There's an old saying: The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. But the following story elaborates.
Yesterday (Dec. 11, 2010), our pastor was talking about Jesus showing love. At Prayer Meeting (we call it House of Prayer) last week, he had asked people to anonymously write on cards how they had been shown love that week. Here's one of the responses:
My mom makes me a sandwich every day. She just started putting fruit in my lunch.
The concierge at our hotel needed to direct us to a reasonably fast dinner location. Paul said Italian pizza sounded good, and she made a reservation for us at Salute! on Madison Ave. and then directed us on the best way to get a cab to Carnegie Hall for a beautiful, but long performance of Handel's Messiah. (In case you never knew, the Hallelujah Chorus is not the end of the program, only of Part 2.)
I love to take photographing opportunities to highlight special gifts we have received. I found this olive wood tray that Paul's folks brought us from Greece to be a perfect way to display the cookies. . .although as good as the cookies are, the tray would constantly need to be replenished.
OATMEAL COCONUT CRISPIES #1
2 C quick oats
¾ C brown sugar
½ t. salt
¾ C coconut
½ C chocolate chips
½ C chopped nuts (generally almonds)
½ C oil
½ t. vanilla
1 or 2 eggs, beaten
Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the mixture. Stir oil and flavorings together and pour into the well. Add egg whites and mix until dry ingredients are moist. Using two soup spoons, form ball of cookie dough in bowl and place onto oiled cookie sheet and pack tightly to shape cookie. Bake in a 350 degree oven 12-15 minutes. The number of eggs depends upon amount of added ingredients, such as raisins, nuts, chips, etc. I usually make a triple batch as these cookies are habit forming.
OATMEAL COCONUT CRISPIES #2
6 C quick oats
1 ½ C brown sugar
1 ½ t. salt
2 ¼ C coconut
1 ½ C chopped nuts (generally almonds)
1 ½ C chocolate chips (opt)
1 ½ C Smart Balance oil
1 T vanilla
2 t. almond flavor
5 egg whites
Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the mixture. Stir oil and flavorings together and pour into the well. Add egg whites and mix until dry ingredients are moist. Using two soup spoons, form ball of cookie dough in bowl, place onto un-oiled cookie sheet, flatten and pack around edges to shape cookie. Bake in a 350 degree oven 12-15 minutes. Cool cookies in pan for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack. Push cookies back together if they break apart when taking them from the cookie sheet. They usually set okay. Variations: Try using other foods you might find in granola. Raisins tend to burn. Yield: about 50 medium cookies.
My mother-in-law sent me this very cool idea. I hope she wasn't thinking she wanted some of these for Christmas because I failed to catch the hint. I hope she was just thinking this would make a nice post on ELAR. The cards are 16 for $34.95. There are two copies of each design, which are well-photographed types of cookies yielding intriguing and beautiful card covers. On some of them, it took me a while to recognize what might be a cookie. This is important for people married to designers, which means food has to look good not just taste good.
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