Tangy Mustard Ribs with Balsamic Glaze

[panisdead]

This recipe is from Natalie Perry's The Big Book of Paleo Slow Cooking, which I love and recommend highly if you have any interest whatsoever in the crockpot.

( Tangy Mustard Ribs )

Variations and Notes: I primarily made the recipe as written. I can't remember if I used spare or back ribs; I think my store only had one of them. I did end up cutting the rack in half to fit in the crockpot, then rubbed the halves with the marinade and let them sit in the crockpot in the fridge overnight before cooking the following day. The meat came out surprisingly flavorful before the addition of the glaze, and this may have been why. I forgot to add the extra water to the cooker, but it didn't matter; there was plenty of cooking liquid. When I went to prepare the glaze I did wish I had one of those tools that lets you strain off liquified grease, as the fattier cut of meat generated a lot and I wasn't sure where "cooking juices" ended and "grease" began.

My family really liked this recipe and it was overall quite easy; I will definitely make it again. I personally am not a big fan of ribs--I make them for my family--and I also enjoyed this. When I repeat it, I think I will look for two smaller racks of baby back ribs and use my giant crockpot, both in hopes of cutting down a little on the grease component and to increase the amount of meat generated. One rack of spare or back ribs actually didn't go that far for me and two big guys. I served it with some sort of vegetable that I've forgotten, salad, and garlic toast.

Salted Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies

[musesfool]

These cookies took the internet by storm last year (two years ago? what even is time?), so I finally got around to trying them yesterday. I used the NY Times version of the recipe, but it might be paywalled, so it's also available here, though the Times variation has 1/4 cup more flour than the Food Network one.

( Ingredients )

( Instructions )

Instead of following the above method, I threw everything but the chocolate chips (I didn't use chopped chocolate) into the food processor and blended it that way. I used Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips, which are too big and I wouldn't do that again. I also didn't have demerara sugar, so I used turbinado sugar to roll the logs of dough in.

The cookies are okay? I don't love them and if you're looking for a true chocolate chip cookie, this isn't going to do it. I also think the egg wash/rolling in sugar is an unnecessary and messy step that doesn't add much to the end result. (I did not get crisp edges.) But they do come together easily and taste pretty good. You do need the 2 hours of chilling, though, so they're not an "I want cookies right now" kind of cookie.

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Mods, can I get a cookies tag?

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