Soft and spicy, but still sweet. mmm
Spring is here. Finally. March has definitely come in like a lion in these parts with wind and rain to spare. But yesterday… yesterday was glorious! The windows in my office were wide open (benefit 8, subsection A-1.2 of Melissa’s Working From Home Guide) and I got to run in my capris and tanktop in the afternoon. Sun on my shoulders and calves… ah winter, as much as I love all the seasons, I’m not sorry to leave you behind!
I have a thing for the colour blue. I love all colour – I’m a colour junkie. But I’m always immediately drawn to blue – especially royal blue or turqouise or peacock. The brighter blues that make me think of the ocean in all it’s shades. And I love spring because I get to pull out my two favourite jackets:
Melissa Blue on the right... that's me running around like a chicken with my head cut off...
My friends have even nicknamed the colour on the right “Melissa Blue” because it’s a given that if I see that shade of blue in a clothing store, odds are good I’ll buy whatever it is and wear it to death.
And then it struck me yesterday:
Cookie Monster!!!
Coincidence??? I think not. The resemblance is quite remarkable! Don’t believe me?? Well, ask yourself this my friends.. have you ever seen the two of us in the same place at the same time…? hmmm???
*** Photo courtesy of the lovely Tricia at Every Nothing Wonderful who took this of her daughter’s Kinex Cookie Monster just so I could have a royalty free photo. Thanks Tricia!
As a side note, as I was hanging up my blue trench this morning, I also noticed my Goretex jacket (I live in Vancouver. It rains. A lot. We wear Goretex. It looks funny but it keeps us dry.), my running jacket and my windbreaker and my jean jacket are all blue… Maybe I have a problem…
And so of course, without further ado, a cookie recipe! I apologize because for the life of me, I can’t remember where I got this from – just that it was on the internet somewhere and I printed it off a few weeks ago with no notation of where it came from. The cookies are great though – they’re not a true snickerdoodle but the taste and texture are very similar, as are many of the ingredients. They’re lovely and light and go perfectly with a cup of tea! Plus, you get a nice little jar of the lovely chai mix to use in other things as well!
sugar AND spice... all nice
Recipe: Chai Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
Chai Spice Mix:
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp cardamom
- 2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp salt
Cookies:
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups flour
- 1 tsp chai spice blend
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- additional sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Mix butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time and then add in vanilla while still beating
- In a separate bowl, mix flour, chai blend, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to the flour mixture until all combined.
- Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours until firm and easy to handle
- Roll dough by the tablespoonful into 1 inch balls and roll in additional sugar.
- Place on ungreased cookie sheets 2 inches apart (they will spread!)
- Bake 6-8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for at least 2-3 minutes. They will be very light and delicate so give them time to firm up before transferring them to cooling racks
Notes
The leftover chai spice mix can be kept in an airtight container and can be used as flavouring for all kinds of things: pumpkin pie or bread, hot chocolate, other cookies…
Photography Tips
I’m just sticking to the food photos here today 🙂
Image 1: 50mm, f3.2, 1/4, ISO100, +1 exposure compensation.
Pretty easy photo. Shot in AV mode with a tripod backlit from the window. Contrast was upped in post production and regular sharpening was added.
Image 2: 50mm, f2.8, 1/20, ISO100, +2/3 exposure compensation.
Believe it or not, this was one of the hardest photos I’ve had to take in a long long time and I’m not happy with the end result so I’m not even going to give tips on it. I literally shot this almost 100x. I don’t like the framing, the focus is not great and even the light doesn’t make me happy. And yet it was the best of the lot. Just goes to show, the pros make this stuff look easy. That’s why they’re the pros and I’m not! I’d happily entertain suggestions on how I could have done this better!
Oh yes, blue. I also have a thing for blue!
And the blue of both of these coats is wonderful.
Thanks Silvia. It must be a colour that intelligent people with good taste in chocolate are drawn too 😉
Haha – technically, in our house it’s actually “blue Elmo” but hey, same thing 😉
Of course you had to put it with Snickerdoodles…mmm, I love them!
Elmo Shmelmo! blue is cookie monster! lol. Thanks again for the photo chum 🙂
Love it! Isn’t it funny how we all have a pull to particular colors! Mine are green and black. But I am slowly letting blue in too.
Love the cookie recipe will give it a try when I can tolerate a few more cookies at my house. Thanks for the share on the food and the photo info always interesting. Keep up the inspiration.
i went through a green phase years ago… it’s funny how our tastes change – keeps things interesting!
I like anything chai flavored. Thanks!
thanks Mike – just took a quick look at your site – it’s beautfiul! I’ll be back to browse more later!