Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies

Dear Lovely Neighbor:  

So sorry for the other night when my husband had a five-ton truck stuck in your driveway. Thank you for parking in ours while we waited for the tow truck. Also sorry about that patch of grass and for what was surely a lot of swearing coming from said husband. 
I hope your little boy enjoyed seeing that semi-truck lifter pick that five-ton off the ground and that you will accept these Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies as a token of both apology and thanks.  

Sorry and thanks again, Meghan 

Raw Cocoa-Nut Bites

Confession #1: I'm trying to quit eating refined sugar. 
Confession #2: It isn't going very well. Mostly, I don't think wine should count as sugar, because it is very clearly fruit. 

{Just A Tip} Double the Vanilla

So we already know that I'm kind of obsessed with vanilla as evidenced by the fact that I once wrote a haiku about it. Vanilla bean paste was my go-to-ingredient until last December. I discovered I could buy vanilla beans in bulk on E-Bay. Yes, I know you are questioning the quality of e-bay vanilla beans, because I did too. I took a chance so you don't have to, but enough about how sweet I am to you guys. 

Vanilla Roasted Strawberries

Keep it simple. That's what spring and summer cooking is for. Little ripe berries don't need a lot of fuss, so I won't muck them up with word upon words. Here are the only two things I feel compelled to say:

Heaven must smell like roasted strawberries. 

And roasting berries is pretty much like making instant sauce with absolutely no work. 

A Vanilla Bean Paste Haiku

I had to look up the rules for a haiku. Was 7th grade that long ago? Wait was it even 7th grade where we learned that?

Regardless - I wanted to profess my unabashed love of vanilla bean paste. You can use it in place of vanilla extract and it since it contains bits of the seeds it feels super fancy, but since you can also use it in place of real vanilla bean, it feels super frugal too. Without further ado - my vanilla bean paste haiku:

Fragrant but sticky

cheapness never so fancy

Seedy and smooth

Apologies if I got it all wrong - wikipedia is suppose to be a reliable source right?

Vanilla Bean Paste via the web: here, here, and here.

Ps. If you are in the greater Metro Atlanta area, Your Dekalb Farmers Market has got the best price around.

Brown Butter and Vanilla Pancakes for Two

I don't like Valentine's Day. I'd much rather know I'm loved any day of the year than one day that everyone else is supposed to show their love too.

But I do like making pancakes and shaping them funnily. My dad used to make shaped pancakes in such brilliance as our initials or as a mouse. This is how I became "Meggie-Mouse" most of youth, unfortunately. My mom made pancakes every Sunday she could and we always, always, always had real Vermont Maple Syrup. She even brings her own syrup to restaurants that don't serve the real deal. So pancakes, love, there is a real connection. At least in my world.

Brown Butter and Vanilla Pancakes

Serves 2

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 tablespoons Vanilla Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Melt the butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cook until the butter foams, the foam browns and sinks to the bottom of the pan, about 2 minutes. Remove the butter from the pan and set aside to cool while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Combine the sugar, egg, buttermilk and butter in a medium bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix gently, then rest for 10 minutes.

Heat the non-stick skillet over medium heat. Scoop 1/2 cup of batter into the pan and cook, 2 at a time, until the edges are dry and bubbles are appearing, before flipping. Cook until golden on the other side.

Keep warm in a 200˚F while repeating with the remaining batter.