More cookies and other random crap

I've been slowly making my way through the Taste of Home Cookie book that I bought a few months back. But this week I got super motivated and made 4 different recipes. I was trying to abide by my rule of not skipping more than one at a time, but I just couldn't bring myself to go back to the Chocolate Pecan Kisses. Here is a quick recap of those cookies and the changes I would do to make them even better.


Easy Kitchen Sink Cookies - These weren't my favorite, but they have potential. I like the idea of throwing a bunch of candies and nuts all into one cookie, but the problem with this recipe is that the base cookie just isn't that good. And if your base isn't good, the rest of the cookie just won't hold up. Its a bit too much oatmeal and lacks any real flavor. If I were to do these again I would take your standard chocolate chip cookie recipe and use that as the base cookie, adding in your chocolate chips, reese's, coconut, walnuts, nutmeg, cinnamon (yep, gotta add that), and M&M's in addition.

Soft Orange Molasses Drops - Of the 4 that I made last week, these were my favorite. They are soft and chewy and have big flavor. A bit forward on the nutmeg and cloves, I'd take those two ingredients down to 1/4 tsp each.

Potato Chip Cookies - These too weren't bad, but they also weren't anything special. I enjoyed the crunch that the potato chips brought to the cookie, very unique, however the butterscotch totally overpowers the cookie. Cut that down from 1 cup to 3/4 cup and you'll probably achieve a better balance.

Chocolate Raspberry Cookies - I was really excited to try out these cookies. The name alone reminded me of this awesome white and dark chocolate raspberry crunch candy bar from Maui called WowWee. Also, I did change up the recipe a bit by using dark chocolate morsels instead of the semisweet, perhaps that is why I just felt lack luster about these guys. You've got raspberry, dark chocolate, and white chocolate and you're just waiting for all the flavors to pop, but instead... nothing. They just really taste like nothing. My best description: eh.

So those are the 4 that I made this week. But looking back on the last blog I realized that I haven't commented on the Frosted Rhubarb Cookies I made weeks ago. How could I forget, these were the best from the book thus far! Easily a 9/10. And you wouldn't think so either, because really, who puts rhubarb in a cookie? They almost have a brown sugar taste to them and they melt in your mouth. Winner.


In other unrelated news

A 2 1/2 foot metal rooster has joined the gnome and monkey in our garden. A few months back I made Jeremy stop at this roadside shop in Brenham, TX off 290 halfway between Houston and Austin. They have all these weird outdoor yard objects including, yep, metal roosters. But not just any metal rooster, it's a fancy rooster because it's got a hat, an umbrella, and its smoking a cigar. And one can be yours for the bargain price of $65. We took one look and Jeremy said "that's awesome, we have to have one." However, at the time we were in our 'lets not spend money right now' phase and so we left empty handed. What was I thinking.

Fast forward 1 month and after 30 minutes walking around to find the exact right one to garnish our lawn, we found ourselves driving home with a metal rooster in the back seat of the Mazda.

While all of this is highly amusing it became even more so when our friend, Brandon, stopped over one day, took one look at the rooster and said to me, "have you read Bloggess?" To which I replied "what is a bloggess?" And then he showed me, and I cried so hard I almost peed my pants.

So now I present to you, Bloggess and the tale of the big metal chicken. Enjoy.