the best chocolate chip cookies. it's true.

i think there's room for infinite "best chocolate chip cookie" recipes.  doesn't everybody have a recipe for the BEST ones?  which one is ze best?!?!?!  gah.  one of life's greatest mysteries...

weLLLLLL, these are the BEST ones that i've ever made, personally.  hands down.  mmhmm. totally. yes.

 i'd be confident entering these in a cookie contest for the chocolate chip + oat category.

chocolate chippers with oats are the way to go, i say!

the other secret is coconut sugar!  i just recently discovered it.  maybe i'm cuhrazy, but i could totally tell the difference with these cookies.  the sweetness is just richer & deeper than when you use white sugar or white + brown sugar.  something about it.....i dunno. but i was over the moon for them!  pete, too!

give them back to meeeeeeee.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 18 small, plump cookies!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (+ 2 TB) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup oats
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or more, heHehHHHH)

Instructions-

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.   Lightly grease a non-stick cookie sheet, just to be safe.  [I'm real paranoid about burnt cookie bottoms.] 

Cream butter and sugar with paddle attachment in stand mixer or with hand mixer.  Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth.

Add dry ingredients slowly, and mix.  Add oats, chopped nuts, and chocolate chips, mixing in between each addition.

Drop spoonfuls of dough on the baking sheet in 4 rows of 3, spread evenly.  Bake for EIGHT and a HALF minutes, mayyyybe 9 minutes.  Seriously though....those extra 30 seconds....who needs em! You want them a bit soft in the center, trusttttttt.

Sprinkle with just a tiny touch of extra sea salt on top.

Please gobble this down while they're still warm!  With milk, if you're into that stuff.  :)

qp

roasted beet, spinach, & goat cheese toasts with balsamic glaze.

colour on toast!

these toasts are extreeeemely flavorful, hearty, and tasty.  i made a higher-maintenance version of it last summer with a layer of sauteed mushrooms and yellow onion below the beet layer.  even though that was pretty damn good too, it was a lot of things piled onto one piece of toast.

so i went a little bit simpler with it this time.

the color of beets is just insane! so pretty!  i'm constantly boggled by all the wild colors and textures and flavors that grow naturally in the ground.  like, whoaaa.

sooo,

can you paint with all the colors of the wind

?

toasts with goat cheese!

toasts with goat cheese and spinach!

toasts with goat cheese, spinach, and beets!

toasts with goat cheese, spinach, beets, and pickled red onion!

toasts with goat cheese, spinach, beets, pickled red onion, walnuts, more goat cheese, and balsamic glaaaaaaaaze!

that doesn't quite have as much of a ring to it as that sesame street song about a

frog on a bump on a log in a hole in the bottom of the sea

.

layered toast song in progress.

this one goes out to the last day of summer 2015.  

it was a fun & delicious summer indeed!

Roasted Beet, Spinach, & Goat Cheese Toasts with Balsamic Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1 roasted red beet, cooled
• 1 roasted golden beet, cooled
• small fresh loaf of bread // seedy or wheaty! 
• fresh spinach leaves
• goat cheese
• pickled red onion
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• balsamic glaze

Instructions-

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Cut off any stalks or greens from the beets and rinse any dirt off. Wrap the beets separately in foil, place in a baking pan, and into the oven.  Roast them for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until you can feel them become slightly soft.  You can do this step days ahead of time before making these toasts.  The beets are usually cold on the toast anyway, so no need to worry about keeping them hot.

Once the beets have come out of the oven and cooled for about half an hour, slice them into 1/8 inch rounds.  Slice your bread into almost 1 inch wide slices (they've got to be hefty enough to carry a good amount of weight).  Toast the bread.  

Spread goat cheese on well-toasted slices of bread.  Layer on fresh leaves of spinach.  Add a layer of sliced red and golden beets.  Top with a few pickled red onions, chopped walnuts, and extra goat cheese crumbles.  Drizzle with balsamic glaze.

ENJOY!

qp