Snuggle Food

So last week Provo, Utah woke up to this:

There was talk of being snowed in, snowball fights, and more snowfall.  It was a very snow-themed day.

It turns out we were no where near being snowed in- as it all melted in the afternoon sun and the "blizzard" hit with a lot less fury than expected.

I love this weather though and was pleased at its brief appearance. I tried to convince Andrew to ditch school and going skiing but he is much too responsible for that.  So instead, I made snowy-day-appropriate food.  Homemade wheat bread and chocolate chip cookies.

The cookies were a semi-FAIL and I am sad.

What's this? The flattest cookies you've ever seen even though I refrigerated them over night? Yeah, me too.

Hello flat cookies. What's that? Will I be your friend? No I certainly will not.

The upside is the dough was great so I ate that with vengeance. But really, the cookies were flat and I hate flat cookies. Plus the recipe called for a lot of brown sugar and I personally thought that it all sunk to the bottom when cooked and made a brown-sugar crunchy bottomed cookie which sounds yummy but is not.  

I'm bothered, can you tell?

The weird thing is, Andrew kept exclaiming (over texts first and then in person later) how much he LOVED these cookies and how they were the best I've ever made.  He likes flat cookies though. He says cookies are better when you can see the chocolate chips sticking out of them.  To each their own.

In defense of this recipe, my oven is weird and may have had something to do with the flatness/under baked on the insideness and crispy on the outsideness... all I know is I was not a happy baker.  I even adjusted the recipe so I didn't bake at 325 for 15 minutes, but 350 for 10 and the result was only slightly better. Oh well, next time.

So after the cookie failure, what can a girl do on a cold day? Bingo! Bake bread.

It worked. It was great. It was yummy. It was everything homemade bread should be. Just make sure you DON'T OVER BAKE IT!

Here are the recipes. Enjoy!

Homemade Honey Whole Wheat Bread

• 1 1/2 c warm water
• 1 TBS active dry yeast
• 1/3 c honey
• 2 TBS agave nectar (optional)
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2c all purpose flour 
• 2 TBS butter, melted
• 1/2 TBS salt
• 2 1/4 c whole wheat flour
• 1/4c ground flax seed (optional)

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the water. Add the sugar and let sit 5 minutes until it starts to foam. Add the rest of the ingredients and combine. Knead 8-10 minutes adding more white flour as needed to get a nice smooth dough -not too sticky but not too floury either.
2. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic. Let it sit at room temperature to double, about 1 hour. Put in a lightly oiled loaf pan. Cover and rise to double, 30-45 minutes.
3. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until deeply colored. DO NOT OVER BAKE.  Cool on a rack. Enjoy!

Yummy but Flat Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (reduced to a scant 1/2 teaspoon)
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (I used salted and reduce the actual salt content)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.
3. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour. When it's time, Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). I had to turn it up to 350 and bake for 10 minutes. Maybe it's my retarded oven.
4. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
5. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Recipe from here.