Vanilla-Chip Coffee Cookies

My husband and his business partner were hard at work on new ideas, goals and all things "business-y" last night for the Shenandoah Spice Company (www.shenandoahspicecompany.com). With the creative juices flowing and production underway they began begging for a pick-me-up. Knowing that I'm a sucker for a baking challenge they did just that.
And so was born the Vanilla-Chip Coffee Cookie experiment (still not set on the name but it'll do for now).
Considering I had no vanilla extract (truly a travesty to the baking department of my cupboards) I had to improvise with vanilla chips. They are a softer, subtler substitute for plain white chocolate chips and for this particular baked good they would be replacing the missing vanilla flavor in the dough. The next, obvious, ingredient was coffee. My husband had been grinding coffee earlier for spice company related items which made it readily available. At that point, why NOT use it? Plus, these hungry men needed a pick-me-up after all.
After morphing these new ingredients to an existing go-to cookie recipe, we had a lovely little late night treat. The following recipe was completely on a whim (as made apparent by the preceding statements) so bear with me on the measurements. They may need some tweaking but should serve you well as a starting point. I'd love to know how they turn out for you if you decide to take on the challenge:

Vanilla-Chip Coffee Cookies

 Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup finely ground coffee
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (be generous with this)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp pure maple syrup
1 1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg
1 egg yolk
Vanilla Chips (optional, as desired)

Combine flour, coffee, baking soda and salt in bowl. In separate bowl cream together brown sugar, sugar, maple syrup and melted butter. Add egg and egg yolk, mix until fully incorporated. Slowly stir in dry ingredients mixture. Mix chips into the dough. Chill dough until firm. I use this time to preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cook for 14-16 minutes.

These definitely require an ice cold glass of milk! Enjoy!

Slainte,
Megan

 

What does love mean?

When I asked my daughter this simple yet exceedingly complex question (what does love mean). It seemed to come to her rather quickly and very confidently.

Well mom, I think love is when you care about someone a lot and you like them even more. Its when you like someone even more than you can like someone or something ever so you love them. And sometimes I think love can be happy or sad. You know the sad is when you love someone so much you don't want to leave them or you miss them a lot when they're gone or you're gone. Is that right mom? Is that what love is?

It touched my heart to the depths of my soul and the tips of my fingers.

Yes, Keira that is exactly what love is. Thank you!

Show some real love this Valentine's Day. The kind you like even more...so you love them!

♥
Megan

Purple Sugar

Have you ever smelled purple sugar? I mean really smelled purple sugar? Well if you haven't you are missing out on (if I may say) one of the single most delicious and invigorating scents your nostrils will every have the pleasure of experiencing.
To the best of my knowledge I had never smelled purple sugar until just the other day I got my very own dose of the wonderful aroma. The best is that it doesn't come in the form of a cookie, cupcake or candy of any kind. For that matter, in my case, it didn't come in the form of food at all but instead from the sweet essence of nature. It came in the form of a Lily.
There wasn't anything particularly special about this Lily other than the fact that it was an ordinary, un-fancy kind of Sunday afternoon. My daughter (Keira) and I had to stop by the grocery store on our way home to grab some very specific, yet insignificant items for dinner. Low and behold, as we walked through the produce section of Food Lion there sat the beautiful arrangement of the purple-sugar-scented-pink-pigmented pretty little pots of lilies. All done up for Valentine's Day I couldn't stand leaving that store without my very first encounter with the rare but lovely scent of...

PURPLE SUGAR!

Upon arriving home my husband looked somewhat inquisitively at my arm of groceries and pot full of lilies. As i unloaded my dinner items I proceeded to take the lilies to him and asked him to smell them. Bewildered, he agreed that they were not only beautiful but also very fragrant. Keira instantly spoke up and said, "dad, don't they smell like purple sugar?" His face lit up and he got (what I imagine) was the same sparkle in his eye that must of brightened my entire aura while continuing on through our grocery excursion. It was at that time the he knew he just discovered...

Purple Sugar!

So, no matter what form. No matter what place, No matter what time No matter what color. When the sweetness and innocence of that perfect little face asks you what it smells like to you, think...

purple sugar!

Slainte,
Megan

Kid-logic

Keira: mom, is it more important to keep nature safe or people?

Baffled by the question and the root from where this question grew. I had no other option than to break the rules and answer a question with a question.

Keira, what do you mean by keeping one safer than the other?

Her kid-logical response went a little something like this...

Mom, I know we have to keep nature safe but we have to keep people safe too but why don't the people want to keep the nature safe?  A lot of the people act like they don't care about keeping the nature safe. Why don't they?

Keira, you're right. People don't always take very good care of our nature and it is very sad because nature is very important to keep us safe and all the other animals and plants. Every time someone helps our nature they helped themselves a little bit because we live in the nature. Even though we sleep in houses, drive in cars and work ("and go to school, mom") in buildings we still need nature to give us clean, healthy, fresh air, water, fruits, vegetables along with lots of other things. Maybe not all the people know about this or really understand it. You could help the nature by telling people how to help the nature or why to help the nature. It is very important to keep the people safe too though, because of all the people that help the nature and help other people.

I don't know if I even came close to answering her or providing any advice but I'd like to think it inspired her even just a little. This came completely out of the blue and it was one of those moments that I felt like she grew a little, both in wisdom and intelligence. In curiosity and wonder. In creativity, admiration, and appreciation for an environment and a world that stands for so much more than she can even fathom at this point in her life.

Kid-logic, every little one's got it!


"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."  -Albert Einstein