Okay. So I have a confession to make. This post is a month in the making. I originally planned to make these cookies for my big sister's birthday. I went out. Bought the pistachios. Made the cookies... and ate them. Not in one sitting. But first my mom tasted one or two. Then my sister. Then a friend came over and wanted a snack. Before I knew it there were only 3 cookies left and I just couldn't send only 3 cookies. So I vowed to make them again and send some at a later date. I eventually did and promptly put a dozen in the freezer to keep them fresh and away from prying hands until they could be sent.

I snagged this recipe from Joy the Baker. But if I remember correctly it's originally posted on Smitten Kitchen. Or you could just take your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and swap for dark chocolate chips/chunks and add pistachios. Oh! Note to self.... if you can pay $0.50 extra for pistachio meats pre-hulled do it. I spend waaay to much time prying those bad babies open. Although it did give me the time to listen to another podcast. I recently started listening to podcast when I bake instead of turning on the TV. It gives me something to do AND I feel better about myself afterwards b/c it's not TV.

So the first time I made these cookies I just scooped them out onto the baking sheet and put them in the oven. But, they didn't spread as much as I wanted... Sometimes I want nice thin cookies with a little chew to them. So I consulted a professional and she suggested I take them time to flatten them before baking them. Cuh-raizy I know! Here I was all worried about butter to flour ratios and/or the need to adjust the oven temperature and the solution was so simple all along. I thought smashing the dough would have been sacrilegious. But, apparently sometimes it is better to K.I.S.S. Also in the background of the picture above you can see a stack of the malted oatmeal, chocolate chip, peanut, pretzel cookies I made. Why? I love cookies with a lot of stuff in them! I also was excited to try malted milk powder in a cookie. I love, love, love malts. I was hoping this would be my new go to recipe. Verdict isn't in yet. My mom likes them though. She's been eating them all week!

You know... I try to act like I'm "grown" and I know a thing or two about making cakes (among other types of information). However, even with all my learnin' about bakin' sometimes I still make mistakes. Sometimes I get tired, or rushed, and I can't do the "right" thing even though I know it's right. Sometimes you're working on a deadline and you've got to frost a cake despite the fact that you've also been cooking in a small kitchen. And you know the butter you took out to soften before the pasta bake went into the over is waaaaay too soft now. And that all kitchen science you've read in "Cook's Illustrated" and Alton Brown (the food nerd on high) tells you that too soft butter will not lead to pretty butter cream... You take a beater to that butter anyway and try to "cream" it. Yes, dear friends, I committed a foodie foul. But it still tasted good!

It was my PaPa's birthday a few weeks ago and I wasn't able to celebrate it with him on time. I was at his house a week later though so I brought a cake to celebrate belatedly. My gramps had mentioned making zucchini bread the previous time we hung out. He's not into a lot of prep work in the kitchen. So I offered to shred the zucchini for him... but he still wasn't 100% sure he was ready for such an endeavor. Me being the awesome granddaughter that I am ::brushes shoulders off:: decided to treat him to some zucchini bread flavor in the form of a cake. I used a trusted source and found this recipe.

I'll admit. I've made prettier cakes... and this frosting would not set even when I stuck it in the freezer post crumb-coat. I still licked my fingers after slicing. And my PaPa had 2 slices! So all in all... I'd still put this in the "plus" column.