A good recipe and great ingredients withstand time.
I was reminded of this on Sunday evening. It was hot and steamy in my little Seattle kitchen, and I was decidedly cranky. I was anticipating a busy Monday ahead and wanted something small, delicious, sweet, and easy.
I needed to soothe the transition from Sunday to Monday. Pie? Nah…too time-consuming. Dinner? Well, my husband was in charge of that. So…I mulled my options and within minutes I was digging through my recipe box looking for an oldie but a goodie: Grandma Holmquist’s Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies.
I first discovered these gems when I visited the Holmquist Hazelnut Orchards in 1997, and Grandma Holmquist invited me into her farmhouse kitchen. She had baked a batch of these classics earlier in the day and handed me one straight from the cookie jar. She said she’d been making them for years and told me with a smile that she couldn’t keep the jar full when her farm clan was busy. Indeed. they are simple, easy, and superb. And, the flagship ingredient–DuChilly hazelnuts–is the winning ticket.
Unlike other more run-of-the-mill Pacific Northwest hazelnuts which are round and need to be skinned before using in recipes, the Du Chilly is a little-known heirloom variety. Elongated in shape and hard to harvest, they lack the bitterness of other varieties and are unique because they don’t require any tedious rubbing and skinning before using. Simply toast, chop and add.
I eventually wrote about the farm and published the recipe in The Seattle Times Pacific Northwest Magazine that year, but the recipe became one that I made regularly when my kids were little. Aside from the amazing hazelnut flavor thanks to the toasted and chopped hazelnuts, the dough is ridiculously easy to crank out…it is oil-based and can be stirred up in one bowl. Frankly, it was the easiest way for me to crank up a batch of delicious homemade cookies with little kids cruising around at my feet!
So, next time you are craving a little chocolate, a little hazelnut, something yummy, something easy…thank Grandma Holmquist for this one! She was on to a good thing years ago!
Grandma Holmquist's Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- large mixing bowl
- measuring cups and spoons
- sifter
- wooden spoon
- cookie sheet
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 cup Canola or Wesson oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chopped lightly toasted hazelnuts
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- In a large bowl beat eggs well. Add sugars and beat until well blended. Add oil and vanilla. Stir well to combine.
- Sift in dry ingredients and add hazelnuts and chocolate chips.
- Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto the cookie sheets and bake in batches in the middle of the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned. Transfer to cooling racks and let cool.
My husband and I have been camping for decades now and one of my side shows while doing so has been to hunt down local specialty items while we are out on the highways and byways. For many years I had a mobile kitchen in our family travel trailer which took our family of five far and wide through the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. This week we had a fully equipped kitchen in a Minnie Winnie which we rented from Great Alaskan Holidays in Anchorage.
The kelp pickles, made in Sitka from local seaweed and seasoned with the iconic bread and butter pickling spices, were ridiculously good. Pickle rings were added to smoked cheese bratwurst carted up from Seattle. They were also tucked on smoked salmon canapés, resulting in a very Scandinavian inspired hors d’oeuvre.
The sliced sourdough was from The Bakery in Girdwood and sadly didn’t last long in my mobile kitchen. Light and flavorful, the bread made great sandwiches and was enhanced even further with sunflower sprouts from the Saturday Homer Farmers Market. It was the bread of choice for breakfast and lunch.
Overall, I found the egg bites to be very good but personally, I wouldn’t rely on them myself. Without a doubt, they would get pricey ($30 bucks per work week) and frankly, I hate going to Starbucks and standing in line because that’s a huge time suck. So later that day, I did some googling and found numerous variations on how to make them.
Aside from being high in protein and easy to make, the best part is that the eggs bites can be kept refrigerated for five days and reheated each morning. The reheated eggs still taste fresh and they don’t have any of that nasty overcooked egg taste either. They’d be great bagged up and tucked into a purse to be reheated at the office or they’d make a great breakfast for a teenager dashing out the door hoping to beat the clock.
Tartar Sauce. It’s a classic accompaniment to fish. It’s great on a fish sandwich or with a piece of fried halibut or cod or baked salmon.
Tackling this juggernaut has been on my recipe bucket list for some time but it was only recently that I nailed a real solution. I bought an 
The recipe that follows is ridiculously simple. If you don’t have homemade yogurt, storebought is fine. If you use Greek yogurt, you might need to thin it with a bit of milk to get that dollopy texture. Thin it a bit in the beginning, then add your relish, onion, and lemon juice, and if the texture needs adjusting, add a bit more milk or lemon if desired