"Famous" Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm not a big baker. I love to cook, but find baking to be way too precise and picky. All that measuring and mixing is just too tedious for me.  I don't even do a lot of baking at my annual Christmas Cookie Day with my nieces - they measure and sift and stir...and I "supervise." I didn't even have a "baking" label until I entered this post, my 68th.

This is why my mom's Kookie Klown, which she kept filled with homemade cookies, now houses dog treats. On the up side, since our dogs are a little spoiled, I use her cookie jar every single day (sometimes more often than that....don't tell Brian) and think of her each time.

I've had this recipe for a while. I've never had a chocolate chip cookie at Nieman Marcus and have no idea if this is really the authentic recipe.  Regardless, it makes a delicous cookie. With espresso powder, lots of vanilla, chopped nuts, and bittersweet chocolate, it's a "grown up" chocolate chip cookie. Not overly sweet, a little crunchy, it's nice with a glass of cold milk or a cup of hot coffee.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso, slightly crushed
• 1-1/2 cups (8 ounces) bittersweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup toasted, chopped pecans

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Place the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the work bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds, until the mixture is fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg and vanilla for 30 seconds longer, until well combined.
4. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the mixer, while beating on slow speed. Beat for about 15 seconds. Stir in the nuts, chocolate chips and espresso powder, and mix for 15 seconds longer.
5. Prepare a cookie sheet with about 2 tablespoons of shortening (or use a non-stick spray).
6. Drop the cookie dough onto the cookie sheet in 2-tablespoon dollops about 3 inches apart.
7. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into 2-inch circles; there should be room on the sheet for six or eight cookies at a time.
8. Bake for about 18 minutes or until the cookies are nicely browned around the edges. Bake for a little longer for crisper cookies.

Source: About.com home cooking

Three-Ingredient Pulled Pork

This was quite simply one of the easiest, most delicious meals I've made in a long time. Thanks to my friend Erin, I can now serve up authentic Pulled Pork Sandwiches with just three simple ingredients (plus rolls, of course).

I love that you can use a lean, high quality pork roast for this. I trimmed the roast before cooking it and any fat that was left slid off easily when it came out of the crock pot.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lb. boneless, center cut pork roast, fat trimmed
• 12 oz. root beer soda
• BBQ sauce to taste (plus extra for serving, if desired)

Method:

1. Season roast all over with salt and pepper. Place in slow cooker.
2. Pour soda around roast.
3. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
4. Remove pork from slow cooker. Remove any remaining fat from pork.
5. Shred pork with two forks.
6. Place shredded pork into medium sauce pan.
7. Stir in desired amount of BBQ sauce (I used about 1 C) and 2 TBSP of the soda from the crock pot.
8. Heat gently until ready to serve.