Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies, Egg Drop Soup, etc.

Sorry for the lapse in posts.

Some of us have been busy painting...

Others have been doing some serious snoozing.

I made some EXCELLENT Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies over the weekend (thanks for the recipe, Lauren!)  Unfortunately I totally spaced on photographing the finished product before I shipped them off to our friends in Chicago who just had a baby.  The above photo is not great, but let me tell you- these cookies were amazing!  You melt some of the mint chocolate chips and blend them into the cookie batter to make a rich, chocolatey dough, then you stir in the rest of the mint chocolate chips.  The cookies bake out into thin, perfect rounds, with a delightfully chewy texture.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe courtesy of Lauren A O'C)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of mint chocolate chips, divided in half

1 1/4 cups white, all purpose flour (sifted and then measured)

1/2 tsp baking soda (level)

1/4 tsp salt (level)

1/3 cup butter (unsalted - room temperature)

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar (packed)

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350.

- Melt half of the chips in the microwave or in a double boiler on the stove over low heat until smooth.

- Mix butter and sugars together.  When mixture is fluffy, blend in egg and vanilla, and then the melted mint chips.  

- In a separate bowl, whisk together sifted, measured flour, baking soda and salt.  Gently mix the flour mixture into the butter/sugar/choc mixture.  Finally, stir in unmelted chips with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

- Spoon batter onto ungreased cookie sheets (or parchment papered cookie sheets).  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are gently puffed.  Do not overbake!  Cookies will harden as they cool. Add a glass of milk and :)

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I also made a very easy egg drop soup with a garlic ginger broth, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, peas, and green onion.  I thickened the broth with a cornstarch slurry.  I have never used cornstarch in soup before, so I was excited to discover that it gave my soup the exact same texture as real, Chinese restaurant egg drop soup!  This soup was so good, with the earthy mushrooms and crisp, fresh vegetables.  One could stir almost anything in-- chopped spinach, canned baby corn, water chestnuts, sliced daikon radish, bok choy, cabbage... Trevor was feeling sick to his stomach, but he still managed to eat two bowls of this soup.

Egg Drop Soup

Serves 4 as a starter, 2-3 as a main course

Broth:

4 cups low sodium chicken stock + 1 cup water

2 tsp soy sauce

3 tbsp cooking sherry

1 2-in piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, smashed

2 tbsp corn starch

2-3 large eggs, lightly beaten

3 scallions, thinly sliced

1 cup shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 carrot, peeled & thinly sliced

1/2 cup frozen green peas

Directions:

- Bring all broth ingredients (with the exception of corn starch) to a boil.  Simmer until broth is flavored to your liking (I simmered about ten minutes), then strain out garlic and ginger.  Season broth to taste with salt.

- Make a cornstarch slurry- mixing 2 tbsp corn starch with some cold water.  Whisk this mixture into your broth.

- Place eggs in a squeeze bottle with a fine tip or alternately, in a plastic baggie with a tiny corner of the bag snipped off.  Stirring soup in a circular motion, squirt eggs into the broth in a slow and steady stream.  Stop stirring and let eggs simmer, undisturbed, about 1 minute.  Stir in vegetables and serve immediately.  We finished ours off with a bit of Thai Chili Garlic sauce and a drizzle of sesame oil.