Peanut Butter Button Cookies

 When I say button I actually mean it. They look like actually buttons.

 Simple peanut butter cookie recipe. I will you save you from the fate of your cousins: no fork tines will scrape your back.

 As you can see, these cookies are pretty small. As uncooked balls they should fit inside a bottle cap.

 We're getting to the fun part. Just as the cookies come out of the oven, still warm, you have to make the buttons. Hurry, there's not a lot of time before they get too rigid and cool.

 How do you make the cute little button-ridge? That afore-mentioned bottle cap. Press it into the cookie. Perfect.

 Then the holes? It involves a straw. Bring it down and give the straw a smart turn. When you draw up, you should have left a neat hole for your button. This is fun for the first, oh, 100 holes. Then it starts to get sucky. Wait, did I mention? The cookie left from the button holes accumulate. What's really fun? Sucking them out of the straw. Like a pneumatic tube that ends in your mouth.

These make great gifts. Put them in a jar and tie with a ribbon. That's what I did. ANd the best thing about giving a gift of food? You often get to help eat them.

Peanut Butter Button Cookies
adapted from Bakerella and allrecipes
makes about 60 tiny buttons


note: bake these in about four batches. As you take one out, put the next in and start transforming the done batch into buttons. As you finish, the next batch should be ready. Be careful not to bake too many at one time, because they'll cool and harden before you're ready to work with them.

6 tbsps unsalted butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup turbinado sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsps baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. 

Optional: at this time, you can chill in the refrigerator for an hour to help combat spreading when they bake.
Roll into balls that will fit inside a soda cap and put on baking sheets.  

Bake for about 6-10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.

While cookies are still warm and soft, press the soda top into each to make an indent in the middle,a nd then use a straw to poke four button holes for each cookie. Some will crack. Don't worry. Those are for eating while you work.

Carrot Griddlecakes

 These were originally called carrot tortillas, but that seems misleading to one who grew up in a culture that knows tortilla only as a corn or flour pancake. Actually, that's the mexican definition. In Spanish cooking, a tortilla is an omelet stuffed to bursting with vegetables. That's what this is. And, like any good american, I changed the name up a bit. For its own good.

This griddlecake carrot cake, carrot pancake thing needs to be appreciated. So what if it's name is a little hard to choose? It's the most delicious thing to put on your plate for lunch or dinner. And it's easy to make in single servings. It's funny, because cooking carrot into things does not play a big part American cooking, yet it's sweet and crunchy and even crispy and so great with onion. It's kind of like potato latkes, but spanish. This is a fragile, falling apart meal that's best with ketchup unrepentantly slathered over it. No knife needed.

Carrot Griddlecakes
serves 2.
adapted from Recipes from South America


1/2 onion, roughly diced
2 medium carrots, grated
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
2 tbsps olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
4 tbsp chopped parsley

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat.

Add the onion and sautee for 5-8 minutes. 

Combine the grated carrot and onion in a small bowl.
In a separate bowl mix the eggs with the milk, parsley, salt, and pepper, and beat with a fork for 30 seconds until foamy.

Using the same pan, heat the other tbsp oil over medium heat. 

Squeeze the carrot and onion mixture gently with a paper towel to remove excess moisture that will make the cake soggy, and add to the pan.

Flatten it so as to cover the entire skillet evenly, adding at once the egg mixture and allow to cover the carrots evenly, shaking the pan a little. 

Cook the tortilla over medium heat for about 15 minutes. 

When the center is cooked flip the cake (which can be done with the help of a plate to invert it and place back on the pan) and let it brown on the other side about 3 minutes more.

Serve warm with more parsley as garnish, if desired.

Green Eggs (sans ham)

 Yay! They're eggs! And they're green! And the green actually denotes something nutritious and not food colored!

 The green is from kale, the ever-nutrient-ready green of my heart, apple of my eye, yadda yadda. Bright. Green. Do you see these eggs?! You blend everything up (the kale, the eggs) and throw it in a pan. It makes breakfast more fun and makes you feel super-healthy.

Oh, right. And I better explain the red. It turns out, I'm weird. No, I mean duh, I'm weird, but specifically when it comes to scrambled eggs. Apparently not many people put ketchup on their scrambled eggs. Well, world, I do. And not only is it visually striking, but it is so much better than anything else you could try to put on your eggs. The same goes for ketchup/mac-and-cheese combo. 'Nuff said. Go to it, my friends.

Kale Green Eggs
serves 2-3.
adapted from elena's pantry

4 eggs
4 large kale leaves
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive oil

ketchup!

Roughly chop the kale to be friendly to your blender and stuff it into that thing. Add eggs and blend.
Heat oil in pan under medium heat.
Pour eggs into pan and add salt and pepper.
Scramble by pushing the spatula around the pan until lumps start to form.
Cook eggs for a couple minutes (the longer they cook, the less runny they become).
Douse in ketchup.

(is it too early to make a joke about christmas?)

Chinese Tea Eggs

 I first ran into tea eggs about a year ago, at my local bubble tea place (bubble tea-my designated guilty pleasure. I've had every single flavor from the forty at my place.) They're these super cool hard boiled eggs that are then lightly cracked and steeped overnight in an odd tea/soy sauce mixture.

 What comes out is this marbled, kaleidoscopic creation that is utterly delicious. Who knew that black tea mixed with copious amounts of star anise and soy sauce could create the perfect flavor on hard boiled eggs?