Repost: Ginger Chocolate Cookie Bars

Ginger Chocolate Cookie Bars

These started pretty much the way most of my favorite treats do: I was making chocolate chip cookies, decided I wanted them to be Chocolate Chocolate Chip and well, here you go!

3 tbsp vegetable shortening

5 tbsp coconut oil (I used Tropical Traditions)

1 c brown sugar
1/2 c cane sugar
1 tsp vietnamese cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate (I used dark, semi-sweet & white)
1/4 c candied ginger, chopped
2 c pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 F. Line a baking pan with parchment. melt shortening, oil and chocolate. Don't overmelt that way you can have some chunks if you like. set aside to cool.

add sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and ginger. mix together with a wooden spoon. add flour and baking soda. mix together with wooden spoon.

Add eggs (make sure batter is not warm at all before adding eggs!) go to it with the wooden spoon.

Spread batter onto baking sheet evenly. bake for approx 25 min. let cool. eat!

Happy Goat Caramels: the Magic of Michael Winnike

What's fun about sitting down with Michael Winnike is that it soon degenerates into a verbal orgy about food.

I met Michael the Saturday of the Foodbuzz fest with my friends Arnold and Stephanie when he randomly gave us samples of his goat milk caramels in the parking lot...

This, for me, was fortuitous, as I have had since had the pleasure of making a new friend who just happens to work some serious magic with caramel. The first afternoon I spent with him actually turned into my favorites kind of day: a food adventure.

We started with tea at Roger's in the Mission and then stopped for a honey tasting at HMS Beekeeper. I have been missing something vital on my world cause I gotta tell you: Fireweed Honey is kickass good! After purchasing some honey sticks, we headed to Michael's place for some tastes of the sweet gooey stuff.

I originally went for the caramels so I was delighted to discover that he has been working on some bean to bar chocolates at home. We tasted the 70% bars alone, with wine and believe it or not, Nordlinger cheese, which gave me a tasty idea....

I was also lucky enough to get to try his goat milk chocolate bar and compare it to one he had purchased. Michael's was a wonderful balance of not too sweet and creamy which paired beautifully with wine. It is truly exciting to sit and chat with others who are excited about eating, creating and enjoying delicious foods and dreaming up new flavor comibinations. For example: he used Orange Blossom honey and made honey almond butter caramels. Talk about true love!

I can't wait to join Michael in his kitchen the next time he is doing bean to bar chocolates, which will be a total first for me! Though he his currently focused on his deliciously interesting goat milk caramels, I trust that his caramel sauce and chocolate bars will be a huge hit.

With great pleasure I give you: Luna's Kitchen Magic's very first giveaway!! Michael has generously handed over two of these, one small and one medium!

here's how to enter: Leave a comment on the blog. For an extra entry, Tweet this: "Win Happy Goat Caramels from Luna’s Kitchen Magic! http://lunaskitchenmagic.blogspot.com/2010/01/happy-goat-caramels-magic-of-michael.html”

It would also be really cool if you would sign up for the Happy Goat Newsletter!

You will be able to enter from now until midnight January 23rd at midnight. The winner will be chosen at random January 24th. The contest will be open only to US residents so I don't get into any trouble for shipping food out of the country. Be sure to include your email address so that I can actually get a hold of you if you win!