Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix + Giveaway (and ice cream)

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix // Not Without Salt

Whew. It took me awhile to write out that title. It’s a doozy and I think it accurately shows the doozy of a day we are having around here.

First of all my baby turns 4 today. Seriously, my baby is 4. Remember when she was just a sweet little pudgy puff of sleek black hair?! Now she’s a full on big girl. She prances around in my high heels, wrestles with the boys, spends most of her life pretending she’s a cat and still sneaks into bed with us almost nightly.

We’re celebrating our Ivy Jane with a towering Hello Kitty cake and a new business venture. Because we’re crazy in the best possible way and Ivy and I both agree that the world needs more salted chocolate chip cookies. She’s wise, that one.

Starting today you can order the NWS Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie in mix form! Wait, that needs a few more of these: !!!

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix // Not Without Salt

 

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix // Not Without Salt

Everything is hand packed and ready for 1 stick of soft butter and 1 egg. We’re using Shepherd’s Grain organic flour, three types of sugar (white, dark brown, and raw Turbinado), ground whole dried vanilla beans, Guittard 72% bittersweet chocolate, and Maldon flaky sea salt. If you haven’t had these cookies before, they are quite special and easily THE most made recipe in our house.

Here’s the deal, I LOVE this blog and all of you who visit this space. It’s been one of those orange round life saver things that dangle at the back of a boat (we were just on a ferry today so the reference is fresh) in a season where I often felt as if I was drowning. This blog has led me to a career that I never knew I wanted and yet now I see that all the pieces of my life up to this point have led me here. The comments, the inspiration, and the community has been a gift that often leaves me overwhelmed by its sweetness. But what I don’t get to do with the blog is actually feed you. I mean like have you sit at my table while I stand in the kitchen mixing up a batch of whatever is inspiring me in that moment. Because as much as I love this space and am so incredibly grateful for it, it’s no replacement for the satisfaction I get from feeding people. I know, I know cookie mix doesn’t put us at the same table but it is something made from my hands and then put in yours. It’s tangible, it’s real and it’s freaking delicious.

As my dear friend, Julie and I packed each tube I thought so often of the trays of warm cookies that will fill the homes of those who purchase and my goodness it got me excited (please send pictures, I’m totally serious).

But wait, there’s more (as if I didn’t sound like a commercial already)! I haven’t even told you about what I think is the very best part.

We’ve teamed up with our good friends at First Aid Arts (site launching very soon) to help cookies bring even more sweetness into this world. A little bit about them:

 

First Aid Arts trains counselors and trauma care providers how to use the arts in a healing capacity with survivors of trauma. We serve victims of human trafficking, natural disasters, war, abuse and violence, as well as the brave and beautiful who care for them.

 

How amazing is that? So we’re eating warm chocolate chip cookies AND knowing that part of every purchase goes directly to that cause. I’ll be talking more about them as we continue in this new venture. I’m really hoping to be able bake these cookies with some of the victims because we all could benefit from a cookie every now and again.

There’s still a couple more things to mention in this jam-packed post. First, bookmark this page because when your cookie mix arrives you can jump back here and watch the handy video below to know how to easily mix your mix. I think my brother did a damn fine job with it.

 

 

IMG_9175

 

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cream // Not Without Salt

Also, ICE CREAM. I went and made ice cream with some of these here cookies. Gabe’s favorite flavor is Cookies and Cream so I combined my favorite cookie with his favorite ice cream and we created magic. I’ve sandwiched these cookies in between ice cream before but this, this is a new favorite.

This new business idea is a whole new world for us and as such there will most likely be a few kinks in the process. Please let us know if you come across any of those kinks and bare with us as we’ll probably be making some changes along the way. Also, get excited about HOLIDAY FLAVORS!!!

ADDED: Speaking of kinks, we’ve changed our online marketplace. It’s a good change. Click here to order! Thanks.

As always, thanks for being here, for supporting me in this crazy journey, for cheering me on and for being big fans of salted chocolate chip cookies. I wish I could bake you all cookies but that’d be a little crazy. What I can do is give three of you one of the very first tubes of the NWS Cookie Mix. Leave a comment below and I’ll choose the winners at random next Monday (9/15)

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cream // Not Without Salt

Now let’s go make some cookies.

 

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

base recipe from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home   2 cups milk 4 tsp. cornstarch 1 1/4 cups heavy cream 2/3 cup sugar 2 tbsp. light corn syrup 1/4 tsp. kosher salt 3 tbsp. cream cheese, softened 8 Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies (order the mix here!), chopped Grab two large bowls and fill one with ice water. Set aside. In a bowl, stir together 1/4 cup milk and the cornstarch; set slurry aside. In a 4-qt. saucepan, whisk together remaining milk and the cream, sugar, syrup, and salt; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 4 minutes; stir in slurry. Return to a boil and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Place cream cheese in a bowl and pour in 1/4 cup hot milk mixture; whisk until smooth. Then whisk in remaining milk mixture. Pour mixture into the empty bowl and nestle in the bowl of ice water until chilled, about 20 minutes. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker; process according to manufacturer's instructions. When the ice cream base is the consistency of soft serve add the chopped cookie bits. Let the machine continue to churn until all the pieces have been added the combined well. Transfer ice cream to a storage container and freeze until set.
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Smoked Chicken & Chorizo Panzanella + giveaway

Smoked Chicken & Chorizo Panzanella // Not Without Salt

 

Smoked Chicken & Chorizo Panzanella // Not Without Salt

*A winner has been selected and notified. Thank you so much for entering!

It seems perfectly fitting to end our Summer Grilling Series (check out the first two recipes: Grilled Rib-Eye, Salmon Burgers) on our official last day of summer. Tomorrow the kids head back to school.

I thought I was prepared for it. Mentally I mean, I’m not prepared in the least for school lunches, clothes, supplies, etc. I thought I was ready for quiet, for cooler weather and for a house to myself during the day. Then last night I laid in bed afraid of the quiet as I thought back on our summer days; lazy, loud, filled with probably far too much screen time, easy and relaxed.

It’s good though, to wander in to the next season while still lamenting the last. And just because school is almost in session doesn’t necessarily mean summer is done. We still have the warm evenings, the long weekend days and the grill hasn’t been tucked into storage yet.

In this final grilling video I’m smoking chicken on a gas grill. This technique can be used for any meat or vegetable. Here I’m using Airline chicken breasts which have the skin on and include the little drumstick so you get more flavor from the bone and a bit of dark meat. After having tried these they are the only chicken breasts I want to cook with as they stay so tender and have incredible flavor which seems rare in a chicken breast.

Smoked Chicken & Chorizo Panzanella // Not Without Salt

 

Smoked Chicken & Chorizo Panzanella // Not Without Salt
Smoked Chicken & Chorizo Panzanella // Not Without Salt

If you have already put away the grill you could still make the Panzanella and call it a meal. It is hearty yet still fresh as it is loaded with tomatoes and fresh herbs. The perfect sort of meal to gracefully exit one season while eagerly expecting the next.

The kind folks at Porter & York (the sponsors of this series) have put together a Not Without Salt box so you can get all of the meat featured in the video series. I got so giddy at the idea I decided to buy a box for one of you. So if you’re interested in receiving a box filled with quality meat right to your front door just leave a comment below. I’ll pick a winner on Friday (September 5) and have it shipped to you shortly after.

Smoked Chicken & Chorizo Panzanella // Not Without Salt

Thanks again to Porter & York for sponsoring these posts.

Smoked Chicken & Chorizo Panzanella

This will be the summer known as the one I discovered smoking on a gas grill. It's so easy and gives food that classic bbq flavor. It should be noted that in the video I say the chicken took an hour - which it did but I recommend you start checking after 30 minutes. The chicken can be a touch under done when you take it out of the smoke as you give it one final sear for a bit of char. Serves 6-8   6 airline chicken breasts (buy them at Porter & York) 1 tablespoon kosher salt 2 teaspoons smoked paprika 4 cups wood chips (like hickory), soaked for at least 30 minutes in an aluminum tray   Chorizo Panzanella   8 cups rustic bread, cut into 1-inch cubes bread 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 teaspoon kosher salt ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar 2 large tomatoes, chopped ½ large spanish onion, diced 1 teaspoon dried oregano ½  pound dried chorizo, chopped in ½ -inch pieces ¾ cup roughly chopped pitted green olives 1 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped 1 cup basil leaves, roughly chopped 1 cup arugula   For the chicken: Remove the grate on the left side of the grill and add the wood chips. Replace the grate. Turn on all the burners on high and let heat for 15 - 20 minutes. Then set up the grill for indirect grilling by turning off the middle burners Place the chicken on the middle burner, where the heat is off, then smoke for 30-45 minutes or until just cooked through. Remove the chicken and the wood chips, turn up the grill on high then sear the chicken just until nice charred grill marks appear, about 1 minute per side. Set aside to rest while you assemble the panzanella.   For the Panzanella: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, toss the bread cubes with ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, chopped garlic, salt and pepper.  Spread onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. Toss bread with sherry vinegar, chopped tomatoes, onion, dried oregano, chorizo, olives, cilantro, basil and arugula. Let this sit for 15 minutes or up to 1 hour to let the bread soften and the flavors meld. Serve panzanella with smoked chicken breasts.
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