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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

just add chocolate...

getting ready to bake peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

Yesterday I was in the mood to bake cookies and since my 14 year old grandson  (not to mention  son and DH) loves chocolate chip cookies, I thought I would give it a go and have some ready when he came home from school.  I also made home-made cheese burgers with lots of fixings, buns, and my special  HM potato salad.  Now my potato salad is probably not special... but I'm one of those people who doesn't care for most potato salads and have always been a bit 'afraid' of it... since in the south potato salad in the hot sun can be a problem.  My mom warned me enough about eating it out that I almost never eat it period.  But I came across a recipe a while back that we all really love.  So-oo I occasionally make it for us.  If you're interested I found the recipe in Jan Karon's Cookbook (The Midford Series)... and tweaked it a bit.


These are my little pie birds.  The one in the center is not a real pie bird.  I got him at a pottery show in Gruene, Tx.  and he was too cute to resist.  Besides, I seldom use them as pie birds anyway.  They just sit on my Aga and make me happy.





28 comments:

  1. I don't even know what a pie bird is. LOL. But those cookies...YUM. I used to make cookies and cakes quite often, but that was a long time ago. The "problem" with making chocolate chip cookies is that the dough is SO delicious, one has to double the batch just to get enough to bake. Heh heh.

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    1. A pie bird is supposed to sit in your pie and let out the steam... cute idea.

      As for the cookie dough being delicious, well... that is a problem. DH hangs around waiting for the *bowls*...

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  2. When I was growing up our peanut butter cookies were rolled in a ball and criss crossed with fork tines dipped in the flour canister. That's how I taught my daughters, too. I smiled when I saw the evidence of fork tines in your peanut butter cookies, even including chocolate chips!

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    1. Yes, it's not as easy to *tine* the PB cookies when they are full of chocolate chunks and chips.

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  3. Lovely dishes and darling Pie Birds, Rian :) Those cookies look yummy!!!

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    1. I 'used to' collect cups and saucers... and these were some of the Vernonware and PoppyTrail by Metlox. Only have 1 or 2 of each design... the grapes, rose, and daisy. But they are fun.

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  4. Oh those look so yummy. Potatoe Salad is a strange beast ....my kids and their friends always loved mine but I always found myself saying sorry because it was not like shop bought texture ...all these years later I still make it the same way ...everyone stll loves it and thats what matters.xx

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    1. Angie, I'm wondering if potato salad is different 'across the pond'. I mean, everyone's potato salad is probably a little different (depending on taste), but I wonder if it's inherently different?

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    2. Basically our potatoe salad is simply diced cooked cold potato coated in mayonaise...I use 50/50 with 'salad cream'....I think this is a British thing but it gives it a sharper taste ... one can add finely diced onion or chives to the cubed potatoe...I tend to use a little onion...sometimes I dress it with chives and sometimes cripy bacon but the main difference in how I make mine is that I coat it when the potatoes are still warm and I add alittle freshly ground black pepper for taste....Is this like yours?

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    3. I never heard of 'salad cream', but I use sour cream in mine along with the mayo (and I cut down on the mayo and add a little yellow mustard). I also add finely chopped purple onion, celery, bacon, pepper, salt (very little), parsley, and of course hard boiled eggs. Generally I don't dice my potatoes, but cut them in halves and fourths (with the skins on - usually Yukon Gold), boil, then cool. Most skins fall right off then. After they cool, I add everything else and refrigerate.

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    4. Mmmmm ....like the sound of yours ...a proper salad rather than an addition to a salad ....like the idea of the eggs. My Mum used to add quartered eggs to a mixed salad of greenery and tomatoes.

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    5. We use hard boiled eggs in green salads a lot too. My usual 'supper salad' (on nights when we aren't hungry for a big meal) is lettuce, tomato, apple, purple onion, cheese, nuts, hard boiled egg, and whatever salad dressing preferred.

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  5. That first pic, if only we all got-that-ready, before we baked!!!!!! :-)

    Your "chickies" are so cute. Makes me realize, I don't have a single *cute* thing, in my kitchen. Guess I have pared-down a mite-too-much.

    Yummmmm... And your plates are so pretty. I'm not a blue-loving-person, but yours is the 2nd blog I've read this morning, with so-pretty-blues, in them. :-)))))

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  6. They look very good, Rian. I would probably break my diet to eat one or two of those delicious looking cookies. Yum! :-)

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    1. DJan, I always let myself have *one*. I showed 2 in the picture as it looked better. The 'boys' ate the rest.

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  7. Thanks, Nora. Yes, I'm not sure why pie birds were invented (since slitting a pie crust seems to do the same thing), but they ARE cute.

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  8. Auntie, if I didn't check what I had before starting, you can bet that I'd end up minus some important ingredient. Of course if I'm *baking*... DH is more than happy to run out to the store and get it.

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  9. I was in a cookie baking mood yesterday aw well. I made oatmeal with walnuts. They taste really good, but they are no where near as pretty and round as yours. I served them to guests, but it was in the evening on a dimly lit patio so i got away with it.

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  10. We all need some non-essential things whose only value is that they make us happy. Sometimes there is just not enough "happy" to go around and having some "happys" sitting around comes in handy.

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  11. We all need some non-essential things whose only value is that they make us happy. Sometimes there is just not enough "happy" to go around and having some "happys" sitting around comes in handy.

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    1. I think we do too... not a lot, but a few things around us that make us smile.

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  12. Your cookies look delicious, Rian, and I love the fact that making cookies is still done so much in the USA. I doubt very many people in the UK still make what we call biscuits.

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    1. I think partly because cake-making has always been more popular (lots of recipe books for cakes, very few for biscuits) and partly because every supermarket has shelves and shelves of biscuits for sale and making them yourself is just too much trouble, even if you know how. At Christmas Americans make cookies, in Britain we make fruitcake and mince pies. :-)

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  13. Your cookies look scrumptious! I haven't baked any cookies in so long. There is nothing that beats homemade ones, though. Nice blog!

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    1. There is something wonderfully *homey* about cookies baking in the oven. Thanks for visiting, Linda.

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  14. I bet your home smelled good when the grand came home from school :) you pie birds are cute...did you know they are hugely collectible and that they have pie bird conventions?

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