So you’re a…

I’ve been sticking to fair-trade chocolate, which means I’m tending towards carob instead because I’m still working on the rolling-in-money machine. Last night I was fussing over a munchie type snack when I realized carob + allspice + nutmeg would be awesome in cookies. As many people who have been told that carob can be used as a substitute for chocolate know, that’s a load of crap. They taste different. They are different. And they are both delicious.

So off I went in search of a chocolate chip cookie recipe to modify, as my standard one uses oatmeal and I didn’t want that. After giggling over the Engineer’s Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe that I’d forgotten and the McGyver version that I hadn’t seen, I opted for this vanilla-free recipe (because I was out of vanilla and wasn’t sure how crucial it was as a flavor in other recipes).

My modified version:

Ingredients
• 5/6 cup sugar
• 5/6 cup packed brown sugar (this and the above – I forgot that I don’t have a quarter cup measure till after I’d already used the third cup measure in it’s place. The cookies survived)
• 1 cup butter
• 1 large egg
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (quarter cup estimated instead of measuring in tablespoons)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon allspice (we had Jamaican allspice…yummy)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg (amounts of these spices approximate, as I was experimenting and possibly forgot to measure)
• 1 1/2 cups carob chips (you can use more but it’s what I had)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees if you are like me and forget to follow the recipe you’re theoretically working from, although the original 375 would probably work fine too. Mix sugar, brown sugar, butter and egg in mixer or by hand. Remember to let butter warm first…hah hah I’m so professional. Stir in flour, baking soda, and spices. The dough will be very stiff. Stir in carob chips. Make small 2-tablespoon-ish dough lumps 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. The centers will be soft. Place on wire rack. Attempt to not burn your mouth by allowing them to cool before being eaten.