Choco-Pom Oatmeal Cookies

All it took to get me experimenting was a mention about a remembered cookie from Trader Joe's by a friend. The mythical cookies were chocolate-covered pomegranate oatmeal cookies. Considering I had a pomegranate and dark chocolate chips in the pantry.... They are delicious.

I was just reflecting that over the past two months my cooking has improved remarkably. Which isn't to say that I was a bad cook previously, I was just inconsistent. My husband would come home, see what was for dinner, and say "Ex-peeer-iment!" (Proper pronunciation requires a falsetto/vibratto on "-peeer-")

Hint: that was never a compliment.

So what changed? I haven't stopped experimenting and trying new recipes. My problem previously was a focus on an end product, without concentrating on the intervening steps. When you just want something done, but you aren't focusing or enjoying the process, you aren't going enjoy the result, either. That is your deep thought for the day.

So, do you want to know how to make your own fabulous Choco-Pom Oatmeal Cookies?

Ok!

Choco-Pom Oatmeal Cookies

makes 40 cookies

1 pomegranate

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans

2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups old fashioned oats

Separate the seeds of your pomegranate. Melt the chocolate, and stir the pomegranate seeds into the chocolate, coating each seed. Spread onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let the chocolate set. This works best if you spread the chocolate coated seeds as thin as possible. Once the chocolate is set, break into the smallest clusters possible.

Heat the oven to 350F.

Beat the butter and sugars together until creamy. Add eggs and almond extract and beat well. 

Combine flour, soda and salt; add to the egg mixture and mix well.

Stir in the oats, followed by the choco-pomegranate seeds and the pecans.

Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of batter onto a baking sheet. Bake for 12(ish) minutes until the cookies are a nice golden brown.

Macaron Madness!

I have never bought and consumed a macaron, but they are everywhere on the internet (or were 6 months ago, whatev) and I decided I needed to know if they tasted good or if they were just cute. Especially after BraveTart convinced me that anyone could make a macaron. Well, my first try a few months ago tasted great, but definitely weren't the cute, fussy confection everyone takes pictures of. "Ah well," I thought to myself, "I guess I'm just not the fussy baker type." And then I read "Macarons are for eating."

This is the clarion call to all bakers afraid of fussiness. I got so worked up and inspired reading this that:

Yep. I made macarons this morning. And just to show to any doubters that you too can successfully make macarons (maybe they won't be perfect the first time, but hey...) I would like to show you that I added two more degrees of difficulty to the whole process by 1) not using a stand mixer (I'm actually not sure that I get points for this, since I don't have a stand mixer, and didn't even have a choice in the matter) and 2) allowing my 18-month-old son to "help." Evidence? Sure:

This time, the macarons are a success on all counts. Just moments after taking my artful phone camera photo of the results, I had an incident with a poacher:

Lesson? Go for it. And if it doesn't work, do it again.