In the kitchen....

It turns out I'm not entirely useless in the kitchen after all!! I decided to get in there and practice making some cookies this weekend. I even bought a handheld mixer and a food processor for the festivities, thinking that maybe I would use them again someday (not holding my breath though!).

I made two different kinds. The first batch on Saturday was White Chocolate Macadamia Nut. I found the recipe online on some random person's blog (thanks to whoever it was for the recipe!). These are not my favorite, just because I think they are really rich, but they were tasty! Here is the recipe I used (is this plagarism? I hope not! I did reference the blog, I just don't know the name of it...):

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda10 ounces white chocolate (chips or bars cut in chunks)
1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped into chunks

Directions:
Heat oven to 375 F. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt with electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, beat well. Stir together flour, and the baking soda; gradually add to butter mixture,beating until well blended. Stir in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. (Edges are golden brown and center is set.) Cool slightly, remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool completely.



Yesterday I made "Neiman Marcus" cookies. Now these are tasty! We have enjoyed these cookies for years in my family. I actually didn't grate the entire chocolate bar like you are supposed to, mainly because I got tired of grating it, but they still turned out very well! Here is that recipe:

“Neiman Marcus” Cookies
2 cups butter
4 cups flour
2 tsp soda
2 cups sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal
24 oz. chocolate chips
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 8oz. dark chocolate bar, grated
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)

Measure oatmeal and then blend in a blender or food processor to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and soda. Add chocolate chips, shaved chocolate nuts and stir until combined. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes between 50-80 cookies.

I definitely staged the pictures, but I kind of think they could be magazine worthy! And for the record, I did not burn a single cookie! Not ONE! I was so proud of myself. Most likely I didn't burn them because I set the oven for 325-350 for both because I really think my oven cooks fast! My kitchen was a mess and I had tons of dishes to do, but overall I enjoyed the baking. Maybe I'll keep it up! Hope you all have a very wonderful day!