Orange & Nutty Chocolatey Chocolate Cookies

Oops! I got so caught up in my emotions that I forgot the recipe for the cookies!!! Hahaha... bet you didn't think you were going to read a novel today, did you? Aw, c'mon... what else is there to do on a beautiful Saturday afternoon (just before you run out to get the ingredients for this recipe)?

As usual, I can't leave well enough alone and I used a recipe that i love named 'Chocolate Chunk Mountains' and tweaked it just a little... this recipe is from one of my favorite books called bigfatcookies by elinorklivans. I Love this book because you always get a giant handful of cookie!

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 - 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt ... only if using unsalted butter
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, or margarine, at room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup, packed brown sugar - to pack b. sugar, gently push down just until the sugar holds its shape
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules, dissolved in 2 teaspoons water
1 cup mixed nuts, chopped
1 box Orange Sticks, chopped ... about 40 - 50 sticks

1. Preheat oven to 350* and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Chop unsweetened chocolate in a bowl and melt in the microwave. Then chop the Orange Sticks into chunks. Then chop the Mixed Nuts. Set each aside.
3. Sift the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
4. Cream butter, shortening, sugar and brown sugar until blended and light and fluffy. Stop and scrape down sides (always important). Mix in melted chocolate. Mix in the eggs, vanilla and dissolved coffee (here is where I would add Triple Sec Liquer instead of coffee, but I found I had none... hmm.. must have drank it and not remembered.) (I see a pattern here with the alcohol! GASP!!) until smoothly blended. Add the flour mixture just until incorporated. Stir in the chopped Orange Sticks and Mixed Nuts.
5. I use a 1/2 cup ice cream scoop because i like them Amazon size, but you can drop any size you want. Just make sure you space them apart because they will spread. 1/2 cup will spread to about 4 - 5 inches. WOW!! That's a bigfatcookie!
6. I went an extra step and added more Mixed nuts & Orange Stick chunks on top. Flatten your cookie a smidge so that you will get a more even cookie when it spreads out. It kind of directs it where to go.
7. Bake (1/2 cup size) for 20 minutes or until the cookie no longer looks shiny. Quite dull.
8. Leave on the cookie sheet for about 5 - 10 minutes and then move to a rack. These are quite thick so they need the extra air all around them to finish drying out in the middle.

I'm sorry, I didn't have more pics of the process. I guess I got excited about wrapping them that I forgot to take a pic of them to show you. They were HUGE!! ... believe me! The pic you do see... is of the raw dough, (only 5 fit on a 14 inch sheet) which you should never eat, but have I got a wonderful recipe for you if you LOVE cookie dough! Check out http://marleys-place.com/. She's a funny young lady that enjoys what she does and inspired me to start my own blog She has Great recipes! Check it out! ; ) .... feel free to ask questions, because I'm sure I left stuff out... my mind is not in the all-together today. I'd be happy to hear from you! ~Happy Baking...... & Don't forget your Apron!

... he was a King!



Happy Birthday, Helen! ; )

 Today is my boss's birthday, whom is also my very good friend, and I have been scrambling my brains all week on what to bake for her. Although she always requests a Chocolate Cake, this year she said nothing and to top it off, she started talking about eating HEALTHY!!! What are you people doing to me??? Don't you know that the joy of baking is in using Real products like Flour & Sugar? NOT whole wheat & Splenda!! lol... I will do it if I have to and dabble more and more in it, but You can't expect me to change overnight... so stop THINKING HEALTHY or no more goodies for you!! 



All wrapped up Pretty!

 Anyway, as I was saying... When I said to her, "No Goodies, then?" She looked as if I were the Crazy one. She said (almost to low to hear), "No Goodies." Of course, I didn't believe her, but I thought hard on another way for her to not feel that she was cheating. If I make her Orange & Nutty Chocolatey Chocolate Cookies then she could freeze them and eat them at her leisure and not all at once, like a Cake. Thanks Goodness, I listened to myself because when I told her 'no cake because you said no Sweets' she said, "AND YOU BELIEVED ME??" haha, what a nut. I know her better than she knows me! I could go on some more about her, but as much as I Love & Respect her, there is someone else I am thinking about.



 10 years ago today, I lost the only man who had a firm hold of my Whole Heart...my Dad. and just like the past nine years on this day, he consumes my every thought. There are no words to express how much I miss him and wish that I could just visit for a minute... of course, that would still not be enough. As you may have guessed, I  was a Daddy's Girl and so were my sisters. But, I'm the lucky one, I think, because being sooo ; ) much younger than everyone else, I got more at-home time with him and was maybe a little more receptive to his influence. Was that a good thing? Still, My memories are endless, from singing absurd country songs at a young age to eventually, as I got older, joining in with his teasing antics. Even though, he was just a man with imperfections, to me... he was a King!



Orange Sticks & Mixed Nuts...

How does this tie into baking? When I am asked where I got my baking skills, my standard answer is... I guess I inherited it from my Grandmothers, but if I really think about it... my Dad Loved to bake, too. He didn't do  it all the time, but you can be sure that when he did, flour was literally flying all over the kitchen. I guess I get that from him, too. haha. When I thought of my friends cookies, I wanted something to be about him, too. He LOVED candy. One of my favorite memories, as a kid, is our trips to Sears' basement where the candy counter was. He always got Orange Sticks and Bridge mix. He never failed to ask me what I wanted and guess what... those were MY choices, too!

Being a truck driver, he didn't exactly know how to treat us girls like Princesses, but looking back, now that I'm older and can appreciate it all... I think what we got was so much better. We learned how to stand up for ourselves, speak our minds & Swear like Sailors! He also had a great sense of humor... at least he thought so. I can tell you some horror stories that will curl your hair... wait... THAT could be why my hair is so curly!! Picking a time when it happened would be hard, though. Maybe the time(s) we would go to Gemco and he'd fall on the floor because he would trip over the door jam or any imaginary thing yelling for us girls to come back... or when he'd dilly-dally in the lobby and wait until the elevator doors were almost closed then jump in halfway as the doors closed and flail his arms while yelling, HELP, IT'S GOT ME!... or when walking around Bullocks dept. store with an empty Orange Julius cup, slurping the remains loudly as I reached behind me to wave my hand at him to shush, but he was so close I knocked it out of his hand and he cried while following me around... or he'd lay on the floor and yell, urgently, for me & when I went to him he'd tell me to Pull His Finger! Which I always did... or change the channel...  I was his remote control .... Explains alot about me, doesn't it?? I gave him my own, though... every time he asked for something to drink, I ran to him with a nice, warm cup of water and (every time) he'd take a big gulp and say, "Blah!! It's WARM!" hehe... I suspect he knew it was coming, but he drank it anyway!  He was a pain in my backside, but I never failed to tell my friends what funny things he did... he didn't know this, of course, could you imagine how much worse he could get if he knew?



Roger Camou 8/4/34 - 2/5/01
I Love You, Dad!

 As I got older and grew out of the trauma, my Dad became a Great Friend and was always supportive ... from the time he bought my first easy-bake oven and ate every cake as if it were gourmet, to the day he left us for greater things. I can still feel him, every time I'm in the kitchen baking, just standing over my shoulder with his hands behind his back and his face at my ear... asking, "Got any extra for me?"  Even if all he got were the burnt ones (yes, I used to burn a lot of things) 8}...he'd act like it was the best thing he ever tasted. I miss that. Unconditional. And I knew it was genuine. When he bought my Mom a huge, beautiful 6qt Kitchen Aid mixer (that I still use) and she didn't bake or need it for cooking, naturally it went to me. I like to (secretly) think that he bought it for me... how could he justify spending $500.00 on a Christmas gift for me and not my brothers or sisters? See, guys?? I Always knew I was his FAVORITE!!