My coworker Slavisa was telling me about this cookie his wife makes. He described it as a chocolate chip cookie with coconut. I like to think of myself as a creative person, but I had failed to think of using coconut in a standard chocolate chip cookie. I make wonderful oatmeal butterscotch cookies, so I should have thought of this new combination. Well, I had a little free time tonight, so a cookie making I go. This recipe is definitely going to be a Christmas cookie that I give out!!

Recipe: Just use the Tollhouse Chocolate Chip recipe. The magic here is in the few twists that Slavisa's wife spurred in me. 1) I made the dough chocolate by melting about 1oz of bitter-sweet chocolate and adding that to the batter just before adding the flour mixture. Next time, I would double that or even triple it. 2) I toasted 2 cups of coconut and added that with the flour mixture.

The take away from this recipe is that we never stop learning. I love cooking / baking as it is a way for me to be creative. I knew I couldn't really screw up this recipe, I could only make it better!

 

 

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Recipes from http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/pumpkinpie.php

Before

Puree Processing

Scrap the "meat" away from the skin after it has been steamed and softened.


Hand stick blender to smooth the puree.

Puree is divided into cloth napkins and hung to dry. I'm trying to remove the water. The puree is very wet.


The pumpkin in all its parts: skin (going to trash), puree (going to be pie), and seeds (going to be roasted)

Pie Processing

If this is going to be a homemade project, then I made a crust


Rebekah isn't really a fan of pie, but here she is showing off the pie mixture.

One full 9" pie

There was some remaining filling, so we made crust for the ramekins.




The pie is done, the ramekins need a little more time.

After

Back to the idea of homemade, I made up some whipped topping too. The kids loved the topping way more then the pie itself.



In the end, Elijah, Les and I liked the pie. Oh well. It is really amazing and the flavor is so much more intense.



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My plate (Mike's)


Elijah's plate:

Joanna's plate

Rachel

Rebekah's plate

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Better watch out Gwen! I don't know if it is either this recipe or my helpers, but these cookies were as good as yours. They came out full bodied and great tasting!

I guess my instructions are a little complex at times.



This is the reason why I'm thrilled to have and use a KitchenAid stand mixer. Look at that strained face on Rebekah. (She is a great actress)

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We got this cute kit from Leslie's mom. It is a complete kit to make Rice Crispy Treats including some decorating tubes and a few jelly beans.

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The kids have been asking me to make doughnuts. I really did not wait to do it, because it seemed like it would be a lot of work for little return. With that said, I was wrong. It was a lot of fun making these. It did take all day, but the kids helped a lot and I think they enjoyed working together. I am still very surprised at how many doughnuts this recipe made -- well over 2 dozen.

I guess the mixer is loud as it is kneading the dough.

Rebekah is hand kneading and getting it ready for rolling out. I was shocked to see how much the dough rose. It was filled with huge air bubbles and was trying to escape from the bowl I had it in.

It is cutting time

Here is the high-tech equipment we used to cut out the doughnuts: an old clean can and the lid for 2-liter bottle of pop.









Nothing goes to waste!

Just look at all of them!!

Special thanks to Don & Lori for the dutch oven.

It's eating time

It's admiring time!

These are being served at our small group potluck tonight. Don't you wish you went to San Diego First Assembly of God?

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Building the brine using Alton Brown's recipe. Joanna is my assistant.

The brine in action.

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