybe they'll want me to come out and do an interview? You need to see the rooms with the view. Unreal.

Coconut-palm sugar ice cream.

12 different ways to kick up your basic lemonade (from serious eats).


Photos of diner foods and the waitresses who serve them.

Mango lassi popsicle from theblackpeppercorn.com

Ice cream 101 from Saveur.com Very helpful tips & tricks from Jeni of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. (she would know right?).


Chinese Pepper Steak. (from serious eats).

Dark chocolate-cherry fudge. I'm not much of a fudge fan, BUT these really looked and sounded good. (from serious eats).

Paleo fans?
Paleo pumpkin ice cream with chocolate & almond butter swirl. Heavenly.
Great website for all things Paleo recipes.

Important life lessons we learned from children's books. (from flavorwire).


Instagram books. Make your Instagram photos into a book.

I LOVE this maxi dress (from chanceco.com). So cute.


Candy colored photos of carnival in Paris.

Creme de Menthe chunk cookies (from passthesushi.com).

scoutingNY.com is sharing their key west road trip. Unique finds along the road; a bit of history too.

Miso-tahini dressing (from thekitchn.com).


Hot dog relish foodporn. I love this. (from seriouseats.com).

The winners of the "Taste of Home: My Caribbean Cooking" are #16 'whynot' and #34 Crystal. (I haven't heard from 'whynot', PLEASE email me!).

Summer Reads: (just click on image for more info)



Have a great weekend!