Brown Sugar Cookies

I had every intention of baking sugar cookies this week, but when I somehow took one glance at a jarful of light brown sugar those intentions went out the window. I haven't really baked much lately and I've been craving to get my hands dusted in flours once again. Luckily, my landlord had my conventional oven fixed, so now I can get back to business. There's only so much I could make with using a small toaster oven.

I remember I had bookmarked a cookie recipe from Furey and the Feast and felt that this would be a perfect time to try it out. I had just enough ingredients to make a batch. 2 dozen cookies.The original recipe called for dark brown sugar. I use light brown sugar, which was the only thing that I had. I wasn't in the mood to go to the market and buy one item. (I blame the summer weather for my slight laziness). So I bake it up and make around two dozen cookies. With a nice chewy center and crisp crust. You can't go wrong with that. Just make sure you let them cool first before taking a big a bite out of one of them. Yeah... I was eager. My poor tastebuds. hahaha... This is perfect with an evening cup of tea or a nice cold glass of milk.

Makes 24 cookies.

Brown Sugar Cookies
slightly adapted from Furey and the Feast

3/4 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, room temperature
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Or you can use a silpat, too.

In a bowl, cream the butter and both sugars. Add egg, vegetable oil an vanilla, and mix until until fully incorporated.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Then add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and mix until all ingredients just come together (If you have a mixer, you may use it to make the dough).

Divide the dough into 24 golf ball-sized rounds, flatten the dough balls and place on the cookie sheet about 2 1/2 inches to 3 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes for a chewy center with crisp edges. Remove from oven and remove from the baking sheet onto a cooling rack.

Brown Sugar Glazed Chicken

Sometimes a salad is in order for a hot day. But they can be a bit boring with just the leafy greens. Don't get me wrong, I love those leafy greens. But I need some sort of protein in them every once in a while. So, in comes the chicken.

I had pan-fried these. Season the chicken with my usual suspects and brown sugar. I also made a couple of pockets on the sides to stuff some minced garlic into them. You need to keep an eye on these when cooking as brown sugar tends to burn quickly under certain temps. But at the end, it gave the chicken a nice sweet flavor and caramel-like coating. I served this over a simple romaine salad with sliced grape tomatoes and baby cucumber with a basic balsamic vinaigrette as well as half a small avocado.

I cooked 3 chicken tenders and one chicken breast. You can mix it up using 6 tenders or 2 breast.

Serves 2.



Brown Sugar Glazed Chicken

6 chicken tenders or 2 large chicken breast
2 garlic cloves - minced
1/2 c brown sugar
salt
pepper
paprika
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Butter or Margarine

Take the chicken breast and cut four small deep slits into the sides. Creating pockets. Stuff the pockets with the minced garlic.

For chicken tenders cut two deep slits and stuff with pieces of the minced garlic.

Season the chicken with salt, pepper and paprika. Then cover withe brown sugar.

In a large skillet, heat the oil and melt the butter on a medium flame. Pan-fry the chicken.

For chicken tenders. Cook for sides for 3-4 min.

For chicken breast, sear both sides for 2-3 min. Then lower the flame and cook for another 4 min. Constantly baste the chicken with the caramelizing sugar. You need to keep an eye as sugar will have the tendency to burn.

When cooked, let the chicken rest for 5 min loosely covered with foil.