Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cranberries

I truly now understand why I have a difficulty in making the best Chocolate Chip Cookies. I can't do without some 'fruits' in my cookies. So, I decided to make Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cranberries. I think I like this recipe better than the other one because it is less 'cake' like.

Yield: 46 Bake at 375'F for 8 min.

Ingredients:
2/3 C butter
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1-1/2 C AP Flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C Chips, Guittard Milk Chocolate
1 C dried cranberries

Whisk first 4 ingredients together - manually - by hand - 2 min - Add egg. Whisk 1 min.
Mix flour, baking soda, and salt together. Sift and add to the sugar mixture.
Fold.
Add Chips and cranberries.
Use 1 Tbsp Cookie Scoop and drop on Silpat sheet covered over cookie sheet.
Bake at 375'F for 8 min. lower rack in gas stove oven.

Fresh Peach Ice-Cream, Lactose Free & Peach Crostada

This is the second year of this "PANTAO" peach. But I am convinced now that the seed I planted is not of the PANTAO peach I ate but the Chinese Crispy Honey Peach. They are wonderfully sweet and crispy. Birds only got to some of them, but not as bad as the Japanese Pears that ants and what not got to them before I did. I cropped at least 8 lb of peach. And it is just about 5'7" tall. This is a very good tree to grow.
The flesh is cripsy and it has a very red seed. As it becomes soft, the flesh turns pink to red.
I didn't have time to prepare them into dessert right away, so they all sat in the kitchen till today. Most of them got soft, and is perfect for baking and ice-cream.
I made Peach Crostada. But what a crumble. Because my kitchen became very warm today, the dough was not very cooperative, even after chilling. It did not go quite well like the other night when I prepared the Japanese Pear Crostada. I had to scoop the whole thing into a tin - crumbled. So, I call it the Crumbled fresh peach pie? crostada? if it's in a tin, I don't think it's crostada. Regardless, the taste of the sweet peach and tangy lemon turned out perfect for after the dinner dessert.
Here is the Peach Ice-Cream. Lactose free milk, heavy cream is not lactose free, but there is enough lactose free milk in it that it is just delicious without any side affect (to me).

Home Made Lactose Free Peach Ice-Cream
Yield: half gallon
3 C Lactose free milk
1 C heavy cream
2 organic eggs
6 oz cane sugar
1-3/4 oz Truvia
2 C peeled, chopped peaches
Juice from 1 Lemon to keep peach from browning
Scald milk and heavy cream together. Mix 2 eggs and cane sugar together.
Pour 3/4 of the hot scald milk mixture into sugar & egg mixture and whisk them together.
Return the milk sauce pan onto "Bain Marie".
Add the egg/sugar and milk mixture into the rest of the milk in the sauce pan over the 'Bain Marie'.
Bain Marie until the back of the spoon is coated and when a finger is ran across it, it clears the cream coating - "custard texture". Stir occassionally, about 30 min.
Remove from heat. Exchange the hot water in the sauce pan with ice & water. Chill the egg/milk mixture sauce pan in it.
Once it is cooled, transfer to refrigerator. Once it is chilled. It is ready to follow the instruction of your favorite ice-cream machine.
Add 2-1/2 C of milk/egg mixture into the tub (Cuisinart is mine). Mix 20 min. Add 1 C peaches. Churn - 30 min.
Make sure to check the machine and help by stiring the fruits around and off the stir blades.
When done. Transfer the ice-cream into a tub with cover. Prepare the other half.
Enjoy another summer dessert directly from your fruits garden!

Organic Cha Soba with Shiitake, Cucumbers, and egg strips

Enjoy Saturday evening snack with this Organic Cha (Green Tea) Soba garnished with simmered Shiitake strips, cucumber strips, egg strips (fried pancake style), drizzled with tangy sweet rice vinegar, sesame oil, and Nanami Togarashi.



Ingredients:
1 package Organic CHA Soba
1/2 Cucumber cut into strips
1 beaten egg + 1/2 tsp sugar and pinch of salt - pan fried into flat sheet, cooled, cut into think strips
Shiitake - Dehydrated 'Whole' Shiitake -rehydrated in 2 C "boiling hot" water.  Keep covered for 15 min.
When cool to handle, slice each Shiitake into thin strips.

SOBA TSU-YU:  (Soba "Tsu-Yu" Sauce - served warm)
Return the cut rehydrated Shiitake into a saucepan with its soup.
Add 1/2 C MIRIN
Add 1/2 C Low Sodium Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Sugar

Simmer to boil.  Remove from heat.  Cool to warm temp.  
Normally TSU-YU is served warm, but for hot summer, you can chill it and serve cold with the noodle as well.  You can use this TSU-YU or save it in a Mason jar for some other time.

Cook Cha Soba for 6 min.  Drain and strain under cool water.  Strain water out.
Arrange cooled noodle on a plate.  Arrange strip cucumbers, eggs, and Shiitake on top of noodle.  You have a choice to use the SOBA TSU-YU you made with Shiitake or serve with "sesame oil vinegar sauce" as follows.

Easy Japanese/Chinese Cold Noodle Sauce:

Serves: 1
3 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
1 tsp sugar or add less or more for sweetness
1/2 tsp sesame oil
sprinkles of NANAMI TOKARASHI (Japanese ground 'seven' chili pepper)
Instead of Rice Vinegar and adding sugar, you can also use the handy premixed SUSHI vinegar.  It turns out the same.  Be careful not to pour sesame oil.  A drop of sesame oil sometime is just perfect to give that wonderful aroma; otherwise, your dish becomes 'greasy' & that's part of the reason why they are sold in a small bottle.  A drop of sesame oil goes a long way.

If you like the soy sauce flavor:

Serves: 2 - 3
3 Tb Soy sauce (Low sodium)
6 Tb Rice Vinegar
2 tsp+ Sugar to taste
2 Tb Sesame Oil

Lotus - Lavender Lady

Chocolate Chip Cookies Challenge

Chocolate chip cookies is one of the favorites for many.  My friends seem to know how to bake them, but not I.  Over the years, I only had one 'gwey' chocolate chip cookies that turned out with a wow.  But, I forgot to write down the ingredient measurements, and how.  So after twenty some years, it's start all over for the search for the best gwey chocolate chip cookies.  As a start, this year, I tried this recipe that was printed in the back of 25 lb All Purpose flour I bought.  The ingredients seems to be a bit different than the ones in the back of the chocolate chip package, so I decided to give it a try.
Well, the result of the taste is - very good.  Texture:  I would like to improve on it.
My friends tell me not to beat the eggs and butter like I do with my cakes with the mixer.  So, I basically beat and mixed everything manually with whisk and spatula.  Then, scooped the cookie dough with the 1 Tbsp cookie scoop.   Placed each one on top of the Silpat over the cookie sheet and baked at 350'F as recommended.  I also made sure to chill the dough before each handling because it is quite warm in my kitchen during the summer - 80 - 84'F.  I was also short in time, so I put the dough in the freezer for 2 min before each use.
My friends bake for 8 min.  I followed my recipe and baked for 12 min.  But they did not brown as theirs do.  They said to bake at 375'F the next time.   If you have a chocolate chip cookies recipe that is gwey or chewy, do please share with me.
I took my batch to the office and my friend brought her batch.  Well, it's like night and day difference.  Her's look nice and brown and soft.  Mine is pale and soft after 12 min.  or Brown and dry - after 17 min of baking to get them browned.  But taste wise, we like both.    Texture wise, my friends chocolate chip cookies win.

Makes 60 cookies when 1 Tbsp cookie scoop is used.

Ingredients:
 1 C brown sugar
3/4 C Zuca Cane Sugar
1 C softened butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

2-1/2 C All Purpose Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 pk 12 oz chocolate chips
3/4 tsp salt

Beat eggs and sugar together.  Than, add butter and vanilla.   Mix well.   Preheat oven to 375'F
Mix flour, baking soda, and salt together.  Add to the beaten batter.  Fold the mixture and add Chocolate Chips.
Scoop the dough onto Silpat over cookie sheet or on the cookie sheet.
Bake for 8 min and or take out when the edge of the cookies brown.
Transfer to the cooling rack and cool.