Adapted Recipe for Double Tree Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love staying at Double Tree Hotel because they provide these warm chocolate chip cookies at time of check in an in between during your entire stay. 
Well,  that is not the only reason I like to stay there but these cookies are out of this world.

On the way back, I googled the recipe on my phone and there they were.... so many of them and all were adapted from this one recipe that I am going to give credit to. This recipe was by "Jenny" and is posted on Foodgeeks.com.  I could not wait to try it, so as soon as we came back home, I tried it with the ingredients that  I had.

Here it is.. my modified version..

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rolled oats
2-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon 
2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
1-1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. lemon juice (I used lime juice)
2 eggs
1 cup semi-sweet, chocolate chips
2 dark  chocolate bars (5.29 oz each) by Choceur crushed in to chocolate chunks
2 cups chopped walnuts

Method:

* Grind oats in a food processor or blender until fine. 

* Combine the ground oats with the  baking soda,  brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

* Add chopped nuts.

* Cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla, and lemon/lime juice in another medium bowl with an electric mixer. 

* Add the eggs and mix until smooth. 

* Stir in flour and  the dry mixture into the wet mixture and blend well.  

* Add the chocolate chips and chunks to the dough and mix by hand until ingredients are well incorporated.

* Per original recipe for the best results, chill the dough overnight in the refrigerator before baking the cookies. (but I did not have that much patience so I just baked them right away)
 
* Spoon rounded 1/4 cup portions (I used an ice cream scoop) onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (I used Silicone cookie sheet)

* Place the scoops about 2 inches apart. Bake in a 350°F oven for 16-18 minutes or until cookies are light brown and soft in the middle. 

* Cool and store in a sealed container.

 

This recipe yields 20-21 large cookies.  
You may follow the original recipe,  I just modified to what I had in my pantry and also I did not want them very sweet so I cut down on granulated sugar and increased the amount of brown sugar instead.
If not using chocolate bar for chunks you may use 3 cups of semisweet chocolate chips instead.
Please note that the dark chocolate bars that I used are not very bitter like some dark chocolate, they are almost like milk chocolate but less sweet and with more cocoa.

Recipe adapted and modified by Surekha from this recipe by Jenny at http://www.foodgeeks.com/recipes/doubletree-hotel-chocolate-chip-cookies-18302#

Photographs by Surekha.

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Jicama Salad

I had posted a recipe of Jicama Salad earlier, this is another version of this salad. This can be used as a side dish, or as one of the fillings for taco, burrito or fajita. You can mix it with your favorite salsa. I like it mixed in with my bean, corn, and mango salsa (recipe on this blog)
Here is some information on Jicama as I  mentioned on my earlier post."Pachyrhizus erosus, commonly known as jicama (hicama); Spanish jícama, Mexican yam, or Mexican turnip, is the name of a native Mexican vine although the name most commonly refers to the plant's edible tuberous root. Spaniards spread cultivation of Jícama from Mexico to Philippines, from there it went to China and other parts of Southeast Asia.  Although I never had it in India, I found out that it is available in India and known as mishrikand.

The flavor is sweet and starchy, reminiscent of
some apples or raw green beans, or asian pear, and it is usually eaten raw, sometimes with salt, lemon, or lime juice and chili powder. It is also cooked in soups and stir-fried dishes. Jícama is often paired with chili powder, Cilantro, ginger, lemon, lime juice, orange, red onion, salsa, sesame oil, and soy sauce. The root's exterior is yellow and papery, while its inside is creamy white. It has a crisp texture that resembles raw potato or Asian pear

Jícama is high in carbohydrates in the form of dietary fiber. It is composed of 86-90% water; it contains only trace amounts of protein and lipids. Its sweet flavor comes from the oligofructose inulin  (also called fructo-oligosaccharide) which is a prebiotic. Jicama is high in vitamins C, A, and some Bs, along with calcium and phosphorus.

It should be stored dry, between 12 and 16°C (53 and 60°F). Colder temperatures will damage the root; do not refrigerate. A fresh root stored at an appropriate temperature will keep for a month or two.

In Mexico it is popular in salads, fresh fruit combinations, fruit bars, soups, and other cooked dishes. Just like in India, they sell cut cucumber  and guava as street food with salt, cumin, cayenne pepper and lime juice, this is sold the same way in Mexico as street food along wth strips of cucumber and pineapple.
In contrast to the root, the remainder of the Jícama plant is very poisonous, the seeds contain the toxin rotenone, which is used to poison insects and fish.

Ingredients: 
* 2 pounds of Jicama
* 1/4 cup of chopped Cilantro
* Freshly squeezed juice from 2 limes
* 1 large jalapeno pepper (or to taste)
* Salt to taste.
* 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper(or to taste)

Method: 
* Wash and cut Jicama in to two halves.
* Peel the skin off.
* Cut the  the peeled jicama in small cubes of desired size.
* Finely chop jalapeno pepper.
* Wash and finely chop cilantro.
* Fold the chopped jalapeno pepper and cilantro with cubed jicama. 

* Add lime juice, salt, and crushed red pepper.
* Toss all ingredients until well incorporated.
* Serve fresh you may refrigerate the rest.

 

Jicama information source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachyrhizus_erosus

http://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License

Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.

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