Snowless snow day

I had a snow day yesterday, sans snow. The city of Austin had rolling blackouts, and my office had to close because of the power outage. Between the office never being able to heat up and the server having to reboot every 30 minutes, there was just no point in being at work.

So, I stayed home, watched Groundhog Day and baked. The first step was deciding WHAT to bake though. It was 20F, and I didn't feel like bundling up for the grocery store. Instead, I looked in my pantry to see what I could improvise. I found white chocolate chips and pecans...and that was as far as my eyes had to search. It was an easy sell for me. No snow on a snow day = white chocolate then. Fair enough. :-)

To spruce up this combo, I used Mexican vanilla and cinnamon, and here is the resulting recipe:

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla extract

1 large egg

2 cups (12-oz. pkg) white chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped pecans

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in small

bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract

in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg. Gradually beat in flour

mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Drop by rounded

tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 8 to 11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on

baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

The cookie...well...it just might be my new second favorite. I'd say favorite, but the snickerdoodle will always have my heart. This was a really, really good cookie though, proof being that there are no more left today. :-)