Power Restored: A Return to Normalcy

Hello friends,

It has been roughly a week since Hurricane Sandy tore through the Northeast, and it took until this past Sunday for my apartment to regain power. My heart goes out to all those affected and still struggling through the aftermath. My thoughts and prayers are with you and I hope you stay safe and warm.

I have to say though, that as devastating as the storm was, it showed me how people can come together as a community to help one another in times of crisis. First, a manager at a local Stop and Shop allowed me to charge my phone so that I could call my parents and let them know I was okay. I know that doesn't sound like much, but it meant everything to me to let my family know I was safe.

Then, after attempting to hold out at my apartment for three days without power, my boyfriend and I drove back to his parents' house in North Jersey. We showed up to a house full of candles, a warm wood-burning stove, and a hot meal. Neighbors were invited over to warm up, have a bite to eat, and even get in on a surprisingly relaxing game of charades.

So thank you, to everyone who helped me and my loved ones during this past week. You all made me feel loved and it meant the world to me.

Getting the apartment back into a normal state is still taking some time though, so the most I can do is show you the super cool candy corn cookies I made before the storm and then couldn't share with you after losing power (grumble):

and then share this recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bread, which also managed to get baked before the storm, and helped me and my boyfriend through many a cold, dreary morning with nothing else to eat.

Hopefully I will be back later this week with a fresh batch of warm, homemade goodies to share with you all.

Wishing everyone the best,

Jess

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bread  
Via HowSweetEats

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup chocolate chunks/chips



1. Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan with butter or cooking spray. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
2. Cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg and vanilla.
3. Stir in half of the flour mixture, then add the buttermilk. Stir until just combined. Add in rest of flour mixture and stir until well incorporated, being sure to scrap down the sides of the bowl as needed. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 15 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Cookie Spree Finale: Chocolate Chip Cookies

I thought I would wrap up my little mini series on cookies with a classic: chocolate chip. Now I will tell you all right now you are seeing the best ones out of the bunch, as the first batch looked much more like one giant cookie sheetcake as opposed to individual cookies (turns out you need much more baking powder than I thought). However, with a few adjustments, we had success on the home-front (aka my kitchen).

When I started today, I thought I would take the idea from the last cookie recipe (on Salted Double Fudge Cookies) and implement it here with these cookies. Turns out, using less flour and sticking the dough in the fridge for 10 minutes will not help the cookies hold their shape. No, in fact, without enough baking powder or flour, they will instead spread into a giant mess all over your cookie sheet. I would include a photo for you, but I was so disappointed that I threw the cookies (if you could call them that) away before even thinking of taking a photo for this post.

But, with some determination (and more flour and baking powder of course) I was able to conjure up a dough that was, well, more "doughy" and did not stick to my hands. Naturally I ran out of chocolate chips after this batch, so the tension was high. Would they spread again? Would they just taste like flour? 

Well, they definitely held their shape more effectively than the previous batch, so my thoughts were optimistic.

Twelve minutes later....

Success! The cookies turned out delicious and, if it weren't for the fact that I am now out of chocolate chips, I would be off making another batch or two of these. This ends my cookie spree; I would like to go on and on with snickerdoodles, molasses etc, but Father's Day is coming up and I must work on my gift for my Dad: double chocolate cake. :D

Sugar Mountain Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup salted butter

1 egg

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Cream butter and both sugars until sugar is well incorporated. Beat in egg and vanilla.

3. Sift flour and baking powder together and stir into the butter mixture (use hands if necessary).

4. Stir in chocolate chips.

5. Drop 1 tablespoon-sized spoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet, roughly 1 inch apart.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-13 minutes, until just starting to brown on edges.