Christmas Eve-Chinese food and chocolate cookies my way

When we lived in Boston, we found out that having Chinese food for Christmas dinner is a Boston area ritual. I found this to be quite strange, but hey, every region has their own thing right?

So we decided to have Chinese for Christmas Eve dinner. It’s quick, easy, hassle free so why not right? You meet people for a reason…this can be a tradition we can make our own in honor of those who touched our lives in Boston. Miss you guys!

I will admit, I don’t usually enjoy Chinese food. When Dennis is in the mood for Chinese, I make him order from the places that offer Sushi as well. But if you ask them to steam your food for you, omit the salt, msg, and other crap that they normally use, they will;  so that’s exactly what I did. Presenting, Christmas Eve Chinese dinner, done just for me:

They didn’t have brown rice so I had to make it myself. And for a “sauce” I mixed 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar with 2 tsp sesame oil and 2 tsp low sodium soy sauce. The sesame oil gives it an awesome flavor that blends well with the salt from the soy sauce and the tang from the vinegar…and it’s much better for you than the sauce they provide for you (God only knows what’s in it)

 

Now that’s some Chinese food I can handle.

I also promised Dennis I’d make some chocolate chip cookies. I made the regular back of the Toll House chocolate chip bag recipe for him, but halved it (I ran out of butter) and then made these for myself:

The almond flour made this recipe.

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 cup white whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (I like my cookies to be slightly cake like, so omit this if you like them flat and crunchier)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened (next time I will use 1/4 cup. This was too much)
• 1/4 agave nectar (next time I will only use either the brown sugar or agave. They were too sweet for me)
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. In a medium bowl and stir in flours, baking soda and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add butter, agave, brown sugar, egg and vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy. With the mixer running, add the dry ingredients, beating on low speed until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Drop the dough by heaping teaspoonfuls, at least 1 inch apart, onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until firm around the edges and golden on top, about 15 minutes. Cool the cookies for 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

This recipe made about a dozen and a half cookies, which is perfect for me since I’ll be the only one eating them. I’ve already put half of these cookies in the freezer, so hopefully they freeze well!

I will make these again with the changes I made above in parenthesis since I wasn’t as happy with this recipe as I wanted to be, but you might like them made as above.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!