Cookie Dough and Rooster Sauce!

One of the gifts we're making this year is a homemade version of Sriracha, the ubiquitous "Rooster Sauce" (or "Cock Sauce", if you're nasty) found in the fridges and on the tables of Asian food fans worldwide. Mr. Mac found a few good recipes online, and ended up doing something similar to this recipe from Food52.  It turned out to be easy, flavorful, bright red, and extremely delicious!  We omitted the pepper seeds from the first batch and it turned out very mild.  Next up: a spicy version ("Cock 'n' Balls Sauce"...classy, right?) with lots of chile kick.  Pictures of this operation happening in our tiny, cluttered kitchen?  Yes!

Mr. Mac is going to put this beautiful red/orange stuff into glass jars for Christmas gifts.  And now for the cookie dough:

I figured people might enjoy a roll of frozen cookie dough.  No muss, no fuss, and no one will know if the recipients of these gifts choose to eat the entire thing, unbaked, during an NCIS marathon.  Moving on.  I used Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe my mom used to make when I was a kid.  It's a variation of the ancient and renowned Toll House recipe, available on the back of Nestle chocolate chip packages.  I used Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips and made one batch (4 logs of dough) each with and without walnuts, wrapped them in parchment and foil, and attached baking instructions.

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C white sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1 C + 2 T all-purpose flour
1 C chocolate chips
1 C chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.  Add the salt, baking soda, and flour and mix until the dough is sticky and all flour is incorporated.  Fold in chocolate chips (and nuts).  Drop by large spoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving room between the cookies.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown and just set in the center.  Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then enjoy warm, chewy chocolate chip yum.  To bake from frozen, just preheat your oven and let the dough thaw at room temperature for 20 minutes or so.  Slice the log into 1" thick cookies and bake as above.