This recipe can be found in Back to Basics, page 214.

This past weekend was filled with baking and cooking! After a long hiatus, I finally got the BC bug and dived head first back into the project. Over the course of three days I made a total of five Barefoot Contessa recipes. You can see the full list here, but the different review posts will be dropping over the next couple of weeks.

Of course, I have to start off with the baking recipes, because you know, I LOVE dessert!

As discussed in the post from last Friday, I made two different cookie recipes. The first one came from the Back to Basics cookbook which is a wonderful “starter” cookbook for Ina Garten fans. Nothing is overly complicated and many of the recipes can be whipped up in under an hour. Plus, you have Ina’s guiding voice throughout the whole book. This book also touches on topics such as how to cook seasonally and making a menu. Each food course chapter is also preceded by a series of tips for various things like arranging flowers, things not to serve at a dinner party, and setting a table.

The food in this book is simple but elegant and won’t have you slaving for hours and hours in the kitchen while your guests (or family members!) are enjoying themselves without you around. And as usual, I want to cook all the things!

Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe is a traditional Ina Garden recipe. By that I mean it is a classic recipe with the volume turned way up. The flavor volume in this one? Pecans! Toasting the pecans in the oven can bring out the flavor of them and in this case, I think it is necessary to do that. It really helps blend all the flavors together.

This was also one of the recipes that I used the duck eggs from my coworker. Working with the duck eggs produced similar results to working with chicken eggs. The only discernable difference that I noticed is the shells of duck eggs is much harder than chicken eggs.

As have been the case when I make cookies lately, by oven is becoming somewhat unpredictable in terms of browning the cookies. As you will see, these cookies are much lighter in color than they should be. Whereas the other cookies I made are much, much browner than they should be. Oh well, c’est la vie.

Anyway, here are some process pictures.