delish Indian dinner with cookie desert

*************PLEASE FORGIVE THE FONT-SIZE ERRORS AS THE END OF THIS POST APPROACHES; IT TOOK SO LONG TO TYPE OUT THE RECIPIES THAT I CANNOT BE BOTHERED TO WORRY ABOUT THE MUDDLED FONT.*************

Oooh! Babe and I had some delicious foods the other night. For reasons unknown to man (or rather, known to me as it was because of my work schedule and family stuffs) we ended up eating Italian and Chinese all week last week; not that either of those are bad, but just not our first choice of favourite foods. So on our first night alone together in ten-ish days we decided to try a new recipe from our favourite genre of food: Indian. And man, was it good!!! It sounds a bit weird at first, but trust me, it's completely amazing. Also, although curry is in the title, there is no curry in the recipe...but still, here it is:

Chicken Curry with Sliced Apples

Ingredients:

*2 tsp oil (I used canola)
*2 medium onions, diced (I used only one white onion as SO hates them)
*1 bay leaf
*2 cloves (probably 3 or 4 in my version)
*1in cinnamon stick (make sure you note, the inch part; I've made that mistake before)
*4 black peppercorns (b/c I'm cheap, I used a TON of rough-ground pepper)
*1 baby chicken cut into bits (nope, I only used about 5 tenders; we're not big on meat
around here plus we be broke-ass bitches)
*1 tsp garam masala (all my measurements are in my head, I'm sure I used WAY more than
called for in recipes)
*1tsp grated fresh root ginger (I'm quite sure mine was closer to a Tblspn)
*1tsp crushed garlic (being fiends of garlic, we usually double the amount)
*1tsp salt (kosher in my kitchen)
*1tsp chili powder
*1 Tbsp ground almonds (we only had in-shell, so we magic-bulleted those)
*2/3 cup natural yogurt (probably closer to a cup, mayhap even 1 1/2 cups)
*2 green apples, peeled, cored and roughly sliced (granny smith for me!)
*1 Tbsp chopped coriander (we LOVE this stuff, so we tear it up by hand and use lots)
*sliced almonds (toasted is best) and more coriander for garnish (as stated before, we only
had in-shell, and it's VERY difficult to slice an almond without proper equipment; we used more of our freshly ground--DO NOT DO THIS!! it only made certain bites grainy....trust me, spring the $1 or $2 for a bag of sliced almonds!!)

STEP ONE:
Heat the oil in a wok on medium or medium-high (I'm sure a similarly heavy pan would also suffice) and fry the onions with the bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon stick and the peppercorns for about 4 minutes or until onions are softened but not quite brown yet.

STEP TWO:
Add the chicken pieces to the onions and continue to stir-fry for at least another 3-5 minutes.

STEP THREE:
Turn the heat down to Low-Medium and add the garam masala, ginger, garlic, salt, chili powder, and ground almonds and cook; making sure to stir constantly for about 3-4 minutes.

STEP FOUR:
Pour in the yogurt and stir for a few more minutes (and if you're me, look at it and say, "Rock Star, I don't think this has enough liquid in it; what do you think?" To which he'll reply, "Looks fine to me, I don't think it's supposed to be super liquidy." And then you can say, "No. I don't like it. Let's add more yogurt.")

STEP FIVE:
Add the apples and coriander, cook for another 10-15 minutes (probably would be a good idea to cover it here, but we have no lid for either of our woks...donations are welcome to fix this dire problem).

STEP SIX:
Sprinkle garnishes (sliced almonds and more coriander; and if you're super paranoid like Rock Star is, triple-check the chicken to make sure it is thoroughly cooked) and serve (we used basmati rice, but I'm sure plain white rice would taste fine too...you know, if you don't know anything about flavour).

Enjoy your surprisingly delicious Indian chicken with apples dish!!

*******

And, if all that cooking and eating wasn't quite enough cooking and kitchen-time for you, after our two-ish mile walk (poor old Chubbies was just dying at the end!!) we decided to try a new chocolate-chip cookie recipe that I found on the SmittenKitchen blog--which, if you have a major desire to feel completely inadequate about your kitchen and/or time you spend cooking you can locate here (she calls them "crispy chewy chocolate chip cookies").
Now, I have a chocolate chip recipe all of my own; one I'm VERY proud of; one I did not think I would be able to surpass. Boy! Was I ever wrong!! And, man! It has never tasted so good being wrong!! These cookies are crisp around the edges and only slightly chewy in the middle (seeing as how I'm not much a fan of chewy cookies, that's perfect for me); they're similar to the Nestle Tollhouse recipe, but with less white sugar and almost twice as much brown sugar. I will add, I used mostly milk-chocolate chips and I would recommend using all semi-sweet or dark-chocolate chips as the dough itself is fairly sweet.

Best God-damned Chocolate chip cookies EVAH!!

Ingredients (as usual, I measure by hand, so I'm sure I usually go over on the measurements):

*2 cups all-purpose flour
*1/2 teaspoon baking soda
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
*1 cup packed brown sugar
*1/2 cup white sugar
*1 tablespoon vanilla extract
*1 egg
*1 egg yolk
*2 cups chocolate chips

STEP ONE:
Grease your cookie sheet and preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (but let's be honest, I never really do either of these until I'm ready to put them into the oven--well, I'll preheat about half-way through)

STEP TWO:
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; and set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.

STEP THREE:
Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. (If you are either myself or Rock Star, at this point you dip your finger in the batter and insert said finger into mouth; only to make sure it tastes okay, mind; there's no need to continue with this laborious baking if it's not going to tast good. ...oh, and PS, we're totally sanitary in my kitchen!)

STEP FOUR:
Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. Drop cookie dough a tablespoon at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 2-3 inches apart. (Of course, you can make larger cookies if that is your preference; just remember to add 2-5 minutes to your cooking time.)

STEP FIVE:
Bake 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

ENJOY THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES EVER CREATED!!!

(no joke, I cannot make these cookies often due to making all the other cookies I make feel very very bad about themselves)