Lindsie Birthday Cookies

We (Greg and I) have made these for Lindsie a couple of times now. Since she likes them so much, there's no need to send her anything else. Her former roomie from Berkeley enjoyed them as well. (She called me a cookie goddess. I'll take that as a compliment!) We sent these to our mom this year for Mother's Day and they were well received.

Ingredients

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup (milk or semi-sweet) mini chocolate chips (we cut up some Hershey's candy bar one time instead of the chocolate chips)
• 1 cup of toffee (Sometimes Heath bars come pre-chopped in the baking aisle or you can buy a bag/bars and chop away!)
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix/cream the sugars and butter together.
3. Add egg and vanilla.
4. Sift/mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix.
6. Fold in chocolate and toffee.
7. Place tablespoon sized balls onto non-greased sheets.
8. Bake for 10 minutes.
9. Let cool before eating. :)

Happy Birthday Lindsie! Have fun in Wisconsin!

Pomegranate Sauce

Greg and I served this with pork chops but I'm sure it will work great with poultry too. (Cooking times for various meats will differ.)

Pomegranate Sauce

1 cup plain pomegranate juice (such as POM Wonderful)

3/4 teaspoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon water

1 to 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1. Sear thick pork chops (that have been brined and seasoned with pepper) in an oven-safe skillet on medium-high heat (4 minutes each side).
2. After searing, place in a 375 degree oven to finish cooking for 15 minutes or internal temp is 140-145.
   
3. Take pork out of the oven and move meat to a separate plate.
   
4. While the pork rests, pour off and discard any fat from the skillet. (Leave the brown bits on the bottom!)
   
5. Add pomegranate juice to the skillet and boil over moderately high heat until reduced to about 2/3 cup while also scraping off the brown bits from the bottom. (Reducing to 2/3 cup takes about 3 minutes.)
   
6. Stir together the cornstarch and water and whisk into juice.
   
7. Add mustard and then boil sauce until thickened slightly, 1 to 2 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and swirl in butter until incorporated.
   
9. Pour sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl to get rid of lumps.
   
10. Season with salt (optional).
11. If you like your sauce thicker, add a little more cornstarch or cook longer.
    

We have come to a point in our cooking where sauces are starting to play an important role in the dish. (We made a pan gravy for our chicken last night that turned out really good too!) The pomegranate sauce was a delicious, not too sweet syrup that nicely complimented the pork. It was served along side a simple salad of lettuce, cucumber and tomato and a slice of cantaloupe. I'm sure this sauce will become a new favorite.

[I forgot to take any pictures.]