This is not the NYE entry you are looking for

Black and White Cookies

I'm sure Aaron first introduced me to the wonder of the Black and White cookie. They're slightly lemony, cakey taste is very satisfying, and the decision making of how to eat the cookie (all black first? half and half?) is a good indicator of overall mood. However, here on the other side of the county, finding a cookie that resembles the real thing is a difficulty. Mostly, you end up with a sugar cookie with black and white icing--totally not the point.

So, when I saw this recipe on smitten kitchen, I was pretty excited, and after finishing finals last semester I went straight to the cookie baking. As the picture reveals, I divided these cookies into groups and brought them to various people or events. The details are a little fuzzy.

One cool detail that Ms. SK shares is that these cookies originated in bakeries who had extra bits of cake batter leftover at the end of the day. Bakers would add a little extra flour, and bake up a set of black and whites. I will admit that I forgot the icing-rule of these cookies, which is to ice the flat (bottom) of the cookies. Whoops. I guess I'll just have to make them again some time...

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More recently, I've been trying recipes from the Breakfast, Lunch, Tea book that KZ gifted me. At A&C's we had potato soup with cheese scones one night--super delicious!

After I got home, I decided I wanted to try the Lemon and Chickpea Soup.



I tend to be amused when one cookbook has many recipes that follow a really similar pattern, and the two soups I've made from this book fit that design. Both start with a simmer of onions and celery and carrot, and then the body of the soup is added. I really enjoyed this Chickpea soup though--I'm hoping it's just as good on reheat, but there is something about the combination of red pepper spices (I didn't have the dried red chili called for in the recipe, so I used some dried chili flakes and chili powder) with chickpea and lemon that I love. Ok, maybe it's not a surprise I liked this recipe. Chickpeas+lemon+spice is kind of my favorite food ever.

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Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, Coconut, Current Cookies

While I was waiting for the soup to complete its simmer, I found a recipe for a quick cookie that would use up some ingredients I had lying around. I call it the Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, Coconut, Current Cookie. Wheee.

There isn't actually any yogurt in the recipe, but I after finding this container, I couldn't resist taking a picture. These cookies turned out pretty deliciously. The dough is a little dry and crumbly, but shaped up into cookie form when I pressed them into balls without getting my hands ridiculously sticky. The sugar almost caramelizes during baking, and there is tons and tons of texture. I usually don't like raisins in cookies, but I think the currents are small enough that they add a nice flavor without causing me the problems that raisins in cookies do.