The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie

These are hands down the best chocolate chip cookies ever!  Well at least I think so and most everyone who has tried them tells me they are so good.

This is a crispy on the edges cookie with a chewy center, my favorite type of cookie.

I got this recipe from a professor during Brian and my seminary days.  That was about 20 years ago and it is still the most requested cookie recipe from my family.  I hope they become a family favorite for you too.
xoxo
Rachel

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup white granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the butter, sugars and egg until well combined.  Add the flour, soda, and salt mix until barely combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Spoon teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets for 12 -15 minutes or until light golden brown.  Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet and then transfer them to a cooling rack.


This recipe has been shared with Walking on Sunshine
The Country Cook
Home to 4 kiddos
Back to the Basics

Easy baked potatoes

Baked potatoes are one of my go to weeknight meals for my family.  It is so easy to make a quick and easy dinner out of them.  Add a salad and some fruit and dinner is done in no time. I love how you can vary the toppings each time and it is like a different meal.  I'm sharing my favorite method for baking potatoes.  If you are looking for a quick and easy dinner idea, I hope you give this a try.

I'm linking up with Kelli from Adventurez in Child Rearing.

xoxo

Rachel

Easy Baked Potatoes

4 large baking potatoes

Toppings of your choice (This time I used sautéed mushrooms, steamed broccoli, cheddar cheese, Greek yogurt mixed with a little homemade ranch).

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Scrub the potatoes under running water removing all of the dirt.  Place the potatoes in the microwave and cook them for four minutes.  Then turn them over and cook an additional four minutes.

Place the potatoes in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until they are soft inside and have a crisp skin.

Carefully cut the potatoes in half, but not all the way through.  Serve with your favorite toppings.

Source: Jacques Pepin Fast Food My Way

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

We had a sleepover with the Buckman's over spring break.  Susie and I wanted to make a treat but neither of us wanted to go to the store.  We decided to use what we had and tweak my chocolate chip cookie recipe.

We were not sure how these cookies were going to turn out because we had a few issues.  The dough was a little crumbly and I am not  exactly sure why.  I used Susie's hand mixer, so I might have over mixed or maybe it was the flour.  Susie also has dark cookie sheets and a few of the cookies stuck to the pan (see my tips below).  Despite our issues, the cookies tasted really good (they were gone in a day). They didn't taste like wheat and the children didn't complain. Ian came up to me and said "Mom, you make the best cookies."

My original recipe is still my favorite, but if I want to make something a little bit healthier this will be my go to recipe. I might even add a little bit of milled flax seed or wheat germ next time. I hope you try them and love them.  Happy cookie eating!

xoxo

Rachel

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

It  is really important that your butter is at room temperature or the dough will not mix properly.  If you use dark baking sheets reduced the temperature to 325.  I typically use baking stones but if you are using a metal baking sheet you might want to grease it to prevent the cookies from sticking. Do not over bake the cookies or they will dry out.  It's better to pull them out if they are a little under baked and let them finish baking on the cookie sheet.

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

2 1/4 cup white/wheat flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 cups milk chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 (see notes).

Mix butter, sugars, and egg until well mixed. Add the flour, soda, and salt mix until you see just a few streaks of the flour mixture. Spoon teaspoonfuls onto ungreased (see notes) baking sheets and bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until light golden brown, do not over bake (see notes).  Remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the cookies rest for a minute or until you can remove them easily to cooling rack.

Source: Young Adventures

At our table this week 12/7 ~12/13

Menu planning tip:  Make up a menu for the week and have a list of ingredients that you need for that menu.  This is my favorite list and you can find this free printable here.

Weekday Breakfasts:

Bananas

String cheese

Bread

Honey nut cheerios

Oatmeal

Leftover breakfast from the weekend

Lunch to go:

Spilt pea soup, carrot sticks, clementines, Ina's ranch dressing, triscuits, dark chocolate square

Leftovers


Weekday Dinners:

Dinner out with the kids
Baked Tacos
Left overs
Indian Fish Coconut Curry
Black Bean and Toasted Corn Tacos




Weekend Brunch:

Simple Churros, fruit, Orange juice
Egg nest and bacon

Weekend Dinners:

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Honey Mustard Pork Roast with Bacon

Pannekoeken (dutch pancake)

I got this recipe from a church cookbook I purchased when Brian and I were engaged.

It was probably one of the first recipes that I made as a young wife.  Although Brian does love this recipe.  Our little breakfast king is in love with this recipe. He requests it, whenever he gets the chance. Many recipes come and go in our little family, but this one has stuck around and I am sure I will be making it for years to come.  I hope it becomes a family favorite for you too.

Pannekoeken

2 Tbs. butter

1/2 cup of skim milk

2 eggs

1/2 cup of flour

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put the butter in a pie plate or a cast iron skillet and melt it in the oven while it is preheating.  Watch this closely, you don't want your butter to burn.

While you are melting the butter.  Mix together the milk, eggs, and flour in that order.  Pour the mixture into your buttered pan.  Bake until golden and puffy 12-15 mins

Serve immediately with powdered sugar and warm maple syrup.  Fresh fruit served on top is really nice too.

Source: Open door church cookbook

Oven roasted corn on the cob

I just love corn on the cob in the summer.  What I don't love is preparing it.  Husks and silk everywhere, huge pots of boiling water etc, etc... I'm not opposed to it on the grill but sometimes, I'm just not in the mood for that charred flavor.

When Brian came home from the farmer's market last weekend with some great corn, I was determined to find a better way to prepare it.  I searched the web, and came up with this recipe.

I will never ever prepare corn any other way again.  This was so simple and easy and the corn was out of this world delicious.  The husks and silk slipped off with very little effort from me.  My new go to way to prepare corn.  I'm a happy girl.

Oven roasted corn on the cob

Ingredients:

Fresh ears of corn

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Place the corn in the husks directly on the oven rack and roast for 30 minutes or until the corn is soft.  Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack until the corn is cool enough to handle.  Remove the husks and silk, serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Rachel

Source: Tyler Florence

Light and fluffy waffles

Everyone loves waffles, and we really aren't any different.  We have some keepers in our recipe file, Chocolate waffles, Cake waffles, and Yeasted waffles (you can find them all over in Young Adventures). When my dear friend Colleen pinned a recipe for waffles that her Dad made her when she was growing up, I had to try them.

These were light, fluffy and had a delicate flavor.  Everyone loved them, and we will be adding this recipe to our waffle collection.

Light and Fluffy Waffles

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all - purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 egg yolks

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup canola oil

2 egg whites

Directions:

1.  In a large mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder and salt.  Make a well in the center of the mixture.

2.  In a small bowl mix egg yolks slightly, stir in milk and oil.

3. Add the egg yolk mixture all at once to the dry mixture.  Stir just until moistened, there will be lumps.

4.  In another bowl mix egg whites until stiff peaks form.

5.  Gently fold whites into flour and egg yolk mixture, leave a few streaks of egg white.  Do not over mix.

6.  Spoon waffle batter onto your waffle iron and cook according to  manufacturer's directions.

Enjoy!
Rachel

Source: Colleen via Better Homes and Gardens