Move over Barefoot Contessa!

The principles of good design can be applied to any aspect of life - even cooking.  The perfect combination of ingredients - whether furniture & fabrics or flour & flavorings - can create a little magic in your life.

Last December, I discovered the Barefoot Contessa's Blue Cheese and Walnut Crackers and filled my kitchen & goody boxes with wondrous smells & flavors.  I also discovered a recipe for Lavender Cookies which was a disaster until I tweeked it.  Just as I like to mix styles of furniture, I found that by mixing these two recipes, I could create a Kookie recipe that even the Contessa would like.

The basic recipe is very simple:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
 
1 cup Unsalted Butter (I prefer Land of Lakes.) melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup self-rising flour
1 egg

Now, here's where you can creative!  For my Bleu Cheese & Walnut Kookies:

add 4 tablespoons  Bleu Cheese to the batter (more or less - to taste)

Spoon 1 soup spoon full of batter into a buttered muffin tin (I prefer my medium grey muffin tin rather than the dark one.) Smooth the batter out in the muffin tin.

Chop walnuts (I prefer a rough cut) & top the batter with the walnuts

Cook for 15-18 minutes until the edges of the Kookies are golden brown.
Let the Kookies cool for about 10 minutes and then take them out of the muffin tin and place them on a cooling rack or, better yet, right into your mouth.  The Kookies will have a crunchy outer edge and a chewy inside and the buttery taste will melt in your mouth.  Enjoy!

The same basic recipe works well with other flavors.  I made Lavender Kookies, Lemon Kookies, Sesame Kookies and can hardly wait to design a new flavor.  And just like designing a home, you can also create the Kookie that's perfect for you!