Easter Cookies 2008: Day Three

Cookies and Crying.

Francesca had her 18 month "well baby" appointment today, which included one shot in her chubby chubby thigh. And she's so cripplingly shy, that just the nurse or doctor walking into the exam room caused her to bury her head into by chest. But other than that, she's happy and healthy. She's hit all her milestones; walks at different speeds, drinks from a cup, uses a fork/spoon, starting to talk, etc, etc. Her stats kind of surprised me though, her height and weight came in at 34th percentile. She's my chunk of ham, so I'm really surprised that she's actually that small. Vince says the world is just filled with enormous fat babies. Oh, and her head circumference came in at 17%. Now if you saw her you'd probably think what a nice fat round head she has. But nope. 17%. She actually has a tiny pea head, but just carries if off amazingly well.

As far as cookies go, today we have . . .

Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Now I know that I've made it perfectly clear how I feel about nuts in my baked goods, but these are different. First of all, the name of the cookies makes it perfectly clear that there are nuts in these. No surprises. No one offering me a cookie or brownie, in which I get all excited, take a bite and crunch down on a walnut/pecan much to my horror. I hate that, that surprise nut in all my soft chocolaty goodness. So no surprises, I know what to expect and can prepare for it. Second of all, it's chocolate and hazelnuts. Are there any other two flavors that go together so perfectly? I'm having a hard time thinking of any. Anyway, half of the nuts are hand chopped, and the other half are ground with the flour. So these truly are Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies. Not Chocolate Chip Cookies with Hazelnuts. It's perfectly appropriate that the Hazelnut comes first in the name of these cookies. And while they're not all soft and gooey, like I usually prefer my chocolate chip cookies, they have a wonderful flavor and I would definitely make them again.

Praline Meringue Puffs

I know, I know. More nuts. And worse, pecans. But, these only have two tablespoons of flour in the entire recipe, and no butter. So, very little flour and no butter, can these even be considered cookies? I think not. Well maybe, but more like candy to me. Anyway, whipped egg whites and brown sugar. So what if there are nuts in there, they're still good. And everyone loves them. And they disappear fast. And they're easy to make. What else? I don't know, but I'm o-kay that these have nuts in them, so I'll make another exception to my "no nut" rule.