This post is sponsored by CAULIPOWER but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.
I am always looking for healthy alternatives for myself and my family. Especially for my 3-year-old. She loves, loves, loves chicken nuggets, chicken tenders, popcorn chicken, chicken, chicken all the chicken.
It isn’t always the healthiest, but she will never turn down some deep fried chicken. And as a toddler, she doesn’t always finish her food, so who ends up eating the scraps? Mom here!
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I don’t want to brag, but my kids friends think I’m the greatest mom in the neighborhood. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I bake cookies pretty much every week.
It’s kind of hard to keep coming up with new cookies to bake each and every week, and it’s not too often that I get to return to an old favorite. In fact, I remember one day when one son was gushing over the cookie of the week, and the other son commented, “Do you like that? Because you’ll never have it again.”
Having a cookie blog is a double-edged sword, my friends.
I decided to revive an old favorite this week, one I haven’t made for maybe 2 years. One that is extra large and extra chocolatey, just the way I like my cookies. I used an amazing recipe from Cookie Madness, though I did make one tiny little addition, one that is completely optional, but more on that later.
The recipe calls for 12 oz. of chocolate, chopped up into pieces. That equals 3-4 good bars of chocolate or 1 bag of chocolate chips. This go-round I used 2 Scharffen Berger Chocolate Bars
The addition I made was to add just a little swirl of peanut butter. I used only 1/2 cup for this small batch, and swirled it into the dough at the very last minute. I wanted some bites to be more peanut-buttery than others, kind of like the chocolate, I guess. If you’re not into peanut butter, though, just leave it out and no one will be the wiser.
Farmers markets are a way of life here in Seattle. Over the past three years, I’ve seen farmers retire and small vendors grow successful businesses that began in a simple market stall. It’s a wonderful thing to see a community that puts their dollars towards supporting local producers and farmers. I do my best to visit at least one farmers market a week, so I’m very happy to start sharing fun eats I develop with my haul of fresh foods.
On Friday evenings, the Phinney Farmers Market http://www.seattlefarmersmarkets.org/markets/phinney] is one of my favorite ways to wind down from a long work week and ease into the weekend. This smaller, but well stocked, neighborhood market is filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade granola, locally made cheese, and ready to eat foods. To make this special treat, I picked up Sugartime peaches from Collins Orchards http://www.collinsfamilyorchards.com/index.php] and some local honey from Seattle Urban Honey http://www.seattleurbanhoney.blogspot.com], which by the way is just about the best honey I’ve ever had.
Whether you call this a tart, a galette, or otherwise – it’s simply a pie crust folded over the edges of some fruit, so rustic pie sounds about right to me. Aside from the butter, this pie isn’t filled with too many indulgent ingredients. I’m in the process of decreasing my refined sugar intake and peaches are just about sweet enough on their own. Adding just a small drizzle of honey to each pie gave a sweet boost of flavor as well.
