Musings from the death bed, ode to the Haurache and one AWESOME recipe

Here I am... in bed, in my nightgown with my laptop on my lap... sick with the Swine Flu or Mexican food (pick one) but either way, Mexico is involved. Did I mention that there are two men working in my bathroom who keep traipsing through my bedroom? (another story) Yesterday we made our second trip to the Mexican Consulate in Philadelphia because it turns out that ALL of our guys needed to renew their passports and Mexican credentials.

Trip One: Eutiquio, Javier, Roque, Mom and I go. Afterward the guys want real Mexican food so I drive to a section of town where there are lots of Latinos. We find a restaurant, go in and low and behold, they have my favorite Mexican delicacy. Cachete (cheek meat) I order a huarache (sort of a long oval taco) and am in heaven. Lunch takes forever because our guys are masters of disorganization. After we have eaten, Roque asks for take-out. When it is prepared and delivered, Tiquio decides that he needs take out and after that Javier places a takeout order. A week goes by and I am fantasizing about my next huaraches de cachete fix.

Trip Two: Anibal, Lazaro, Humberto, Scott and I head out for Philly at 3:30am. We get there in record time (3 hours 10 minutes). Scott and I go to the Reading Terminal Market where I retrieve my lost cell phone from a few weeks prior when I was in Philly for work and buy lots of goodies at the Metropolitan Bakery. Can I hear an amen for "Salted Chocolate Chip Sour Cherry Cookies?" Recipe at the end of this posting. The guys call at 10:30 and are ready. We pick them up and Lazaro was without his passport and credential. In grand Central American style (those fellow Guate adoptive parents can relate), the consulate would not accept his official, original, authenticated, Mexican birth certificate because under Nationality of Birth Parents it was left blank. C'mon!!! Needless to say, this means Trip Three to Philadlphia. Ugh! Ok, back to my fantasy, we head out to the same restaurant and I order my beloved huaraches. Scott breifs the guys on how to order take-out (order it when our meal comes and all order at the same time) and despite his attempts, it was a repeat of Trip One because the more people thought about it, they decided they, too, wanted to take home something. We drive back, I drive to Lewisburg for my night class and hmmm - I aint feeling that great. Get home at 10pm and feel like crap the rest of the night. I cancel my meeting today and send Cecilia to the babysitter. I think I ate my last huarache. After all of that I am sure you are waiting with baited breath for the cookie recipe. :-)

Ingredients...
1 cup rolled oats
3 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chunks
1 1/4 c. dried tart cherries
4 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions...
Using a food processor, grind oats into a fine flour. (I used a blender.)

In a bowl, sift all-purpose flour with baking powder and baking soda. Add oat flour and kosher salt

Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until light in color and texture, about 3 minutes.

Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Stir in vanilla.

Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Fold in chocolate and cherries.

Using a large ice-cream scoop, portion cookie dough into 18 balls. (I don't know what kind of ice cream scoop they used but I used the biggest cookie scoop I have and got way more than 18?)

Place cookies on a parchment-lined tray.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place cookies on an ungreased baking sheet 2 inches apart.

Press slightly to flatten cookies and sprinkle each cookie with 1/4 teaspoon sea salt.

Bake until cookies are golden brown around the edges. 15 to 18 minutes.

Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Makes 18 cookies.


Tips
~Use high quality "pure" not "imitation" vanilla extract for this recipe.
~Look for bittersweet chocolate that's 60 to 70% cacao. Recommended brands Callebaut and Scharffen Berger.
~Chilling the dough improves the texture (It lets the flour's gluten relax, for a more tender cookie) and the flavor. After 3 days though, the baking soda and baking powder lose some of their leavening power.