Almond Coconut Meringue Cookie Recipe

I ended up with three leftover egg whites because a cake I made last week called for three egg yolks so I was looking for a recipe that called for egg whites so I could score one leftover point. I have also been dreaming of the almond coconut meringue/macaroon cookies they offer at the Blue Room for Sunday brunch so I decided to experiment and create my own version. I adapted a meringue cookie recipe online and added my own extras.

Almond Coconut Meringue Cookies - yields about 36

4 egg whites
1 pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 and 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup almond flour/meal

1. Preheat over to 275 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. On high speed, whip egg whites, salt and cream of tartar until you have soft peaks
3. 1/3 cup at a time, add sugar to egg whites and whip on high until you have stiff peaks
4. Add almond and vanilla extract, whip
5. Gently fold in coconut and almond flour
6. Spoon mounds of meringue onto cookie sheet
7. Bake about 30 minutes until cookies are light brown and easily peel off the parchment paper

Crumbly crisp exterior with soft center. If you don't know your own strength, you just might squash the cookie like a little bug.

"Chipotle" Chicken Rice Soup - Recipe Shortcut

Adam's feeling a little under the weather recently and I wanted to make him some chicken soup for dinner, but I didn't really have a lot of time and I also didn't have much food so I took some pretty extreme recipe shortcuts that I think are pretty genius.

plasticann: I'm going to make some chicken rice soup for dinner, but I'm taking a "shortcut."
Adam: That sounds good, did you buy rotisserie chicken as the shortcut?
plasticann: Actually, I bought a Chipotle chicken burrito bowl
Adam: [eyebrows raised]

Here it is...Chipotle Chicken Rice Soup with a major shortcut

1 Chicken burrito bowl (I got it with white lime rice, extra corn salsa, cheese, peppers and onions. I skipped the sour cream.)
1 box of chicken stock
2 cups water
1 lime (Chipotle kindly gave me some complimentary lime wedges)
1/4 cup leftover salsa
2 chopped tomatoes
3 ears of corn
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

• Bring chicken stock and water to a boil
• Cook corn and burrito bowl on low for a little while to meld the flavors
• Add all the other ingredients
• Serve alone or with chips especially Chipotle Lime Chips

So this Chipotle Chicken Rice Soup has been on my mind since it was so easy and super delicious. I've been telling everyone about how they too can turn a burrito bowl into a pot of soup. I got super excited yesterday when I got an email from Cook's Country with a recipe for easy chipotle chicken soup. I thought, "wow, Cook's Country is doing the same thing I did, buy Chipotle and make soup." Once I read the recipe, I realized they mean "chipotle" as in the pepper chicken soup not "Chipotle" the restaurant chicken soup. Wah wah!

Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies - perfect for ice cream sandwiches

Now I don't want you all to have the impression that the only people I ever make fun of on this blog are Adam and plasticmom so I'm going mix it up today and reconstruct the following email conversation I had with my friend Zristen earlier this week.

Zristen: Everyone enjoyed the cookies!  Are there any more?  Zave only got one...
plasticann: I only gave you four cookies, one for each Zority. 
Zristen: HAHAHA!  I ate 2, kids ate slower than me so I guess they split one.  Zave wasn't happy because he wanted more!

If only Zvy and Zwan realized that mommy ate their cookie and made them share one, heads would roll. I baked another batch of the cookies today and I split the Zority's share into four bags. I can't trust that Zristen will distribute them accordingly so I labeled each person's bag and I'm posting the cookie quantities publicly to ensure some accountability. 

Zristen: 3 cookies
Zave: 3 cookies
Zvy: 1 cookie
Zwan: 1 cookie

Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's from Barefoot Contessa and the thin cookies are perfect for ice cream sandwiches. Not too thick, not too hard, just thin and slightly crispy.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
• 1 12 oz bag semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 shakes of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cream butter and two sugars until light and fluffy
3. Add vanilla and eggs, mix well
4. Add flour, baking soda and salt, mix
5. Mix in chocolate chips
6. Scoop batter using a medium cookie scoop or a tablespoon
7. Flatten dough a little
8. Bake around 10-15 minutes until brown 
9. Let cool for a few minutes on the pan
10. Move to cooling rack to fully cool

Cherry + Pear + Plum Clafouti

I had a random assortment of fruit that was just a smidge past ripe so I tried making this Clafouti recipe from Julia Childs.

Julia Child's Clafouti Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut up three cups of fruit into bite sized chunks: cherries, plums, pear, etc 
3. Blend the following in a blender
• 1.25 cups milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 ggs
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup flour
4. In a baking dish (9x9 or 9 inch pie or 7x10), pour a thin layer of batter
5. Bake thin layer of batter for 7-10 minutes
6. Layer fruit over batter. 
7. Sprinkle 1/3 cup sugar over fruit
8. Pour remaining batter over fruit
9. Bake for 40-60 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted
10. Serve warm for dessert or breakfast

This is honestly the first recipe I've tried so I'm not sure if it's "the best," but it's pretty delicious and it's easy. I'll have to check out some other recipes and see how they compare.

Cheddar + Spicy Watermelon Chutney Sandwich

Pret A Manger in the UK offers an awesome aged cheddar with chutney sandwich that is delicious. Sadly, they don't really offer the same sandwich in the US. I made a huge batch of spicy watermelon chutney last week and I now have a new way to enjoy this chutney thanks to my friend Zbigail who suggested that I pair the spicy watermelon chutney with a good cheddar cheese. She's a genius because I now have my own version of that cheddar chutney sandwich. 

Cheddar Chutney Sandwich

• Bread...don't forget that
• Field greens
• Spicy Watermelon Chutney
• Nice slices of a good aged Cheddar. I used Beecher's Flagship from Seattle.