Best Cookies Ever: Doubletree Hotel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Doubletree Hotel Chocolate Chip Cookies

I stayed at a Doubletree Hotel in Minneapolis once and I was amazed to receive, upon check-in, the most delicious cookie I'd ever eaten. I am pleased to announce that I googled "Doubletree Hotel Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe" and the following is what I found. They are truly the most delicious cookies EVER.

(Side note: This was a holiday indulgence and I have since begun the Couch to 5K Running program! I have been inspired by two amazing friends who have completed this program. But first I had to indulge myself!)

Doubletree Hotel Chocolate Chip Cookies, from http://www.foodgeeks.com/recipes/18302

20 servings

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup rolled oats
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
2 eggs
3 cups semi-sweet, chocolate chips
1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts


INSTRUCTIONS

Grind oats in a food processor or blender until fine. Combine the ground oats with the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

Cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla, and lemon juice in another medium bowl with an electric mixer. Add the eggs and mix until smooth. Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture and blend well. Add the chocolate chips and nuts to the dough and mix by hand until ingredients are well blended.

For the best results, chill the dough overnight in the refrigerator before baking the cookies.

Spoon rounded 1/4 cup portions onto an ungreased 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. Store in a sealed container when cool to keep soft.

The Italian Gourmet

On October 23rd we had an Italian cooking class with Antonio Cecconi, owner of The Italian Gourmet and author of the Betty Crocker Italian cookbook.

Coordinating this event was a challenging and sometimes frustrating process…we needed to set a date, send out invites, recruit a minimum number of people, gather money, finalize the menu, secure a kitchen in the Minneapolis area, and finalize travel and lodging plans and more. With all the travel and lodging and the fact that we wanted it to be a gift to our friend C, who got married the following weekend, it got to be a bit expensive but IT WAS SO WORTH IT….


My heart sank when Antonio did not show up on time, but fear not, he was only momentarily trapped in the traffic jam surrounding the presidential motorcade that weekend in the Minneapolis area.

When Antonio arrived, we were immediately mesmerized by his warm and friendly personality. In between teaching us how to make our Italian meal (see menu below), he gave us a lesson about capers, showed us pictures from his recent trip to Italy, and graciously answered some rather personal questions from one of us (not me) who had a few too many glasses of wine! AND he signed my Betty Crocker Italian cookbook! He is a fabulous chef and teacher and was a pleasure to work with before and during the class.

As soon as we began making that pasta, mixing the semolina flour with water, kneading the dough into small round yellow balls, and flattening the dough into long thin yellow sheets using the hand-crank pasta machines, I literally felt all the challenges and tensions melt away and everyone was laughing and getting their hands dirty. I hope you can see in the pictures how everyone enjoyed the class.

Our menu:

• Basil Cheese Truffles & Spices

• Crusty Bread with Tomato Basil Topping

• Homemade Lasagna with Asparagus and Tomato Sauce

• Fresh Pasta with Creamy Four Cheese Sauce

• Pork Tenderloin with Lemon Prosciutto Sage Sauce

• Sautéed Field Fennel Salad with Fresh Herb Dressing

• Seasoned Homemade Buns

• Cream Puffs with Amaretto Chocolate Sauce

All of the recipes are in Antonio's cookbook.

Once again I was reminded how therapeutic cooking and good company can be. For those four hours, I was completely in the present moment, totally focused on the task at hand and on taking in every detail and savoring every wonderful taste. I feel so privileged to be able to do things that are so uplifting.

Learn Something New



Pre- Outlook or Google Calendars!

I was talking to someone at work the other day about changes with technology and he made the comment that you get to a point in your life where you stop learning anything new because a) you can’t and b) you don’t want to. I understand what he meant. My predecessor in this job never moved beyond VHS and transparencies. He kept everything in paper format, including his work calendar, which was hand-drawn on an artist’s sketch book in one hour increments.

I have worked with men and women of various generations and I do agree that learning happens much differently as you age. We all tend to find the things that work for us at a certain point in time, and then just stick with what works. This even happens to people working in IT fields, especially if you’re in a reactionary mode. You go with what you know has worked in the past especially when you don't have time to research future directions. But regardless of age or circumstance, isn’t it always our responsibility to keep pushing ourselves to learn more?

One thing I’ve enjoyed about moving to a new position is I’ve had more time to expand my skills. Here are some of the new things I’ve been working on:

• Learned how to use an internet fax program, GotFreeFax.com. This is one of those things that is so easy I’m ashamed to admit I never tried it sooner. Here is an article about 5 Free Resources for Internet Faxing.
• Bought a used Dell GX 620 and flat-screen monitor and installed Windows 7. In the process, I learned the difference between 64-bit and 32-bit processors (which you should know in order to buy the correct operating system for your computer).
• Researched Windows 7 and related topics through the wonderful guides available at www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads
• Created Adobe Acrobat PDF forms and web-based forms to transition paper-based department processes to a digital format.
• Learned that if you use PowerPoint 98 or earlier on a Mac, your graphics will not show up on a later version of PowerPoint and here is the fix:
  http://aricsblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/quicktime-and-decompressor-are-needed.html
  I made a faculty member very happy when I figured this out just in time for his lecture to begin!
• How to draw customized curved arrows in PowerPoint for a large poster and how to make large format posters in PowerPoint for faculty research.

I hope that I continue to evolve and fight that complacency that creeps up on us a times, telling us we either can’t or won’t learn something new. For now, I’m going to try and learn something new every day.