Chocolate Chip Cruncher Cookies

One of our favorite treats to have around the house.

1 cup Butter
1 cup White Sugar*
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Vanilla
2 Eggs
2 1/2 cups Flour
2 cups Corn Flakes, gently crushed but not pulverized
1 package Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, mini chips are the best

You have your choice of putting your butter in the microwave until soft (but not hot!) or just letting it sit on the counter for a bit first. This will make creaming the butter a little bit easier, but it's not necessary if you're using a mixer. So...Cream the butter. And do use butter! You will get a very different cookie if you use margarine.

Add the sugars and cream them together.

Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing until incorporated.

Add the flour, corn flakes and chips. Mix.

Roll into walnut sized balls, squish a bit on parchment lined baking sheet, and bake at 375 degrees till done about  XX minutes. They should have some color to them. (You do not have to use parchment paper but it makes clean up easier and the cookies are less likely to stick)

Cool on pan for 2 minutes before moving. Place on cooling rack.
Enjoy!


*Use may also use vanilla sugar. To make Vanilla Sugar get a jar or other container and split a vanilla bean in half. But the bean in the jar so that it stands up and pour in regular white sugar until the jar is filled. Do NOT use vanilla extract! Allow this to sit for a few weeks. The longer it sits, the more perfumed the sugar will be.

Use as you would regular sugar.

FYI you may still add vanilla extract to recipes. Vanilla will cook off as you bake things.



This recipe is from Joanne fluke's "Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder"

Lo Pollo

Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Rum
Serves 2

2 (8 oz) skinless boneless chicken breast halves
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Dark Rum
2-3 teaspoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
lime, thinly sliced for garnish (if you want it, we usually skip it)

- Flatten chicken to 1/4" thickness & season with salt and pepper

- Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat until oil is hot, but not smoking. Add chicken & saute until browned & almost cooked through, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side.

- Remove pan from stove, carefully add rum. Carefully light match (or other lighting tool) & ignite rum. When flames subside, return pan to stove. Add lime juice & butter, shaking skillet to incorporate. Cook, turning chicken in sauce to coat, until chicken is just cooked through, about 1 minute more.

- Transfer chicken to plate. Season pan juices with salt & pepper & pour over chicken.

Enjoy!

We like to pair this dish with a rice pilaf. The one we like is store bought - Near East Rice Pilaf mix (original).

Create Your Own Cookbook

I ran across this article on the site 101 Cookbooks and thought some folks might be interested in it.

It focuses on a web-based publishing concept called TasteBook, which actually looks pretty cool.

Here's the link to the blog posting. If you have a lot of favorite recipes you would like in one place, or you would like to give a book of your favorites as gifts, then you should take a look.