MARTHA STEWART CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

I'm so happy that after so many trials and recipes, I finally found the perfect Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe! Each time I've tried in the past, it would taste good but it never looked perfect. Most of the time, it would melt and the cookie dough became one big huge chocolate square!

But I never gave up :)
So when I saw the Martha Stewart "Cookies" book at my local library, I picked it up and promised to try the recipe, which I did this weekend and lo and behold: the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe!

Below is the recipe from the book, which you can also find online, but I made a few changes. This time I put the dough in the freezer for up to 1 hour and I think that's what did the trick!

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 200gr unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips

Directions

• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Divide the mixture in half, and put each half in plastic film (see sample below). Since the dough is very soft and sticky, I prefer to put it in the freezer first to let it set and become hard. Keep in the freezer for approximately 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• 15 minutes before you want to bake your cookies, preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Take the dough out of the freezer and cut around 2cm and roll into tablespoon-size balls of dough. Place them about 4-5 cm apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
• Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Photo courtesy of this blog

HEALTHY SALADS

The weekend is here and it's usually an occasion where we can spend time in the kitchen, try new recipes and think a bit more creatively about what we want to eat. Recently I've made these 2 nice salads, with organic vegetables from YUM's Organic Farm, and thought I'd share them with you...

This one's shredded purple cabbage and shredded carrots.

Dressing: olive oil + apple cider vinegar + 1/2 tsp mayonnaise + sea salt + pepper 

This lovely red one is cherry tomatoes + big tomatoes cut in 8.

Dressing: olive oil + apple cider vinegar + parsley flakes + sea salt + pepper 

If like me you work during the week and you don't really have time to think about what you put in your mouth, then try to at least spend some time during the weekend, go out and buy some organic vegetables, cook on your own, cook for your family, think about what you're feeding yourself and your family :)

ZUCCHINI CHIPS

Today's hot dog lunch with zucchini chips

On Friday, I got beautiful organic vegetables from the YUM Farm in Cipanas, and I had specifically asked for tomatoes, beetroots, cucumbers and zucchini. However, I was feeling a bit tired of the usual ratatouille, zucchini au gratin and sauteed zucchini so I started browsing..... until I found this interesting recipe for Zucchini Oven Chips. It looked really easy so I thought ok I'll try them out and hopefully Amal will like them.... And he did!! He even said: "Mama you should open a restaurant. We'll call it ROM...Restaurant Of Mama!" :)

The recipe is quite simple.

ZUCCHINI OVEN CHIPS

Ingredients:

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoon milk

2 1/2 cups sliced zucchini (about 2 small or 1 medium)

Cooking spray

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees celcius.

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place milk in a shallow bowl. Dip zucchini slices in milk, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place coated slices on an overproof wire rack coated with cooking spray; place rack on a baking sheet. Bake a 220 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until browned and crisp. Serve immediately. Best eaten hot.