Chocolate Chip Cookies

We made up a 1.5 batch of chocolate chip cookies last night. We baked 1.5 dozen cookies right away, and then we froze the rest of the dough. When we freeze the dough, we freeze it in little cookie dough balls on a baking sheet. We freeze it overnight, and then when they are frozen into little cookie dough balls, we put them into a plastic bag in the freezer. It makes it a lot easier, in my opinion. We have 4 1/2 dozen frozen cookie dough balls in our freezer right now :)

My recipe for chocolate chip cookies is based on the Nestle Toll House recipe, with a few changes.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) of unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar
• 1 TBSP of vanilla extract (variation on original recipe)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12 oz. pkg) of Semi-Sweet chocolate morsels (My variation: I use 1/2 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 package of milk chocolate chips. I think it's a good combination)

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2) Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl

3) Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until creamy. (Be sure to use a LARGE bowl)

4) Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5) Gradually beat in flour mixture

6) Stir in chocolate chips

7) Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets

8) Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until golden brown

9) Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely

Hot Cocoa

I drink a lot of hot chocolate. Unfortunately, I usually drink Swiss Miss. I think it is probably not the "healthiest" hot chocolate ever. So when I ran out of Swiss Miss on grocery day last week, I decided that it was time to try making my own. I know I wanted a recipe that doesn't require milk (in case I don't have any around). I found this recipe and it sounded good.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup cocoa (the recipe calls for Dutch process, but after talking with the lady at Penzeys, I ended up using the "natural cocoa powder" and it was a great choice)
• 2 and 1/2 cups instant nonfat dry milk (I got a big box of this for $5 at Cub; I bought the generic brand. The non-generic was $10 for the same size box; ridiculous!)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper (I actually have a measuring spoon for a "pinch" thanks to a wedding gift from a lovely bridesmaid and personal attendant, and it was the perfect amount for this recipe. My guess is that it is between 1/16 and 1/8 of a tsp.)

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a large tupperware container (make sure you have a lid for that container).
2. Put the lid on (tightly - heehee - don't want a disaster) and shake it until the ingredients are mixed evenly.
3. Fill your mug half full with the mixture (I used 1/2 cup).
4. Pour hot water into the mug and then stir to combine.

Grandma Ercyl's Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

E and I got an ice cream maker as a wedding gift from Chrissy. Things have been a little hectic, so we used it for the first time on Super Bowl Sunday!

My grandma Ercyl makes fabulous vanilla ice cream, so we used her recipe. Making ice cream requires prep work.

Prep work:

• The night before you are going to make ice cream, put the "bowl" of the ice cream maker into the back of your freezer. It needs to freeze.
  
• You should make the ice cream mix the night before and refrigerate it overnight so it is cold enough.
  

We used a 1 1/2 quart size ice cream maker; our recipe is based on that.

1st set of ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of cream
• 1 1/2 cups of whole milk
  

1) Beat the eggs until they are blended (but don't overdo it).
2) Add cream and milk and mix well (but not too long).
3) Set these aside.

2nd set of ingredients:

• 1 cup of whole milk
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/4 tsp. of salt

1) Cook milk, sugar, and salt until they are between 165 and 180 degrees Fahrenheit (we also got a cooking thermometer as a wedding present. Yay!). It should not be boiling. You need to stir it the whole time. Once it gets between 165 and 180 degrees, cool it a little (but do not let it get below 165 degrees).

2) Pour a small amount of this hot mixture into the egg mixture that you set aside. Do this slowly (you don't want to cook the eggs). Keep stirring.

3) Keep adding the hot mixture into the egg mixture until it is well blended (this heats up the eggs so that they are safe to eat).

** If you accidentally cook some of the eggs, strain them out.**

4) Cool this in the refrigerator until it is really cold (at least 4 to 6 hours; it is better to just do it the night before).

5) Once it is cool and you are about to make the ice cream, add 1 TBSP. of vanilla (some people add more). Don't forget this part :)

6) Now follow the instructions on your ice cream maker.