A Darling Adventure

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

A few weeks ago I brought these cookies to Knit Night, and promised the ladies I'd post the recipe. Not only did I take a few weeks to type it up, but I also forgot to take any pictures to make this properly "bloggable". You'll just have to believe me that these cookies marry the most amazing properties of buttery chocolate chip cookies with the smooth nuttiness of peanut butter, adding a wonderful crunch from the generous addition of rolled oats.

I have taken a tiny liberty with Dorie Greenspan's original recipe, and omitted the cinnamon and nutmeg. I've made this recipe before with the spices, and ended up giving away most of the batch, becuase I just couldn't stand the spice/chocolate/oatmeal/peanut butter combination. I know, I'm strange. If you think you'd like it though, just add 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg to the dry ingredients.

For the original recipe and about a million other fabulous recipes by Dorie Greenspan, check out my very favorite baking book in the whole world:

So, without further ado, here's the recipe:

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth but not natural)
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
9 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks or 1-1/2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

Whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients, beating only until blended. Mix in the chips. If you have the time, cover and chill the dough for about 2 hours or for up to 1 day. (Chilling the dough will give you more evenly shaped cookies.)

If the dough is not chilled, drop rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the baking sheet. If the dough is chilled, scoop up rounded tablespoons, roll the balls between your palms and place them 2 inches apart on the sheets. Press the chilled balls gently with the heel of your hand until they are about 1/2 inch thick.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 7 minutes. The cookies should be golden and just firm around the edges. Lift the cookies onto cooling racks with a wide metal spatula. They’ll firm up as they cool.

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

Enjoy! (And next time I make these, I promise to slip a pictur

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Greg's family comes to visit

Wow, between my readership over at my fiber arts blog and this one, 97 of you voted in my silly little poll! And a healthy 27% of you voted "I DON'T VOTE IN POLLS" You make me proud. :)

This past weekend Greg's family (Pete/Poppy, Jill/Nana, and Keith) came to visit. They're gone for the week now at a conference in Tulsa, OK, and then they'll be back again for another 2 weeks or so.

They came with us to NewChurch, where Jill took all the tourist shots (thanks for letting me lift these, Jill!):

Hanging out eating donuts and drinking coffee before Quest begins

Greg running the soundboard

Lavella and Pete eating a snack

Jonah and I...sitting (exciting! I know!!) :)

And of course, the requisite family shot

Afterwords, we went to a little local burger joint/general store for Father's Day
lunch.

When Pete, Jill and Keith drove off to Tulsa on Monday morning, the superheros had a bit of a meltdown, but I think they'll survive it.

Because they are superheros after all. And we only have to wait until Friday. :)

Tomorrow, I'll show you some things we've been working on (or you can sneak a peak over at my fiber blog), but I've just put Jonah down for a nap, and now it's time to give Andrew and Elijah piano and sewing lessons, and then QUIET TIME! (Because dudes, we ALL need our quiet time.)

Friday, June 18, 2010

Big Bend / Carlsbad

The week after Memorial Day weekend, eight friends and I took a road trip to Big Bend National Park, TX and Carlsbad National Park, NM for seven days of outdoor adventures. The trip was planned by my friend Lee who has explored Big Bend more than 20 times. His expertise in local flora and fauna was without peer so I definitely learned a lot that I definitely wouldn't have otherwise known about the Texas desert. First stop was Marfa, TX, famous for the Marfa Lights and for 1956 film, Giant. We went out that evening for our first of many nights of "herping", or finding-snakes-and-other-reptiles. Here's how it works: wait until dusk and pray for temperatures to be in the low 70s, perfect for snakes to venture out onto the warm paved road surfaces; load up the van with all willing participants armed with snake sticks, flashlights and cameras; alert local Border Patrol officers of our plans so we won't be detained for stopping along a near-border road; ride with the rear van doors open with two "door-gunners" ready to jump out as soon as we have a sighting (this was my position); sight snake, centipede, spider, lizard, etc. and execute battle drill. This night turned out to be our best herping night of the entire trip. We found a mojave snake (which by the way is highly venomous), a huge centipede which we kept, and numerous toads, lizards, and spiders. A good time was definitely had by all.

Photo by Chris Graves

Photo by Chris Graves

The next morning we proceeded on toward Big Bend with many informative stops along the way to observe local wildlife, etc.

Photo by Chris Graves

Photo by Greg Darling

We stayed at the Chisos Lodge, which is really the only option for lodging inside the park besides camping. Day two was spent exploring some of the small trails around the park, one of which was a very cool, dried up waterfall, which we of course walked right up to the edge of.

Photo by Chris Graves

Day three was spent exploring one of the many beautiful stretches of the Rio Grande River. Here's a photo of my undocumented entry into Mexico.

Photo taken by some random hikers who signed rights waivers for this shot.

Day four was our 14-mile hike on the south rim trail, including the breathtaking climb up to the highest peak in the Chisos Mountains, Emory Peak. At over 7,800' ASL the peak offers, hands-down, the best view of the entire park. Below is our motley crew sitting atop the peak.

Photo by Brian Sayler

Photo by Greg Darling

My friend Mike on Emory Peak.

Photo by Greg Darling

Photo by Greg Darling

Lee (above) and Bryan (below) climbing the last few feet to the peak.

Photo by Greg Darling

Here we all are midway through the 14-miler (all of us made it, by the way).

Photo by Bryan Sayler

We spent a very fun afternoon shooting slingshot.

Then ventured into the town of Terlingua, TX, which looked like scenes straight out of a Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez movie.

Photo by Greg Darling

While there I somewhat foolishly decided to eat a one pound hamburger complete with two fried eggs, cheese, a green chiles at the Starlight Theatre. Wow, I don't think I ever want to eat another hamburger again in my entire life.

Photo by Chris Graves

Photo by Chris Graves

The day before leaving Big Bend for Carlsbad we went to Sitting Bull Falls, which is this very peaceful oasis in the middle of the otherwise scorching heat of the Chisos mountains.

Photo by Greg Darling

Photo by Sam Wilson

Photo by Greg Darling

Photo by Chris Graves

Here are a few sunsets I captured before leaving Big Bend.

Photo by Greg Darling

Photo by Greg Darling

On our way to Carlsbad, NM, our trail vehicle got pulled over for having a "suspiciously unsecure load". They got off with a warning and a good laugh from the rest of us.

Photo by Greg Darling

Before venturing into the Carlsbad cavern we did some hiking around the park and I sighted three big-horned sheep as well as some cool old trees along the trail.

This being an adventurous trip we signed up for the elite, Hall of The White Giant spelunking tour of the caverns rather than the usual walking tour. The trail was definitely more than the standard walking cave tour. In fact there really wasn't much walking to be done at all. More like crawling and climbing through some rather tight spots. But it was soooo much fun. After having done this I have officially made spelunking one of my new hobbies.

Photo taken by our former thespian (he was an extra in Die Hard 4, among others) park ranger.

I can definitely say this was one of the best vacations I've ever taken. I got to know eight other guys a lot better than I did before and I know we'll continue to forge the friendships we started on many more adventures.

Photo by Bryan Sayler

Scarborough Ren Faire

This post is sort of old news, but we neglected to blog about our outing to the Scarborough Renaissance Faire over Memorial Day weekend. This faire was held at what seemed to be permanent renaissance-faire-type-grounds in Waxahachie, TX, in-between Waco and Dallas.

Up first was this guy who calls himself Cast In Bronze. He played a four-ton, 35-bell medieval instrument called a Carillon. Pretty impressive and surprisingly loud.