Chocolate Peanut Butter Globs

These are the wonderful cookies I requested for Mother's Day.  They were as delicious as I thought they would be.  With chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, pecans and walnuts you can't go wrong.  Ina Garten, on the Food Network, made these for her husband on their 45th wedding anniversary. 

My daughters served these with strawberries and a fruit dip.  It made a wonderful dessert although the cookies are enough alone.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips, divided
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon instant expresso powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole walnut halves ( not chopped)
1 cup whole pecan halves (not chopped)
2/3 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
In a bowl set over simmering water melt butter, 6 ounces chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate, stirring occasionally until melted.  Remove from heat and cool 15 minutes.
In a bowl use electric mixer and beat eggs, expresso powder, and vanilla until combined.  Add sugar, raise speed to medium high and beat for 2 minutes until batter is thick and falls back on itself.  Set aside.
With mixer on low, slowly add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture.  Combine 1/3 cup flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl and fold into the chocolate mixture with rubber spatula.  In another bowl, combine the walnuts, pecans and peanut butter chips, the remaining 6 ounces of chocolate chips and the tablespoon of flour.  Toss all of this together and fold into the chocolate mixture.  With 2 soup spoons drop rounded mounds of batter 1 inch apart onto a prepared baking sheet.
Bake 15 minutes exactly and cool on baking sheets before removing.

My Daughter's Baby Shower

Several of my dear friends gave our daughter a beautiful shower.  I wanted to share their wonderful ideas with you.  They came up with awesome ideas and it was a marvelous shower just out of this world :).   Take a close look at the rocket ship, the top is a humidifier, baby coat hangers at the bottom and diapers.  It was adorable.  I was amazed at all of the decorations they came up with that related to the solar system.  Just Great!

Before my daughter knew the sex of the baby, she had told me she wanted to do the solar system as the theme for the nursery.  I loved the idea but hadn't seen a lot for a baby's nursery with the theme of the solar system.  She has put together an adorable nursery and I'll show you pictures when it is complete. 

So thankful for wonderful friends who hosted the shower as well as wonderful friends who came.  It was a fun and memorable day!

Happy Mother's Day!

I had to laugh when I saw this, our family loves homemade chocolate chip cookies especially the Queen.  She can't eat just one!  :)

I requested a new cookie by Ina Garten for mother's day.  I'll be sure and share the recipe if it's a winner.  I just know it will be.

I wish all you mothers a wonderful day with your families tomorrow. 

Nasturtiums

The plant in the first picture is nasturtiums.  This is the first year they have done this well.  You can barely see a flower peeking through all the greenery.  Years ago, when I attended my first herb class the instructor brought a container of nasturtiums and they were blooming.  I was hooked instantly by their beauty and the most wonderful thing about them is you can eat the flowers.  They beautifully garnish a salad or you can use them for garnish around any vegetables or a meat platter.  They have a peppery taste.  The flowers on these plants are really huge.  I'll take another picture soon.  When I went to take a picture of the flowers the wind had wilted them. You may not want to use them in your cooking but they are a beautiful plant to have on your patio or porch.  Oh, if you do grow them and want to eat them don't fertilize with a chemical use fish emulsion.

I finally finished planting all of our garden last Sunday.  I know, I'm really late but my plate has been pretty full this season.  I was glad to finally get it all in and as I said in an earlier post, it's all contained in its space and everything looks good, for now.  :)

I'm so thankful for the rain and so glad my plants were in the ground to benefit from it.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day!