Cookie Love

Happy Belated National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day! I'm so glad that is a thing.

  Clark and I are trying to eat "healthier" these days. We both love baked goods, but they often lead to our over-consumption of (delicious) sugar. So, I was faced with a conundrum: honor the best cookie on planet Earth, or become a martyr for the sake of health. I decided to try to combine cookies and martyrdom, and the below recipe is what entailed.

   Even if you are not eating healthfully... even if you could not care less about calorie counts or eating "real" food, please, put down the package of Chips Ahoys and make this recipe right this very instant. It is a winner of a recipe. Y'all know I make fun of people who pin those chocolate chip cookie recipes that have like... garbanzo beans in them, right? These are NOT those cookies. They are delightfully perfect bar cookies, the only weird ingredient being Quinoa flour. I apologize for the price tag on Quinoa flour, but I promise these cookies are worth it. Quinoa is this amazing super grain containing perfect proteins and very few carbs. I thought it might make the cookies too dense or give them a grainy taste, but, miracle of miracles, it didn't! They were delightful. I've had two today.

Clark said I went a little heavy on the chocolate...
 Is that possible???

Here is the recipe. You're welcome.

Quinoa Cookie Bars

1/4 C butter, softened
3/4 C vanilla almond butter (I like Justin's)
2 large eggs
2/3 C packed light brown sugar
1/4 C honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 C quinoa flour (*If you can't find quinoa flour, I read that you can also make your own by grinding raw quinoa in a coffee grinder until it is a fine powder. Raw quinoa is  available in most grocery stores next to the rice.)
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, and then coat the parchment with cooking spray.
Beat the butter and almond butter in a mixing bowl until creamy. Add in eggs, one at a time, then the brown sugar, honey, and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the quinoa flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add a little bit of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until it is all mixed and combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Bake for 25-35 minutes until golden brown (like a big, delicious, chocolate chip cookie). Let cool in the pan for 45 minutes.This is the hard part, but they have to cool in order to properly set up. If you try to take them out beforehand, they will just fall apart into a hot, delicious mess. After 45 long minutes, carefully lift the parchment to remove all the cookies out of the pan. Pour yourself a big glass of milk, cut a square, and ENJOY. 

In Keeping with Tradition...

I am watching my DVRed "Throwdown" where Bobby Flay is challenging Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, and I am getting SO HUNGRY!!!!! Oh my heavens, their food looks amazing! Isn't it funny, though, how their recipies look so delicious, yet inevitably we will all have the same things we have had on our table year after year--delicious or not!

For example: The only person in my family who likes marshmallows on top of sweet potatoes is my dad, but year after year, we have a 9x13 dish of the casserole leaving the rest of us to scrape the marshmallows to the side... How about green bean casserole? I am lusting over the roasted brussel sprouts I see these chefs prepare, but I am pretty sure there will be cream of mushroom soup covering canned green beans wherever my hungry self lights Thanksgivng Day.

Maybe for Emma's 2nd birthday I will prepare a Thanksgiving Feast using only recipies I have never done before... ??? That could be fun! AND TASTY!!!!


PS: If you haven't received a text or seen on facebook, we are having a BOY!!!! And, boy, was he proud of the parts that make him male! As soon as the technician began the ultrasound, there he was, in all his glory! Later he was even kind enough to move his hand down to display his goods.

I didn't have a prefrence, but I am so excited to think of Emma having a brother. I just think how much I love my brother, and the special bond Emma and her little brother will have. I also feel like Clark will have his boy, and even though he says he would have been just as thrilled with a girl, I feel like he will be happy to have his mini-me. So as far as names go, we are thinking Anthony Ransom Fertitta, and he would be called Ransom. Ransom is actually my Grandma Jane's middle name, and her father got the name from Thomas E. G. Ransom, a general of the Union Army in the Civil War. Ransom in means "warrior's shield" or "deliverance, rescue" and is of English origin.

The little guy is moving right now. What a wonderful feeling!!! Emma is waking up from a 3 hour nap... Life is good! Thank you, God, for all the blessings and privileges you have given me. I pray that I will be a good steward of all you entrust to me.