i really haven't been baking much lately. apart from the orders i had, the ovens (yes plural, i hv two ovens now) were basically left untouched. i'm not sure why but i seem 2b suffering from a "baking burnout", if such term exists. things are so bad that i'll leave butter or cream cheese at room temperature and then return them to the fridge afterwards without baking anything LOL. i guess going out for desserts with the kakis might also a contributing factor. i wouldn't wanna make more desserts since i'm already going out so often to hv them.

then again, i finally managed to shake off the lazy bugs, at least for now. i really need to utilize my ovens & KA mixer, else hubby'll kill me! i was down with flu for the past week, haven't had anything sweet and felt totally deprived. plus i keep on having this nagging craving for cookies (among other things like carrot cake and vanilla bean ice cream hehe), especially after i went to subway with claire and we had the hearty italian sub with the macadamia white choc cookie. it was so good, albeit sweet. so when i saw this recipe on mandy's site, i just had to give it a try. the cookies look really good and i hv too much cocoa nibs sitting at home anyway.

tastewise, really good and i like them! mandy baked them in sticks just like biscottis, but i opted for the easy way out. i shaped the dough into a log and cut them into slices. the cocoa nibs also added a nice crunch without any additional sweetness, unlike chocolate chips. texture wise, it really reminds me of the bag of cookies we received @ obolo on the outing that time.

and here's the close-up shot of the valrhona cocoa nibs (grue cacao venezuela) i used. cocoa nibs are simply cocoa beans cracked into tiny pieces and these are definitely chocolate at its purest! the aroma is also unsurpassed. they can be added into anything - cookies, ice cream, cakes etc. i even add them into my macarons and they taste great. like i mentioned, they're good becoz they give additional texture and crunch to whatever you're baking without the sweetness. gotta find more ways to use 'em!