Ding, dong...zucchini

Hello? Are you still out there?  I guess I should warn you before I take a leave of absence, hmm?

Well, I'm back with a few (mind you, only a few...) ideas for the blog in me head.

So..........................Today's topic is zucchini.

Word on the street is that this time of year, most people who've planted zucchini end up having more than they know what to do with.  So much so, that they search high and low for anyone (anyone?!) who would take it off their hands. I've heard of some people actually ringing a doorbell, droppin' zucchini like it's hot on the doorstep and high-tailing it out of there before anyone can protest.  A woman down our street just placed a literal mound of zucchinis in her driveway with a free sign.

Me? I got some from my grandma's neighbor and my next door neighbor.

But I asked for it.

Great right? Just saute it with some garlic and olive oil and voila!?

Been there, done that many-a-time.  But you can only do that so much.

Plus, Aaron doesn't even like it (he gave it a valiant effort) and so I was the one stuck with too many zucchini. 

I thought about making zucchini bread.  But then a thought came about: "what about cookies?"

So an internet search was done and I found some tasty sounding cookies and gave them a try!

They were a crowd pleaser, let me tell you. Here's the recipe (sadly I wrote it down and forgot where I got it from) if you'd like to give it a try.

Chocolate Oatmeal Zucchini cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325.   Line or grease a cookie sheet.  Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Stir in the egg and vanilla.  Mix well.  Stir in the shredded zucchini.  In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients together.  Stir in the dry ingredients, then the oats and then the chocolate chips. Bake for 11 minutes (mine had to go for closer to 14 min.)  Enjoy!

Perfectly Pepto Pink Cookies

Last month I stumbled upon these cookies and couldn't get them out of my head.

I had to find the recipe and make it mine.

The only problem was that I had no idea who made them, or what they were called.

So I googled pink cookies with white chocolate chips and found a variety of recipes.

I tried one and was really disappointed.

So I tried another and found these perfectly chewy and Pepto-pink cookies.

And they were "the ones" I was looking for.

If you're interested, they are called Strawberry White Chocolate Chip cookies.

Sad to say, I have none to share as I ate a lot of them, but if you want to make them (they. are. easy!) click on the link above!

Chocolate chip cookies

I'll be the first to tell you that I'm pretty picky about my chocolate chip cookies.  You see, there can't be too many chocolate chips, but it's kinda lame if there's only one in the cookie too.  My ideal cookie should never be crisp or crunchy, but soft....just like it came out of the oven.  A couple years ago a co-worker brought in these little gems that turned out to be, in my opinion, the best chocolate chip recipe I've laid my eyes on to date.  Give them a try.  People will be eating out of your hands.  Literally.  So be careful with this recipe.

Soft-Ooey-Gooey chocolate chip cookies
Makes around 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of margarine at room temp and cubed
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 c white sugar
• 1 small box of vanilla or white chocolate instant pudding (sugar free could be used too)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 package chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Combine is medium bowl the flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.
3. Combine margarine and sugar until well blended.  Add both eggs, vanilla, pudding mix and beat well. 
4. Add the flour mixture slowly and mix again until well blended.
5. Stir in chocolate chips
6. Bake for 9-12 minutes