Tinkerblue

Chewy Chocolate Chip Snickers Cookie

I don't remember where I found this recipe. If you know please tell me so I can link to the original site.

These are very very good. I think the secret is the brown butter. I almost burnt mine so watch it carefully.

Heat oven to 375 degrees F
Line baking sheet with parchment paper

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
16 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 ½ cup sliced Snickers, (about 4 king size)
1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:
Place flour and baking soda together in a bowl and whisk to combine; set aside.

Place 10 tablespoons butter in frypan over medium-high heat until melted - about 2 minutes.

Swirl the butter around in the skillet. Swirl butter constantly until it becomes a dark golden brown in color and gives off a nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes.

Remove skillet from heat and transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl.

Stir remaining 6 tablespoons of butter into hot butter until completely melted.

Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to brown butter mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.

Add eggs and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds.

Rest mixture for 3 minutes, then whisk for another 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny.

Using rubber spatula, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute.

Stir in chocolate chips giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

Scoop out approximately two heaping tablespoons of dough and flatten it into a round disc and place a Snickers slice on top. Fold edges over Snickers to seal it in.

Place cookies 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake cookies 1 sheet at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, about 10 to 14 minutes.

Transfer baking sheet to wire rack to cool cookies.

Enjoying a Break from the Rain

Views from the Rocky Mountaineer - 3 Valley Gap

3 Valley Gap is near Revelstoke. We go past it on day 2 of the Vancouver to Banff/Calgary trip. The 3 Valley Gap Resort is owned by the Bell family. They've owned it for the last 50 years or so. It's quite the resort. What started out as something small, has been added to over the years and is now almost a village.

 

 

There's the Chateau with 200+ guest rooms including the cave honeymoon suite, a cafeteria and dining room.

 

 

Then there's the Roundhouse - the largest fully operational covered turntable in North America, and home to 12+ pieces of rolling stock. (in the photo below, the Roundhouse is on the far left). If you're not interested in trains, how about cars? They also have an antique auto museum.

 

 

The 3 Valley Gap Resort even has it's own ghost town.  Oh and don't forget their own fleet of helicopters. You can see one preparing to take off in the first photo.

 

 

Hubby and I have driven past many times on road trips but never really given it much thought, and we have certainly never stopped. Maybe next time we will. I'm kind of curious to see it now, that's I've gone past it twice a week, almost every week over the summer. Of course we never take road trips any more because we fly everywhere.

And the resort is only open from April to October, it closes for the winter. So we definitley won't be visiting this year.

Where We Eat (on the train)

Okay, you my family and friends, you ask some odd questions about the train. You don't ask about what we see, or where we go. No. You ask things like, where do I eat, what do I eat, where do I sleep.  You're weird. All of you!

Normally we have breakfast and lunch on the train. In Kamloops, Canmore and Jasper we eat dinner in a restaurant in town. And if we are going all the way to Calgary dinner is also on the train.

We have a crew car. In the crew car is the train manager's office, storage cupboards, luggage cupboards for crew luggage, fridges, a freezer for ice, emergency equipment and a seating area. There is a lot of stuff crammed into a not very big area. And the aisles are narrow.

 

 

 

The crew car is stocked with snacks, chips, cookies, fruit, coffee and tea and breakfast and lunches. 

 

 

We are also supplied with microwaves, toasters, panini press and a coffee pot. 

 

 

On the Banff/Calgary route we also have a secondary supply car. The Banff/Calgary route is usually the bigger train with more guests and therefore more crew. So we don't all fit in the crew car. Hence we get a secondary crew car to hang out in. Occasionally there will be a secondary crew car on the Jasper train as well.

 

Views from the Rocky Mountaineer-Kamloops Lake

Kamloops Lake at about 830am this morning.

Lemon Madeleines

I have a Madeleine cake pan that I have never used. I'm not even sure where it came from. I know I didn't buy it. Maybe it was a gift? From whom?

I thought I should use it. I made the recipe from Martha Stewart's Cookies. The lemon madeleines are in the cakey and tender section.

Meh. They are definitely cakey. I like the lemon flavour. But. I don't know. Hubby said they looked like they should taste like shortbread. I wasn't keen on the cakey texture. I feel like they should been light and fluffy. Not cakey.

They're all gone though. I took them on the train. They were all eaten. So someone liked them.

Reno Air Races

I'm out in the train. I left this morning. At the same time hubby was leaving to spend the weekend in Reno, Nevada for the Reno Air Races.

He's been planning it since this time last year. A group of them went. About 20 guys. Some yesterday, some today.

Today, there was an accident. Today a pilot crashed into the stands. The pilot was killed, and reports right now about injuries and fatalities are confusing.

We have sporadic cell phone service on the train. I arrived into Kamloops to my phone buzzing insanely. Text messages, emails, voicemails, Facebook messages etc. I've spent the evening trying to make sure everyone we know was safe.

They are. I won't say they are unaffected, a friend was in the stand, he was uninjured but did see others injured and loss of life caused by the debris.

To everyone who tried to contact hubby or myself, thank you. We appreciate your thoughts and concerns. We are grateful that all our friends are safe. The air-races have been cancelled for the weekend.

To the family and friends of the pilot, the organizers, the injured and those who lost their lives we send our thoughts and prayers.

Mars Bar Squares

These are the easiest things to bake. Infect there is no actual baking involved. Back when I used to work at Vancouver 2010, Jacqui and I used to take it in turns bringing in Mars Bars squares for food days. And they never lasted very long.

INGREDIENTS:

Bar:

4 Mars Bars
1/2 cup butter
3 cups Rice Krispies

Topping:

1 cup dairy milk chocolate
1/4 cup butter

DIRECTIONS:

Melt Mars Bars & 1/2 cup butter
Stir in the Rice Krispies.

Press into 8 inch pan.

Cool in fridge.

Melt 1 cup dairy milk chocolate with 1/4 cup butter.

Spread on top.

A Whale I Need

I need this whale for my desk.

http://utilitycollective.com/whalepail.html

August Reads

I read a lot. A. Lot.

I have some friends who this year set a goal for themselves to read a book a month. 12 books for the year.

Umm.... I read 12 books in August. That's about a book every 2.5 days. Some were re-reads and others were all new to me. And I didn't really read much in August!

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. This trilogy is actually young adult fiction. I didn't much like the premise of these books - killing humans for sport and the entertainment if others. But they are well written and I couldn't put them down.

One Day. Is now a movie with Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway. The book was okay. I found the beginning hard to get into. I kept starting it, then reading something else and finally coming back to it. And I wasn't overly pleased with the ending. I don't need to see the movie.

The Other Woman and Straight Talking by Jane Green. Pure chick-lit. Easy reading. I love these books for reading in my hotel room with a glass of wine after a day on the train.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls in Pants and Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares. I've read the Traveling Pants books many times before. Again they're young adult fiction and easy reads. Perfect for when I don't want to really concentrate and just want to disappear into the story.

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. There are reviews for this book all over running blogs. I enjoyed it. I won't be running barefoot or running any ultra marathon anytime soon or ever. I've been to the Copper Canyon, I've seen a glimpse of the Tarahumara Indians, I'm fascinated by their culture. This book was entertaining and I'll read it again before the year is done.

Matilda by Roald Dahl. One of my favourite kids books. Ever. Just had to re- read it.