This weekend I reveled in gifts that keep on giving- namely Trick or Treat Cookies, a pot of Chicken Noodle Soup and Spotify’s “recommended songs” feature.
1. Trick or Treat Cookies: I have shared this recipe with people before but realized I haven’t posted it here. It’s one of my favorite November goodies. After the days of snacking on Trick or Treat candy start to plateau and you have a bag full of the candy sitting in your pantry, it’s time to repurpose those treats into these amazing cookies!
We use our favorite Two Peas & Their Pod Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, that we named “Scrumptious Chocolate Chip Cookies” – to distinguish it from other beloved chocolate chip cookie recipes in our collection. It’s our current go-to cookie recipe. Lucy has become friend-group-famous for these cookies at her lunch table.
After the trick-or-treating festivities cease (or when we still have a lingering bowl of Halloween candies in our hallway bowl), we begin selecting ones that would be yummy in a cookie. We then chop up 2 cups of candy bar minis and use 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips (instead of the recipe’s standard 3 cups of chocolate chips). We have found that candies with caramel, chocolate and peanut butter are our favorites- Twix, Snickers, Butterfinger, Milky Way, 100 Grand, Reese’s, etc. Every bite has a little surprise, and the ingredients meld with the dough to make an incredible cookie of deliciousness. Frankly, I have been known to make these in other seasons of the year, when I was out of chocolate chips or just wanted to zhuzh up a batch of cookies.
1 cup butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (or you can use white wheat flour)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. coarse salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped mini candy bars (Twix, Reese’s, Snickers, 100 Grand, Milky Way, etc.)
Extra coarse salt for sprinkling on top, if desired
Preheat oven to 350 ˚. Line baking sheets with parchment and set aside. Using stand mixer, cream butter and sugars together for about 2 minutes- to add air into the dough.
Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
With the mixer on low, slowly add in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, soda, salt). Stir in the chocolate and candy.
Form the cookie dough into balls. Place on prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with a little sea salt, if desired.
Bake cookies for 10 minutes or until edges are slightly golden brown. Remove from oven. Let sit for 3 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool completely.
2. A Pot of Chicken Noodle Soup: Lucy has recently learned to make this and it’s such a win. I posted this recipe several years ago and wanted to repost it here, as it’s soup season (hooray!). This classic, clean, hearty and flexible soup is lovely on day 1, but the best part is that my lunch for the next several days is made and ready! After making a big batch, we jar it up (using one of my favorite kitchen gadgets to make it easy), and it’s ready for sharing or for this week’s meals!
Stage 1 (for the “from scratch” version)
Making the broth and cooking the chicken:
In a large pot: Pour 1 Tbsp. (or 2) of olive oil in a large pot. Place over medium heat.
Add 1 onion- cut in large chunks, a couple of stalks of celery- cut in half and a couple of whole carrots- cut in half.
Stir around with wooden spoon for a few minutes. Add 2 pounds of raw chicken tenderloins (or sliced hunks of chicken breasts). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Let the chicken brown for a few minutes. Then add 8-10 cups of water- or whatever fits in your pot.
Simmer until chicken is cooked through (about 10 minutes). Take off stove. Remove and discard vegetables and pull out chicken.
Stage 2 (for the shortcut version)
If you are using pre-cooked chicken and bought broth, start HERE:
In the pot, drizzle a little olive oil- over medium heat.
Add:
Let it cook for 10 minutes or until veggies and noodles are soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh parsley or other herbs if you like.
If you are making this in two stages, like I do, I do Stage 1 ahead of time (like before work or the night before) and chop the carrots, onions, and celery while the broth and chicken are cooking. I put them in the refrigerator, along with the cooked chicken and broth for after work. I pull everything out and do Stage 2 when I get home. Then the soup is fresh (noodles not soggy) but half the work is done.
3. Spotify Recommended Songs: As we were making soup last night we were listening to Spotify, singing while we chopped and stirred. By the time we were at the table slurping our bowl of soup, songs that were unfamiliar were coming through the speaker. We had finished the selected album and Spotify had moved into its “recommended songs” mode. I love this feature. It’s so fun to be able to discover new songs and artists and make fresh playlists (as I don’t have time or bandwidth to discover new music in my current season of life). It was a simple pleasure, but another gift that kept on giving.
Community Table 