Chocolate Chip Cookies Gone Wild

Definatley one of my most positive experiances with chocolate chip cookies.  It probably didn't hurt that I used ghirideli chocolate chips, but it probably would be good regardless.  To bear testiment to the glory of these cookies- I made half the batch as plain chocolate chip cookies and the other half like this.  There is still a small pile of plain cookies, but these were gone within seconds.  You can't really go wrong with this combination...butter...chocolate...coconut...walnuts...oats..

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes

Combine: 

2 1/4 c flour

1 t soda

1 t salt

in a separate bowl beat:

2 sticks butter (softened)

3/4 c white sugar

3/4 c brown sugar

1 t vanilla

2 eggs (one at a time)

combine the two bowls

add:

2 c chocolate chips

1 c coconut

1 c chopped walnuts

1 c rolled oats

make handfuls of the dough and drop them on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake!

Double Chocolate Muffins

 They're good...  I found the recipe in the book The Essential Vegetarian Cook Book.  The muffins have a really good texture and are sort of a brownie muffin type thing.  My mother and uncle are really into them...

Bake 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees.  Makes 12 regular sized muffins.  

Mix together:

2 C plain flour

2 1/2 t baking powder

3/4 c cocoa powder

3/4 c sugar

Make a well in dry ingridiants and add: 

1 c dark chocolate chips

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 c yogurt

3/4 c milk

3 oz butter, melted

Do not overbeat, the batter should remain very lumpy

Spoon into greased muffin tins

Coconut and Pineapple Macroons

I am a really extreme fan of coconut and pineapple and basically all ingredients in this recipe. There aren't very many ways this can go wrong. Its sort of one of those recipes that you just have to play by ear- so I don't really have exact measurements. But here is approximately what I did:

Cook in a saucepan until juice has evaporated:
20 oz can of pineapple (in its juice)
a generous handful of brown sugar
cook until the pineapple has caramelized

in a separate bowl combine:
about 4 cups coconut
another generous handful of brown sugar
3 egg whites
about a 1/2 t vanilla
mix the pineapple and coconut stuff together.
make little balls of the batter (or whatever you'd call this)
squeeze the juice out with your fist
put little balls of the batter on top of parchment paper on cookie sheets. - this is very important!
If you have no parchment paper (I never actually used it until I came to the East coast where they only use plastic bags), just use torn up paper bags.
bake at 375 degrees for at least 15 minutes- maybe more... the outside of the macaroons should be quite brown and crispy.
Let cool.