Chocolate Chip Cookies Cockaigne - An Adaptation

The Joy of Cooking is my "food bible". I would say I use this at least 5 times a week and it shows! The pages are covered in flower and butter and chocolate smudges. Until recently, I thought the word "Cockaigne" after some of the recipe names was some type of French cooking technique of which I had never heard. So, after a little research, I learned that this is not the case at all.

Apparently (according to Wikipedia), Cockaigne is a "medieval mythical land of plenty, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist." Cockaigne is also the name of a family estate of Irma Rombauer designed by her architect husband, John Becker. Recipes in the Joy of Cooking that are designated with a "Cockaigne" ending are a family favorite of the Beckers!

And this Chocolate Chip cookie deserves to be a family favorite. Since I am grinding my own flour now, I needed an adaptation of this cookie that would work with only whole grains. I also threw in a little coconut flour for the extra sweetness and fiber.

This is a double recipe  I included volume and weights on the flour for those of you who weigh your flour for baking.  I always like to freeze half of this for "cookies on demand".

Ingredients

• 2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour (10 oz.)
• 2/3 c. finely milled Oat Flour (4 oz.)
• 1 c. coarsely milled Oat Flour (5 oz.)
• 1/2 c. Coconut Flour (4 oz.)
• 2 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1 pound butter (soft)
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs (room temp)
• 1/2 c. milk
• 5 tsp. vanilla
• 1-2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (depending on your preference)
• 6 oz. milk chocolate grated or chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together Wheat flour, Coconut flour, finely-milled Oat flour (retain the coarsely milled), Baking soda, Baking powder, and salt until evenly distributed.
3. In your electric mixer bowl (or a large bowl for hand mixing), beat butter with medium speed until it is creamy and light.  Add sugars and beat until fully combined.  Beat in eggs one at a time; scraping the bowl in between.  Beat in milk and vanilla.
4. Stir in the flour mixture gradually until everything is well blended.
5. Stir in the coarsely milled oat flour, chocolate chips, and grated milk chocolate until evenly distributed.
6. Prepare your baking sheet by greasing, laying parchment paper, or a silicone baking sheet
7. Use a small disher or your hands to drop 1.5" balls of dough about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
8. Using two fingers, slightly flatten out each ball of dough.
9. Bake for 8-12 minutes until lightly browned.
10. Cool and Enjoy!

Cookies-On-Demand
You never know when you are going to NEED a chocolate chip cookie.  I take about half the dough and form it into a log.  I then roll up the log in parchment paper and twist the ends like a giant tootsie roll and put it in the freezer.  When you want to make cookies, just use a steak knife to slice off about 1/2" discs and cook at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Let me know if you try this one out! What are your FAVORITE Joy of Cooking Recipes?

Cre8 Copy-Cat Fiber One Bars (Peanut-Free)

My family loves the Oats and Chocolate Chip Fiber One bars. We all love the taste and convenience. I love all the fiber and nutrients in the bars. There are a few things I don't like about the bars:

• Peanuts as an ingredient means the kids cannot take them to school in the lunch box (peanut-free school).
• The individual packaging generates a lot of non-recyclable plastic waste.
• Even buying them in bulk, they are pretty pricey ~$1/piece

So, I decided to try to make a copycat version of these bars leaving out the ingredients I don't want (Peanuts, Hydrogenated Coconut Oil, High Fructose Corn Syrup, among others) and also add in some ingredients that I do want (flax meal, oat bran, etc.)

I would really like to add chicory root extract for all the soluble fiber, but I have not been able to find that commercially available. Would love a source if you have one!

This is a huge recipe - makes 30-40 bars and they last well. There are a lot of ingredients here and there is a good amount of room for improvisation. I don't think I actually make them the same way twice...

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. butter, melted
• ¼ cup packed brown sugar (melted to a syrup)
  
• ½ cup honey
• ¼ cup Agave Nectar
• ¼ cup molasses
• ½ cup sunflower butter (mine is sunflowers, tahini, and canola oil)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. liquid lecithin
• 1 ½ cup barley flakes
• 2 ½ cups rolled oats
• 2 cup crisped rice
• ¼ cup toasted wheat germ
• ¼ cup oat bran
• ¼ cup white whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup lightly blended almonds
• ¼ cup flax meal
• ¼ cup dry coconut flakes
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix combine all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter with the soy lecithin (you could substitute egg yolk for this - it is the emulsifier) then add all the wet ingredients (including the sunflower butter) and whisk until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a wooden spoon until until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and stir until they are evenly distributed. Next, spread the batter into two greased 9x11 baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes (or until the edges are lightly browned).

Now, here's the hard part... Cover lightly and leave for 24 hours before cutting. This is a really essential step to keep the bars from falling apart. You may even place in the refrigerator for a few hours before cutting. Cut into bars (I use a pizza cutter, which works great). You can store in a glass container(s) or leave them right in the pan. These are great snacks for the lunch box, after school snacks, a lunch supplement.

Without the chicory root extract, these bars do not have the fiber content that Fiber One Bars do, but they stall have a lot! As well as a bunch of other good nutrients.

ReCre8 Printer Paper Box Lids: Cupcake Carrier

So, I was looking at how to transport the 60 cupcakes to pre-school for my twin boys birthday. Clearly something more experienced mothers have already thought through. My husband announced the conundrum at his office and all the moms in the room immediately directed him to use lids from the office printer paper. After we were done, they could just be recycled. It worked like a charm. Now, I have to admit, I did not make these cupcakes and frosting from scratch. It was box mix and Betty Crocker this year. I find that I'm having plastic guilt, but I did find a way to re-use the frosting containers (more on that later).

Re-Cre8 Pancakes: Fruit & Cake Rolls

My family just loves pancakes. Who doesn’t? I like them too because they are so easy and fun and you can make them a little healthier just by adding in a few other ingredients (more on that another time). I always like to make a few extra pancakes because they make such great leftovers and they are very portable. Just throw them in the fridge overnight and pack them in a lunchbox the next day. But, I’m not willing to pack along syrup or honey. This is just too messy for a portable meal.

So, the other day as I was packing up an on-the-go dinner for gymnastics, I thought I could re-create these leftover pancakes into something very fun. Fruit and Cake rolls. These rolls taste a lot like Fruit Newtons, if you’ve had them (“they’re not cookies, they are fruit and cake” as the commercial goes…).

This couldn’t be easier. Here’s what you will need:

• Leftover pancakes


• Leftover pancakes


• Fruit preserves or jam of your choice


• A knife


• A cutting board


• A portable container

Here’s what you do

1. Spread the fruit preserves on one side of the pancake.



2. Gently roll up the pancake.


3. Slice it up into bite size rolls and place into the container.



4. Now enjoy!

Maybe these are not a whole meal, but a great snack or “side dish” or dessert. These can easily go into school lunches, or be taken along on picnics. And, unlike little Fruit Newton snack packs – there is no plastic involved (if you ignore my plastic transportation container, but that could just as easily be a pyrex) and nothing to go into the landfill.