Just before Christmas, I passed on one of my all time favorite cookie recipe, and the easiest recipe in the cooking world, and yet I messed up on the ingredient list. Maybe I already had too much sugar in my system. I know how frustrating it is to get a recipe that is wrong and I do sincerely apologize. It is one thing to pass it on to a friend on one hand written recipe card, but sending it out over the “net” is another. This is why cookbook authors have test kitchens and editors.
The Cookie Brittle recipe should be….
1 cup room temperature butter
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup white granulated sugar
2 cups white, all purposed flour
1, 6 ounce package chocolate chips
Cream the butter, vanilla, salt and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. It is best to use a regular stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix in the flour gradually. Add chocolate chips.
Press into a 15-1/2 x 10-1/2 inch pan. The original recipe indicates a 15 x 13 pan, but that is an odd size and not very common. I also like the thickness when it is in the 15-1/2 x 10-1/2 inch pan. When it is put in the larger pan, it is harder to spread out and bakes faster and end product is very thin and crisp. The key is to watch it closely while baking so it bakes to a nice golden brown, just like a good chocolate chip cookie. I do not recommend baking it in a 9 x 13″ pan, however. It gets too thick and looses the brittle consistency and not soft enough to be a good cookie or bar. You can tell, I have quite a history with this recipe.
On a brighter note, the holiday weekend was busy and fun with family close by. When the dust settles, it is nice to sit back and just enjoy being at home before starting the process of putting all the decorations away. This is also my favorite time to have friends over for a more casual supper or perhaps lunch. Everyones’s schedule is more open and It extends the season in a very joyful, relax manner.
My winter garden…I am always amazed at the beauty of how snow and frost collect on trees and branches highlighting the structures of the plants without leaves or flowers. It is another whole kind of beauty…everything at rest. Winter has settled in for a bit.
I took this picture through the window (and screen) the other morning after an evening of steady, slow snow with no wind. This is my view outside my kitchen window over my sink. I love how the snow piled up on the ends of the birch limbs I have in a large urn out in my side garden. Even without leaves or colorful flowers, the landscape is often very beautiful.
