Coconut macadamia white chocolate cherry everything cookies

[Photo forthcoming... ]

Ingredients:

Wet ingredients:
1c room temperature butter
1 room temperature egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c coconut sugar
2/3 c white or light brown sugar
2 tbsp Greek yogurt (any fat content will work)

Dry ingredients:
1c all purpose flour
1c raw old fashioned rolled oats
1/2c uncooked quinoa
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Goodies:
1c raw unsweetened coconut
1 c coarsely chopped macadamia nuts (about 1-1/2c before chopping)
1-1/2c white chocolate chips
1c dried sour cherries (I buy these from Whole Foods. Don't start getting all uptight that they're infused with juice- you're making cookies!). The more sour the better, as they balance the white chocolate sweetness very nicely.

Directions:

1. Cream the butter, coconut sugar, and white (or light brown) sugar till fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and yogurt. Blend another 5 minutes till the color of the mixture lightens from the beating it's taken. I use a stand mixer.

2. While the mixer is doing its job in step 1, mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl

3. While the mixer is still going, put all of the goodies in their own bowl and give a quick stir so they're evenly mixed.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture that is in the stand mixer. Mix on low just before the flour mixture is fully incorporated. Then add the goodies, and give a final low mix with the stand mixer till fully incorporated. Do not over mix. Over-mixing activates the gluten and gives you tough cookies.

5. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour or overnight. I turn out the dough onto a length (2-3') of wax paper to make a log out of it. That way, once it's time to make the cookies, just remove the wax paper and cut wheels (about 1/2" thick) to bake. If you just refrigerate the dough in a bowl, then cover it with plastic wrap and spoon dough (I use a mini ice cream scoop like this one) and lightly flatten the dough balls on the cookie sheet.

6. Bake on a parchment-lined cookie sheet in a pre-heated 375 degree oven until the cookies are lightly browned. For my oven, that's about 10-15 minutes (depends on the size of the cookies you make).

TECHIE FEATURE: If you have a convection oven, bake them on convection! Convection is great for better heat distribution in the oven and for make the cookies finished quickly on the outside but still moist on the inside. Cooking time may be less by as much as half of the time.)

Tri Color Pepper and Arugula Pizza

Ingredients
   1 recipe of whole wheat flatbread dough --Click here for recipe--
To cover a half-recipe of the whole wheat flatbread dough:
   5 cups thinly sliced tri color peppers (I like the mini ones bc the sliced rings are a better size for less messy bites)
   1 red onion (optional)
   1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
   1 Tbsp olive oil plus 1/4 c olive oil
   2 cloves garlic
   2 c chopped arugula

Directions

1. Roll out half of the flatbread recipe (if you don't need the other half of the dough, refrigerate it for a few days or freeze till needed). Move the rolled out dough to a lightly greased (I use cooking spray) cookie sheet or perforated pizza pan (like this one). Set aside.

2. Cut your vegetables: slice the peppers and fennel so they are nice size for eating without strings of peppers hanging out of your guests' mouths. I use mini peppers so cut little wheels, like this:

3. Saute 3 cups of the peppers and the red onion till they're a bit caramelized.

4. Mince the garlic using a microplane (like this one). Mix the garlic into the olive oil and generously brush the mixture all over the rolled out dough (you may not need all of the 1/4c of olive oil, but be sure what you do spread includes all of the garlic)

5. Distribute the caramelized pepper mixture onto the rolled out dough.

6. Bake in as hot an oven as you have (mine goes up to 500 degrees) for about 10 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.

7. Remove from oven and distribute the remaining peppers along with all of the raw arugula and the fennel. Finish with salt (I *LOVE* this kind) and pepper to taste. 

Whole wheat flatbread dough

Whole wheat flatbread dough
    **If you are at altitude, you'll need to adjust the recipe accordingly or buy already made dough

Ingredients:
1c warm water (around 100 deg)
1 packet (about 1 tablespoon yeast)
2 Tbsp honey

2 c all purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 Tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil

extra flour for kneading
extra flour for rolling out
1/4-1/2 c course cornmeal for rolling out

Directions:
1. In a pyrex measuring cup, combine warm water, yeast, and honey. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl (I use a heavy pottery bowl since it's nice for proofing the dough, too), combine both flours, salt, and olive oil. Don't worry about even distribution of oil... the point is to evenly distribute the salt so that the salt doesn't kill the yeast in the next step.

3. Once the yeast water appears to have generated some activity (the yeast will puff up as it activates), add that to the flour mixture in the large mixing bowl. Combine as best you can with a wooden spoon.

4. Dust clean counter with extra flour. Dump the dough on the floured surface and knead for about 5-8 minutes, until the dough is stretchy and smooth. Add flour if the dough feels too wet; wet your hands with water and shake them off to add an itty bit of moisture at a time if the dough seems too dry. The dough will eventually form into a nice, smooth ball.

5. Oil the bowl (I spray it with olive oil spray) and return the ball of dough to the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place bowl in a warm area (around 75-90 degrees is good. In the summer, I set it on my porch but not in the sun. In the winter, I use the proofing setting on my oven. But do NOT let the temp go above 100 or you'll cook your dough instead of raise it). Leave the dough for about 1-2 hours, till it has doubled in size. Push it down and then let it rest again while you prepare the toppings for your flatbreads.

6. Dust clean counter with a mix of all purpose flour and the cornmeal. Place half of the dough on flour and coarse cornmeal-dusted counter. Pat flat and gently spread it with your hands, then using a rolling pin** roll it to about 1/8" inch thin (we like thin crunchy crust). Move the crust to a cookie sheet or pizza pan that's been lightly sprayed with oil. THEN put your toppings on it.

**TIP: if you don't have my preference, a french rolling pin (I use one like this), take a clean wine bottle, dust it with some of your flour, and use that! (My wine bottle is usually empty, so...)