A Fairytale

Once upon a time three months ago, there lived a beautiful accountant princess who longed to escape the evil horror known as public accounting.

So our little public accountant interviewed for a private accounting position. And in this interview, she let it slip that she loved to bake and would love even more to bring goodies in to her potential new office if she were to be hired.

"Why would she do such a thing?" you might ask.

Well friends, in an attempt to do whatever it took to get out of public accounting, our current little public accountant just might be willing to use this tasty little personal tidbet as leverage to get this job.

You might say, "Dear public accountant, don't you think you would be hired based on technical skill and background?"

And our little public accountant would most certainly and wholly agree with that. "But...", she might say, "what if someone else has my level of skill and background? Couldn't I just try to give myself a more personable appearance? Just to have a little advantage?"

You might nod your head in agreement.

Now in our fairytale, our favorite baking accountant is hired for the job. She starts at her new job that's full of friendly faces and non-public accounting happiness and a 401(k) plan subject to audit. And she remembers that there is, in fact, good still left in the world.

But then she realizes that she will now need to bake something for the office.

But this can't just be any little something!

I mean, you, er, our little public turned private accountant was possibly hired under the premise that she bake wonderful little somethings to share with her soon-to-beloved coworkers! She must wow them in order to keep her job, or risk going back to the fire and brimstone of public accounting.

So, dear friends, our little private accountant decided to pull out the big fairy tale guns: Chinese Cinnamon.

And she turned to a recipe she hoped could wow them all. A recipe so wonderful that they gave her a promotion, a raise, and a new corner office with many windows. But they built her the new office so no one else would have to give up their office.*


Cinnamon Cookies

from food.com

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
cinnamon sugar

Directions:

1. In a mixer bowl, cream together sugar and butter; beat in egg and vanilla.
2. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.
3. Add to butter mixture and blend well.
4. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or till firm enough to roll into balls.
5. Shape dough into small balls about 3/4-inch in diameter and roll in cinnamon sugar to coat.
6. Set cookies 1-inch apart on lightly greased cookie sheets.
7. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or till the edges are lightly browned.
   

*Note: This recipe does not guaranteed the baker a raise, a promotion, or a new corner office with many windows.

A Discussion on Bacon

Can we chat for a second about bacon? I think that we should. I feel like this is an important topic that we really need to discuss.


Bacon is amazing!


That's all. I mean, seriously, what more could I tell you about it? It's good stuff.

Oh! You wanted me to tell you what to do with it? Gotcha. Well friends, I like to put it in chocolate chip cookies!


Do you see that? Yup! That's what we in the biz like to call a "bacon chocolate chip cookie." Let's take a closer look at this.

Uh huh. Those big chunks of goodness are none other than crispy pieces of bacon. I just cooked about 5 or 6 slices of thick bacon and then crumbled it into my usual chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Pillsbury Best Desserts

5-6 slices of bacon
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 12 oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Cook bacon until crisp. Cool and crumble into pieces.
2. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; blend well. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Fold in chocolate chips and bacon pieces.
3. Drop dough by rounded tablesppoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Be careful not to overbake them.
   

I'm Not Dead!!

Bet you probably thought I was, though! I fully intend to play the busy season card, with filing deadlines, working weekends, and incredibly long hours. I know you're probably thinking, "Typical lame accountant excuse." But seriously, it was crazy busy this past month, especially the last couple weeks.

However, just because I haven't posted in, oh say, a month, doesn't mean that I haven't been up to any culinary quests. I just haven't gotten around to posting them. But I have so much to tell you about and not nearly enough time to blog about it! I've made cookies and cakes and muffins and more! There were Wine Sundays and brunch and potlucks and a happy evening called Beer Saturday.

But I can't blog about every little crumb that came out of my kitchen. In a whirlwind of taxes and baking, I truly can't remember everything I made. And I repeatedly fail at taking photos. I know there is no remaining evidence of the corn muffins I made for Beer Saturday. Or the lemon poppy seed muffins I made for my Post Easter Brunch. And I think I made some cookies at some point for a potluck, maybe peanut butter?

So I want to tell you about the big things that happened. Like our Easter festivities, which also celebrated James and Jeremy coming home from their one year in Kuwait! And my cake decorating classes, which have been fabulous! So please have patience with me as I catch up with my blogging.

In the meantime, please accept these cookies as an I'm-sorry-I-ignored-this-blog-for-a-month offering. Since today was the first truly gorgeous day that fell on a weekend, the guys, the Resident Taste Tester, and I had a barbeque at the Stead park by the guys house. The guys, our official meat producers, took charge of making fabulous burgers and brats. The Resident Taste Tester put together a tasty veggie tray. And I took requests and brought potato salad and, per James' request, the chocolate trip peanut butter nut cookies I sent to him in Kuwait.

These cookies are incredibly tasty, but simple to throw together. I bake them for less time than called for in the recipe, since I like a chewy softer cookie as opposed to a crunchy cookie. I think I found that 9 minutes and 30 seconds was the perfect time. Any shorter makes for a slighlty undercooked cookie, ask me how I know. We were in a hurry to get to the park, so I took photos after we got there. I kid you not, we were there for maybe 5 minutes before I took my camera out and snapped some shots. The plate was, key word being "was", a heaping mountain of cookies when I arrived.

Chunky Peanut, Chocolate, and Cinnamon Cookies
Makes about 5 dozen

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup roasted, salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Put butter and peanut butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until combined, about 2 minutes. Add sugars; mix 2 minutes. Mix in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips, peanuts, and vanilla with a mixing spoon until well distributed. Refrigerate dough until it is slightly firm, 15 minutes.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Space balls 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Flatten slightly. Bake until just golden, about 13 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

I have a confession to make. And I can tell you because I'm pretty sure none of the guys follow my blog. I didn't make this potato salad. I was tired from being out late Saturday and had limited time to cook before we were supposed to be at the park. And normally I would make my regular potato salad recipe, because it's tasty and I like making it. But, like I said, I was tired and pressed for time. So I bought it at the deli and put it in my bowl and said I made it. Don't judge me.