1 down, 100 to go!

For the first time since this semester started, I don't have a million things to do and I'm kind of at a loss of what to do. I mean, I COULD be doing things but nothing is critical. So I did about a billion loads of laundry today, made vegetarian shepard's pie and then decided to make a cookie recipe from my new cookie magazine. If you recall, it has 101 cookie recipes and I'm determined to make them all.

I chose chocolate souffle cookies fire because they looked easy and since they are basically a modified meringue cookie, they're moderately healthy. Okay, not healthy but not generally artery clogging either.


And um, make these immediately! I loved these. Besides being almost stupidly easy, they're delicious. They have a crunchy, meringue-like shell with a chewy, airy middle. Major yum.

So I'm glad the first recipe I made out of the magazine was a success since I have 100 more recipes to make.

INGREDIENTS:

6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 large egg whites, at room temp
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup finely chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

Position oven racks in the upper and lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 350. Lightly grease two baking sheets or line them with parchment.

Melt the chocolate and set aside. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks form. With the beaters running, gradually add the vanilla and sugar until the egg whites hold stiff peaks but don’t look dry. Pour the nuts and melted chocolate over the whipped whites. Gently fold the mixture with a large rubber spatula, trying not to deflate the egg whites, until the color is just uniform. Immediately drop level measuring tsp. of the batter onto the baking sheets, leaving at least 1 inch between the cookies. Bake until the cookies are shiny and cracked, 10-12 minutes; they should be firm on the outside but still gooey inside when you press them. Slide the parchment liners onto racks or use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to racks and let cool completely.

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I didn't have any walnuts and decided not to add any other nuts, though I think these would be really good with almond extract and some chopped almonds. But they are delish as is. Also, I dusted mine with powdered sugar because mine were a bit ugly and powdered sugar is a great camouflage. Sophie's amateur decorating tip #1. The next time I make these guys (because I certainly will make them again) I'll try pipping them onto the cookie sheets because they really keep they're shape when they're baked so the ones I kind of sloped on the pan (which was most of them) stayed their ugly selves. But oh well.

Since I don't have much else to say about this recipe, besides that it is fab fab fab and Brian and Joe need to eat them immediately so I don't eat all of them, let's talk about how my brain doesn't work sometimes.

My brain sometimes has trouble sorting out what I'm trying to say and what I'm doing. I have two exceedingly embarrassing examples:
1. Joe and I were at a bookstore once and Joe told me something (I don't remember what because I was so horrified at what happened next) while I was focused on looking through books. So I replied to whatever he said with, "Good job, Book." That's right, I didn't call my boyfriend of 4 years by his name, which you would think would be thoroughly ingrained in my brain by now, but by the object I was looking at. As soon as it dawned on me that I had just called my boyfriend Book, I looked up from the book, exclaimed, "Oh my god, I just called you Book!" and then I dashed away. It must have been an alarming sight for bystanders.
2. This one makes even less sense. Joe and I were watching Lilo and Stitch a couple months ago because we are thoroughly lame when I wanted Joe to pass me the glass of water. At that time, the scene of the movie showed Lilo on the beach. I turned to Joe with every intention of saying, "Can you pass me the water, please?" but instead I said, "Sand?"

How my brain confused 'Please pass the water' with 'Sand' I cannot explain. Early alzheimers, perhaps.

Also, I chopped off a bunch of hair yesterday and dyed it a bit lighter, yay.



Oh so many more baking adventures this week!