Camille’s Oatmeal-Brown-Sugar-Chocolate-Chip Cookies

These are based on the Land O’ Lakes brown-sugar / oatmeal cookies, but I made them better by using semisweet chocolate chips instead of M&M’s and adding in the cashews for better chewiness and a more interesting taste.

Time: 30-min prep, 10-min bake
Yield: 2-5 dozen

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2c firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4c butter, softened (or substitute with 1c canola oil RIGHT from the fridge)
• 1 egg
• 2c uncooked quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1c semisweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli are the best)
• 1/2c uncooked, unsalted cashews, minced very finely (Trader Joe’s and Costco have the least expensive ones I’ve found)

1. Heat oven to 375°F Combine brown sugar, butter, and egg in one large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add all remaining ingredients except final 2. Beat until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips and minced cashews (batter WILL seem very dry and clumpy; this is fine!).

2. Drop dough by tablespoonsfull, 2″ apart, onto UNGREASED cookie sheets. Keep the cookies small since they’re the spreading, chewy kind and the edges and undersides will want to burn.

3. Bake for 10-14min or until they have a blush of light golden brown on edges. Let stand 1 min; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely.

Thai Takeout Cashew Chicken or Tofu Stir-Fry

I made this the other day with tofu separately pan-roasted. Superfast, good taste, refrigerates well. The onion wasn’t in the original recipe, but it was missing something without it.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1lb /450g boneless chicken breasts (or 8oz extra-firm tofu, squeezed and drained [half of a 16-oz package])
• 2 Tbsp / 30ml vegetable oil (I used half olive oil, half peanut oil)
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
• 4 dried chilies, chopped (double if these are the tiny, pencil-tip-sized ones)
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced to 3/4″ / 2cm³ pieces
• 1 small yellow or white onion chopped to 3/4″ / 2cm³ pieces
• 2 Tbsp / 30ml oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp /15ml soy sauce
• pinch of granulated sugar (the spicier you make it, the more sugar you should be adding)
• 1 bunch spring onions, cut into 2in lengths (scissor ’em)
• 6oz / 175g cashew nuts
• Jasmine rice or sticky white rice
• coriander leaves, to garnish (optional)