Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies.

 I first made these for a cookie exchange last Christmas, which I never got to attend because the kiddo was sick so - oh, horrible fate - I had to eat the whole batch. :-) I'd been making lots of Mexican hot chocolate and I thought the spicy flavors would be great in a chocolate cookie. And of course marshmallows are a necessity. I made them again yesterday for Cinco De Mayo and had a hard time finding the recipe I'd used for the cookies so I thought I'd post it here so I'll always have it. Recipe slightly adapted from this one, and by slightly adapted I mean it's the same but with spices. I love these.

Ingredients                        

• ¹⁄₂ cup butter
• ¹⁄₂ cup brown sugar
• ¹⁄₄ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¹⁄₄ cup cocoa powder
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon baking soda
• ¹⁄₈ teaspoon salt
• spices to taste - I use half a tablespoon of cinnamon and a ton of cayenne pepper (I really want the flavors to hold their own against the chocolate) but if you're less obsessed with spicy things half a teaspoon of cinamon and a couple dashes of cayenne would be fine.
• mini marshmallows

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Make sure that the butter is at room temperature, or put the butter in the microwave for about 15 seconds just to soften it up.
3. Using a mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
5. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
6. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until everything is incorporated.
7. Make truffle-sized balls and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.
8. Bake for exactly 8 minutes.
9. Let them cool on the parchment paper for about ten minutes or until they're set up enough to handle (they will be gooey straight out of the oven).
10. Put marshmallows on top of each cookie - I use several little ones so it looks like a cup of cocoa, but one big one per cookie could be good too if that's what you have - and place under the broiler for a minute or two until they're dark golden brown and have that toasted marshmallow smell.
11. Place on cooling racks and allow to cool completely before storing unless you want your marshmallows to glue all the cookies together.

Makes about two dozen small cookies.

My green smoothie recipe.

I was telling some friends the other day about how amazing green smoothies are, so I thought I'd share this recipe since it took me a while to perfect. (Doesn't seem complicated but keeping it from tasting too strong, too bland, etc. took a while.) I've been making this almost daily for either breakfast or lunch.

 

 

Layers from the bottom:

-Frozen kale or spinach. I use frozen because it's already in little pieces and just seems to blend better and not give you the distracting texture you can get using fresh. Plus I always fail at using up an entire container of the fresh stuff before it spoils. You want the kind that comes loose in the bag so you can just use what you want. (I get mine at WalMart.)

-Banana for creaminess and sweetness.

-Two oranges. I used to use orange juice but that's SO much sugar I don't like to have it every day. But smoothies taste bland to me without the bright citrus flavor. So I use whole oranges now so we're getting them the way God designed them, with all the fiber. :-)

-Frozen fruit of your choice - this is the only thing I change from day to day. (If the green color is weird for you use a berry mix and all you'll see is purple!)

-Not in the photo, but add a big dollop of yogurt. (We use full fat because it's best for toddlers so we just don't buy fat-free dairy products right now. It was weirdly hard to find, but I buy it at the Asian grocery store by the Imax theater.)

-Totally optional add-in: I throw in a mix of chia seeds, flaxseed, and rolled oats. This adds nutrition, makes it more filling, and acts as a thickener so if we have leftovers to refrigerate for a snack later they stay thick instead of separating and getting watery. Just one of these is fine too.

-Top with enough unsweetened almond milk to get it to blend (Two cups? It'll depend on the quality of your blender) and blend it up. You'll want to blend it longer than a regular smoothie to really get those greens to disappear.

 

This makes enough for two good size adult servings (a light breakfast in their own right, or nice with eggs), plus a sippy cup full for the kiddo.