Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Stuck in a rut... with a cookbook?

I’ve owned the Junior League of Gwinnett and North Fulton’s cookbook, “At Your Service” for four years.  I’ve tried MANY recipes out of this book: the Chocolate Cola Cake, Pork Chops in Mushroom Sauce, the Fruit Salsa.  All amazing! And I love this cookbook so much that I’ve bought one for many of the women in my family.

Of course, I haven’t been able to try EVERY recipe in this cookbook.  But I thought that I’d found all the really fantastic ones that my family and I love.  These select ones have been my go-tos.  My tried and true recipes that never fail me. 

While I love having this relationship with “At Your Service”, I had no idea I’d gotten too comfortable with it.  Who knew you could get stuck in a rut with a cookbook?

It took my step-mother-in-law, Judy to point this out to me and show me the light of a fantastic new recipe that I’d never noticed before: Urban Legend Cookies.

Why hadn’t this recipe stuck out to me before?  I was floored that I hadn’t ever tried this nutty, chocolaty cookie before!  How had this recipe really been in my cabinet for four years without me ever noticing?
This made me realize that I had another reason to love this cookbook even more!  There was still so many recipes to try that I had yet to discover!  And I’m so excited to jump in a try more in 2015!

In the meantime, I’m going to share the Urban Legend Cookie recipe with you! And if you haven’t purchased the “At Your Service” Cookbook from JLGNF you’re really missing out. But you can buy it here!

2 ½ cups rolled oats
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
4 ozs premium milk chocolate, grated
1 ½ cups pecans, finely chopped



Process the oats in a food processor or blender to form a fine powder.  Mix the processed oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the vanilla and mix well.  Stir in the flour mixture.  Add the chocolate chips, milk chocolate and pecan and stir to mix well.

Drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 375 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove to wire racks to cool.


Makes about 5 dozen.

- Megan Blair, 2014/2015 V.P of Communications