Cookie of the Month: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

I just shipped another dozen plus cookies out for the Cookie of the Month winner.  Since it's officially Fall now and since school just started, Peanut Butter Cookies of some variety seemed appropriate. When it comes to cookies, my husband always wants chocolate involved and these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies really fit the bill.  I used milk chocolate chips to give them that classic peanut butter cup flavor and I added my own twist by throwing broken up pretzels in too - it all ends up being a lovely balance of gooey, melted chocolate, chewy peanut butter cookie with a hint of salty crunch.  Da bomb with milk!





Wouldn't your family be thrilled to come home to a plate of these after a long day of work, or school?



Give them a try and let me know how they turn out!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 Cup butter, melted
1/2 Cup creamy peanut butter (you can use chunky too, but you might want to increase the milk a tad as I find they turn out drier)
1/2 Cup packed brown suger
1/4 Cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 TBLS milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Cup unsifted flour
1 Cup chocolate chips (I prefer milk chocolate for these, but semi sweet or dark are lovely too)
3/4 Cup broken pretzels (or dry roasted, unsalted peanuts)

Melt butter in microwave in a large mixing bowl.  Cream butter, peanut butter and sugar together until melted butter no longer separates from the batter. Allow to cool until you can comfortably rest your hands on the bottom of the mixing bowl.  Add egg, milk & vanilla and mix well.  Stir in baking powder and salt.  Add flour and top with chocolate chips and pretzels - stir them all in together until combined.

Chill dough for 15 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Scoop dough onto cookies sheets that have been lightly sprayed with non-stick coating or lined with silicone mats or parchment. Bake 10-14 minutes until edges are golden brown.  Allow to cool on baking sheets for 1 minute, then transfer to wire racks to finish cooking.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen (plus).

Ciao!

Cheers: Cherry Limeade

Today, I'm introducing a new series for this blog and the CJ's-Kitchen YouTube channel I'm calling "Cheers".  Ever since I first signed up on Pinterest, I've had a "Cheers" board and it's filled with recipes and images of beverages so I thought it was about time I started sharing some of my personal favorite beverages with you!

Cherry Limeade is a recent addition to my list of refreshing summer favorites and I decided I wanted to make it myself, from scratch.  It has the lovely tartness you'd expect from a limeade with a nice hit of cherry sweetness to balance it all out.

I started by finding a recipe for a Cherry Simple Syrup, just to have a starting point for the measurements and tweaked it to my liking from there.  Next, I found a limeade recipe that sounded about right for my taste, reduced the recipe down to a single serving quantity and subbed in the Cherry Simple Syrup for regular Simple Syrup.  The full recipe would make enough for 4 servings.

To make the Cherry Simple Syrup you can use either fresh or frozen cherries.  The first batch I made was from fresh cherries, but they are now officially out of season, so when I made it today for the post, I used frozen.

Simply stir together some water, sugar and cherries over medium high heat until the sugar dissolves and it all comes to a boil.



Mash the cherries with a potato masher or ricer - just so they are broken up enough to release their lovely juices and flavor.



Let it boil for about a minute, then turn off the heat, let it cool and strain it into a jar or pitcher for easy pouring when you use it.

Then juice some limes - enough for 1/4 cup of lime juice.  I mixed my limeade in a single-serving quantity using a gravy shaker.  Just mix the lime juice, cherry simple syrup and some water together and shake it up.  Pour it over ice, garnish with a slice of lime and you're all set to kick back and relax with this lovely, refreshing drink.  Cheers!



Cherry Simple Syrup

1 Cup pitted cherries, fresh or frozen
1/2 Cup sugar
1 Cup water

Place cherries, sugar and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Mash cherries with a potato masher, just enough to break them up. Lower the heat to medium and continue to boil mixture for 1 minute.  Turn off heat and allow mixture to cool.  Strain mixture into a jar or pitcher.

Cherry Limeade
Full Recipe,  4 servings

1 Cup Lime Juice, fresh or bottled
1 1/2 C Cherry Simple Syrup
4 Cups Water

Single Serving Recipe

1/4 Cup lime juice
1/4 Cup, plus 2 TBLS Cherry Simple Syrup
1 Cup Water

Mix all ingredients together in a pitcher, glass or cocktail shaker.  Pour over ice.  Serve cold (with a lime slice garnish, if you like).

Ciao!

Casual Enteraining: Ice Cream Sandwiches

I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July holiday!  My family spent the whole weekend at our house so we had a house full and I feel like we did nothing but cook, eat, clean up and start all over again.  It's not entirely true, but not too far off the mark either.

These Ice Cream Sandwiches really hit the spot.  You can't beat ice cream for cooling you off in the summer!  They were small enough to be perfect for those who wanted a small bite of sweet after a full meal, but also small enough that you didn't feel guilty if you ate more than one (not that any of us would do such a thing!).

The key to these lovely treats is finding the perfect cookie.  One that is thin and crunchy, but not too delicate.  You can bake your own or save time, like we did, and use store-bought.  There are a couple of brands I really like for these - Marie is at the top of my list, followed closely by Nabisco Famous Wafers (which, sadly, I haven't been able to find lately), there are some other really great "biscuit" style cookies that work for these too, but I'm sorry to say the brand names aren't coming to mind right now.  For our 4th of July treats, we used Marie and Nyakers (these were Ginger Snaps) - both of which I happened to purchase at Cost Plus World Market on one of my Hauls.



This is the first time I've dressed them up around the edges with ice cream toppings.  I used salted, roasted peanuts that I chopped and miniature chocolate chips.  I especially enjoyed the addition of the nuts, they provided a nice balance with the sweet, creamy ice cream, the crunchy, slightly sweet cookies and that lovely, salty touch of nuts!

I shot some video when I made them - hope you enjoy it!

Do you have any treats you like to cool off with during the summer?  I'd love to hear about them!

Until next time - Ciao!

Gourmet at Home: Olive Tapenade

We love olives.  We do.  Because we love olives we almost always have a variety of them on hand in the fridge.  Recently, I was checking out the specialty items in the deli at my local grocery store and I noticed some Tapenade - it came in what might have been a 4 or 6 ounce jar - and they were charging $4.99 a jar!  I was both appalled at the price and reminded how easy it is to make yourself.  So I decided to show you how too.



There's really no recipe needed, just use 2 or 3 of your favorite types of olives, chop them up and serve with crackers or bread and your favorite cheeses, charcuterie and fruit or nuts and you have the perfect summer picnic, easy light dinner or cocktail party platter.  Check it out:

Ciao!

Quick Fix: Spaghetti with Lemon Garlic Shrimp

Today's recipe is not only a Quick Fix, it's also what I call a Friday Night Fix - and it's one of my favorite things to make when I find myself home alone on a Friday night when Steven's playing poker with the guys.  It's comforting, satisfying and super quick to make.  It's great hot or cold too so it's a multi-seasonal dish.  Grill the shrimp outdoors in the summer, if you like!  You can make this dish start to finish in just a little more time than it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta.

This is a very versatile recipe.  You can easily use more pasta and shrimp to prepare more servings and it would be a lovely addition for a small dinner party - reduce the portions and serve it as a first course to keep it simple and affordable.  Steven doesn't really care to eat shrimp, so if I make it when he's home, I simply put half of the pasta in a dish for him and top it with a bit more Extra Virgin Olive Oil, some fresh cracked pepper and some Parmesan cheese - delicious!

Spaghetti with Lemon Garlic Shrimp

serves 1-2

4 oz Spaghetti

8 oz EZ Peel Shrimp (I like a lot of shrimp)

1 Lemon

1 Clove Garlic

1 TBLS Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Ciao!

Gaming Food: Sourdough Crust Pizza

There's no question, Pizza is the number one go to food of Gamers everywhere.  Whether it's Tabletop Role Playing Games, Video Games, Board Games or Poker, Pizza is King.  Not only is pizza convenient, and (assuming you live within the delivery area) quick - it's actually pretty economical - each player can chip in a few bucks and enjoy some hot slices packed with protein and carbs for a long night of gaming.

Sadly, one downfall of living in the toolies is No.Pizza.Delivery.  Admittedly, I've sufficiently spoiled my husband with homemade cooking to the point that he'd rather eat my cooking in most cases anyway, but there are times when it would just be so much easier to pick up the phone and order in. Gaming Night is definitely one of those times.

For the most recent Gaming Night with my group of gaming friends, we decided to set up a Make-Your-Own Pizza Bar with flatbread from this post (and video).  Then we had to reschedule our Game Night and Steven and I ate some pizzas with the flatbread and toppings.  The following week when we were once again scheduled to play, we decided to try again with the pizza bar, so I replenished some of the toppings, but forgot to pick up extra flatbread (Gaming is hungry play and you just never know how much each gamer will eat).  I didn't realize, until I'd already driven all the way home, that I had forgotten the extra flatbread so I decided to make some Sourdough Pizza Crust with a sourdough starter my sister gave me a few weeks earlier.

To make the crust, I started with my Mom's Pizza Dough from this Breakfast Pizza post and substituted 1/2 Cup of the Sourdough Starter for 1/2 Cup of the water in the recipe.  I measured out the starter into a 2 cup liquid measuring cup, then topped it off with the remaining water to total 1 1/4 cups of liquid.  I used cold water, so I wouldn't kill the starter and set it aside for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in the bowl of my mixer, I measured in 1 Cup of the flour and the salt.



Next, I added the 1/4 Cup of Olive Oil to the starter and water mixture and added it all to the flour and salt in the mixing bowl and turned the mixer on low and let it combine everything together and form a sponge.  I let it sit for about another 20 minutes, just to ensure that the yeast in the starter had a chance to activate.



Next, I added the final cup of flour and let the mixer finish combining everything until it came together in a beautiful, soft dough.  I lightly kneaded it and formed it into a ball...



...then sprayed the mixing bowl and top of the dough ball with a misting of Olive Oil, covered it tightly with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place to rise - it was a cold day so I took advantage of the heat from our wood stove and it did an admirable job.



This was only the second time I'd made bread using my starter, but it seems to take a lot longer to rise - so be patient and be sure to allow plenty of time to let the dough do it's thing.  We were playing on Sunday this time (it was Memorial Day Weekend), so I made the dough Saturday morning and it had all afternoon to rise.  Once it had doubled in size, I divided it into 4 roughly equal dough balls, placed them in zip-close bags and put them in the fridge to hold until Game Night.

The next step was to make my favorite pizza sauce and pre-cook some sausage.  I much prefer grating cheese by hand for things like pizza, it just melts so much better, but when it comes to Game Night, minimal preparation is key for achieving maximum playing time so I purchased pre-shredded Mozzarella as well as pre-sliced salami and pepperoni.  But alas, the sourdough crust was not to be - for we ended up having more than enough flatbread for the whole group - which is just a well because taking time to roll out pizza dough when we finally took our dinner break around 8:00 pm was just not going to do....  So Memorial Day rolled around and guess who had Sourdough Pizza for dinner?  You guessed it, yours truly and hubby!  :)  Here's how it all goes together:

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured board...



Top it with an even layer of sauce (Steven & I both prefer extra sauce, so ours are thick layers)...





Add salami and pepperoni...





...and any other flat toppings you prefer...





...top those with toppings such as sausage, olives, bell peppers and onions...



...finish them off with a nice layer of shredded Mozzarella cheese...



Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until the cheese is fully melted and starting to turn golden brown in spots.



Serve hot and enjoy!

Do you have a Game Night or other activity you enjoy with friends?  What are your favorite foods to eat when you get together?  I'd love to hear about them!

Until next time - Ciao!

Casual Entertaining: Pulled Pork

Whether I'm gaming, crafting or just hanging out with friends and family, food is almost always included in the plans of the day.  I live out in the toolies, just close enough to civilization to be convenient and just far enough from civilization to be peaceful.  But this means guests are often on the road for an hour or more to get to my home for any kind of get together so a meal time is involved 99% of the time.

We're a pretty casual couple (big surprise being from Seattle, the casual capitol, right?) and we prefer meals to be casual as well.  We're big on having our guests make themselves at home and paper plates not an unusual occurrence - after all, who wants to worry about dishes when you can be visiting...or crafting... or gaming?  I ask you, who?!

Pulled Pork is an excellent recipe for casual entertaining.  I love foods that are versatile and Pulled Pork is definitely versatile.  You can pile it on a bun or roll with some BBQ sauce and some slaw for an excellent sandwich or use it as a topping for a baked potato.  (I like mine with pepper jack cheese, pulled pork, bbq sauce, bacon, scallions or chives and sour cream - YUM!)  It can be used as a topping for nachos or a filling for a quesadilla, wrap or burrito. See what I mean?  Versatile!

The best part about recipes like this one is you put a little effort into it at the beginning and then you can set it and forget it.

I used a pork shoulder for this, and started the night before - liberally applying a dry rub then wrapping it up tightly and placing it in the fridge until morning.  In the morning, I removed it from the fridge and let it sit on the counter about 30 minutes - all the major chefs will tell you this is an important step in cooking animal proteins, assuring the meat will retain moisture.  Preheat a cast iron skillet on medium high heat and sear the roast on all sides.



Once fully seared remove the roast to your crockpot or dutch oven and deglaze the pan.  Beer, apple cider, chicken stock and water will all work fine.  Just add 1/2 to 1 cup liquid and scrape all the lovely browned bits from the bottom of the pan and let it come to a boil.  Then turn off the heat and pour the liquid over the roast in your crockpot.  Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.  The roast should be fork tender and falling apart, if not, keep cooking it for another hour and check it again.

Remove it to a shallow bowl and allow it to cool a bit.  It's easiest to pull it apart with your hands, but if it's still too hot to handle you can use a couple of forks to do the job.

Quick Fix: Lemon-Pinoli Rice Pilaf

This Lemon-Pinoli (Pine Nut) Rice Pilaf is a great way to use up leftover rice.  It comes together super-quick and is really delicious.  The lemon gives the rice some brightness and makes it perfect for pairing with fish or chicken while the Pinoli, or Pine Nuts, add a nutty flavor and crunchy texture.  I threw in some parmesan cheese, which added another dimension of nutty flavor to the mix.  This dish will work with any rice you have on hand and you can add any fresh herbs you like to marry it to your main dish.

Here's the link to the video:

Here's the recipe:

2 TBLS pine nuts*, toasted

2 Cups cooked rice

1 TBLS extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/4 Cup parmesan cheese

1/4-1/2 tsp dill* (fresh would be really lovely, I used dried because that's what I had on hand)

salt to taste

Start by toasting the pine nuts over low heat in a skillet.  Remove the Pinoli from the pan and set them aside once they are toasted to a golden brown.

Increase heat to medium high and add olive oil - allow it all to heat up a bit.  Add rice, stirring in to break up any clumps.  Stir in dill, lemon juice and salt (to taste).  Cover and reduce heat to low.  Let it hang out for about 5 minutes, until heated through.  Turn off heat.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and pine nuts.  Stir to combine and serve hot.    

*Note: you can reserve a few pine nuts and some dill (if you are using fresh) if you like, to use as a garnish.

Make Your Own Takeout: Pork Fried Rice

When it comes to food cravings I am generally pretty good at satisfying them right here at home.  Mostly we tend to crave Italian, Mexican and Pacific Northwest Seafood, but one cuisine that we generally go to a restaurant to curb our appetite for is Asian.  When I have lunch out on workdays, it's often Teriyaki or Pho and one of the few places my husband and I go for dinner is a local Chinese restaurant.  It's a totally Americanized Chinese menu - the type that was really popular back in the 70's, but we love it whether it's authentic or not (we honestly and perhaps sadly wouldn't know the difference) so I have made it my goal to master a few recipes myself and this Fried Rice recipe I found on Pinterest has been a great place to start.

Of course, this is me and I wouldn't be me if I didn't make at least an adjustment or two to our own liking, but I really haven't tweaked this recipe much at all.  I've really just swapped one ingredient for another, left out an ingredient (although I do intend to try it with it as well), and increased a couple others.

The key to good fried rice at home is to use rice that is a few days old and cold, right from the fridge. It will still taste delicious with freshly made rice, but the texture just won't match what your used to from your favorite restaurant or carry out place.

This recipe also happens to call for butter.  I've tried fried rice recipes before and this is the first I've come across with butter, but let me tell you, it works.  It's definitely the closest to our favorite restaurant's fried rice that I've made so far and it's definitely a recipe worth sharing.

This is also one time when I don't employ the chop and drop method of cooking.  I do chop up all the veggies and ingredients first because you'll be working pretty quickly.  So chop up your onion, carrots, garlic, scallion and Barbeque Pork and have them all set to go when you're ready.

For the carrots, I cut them in half, then half them again so they are 1/4 sticks...



Then chop them so I get small pieces like these:



If you have a wok, by all means use it, I used my non-stick skillet and it worked out just fine.  Preheat your pan over medium high heat and melt some of the butter until it's fully melted and bubbly...



Add your beaten eggs and scramble them until they are just done...



Remove them from the pan when they are cooked through and set them aside.  Do not overcook them, they will go back into the pan later and you don't want them to brown or dry out.



Melt some more butter in the pan, then throw in your carrots and onion, season with a bit of salt and pepper and stir-fry it for a bit - just until the onions and carrots become tender...





Add the last of your butter to the pan and stir it in until it's melted.  Now add your rice, scallions, pork and soy sauce...



Stir it in, breaking up any clumps of rice as you go with the back of a wooden spoon and let it cook for 2-3 more minutes.  Add the scrambled eggs and sesame oil - stir to combine...



At this point you can serve it or cover it and hold it warm in the oven at 225 degrees while you prepare more tasty Make Your Own Takeout dishes to accompany it.

Here's my modified version of the recipe:

Pork Fried Rice

4 TBLS unsalted butter, divided
3 eggs, beaten
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small, sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 lb BBQ pork, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 scallions, thinly sliced
4 Cups cooked and chilled rice
4 TBLS Soy Sauce (I used low sodium)
1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil

Preheat skillet or wok over medium high heat.  Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter until fully melted and bubbling.  Add egg and scramble until just cooked.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Melt 1 more tablespoon of the butter in the skillet until fully melted and bubbling.  Add onions, carrots and garlic.  Stir fry for 2-3 minutes just until onions become translucent and carrots start to become tender.

Add last 2 tablespoons of the butter to the skillet and stir in until melted.  Add rice, scallions and BBQ Pork to the skillet and stir in until well combined.  Stir fry for another 2-3 minutes.  Add soy sauce and eggs.  Stir to combine.  Add toasted sesame oil, stir to combine and remove from heat.

At this point you can serve it or cover it and hold it warm in a 225 oven while you make additional dishes to accompany your Pork Fried Rice.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Quick Fix: Salmon in Parchment

Welcome to Quick Fix, a series of posts and videos I'll be sharing for recipes that are quick and easy to make.  For this first installment, I'm sharing Salmon in Parchment.  This is not only a quick and easy way to bake salmon, but it's also very reliable and my favorite way to prepare fish indoors. The fish always comes out tender, flaky and full of flavor.

Here's the video so you can follow along if you like:

And here's the instructions.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

For this recipe you'll need:
sheet pan
parchment
salmon filet (or any other fish)
1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, minced
dill
salt

Place a sheet of parchment on the sheet pan - making sure to tear off a big enough piece to enclose the salmon in.  Place salmon on parchment and season liberally with salt.  Slice lemon and place slices on top of salmon.  Sprinkle with dill and garlic.

Fold parchment around salmon, forming a pouch.  Bake 15-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.  It should easily flake away when checked with a fork.

I hope you'll tune in and try this method. I'd love to hear how you make it your own!

Quick Fix: Flatbread and Pocket Pizzas and an Announcement

Pizza is one of my absolute favorite foods to eat and living where we do, delivery is not an option. That's ok though, because making homemade pizza has always been a thing in my family so I learned how to make it myself at a very young age.  My mom taught us how to make Easy Pizza's using English Muffins but over the years, I've come up with a couple of new ways to make pizza that are equally quick, easy and that really satisfy my pizza craving.

I've been making Pocket Pizzas for a really long time now - they are a favorite of Steven's and I love them because they are perfect for enjoying while watching a movie.  More recently though, with good quality flatbreads being carried at my local grocery store, I've been making pizza with those alot too.

And now for my Announcement (announcements, announcements, announcements....) I've made a video about these pizzas and I am launching on my brand-spankin'-new YouTube Channel!!!!

 I've realized that sometimes photos just aren't enough so I decided to branch out.  Every video I post will have a companion recipe posted here so you can easily locate lists of ingredients and measurements while also having the ability to really see how a particular method or technique works. I hope you'll tune in and subscribe!

Here's the video:

For these pizzas, there really isn't much recipe required, but if you'd like to try the sauce that has ruined all other pizza sauces for my husband, here it is:

Quick Pizza Sauce

1 can Tomato Paste (keep the can)

1 can of water (the empty tomato paste can)

1/2 to 1 tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Basil

1/2 tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp Parsley flakes

1/4 tsp sugar

salt & pepper to taste

Mix tomato paste and water.  Add remaining ingredients.  Taste the sauce to ensure you have the balance of flavors you like. 

This recipe will make enough sauce for 2, 12-inch pizzas or 6-8 Flatbread or Pocket Pizzas.

Flatbread Pizza 

Pizza Sauce (see above or use your own favorite)

Flatbread (I used Naan)

Pizza Toppings (use your favorite)

Mozzarella Cheese

Parmesan Cheese (optional - I didn't use any in the video)

Preheat oven and pizza stone, if you're using one, at 425 degrees.  

Top flatbread with a generous amount of pizza sauce, spreading it almost to the edges with the back of a spoon.  Top with thin, flat toppings first such as pepperoni, canadian bacon or mushrooms, then add bulkier ingredients such as olives or pre-cooked sausage and finishing with a generous layer of mozzarella cheese.  

Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is fully melted and starting to brown in spots.

*You will be able to make 6-8 flatbread pizzas using the sauce recipe above.  We usually just make 2 at a time (1 per person) and eat them several days in a row.

Pocket Pizza

Pizza Sauce (see above recipe or use your own favorite)

Pita Bread

Pizza Toppings (use your favorite)

Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat conventional or toaster oven to 425 degrees.  You can line a baking sheet with foil for extra-easy cleanup, if you like.  

Slice pita bread in half to expose the pocket.  Spread sauce on the bottom, inside surface of the pocket bread.  Layer in your favorite toppings, starting with flat toppings such a canadian bacon or pepperoni, then adding bulkier toppings like olives or sausage, finishing with the cheese.  

Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is fully melted and the pita bread turns golden and crispy.  

*You will be able to make 6-8 pocket pizzas (1 pocket pizza - 2 halves of pocket bread) using the sauce recipe above.

Sweet Tooth: Mayhem Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies are hands-down, my number one, go-to favorite treat to bake.  I came up with this chocolate chip cookie variation several years ago and they are definitely the tastiest cookie I make - they are also Steven's favorite (in fact, he came up with the name) so I try to indulge him occasionally with a batch.

These cookies are chewy and tender on the inside with a lightly crisp outer texture and they are packed with flavor and buttery goodness.

Start with 2 sticks of melted butter...



... add brown sugar and granulated sugar...



... whisk them together until they are not only incorporated by completely emulsified.  The mixture should look this this:



Let the mixture cool a bit, you should be able to comfortably place your hands on the bottom of the bowl, then crack in the eggs and measure in the baking soda, salt and Rum Emulsion (or rum extract, or any extract you prefer)...



For years, I used rum extract but one day, I was shopping for cookie cutters and discovered this emulsion and I have found it to work much, much better - you can actually taste the flavor in the cookie.  You can find the rum emulsion here (plus lots of great cookie cutters amongst other handy baking items).



Stir everything in...



... now measure in your flour...



... and in these lovely, dark chocolate chips...





... chopped macadamia nuts...



...and dried cherries.



Let's just pause for a moment to take it all in.



Now mix it all together well - I prefer to do this by hand to keep everything from breaking up into tiny bits...



... once it's all mixed in, it should look like this:





Cover the dough with saran wrap and chill it for an hour.  Then preheat your oven, prepare your cookie sheets (psst, I recently bought some silicone liners and they are da bomb, I highly recommend springing for a set) and scoop the dough...



... isn't it lovely?



Bake them for 8-10 minutes, I've found they take the full 10 minutes in my oven on the pure convection setting since switching to the silicone liners, but I recommend setting your timer for 8 minutes and checking them.  They should be golden brown on the edges and top, but might look slightly wet still.  Let them sit on the sheet for 2 minutes before removing them to wire racks to cool.

Here's the recipe:

Mayhem Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup unsalted butter
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Rum Emulsion or Rum Extract
2 1/4 Cups Flour
1 - 10 oz bag Dark Chocolate Chips
1 Cup Macadamia Nuts, chopped
1 - 5 oz bag Dried Cherries

Melt butter in a large mixing bowl.  Add in brown and granulated sugars.  Mix well, until fully emulsified.  Allow to cool.  Add eggs, baking soda, salt and rum emulsion (or extract).  Mix well.  Add in flour and top with chocolate chips, nuts and cherries.  Mix well.  Cover and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare cookie sheets with either non-stick spray or silicone baking mats.  Scoop or spoon dough onto baking sheets 12 to a sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes until light golden brown on edges and top.  Remove from oven and leave cookies on baking sheet for 2 minutes.  Remove to wire racks to finish cooling.

Makes approx 4 dozen depending on size of scoop.

Note: You'll want to have plenty of milk on hand with these babies in the house!