Crêpes and Cookies.

This entry was posted in Cookies and tagged Chocolate, Citrus, Orange, Recipe on February 11, 2010.

Yesterday was my birthday. I've had a few birthdays and they've all been pretty great. No complaints here. Well there was that one birthday when a few of my friends left the party early. Something about not wanting to play hide-and-go-seek. I think that was my seventh birthday and to this day I still don't remember their names so I guess I'm over it.

But this birthday, this birthday was different. For starters it's my first birthday I got to spend here in Edmonton with my sweetheart Lee and his beautiful daughter Sable. Then there was a sweet surprise I woke up to that morning.

It started out like most mornings. I woke up to my hungry cat Jaden whining at me. I texted Lee good morning and got a message back. Then I groggily went downstairs to feed the cats, Jaden's water dish in hand. When I rounded the corner into the kitchen there was Lee making me strawberry banana crêpes with a bouquet or flowers. He was very much not at work and very much upset that I'd woken up early and foiled his breakfast in bed plan. He's so cute when he pouts.

So of course I take over making the crêpes. I often do that in the kitchen. I don't mind. It's nice to think about Julia Child before 9am. I think I've decided that crêpes are my favourite breakfast food. Strawberry, banana, Nutella crêpes topped with whip cream of course. Aren't they glorious?

And that's not all. What do most people do on their birthday? Why, invent cookies of course! What, you mean you don't do that too? Well I did. When I started creaming butter and sugar together I had a fleeting thought, several in fact, about how tainted my birthday was going to be if these cookies didn't turn out exactly – no better – than I planned. What was I going to do with myself when I took these crunchy, malformed, half burned disappointments out of the oven? I was going to cry, that's what I was going to do. Why wouldn't I take it personally? Food is very personal.

Good thing I didn't have to worry about that. Yesterday was also the birthday of Chocolate Orange Love cookies and I am their proud mother. Chocolate Orange Love Cookies Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Source: My own imagination.

1 1/2 cup flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 cup granulated sugar 1 large egg 2 tbsp orange zest 2 tbsp orange juice 2 ounces semisweet chocolate Printer-Friendly Version

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the middle. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.

In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a larger bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed cream together butter and sugar. Add the egg, fresh orange zest and orange juice then beat a little longer. Add the flour mixture and mix until it's smooth. Make sure to scrape off any little bits of zest that stick to the beaters and reintroduce them to the mixture.

Scoop about 1 heaping tablespoon of batter per cookie onto the prepared baking sheet to make medium sized cookies. Leave about 2 inches of space between each cookie. Bake for about 10 – 11 minutes or until the edges turn a light golden brown.

After they've cooled on a rack melt chocolate then with a spoon drizzle it over top of each cookie until you're satisfied with the chocolatey goodness. Let that set a while longer (if you can contain your excitement) then enjoy! When the shine of the chocolate turns matte you know they're good to go. I refrigerated mine for an hour or two then transferred them to the cookie jar.