Milk 'N Cookiezzz

Happy New Years!

2011-12-31T23:15:00.000-08:00

So I know I haven't posted lately, but I just wanted to post at least once before the end of the year. So.....here goes

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

I hope you all have a great year!
<3 Lynne

Gift Guide! (for a foodie, of course)

2011-12-03T22:29:00.000-08:00

Bake It Pretty's Best ever icing kit: No joke. The frosting looks professional!

How about some pretty cupcake liners? I bought sooo many of them!!! :)

Or, if they bake cookies, why not an ice cream scooper for those perfectly shaped and portioned cookies? (I have the medium -good for cookies and large-good for cupcakes)

Or how about a subscription to a foodie magazine? Cook's illustrated is awesome with their time tested recipes, food network is creative, fun and inspiring, bon appetit is delicious looking, and much more!!

Cook's Illustrated

Food Network

Bon Appetit

Bread and Kaki no tane! ^ ^

2011-11-15T22:59:00.000-08:00

Woah! :D Isn't this bread so cool? It's one of the sweet breads from Bakery Manoa. The first time we came we tried the English bread (sorry, no picture). It was pretty good, but this bread was waayyy better. Plus, who doesn't love eating round bread? It reminds me of smuckers sandwiches. But, it so does not taste like their bread, at all (which is good!).

The bread was slightly sweet and super fluffy and soft. I loved eating it plain or with a little lilikoi jam, or both. Oh, and the ridges make the perfect guidelines for slicing. Hehe, since I'm pretty bad at cutting bread ...

Oh, and I forgot to show you guys these cute little boxes. Inside is Kaki no tane (Japanese rice snack that's similar to osenbei). Typically kaki no tane is just spicy/shoyu flavored, but these ones are all different (and very strange) flavors. Cheese or curry flavor, anyone? Haha! Some were surprisingly good (wasabi, maple sugar) other were, well uh, interesting (cheese....).

Brownies with a Chocolate Drizze

2011-11-13T22:57:00.000-08:00

Chocolate drizzled brownies. Chocolate + Chocolate + Brownies... Need I say more? Okay, well maybe. These were amazing! I didn't overbake the brownies, so they were fudgy, moist, chocolatey, and delicious!

I used the fat witch brownie recipe (but didn't over bake it this time!) and made a simple chocolate drizzle.

Chocolate drizzle recipe:
Powdered sugar, cocoa powder, (small amount!) water
In a small bowl combine powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and water. Mix. Drizzle over brownies.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-11-12T17:20:00.000-08:00

Gosh, it's been quite a while since I posted a recipe. It's a good thing I have a recipe to share today! Actually it's not my recipe, but the recipe from the back of the Andes mint baking chip bag (hehehe :D ). They were amazing! Minty, refreshing, chocolatey! If you like soft batch cookies, you're sure going to like these :) (They looked and felt like soft batch, except for the part about them being minty fresh :P

Andes Mint CookiesFrom the back of the package
Ingredients

1/2 cup salted butter, softened

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 package (10 oz) Andes Mint Baking Chips

Directions:

1. Cream together butter and sugars. Mix in egg and vanilla extract

2. Sift together baking soda, baking powder, flour. Mix into butter egg mixture.

3. Stir in Andes baking chips

4. Chill for at least one hour

5. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Use a cookie scoop to spoon tablespoon sized pieces of dough on to a cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

6. Enjoy!

Creme Brulee

2011-11-09T20:19:00.000-08:00

Hehe, when I looked back at the other post, I realized I spelled "Creme Brulee" incorrectly. I'm not much of a speller anyways...but at least I can Make creme brulee. Hah! So anyways, remember when I told you guys about those eggs my parents bought?! I actually only eat egg whites (no, I'm not trying to be healthy, I just like the taste of the egg white part) so we often have several leftover egg yolks in the fridge. I've been trying to think of ways to get rid of them (do you guys have any ideas?!?!) and one of the first was creme brulee!

I used the recipe found in the Flour bakery cookbook, but probably used like double the egg yolks! Hehe, super rich and creamy. YUM :P. The container in the picture is looks super tiny (it is so I ate several of them at a time!), but I actually baked the majority in small ramekins. The creme brulee was rich and creamy, with a perfect crunchy topping!

Tartine Bread

2011-11-06T22:53:00.000-08:00

Gosh, it's been such a long time since I last posted. I didn't even post during Thanksgiving!! Which reminds me, how was everyone's Thanksgiving?? Even though I haven't been blogging lately, I've still been baking :) For Thanksgiving dinner, I made a pumpkin crunch cake and chocolate cream pie. I don't have a recipe for you guys today, but I realized I never posted about the bread I made waaayyyy long ago. Oops. Hehe.

This was my first attempt at the Tartine bread recipe, and if I may say, it turned out pretty good. Rustic, chewy, crackly exterior. The recipe calls for a starter, and then a small portion of that starter is used in the actual dough for the bread. Oh, and the recipe make two loaves. Hehe, one turned out well not so well (scroll down for a picture...). Turns out that even if a company says their pot can go in to an oven up to 450˚F, don't trust them! I initially put one of the loaves in said pot and the handles (which were rubber, I think?) started to burn! So I ended up just place the bread on a pizza stone, which worked pretty well.

Tartine Bread

What happens when you put bread in a hot pot, bake it for a little bit, then decide it was supposed to be the other side and end up flipping the cooked side on top! Oops!

hey guys! :D

2011-11-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

hey guys! so here's what I've been up to lately...

Tartine Bread

Creme Brule

Andies Mint Chip Cookies

Chocolate Drizzeled Brownies

Sweet Bread from Bakery of Manoa

Kakinotane from Japan

My dad makes a blueberry tart!

Marunouchi Roll Cake from Shirokiya

Homemade twix <3

Macaron w/ Caramel Buttercream

2011-10-28T00:19:00.000-07:00

Gosh, I haven't posted in such a long time. Well, how about a macaron with caramel buttercream? I actually made a cake for a friend (browned butter yellow cake with cookie dough frosting and caramel frosting!) which is why I had some leftover caramel frosting to be sandwiched between two macaron shells!

Hehe, thanks J for the picture! (She took it w/ her phone :)...

Recipe for Browned Butter Cake
Cookie Dough Frosting
Salted Caramel Frosting (I actually used salted caramel sauce from TJ and a buttercream recipe)

EGGS AND PIE :D

2011-10-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

EGGS! 300 eggs. That's how many eggs my parents bought this past weekend!!! Amazing, delicious, and maybe slightly crazy...From where you ask? Peterson Farm! I've never been there, but I do know I love their eggs. For the past week I've had an egg every. single. morning. But they're amazing, so I can't complain :)

Brown eggs...

White eggs...

Optical illusion!!!!

I love this photo. I'm not sure why...it just looks pretty neat! Oh, and the trip out to wahiwa (?) waipahu (?) wouldn't be complete without a stop at Sunny Side. This was the first time I've tried their pie, and boy oh boy, I've been missing so much.

Peach pear pie.... yum. Shucks, I forgot to take a picture of the chocolate cream pie. My brother LOVED it. He said it's better than Ted's. I have to say, the crust was pretty darn good. But I'm still looking for a dark chocolate cream pie! Maybe I'll just have to make my own....!

Simple One Bowl Chocolate Cake with Pearl Sugar and Dark Chocolate Ganache

2011-10-12T18:42:00.000-07:00

Whew, was that a long title or what? The title may be long, the cake and toppings are actually pretty simple (and delish!). I used a one bowl chocolate cake recipe from here. 1/4 the recipe and used a 6 inch cake pan. After the cake finished baking, I made a simple syrup (I just use equal parts of sugar and water) and brushed/soaked! the cake. It made it sooooo moist!!! After, a made a super rich, super decadent ganache (equal parts bittersweet chocolate and heavy cream) and then smothered the cake in this amazing concoction (but not before I had some, of course!). And, for the finishing touch, a huge sprinkle of pearl sugar! Btw, does anybody have a good recipe for pearl sugar? I'm horrible at making waffles.....

Black and White Cookies and Lemon Chewies from The Cookiepedia

2011-10-09T17:35:00.000-07:00

Remember this post about The Cookiepedia? Well, I just realized I never posted any pictures?! I made black and white cookies and lemon chewies. Yum! They were both fantastic! It was my first time making black and white cookies, but the directions and ingredients were actually fairly simple (still looking for the oven temp, though!). I brought them to an XC meet (I'm off crutches! Woo hoo!) and everyone loved them :)

The lemon chewies were lemony, but still sweet enough without being overpowering. They were a little dry, but that might have been because of the cooking time....oops!

Chocolate Macaron w/ Chocolate Ganache

2011-10-01T01:04:00.000-07:00

I've done it! I've finally made at least two successful batches of macarons! Woot woot! :) For the shells, I used the same recipe but added some cocoa powder. They are slightly more chewier and definitely pack a huge cocoa punch! The cocoa shells and chocolate ganache are a match made in heaven :)

Larabar Review

2011-09-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

The first time I ever had a lara bar was after an eight mile race. You know what? They tasted AMAZING! Exactly like the flavor of the bar. Hm, I think it was uh lemon bar I had? Anyways, it tasted exactly like a lemon bar! Some of my favorites...

YUMMY!!! :)

Would you like to buy some Larabars? Like them on fb? Follow them on twitter?

Daring Bakers: Croissants!

2011-09-27T00:46:00.000-07:00

The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non- blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!

After eating croissants in Paris, I was a little apprehensive about making my own. But, they actually turned out great! Flaky, buttery (def. buttery, very very buttery!), and sooo yummy! I used the croissant recipe from Tartine.

With the cream/egg yolk wash

er...my attempt at a chocolate croissant...and a leftover dough patty

Look at all the layers! So flaky and buttery :)

just the crumbs!

Cookbook Review: Cookiepedia

2011-09-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

An encyclopedia...for cookies? Yes! The book is divided in to sections based on the cookie type. There's...

Chocolaty cookies....

Fancy cookies...

Fruity...

Nutty and seedy....

and much more! Oh, and you know what I love about this book, besides the lovely pictures and recipes, near the end of each recipe there is a note section where you can write little reminders. So, let's say I hypothetically (or really) tried the black and white cookies and I find my smaller cookie scoop produces a good size cookie. Then, I can write in a little note to myself for next time :) Okay, so I really did make the black and white cookies (in addition to lemon cookies!) and they were fantastic! The only problem I encountered was that the recipes did not have a baking temperature. I searched and searched for those little words "Preheat the oven to ~" but I couldn't find them. I baked the cookies at 350˚F, you know the standard cookie time, and they still came out great.

Oh, and I love how near the front and back page of the book there is are basic conversion charts...Sorry for the small and blurry picture

Disclaimer: Quirk Books provided me with this cookbook to review. I was under no obligation to write a positive review.

Artisana Nut Butters!!!

2011-09-24T00:51:00.000-07:00

Do you remember my post back when I confessed my love for butter? Well look what I got in the mail... Artisana nut butters! They carry the most amazing nut butter and coconut products. All of their products are 100% organic and....they taste amazing! (plus, it's super convenient package too, you'll see what I mean if you scroll down....)

Below is a jar of Coconut Butter and Pecan Butter. Oh! I can't wait to spread them on my morning toast. Actually, come to think of it, I don't normally eat my nut butter with toast or anything for that matter. Just me, a big ol spoon, and a jar of these AMAZING butters!!!

Aren't these pouches so cute? They make a great snack and are perfect for on-the-go bites. All you have to do is knead the pouch (to incorporate all the yummy goodness together!), tear, and eat. YUM! :)

Close up...Tahini butter (who knew there was such thing?!), cashew butter, almond butter (:O), coconut oil....See that orange one in the top left? It's Cashini Butter :) A mixture of cashews and sesame seeds. How clever!

I love how there are not added ingredients. So you know the almond butter? Guess what it's made out of.... Yup, if you guessed just almonds, then you're right! 100% almonds :D

I can't wait to tear in to the cacao bliss. Doesn't it sound dreamy? It's made out of Coconut butter, coconut oil, agave syrup, cacao, and cacao butter (and they're all organic! Actually it says 100% organic, but I didn't know you could even have 50% organic product. Can you?)!

Almond butter was sooo yummy! Perfect on bread...Nope, this time I didn't just eat it directly from the pouch. Now what kind of picture would that have been?!

Instructions...

Different angle of delicious almond butter spread over bread!

Disclaimer: Artisana provided me with free samples of their products to review, and I was under no obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.

Preview...

2011-09-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what's coming this week? I'll leave a few pictures...

Healthy Cinnamon Rolls

2011-09-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

This morning I had this huuugggee craving for cinnamon rolls (wait, can you say you have a huge craving?), but I wanted to make a slightly healthy version, oh and I didn't want to wait for the dough to rise..that would've taken forever. So what did I do? I looked up healthy cinnamon rolls on google! And what came up? A healthy cinnamon roll recipe, of course.

Do you see those white little sprinkles on top? It's pearl sugar! On my trip to London we stopped at a Swedish store and of course, I had to try some of their desserts. (Weird, yea? Swedish food in London.) Anyways, I bought pearl sugar there...

with some icing...

Lighter Everyday Cinnamon Rolls from here

Magnum Bars

2011-09-15T23:28:00.000-07:00

Oh! I have just found my favorite ice cream bar! While we were in Europe I kept seeing Magnum ice cream bars. It was so hot (and I love ice cream!) so of course I couldn't resist trying one, or two, or three. I found them at my local supermarket, so I just had to buy them (even though they were super expensive - $6 for 3!)

Doesn't it look so classy? So expensive? So deliciously, awesomely, tasty!

YUM :D

I LOVE BUTTER!

2011-09-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

Nut butter that is! This stuff is amazing and addictive. I just can't stop sticking my spoon in the container. Sweet, nutty, creamy, maple-y, all in one single bite. Hm, I wonder how it'd taste on a banana...?! Not only was this stuff super yummy, but it was also pretty easy to make. Coat some almonds in a little maple syrup, bake them in the oven for oh about 10 minutes, then grind for hm maybe 5-7 minutes.

Maple almond butter > Peanut butter? Yes, definitely better. The recipe come's from Ashley's blog. Oh wait, now that I just looked at the recipe again it seems I forgot the cinnamon! Oh well, next time. I guess I forgot because the recipe is so simple! A cup of nuts, a tablespoon of maple syrup...

Oh, you know what I just realized? I actually tried almond butter before. Whole foods has those nut grinding stations where you can sample the different kinds. Anyways, I tried the almond butter there but it didn't taste very good. The outer husks of the almonds were still visible, and the butter had a gritty taste (totally unlike this recipe! -just make sure to pulse long enough!)

Maple Almond Butter
Ingredients:
1 cup almonds
2 Tablespoon maple syrup (only real stuff please!)

1. Preheat oven to 325˚F
2. In a bowl combine almonds and syrup
3. Spread on parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes, stirring halfway
4. Once finished, pulse nuts in a food processor until cream (it took me about 5-7 minutes)
* Ashley has some great tips about making creamy and perfect nut butters

Super soft buttery buns

2011-09-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

I do not usually bake bread, but once I saw this recipe I couldn't wait to turn on the oven. These buns are so soft! Actually, I made these twice. The first time I followed the directions exactly, the buns weren't as sweet as I'd like. The second time I made them I increased the sugar by 50 grams for a sweeter bread. Oh, and I love the shine on these buns! :)

Butter Bread Recipe from here

Black Sesame Cream Puffs

2011-09-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

Every since I tried Sadaharu Aoki's Sesame Eclair, I've been craving an eclair...especially one filled with a slightly nutty sesame cream filling! So, I tried to make my own. And well, my puffs turned out kinda small. But they were still pretty good :D I used Tartine's recipe for the choux pastry and sesame pastry cream (normal pastry cream + 1 Tablespoon ground black sesame in the milk). Next time I think I will pipe bigger mounds. Oh, and don't open the oven in the initial stage of baking. Haha, I seemed to have missed that important note so I opened the oven to check on them..oops, they all deflated!! I think I'm going to have to try these again. Maybe with a sugar topping or something?!

Banana Snacking Cake...banana cake w/o all the oil and butter

2011-08-31T09:18:00.000-07:00

I love banana bread, but sometimes all that oil and butter makes me feel a little sick after (maybe it has to do with eating half the loaf... hehehe). Anyways, I wanted to create a simple banana cake without all the added fat. So, thanks to the internet I found a super healthy, yet amazingly tasty banana cake. And, since it has no butter or oil, I called it a "Banana Snacking Cake". Adding the snacking part makes it seem like I can eat it more often without feeling sick!

Banana Snacking Cake
Adapted from Shabbott's Habits
Ingredients:
1 Banana
1/2 cup pear sauce (or apple sauce)
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3 Tbs white sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Directions:
1. Mash ripe banana and applesauce together until the mixture is uniform.
2. Add eggs, milk and vanilla extract to fruit mixture.
3. Add flour, sugar, baking powder and spices to wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.
4. Pour batter in a 8 x 8 pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.
5. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes or until center is just cooked through.
6. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.

*I halved the recipe and baked it in a smaller pan. This is the full recipe

Daring Bakers Make Candy!

2011-08-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

So my for my candies, I attempted to make caramel pops from Sugar Baby. I didn't think the caramel would set so I tried cooking the caramel longer and adding some chocolate chips. This time it did set but it was rock hard, like the chocolate pops at See's Candy. The first pops which I didn't think would set sort of set, but turned into complete blobs of caramel the next day (hence the absence of a picture). (Btw, sorry for the bad photos, it's kind of hard taking pictures on crutches :( ) Anyways, the chocolate pops on the other hand were pretty good though, especially dipped in some more chocolate!

What I've been doing lately...

2011-08-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's almost the end of August! And do you guys know what that means? Ugh, I bet everyone does...school :( Anyways, I've been a very busy gal lately. Actually it's quite the opposite. I spend my last summer days with my feet propped up on a pillow while watching tv. Yea, I'm a lazy bum. Why are my feet propped up? Well...let's just say I had a little accident over a certain little curb while running.....

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture while balancing on only one foot?! Maybe I should've sat down....

What else have I done lately besides totally injure myself and make it hard to walk around the kitchen with a hot pan? Well, I made macarons (FINALLY!!!) and it's all thanks to the Italian meringue method and the cooking class I took in Paris :)

Chocolate Macaron with Raspberry Filling

Fillings: Salted caramel (from Trader Joes), Raspberry Jam, Speculoo Spread, Marshmallow fluff

I bought blue (er Indigo) coloring powder in France and wow, that is a pretty blue. Maybe I should've bought the other colors...oh well, I can always improvise! For the recipe, I used the one they gave us during our cooking course (which I'm pretty sure is Pierre Herme's recipe). I have to so say I loved the class. The teacher was helpful (and spoke English!!) and I was able to finally make a successful batch of macarons...all by myself!

Macaron Shell
Ingredients:
300 g ground almonds
300 g powdered sugar
110 g egg whites
powdered food coloring
-----
300 g sugar
75 g mineral water
110 g egg whites

1. Sift together almonds and powdered sugar in a large bowl
2. Add egg whties and food coloring and mix until uniform (mix well)
3. Prepare the italian meringue (bottom ingredients list)
4. Bring the sugar and water to a boil and cook to 118˚C (244.4˚F). When the mixture reaches 112˚C (233.6˚F) begin beating the eggs with a whisk fitted to a stand mixer. When the sugar reaches 118˚C pour into the egg whites . Whisk until not hot anymore (50˚C or 122˚F)
5. Carefully fold the meringue into the dry mixture (a little at a time). When you pick the mixture up with a spoon and drop it back into the bowl it should slowly blend back in (about 10 sec) but still see lines
6. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet and pipe small uniform (or as uniform as possible!) circles
7. Let stand for 15-30 minutes
8. Bake at 160˚C or 320˚F for 12 minutes

Variation: for a chocolate shell I added 30 grams of cocoa powder

Caramel cuts...again, but better!

2011-08-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

New caramel cut recipe on top and previous recipe on the bottom

Do you guys remember these caramel cuts? They were dense, chewy, and had quite a strong caramel flavor. While they were tasty, I occasionally had a problem baking the bars. Sometimes they wouldn't fully cook. Even after baking them for at least 15 more minutes!

PUNAHOU CARAMEL CUTS
Adapted from here
Ingredients
1/2 cup melted butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine butter and sugar. Add other ingredients and mix well.
3. Bake in greased 11 x 11 x 1 inch pan for 25 minutes. Cool and cut into bars.

London and Paris Part 3

2011-08-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

The citrus tart was so yummy!

Sadaharu Aoki is a genius!!! His sweets were probably my favorite!

This sesame eclair was THE BEST ECLAIR and dessert I've ever had...so far!

Three desserts....all for me!

The sesame eclair did not have an overpowering sesame taste, rather a mild subtle sesame flavor. Plus, I loved the look!

Isn't the yellow dome so cute?!


The vanilla cream on the top didn't seem to match the yuzu base. Separately they tasted amazing, but together, well I just didn't enjoy it as much.

I love these shell things! I have to learn how to make them!!

Aw, this pink dome has tiny macarons!

It wasn't as flaky as the millefeuille from Pierre Herme, but it was still yummy!

I'm not much of a matcha person, but I loved the look!!

Hall of Mirrors

Garden

Where should we go?

Don't judge! I had no fork and we were just walking around for what seemed like forever!

I ate both desserts in about 10 minutes! And the millefeuille was actually pretty big!!

St. Chapelle stained glass

Eclairs from Eric Kayser...I think his normal chocolate one is the best

Cereales or cerales or something bread...the one with all the seeds and nuts! (from eric kayser)

And that's the end of my trip...

London and Paris Part 2

2011-08-15T18:43:00.000-07:00

Supposedly the best falafel in Paris

The gourmet part of galleries du lafayette was amazing! It was like a smaller version of the base of a Japanese department store. Also, it had stands from several famous patisseries (Sadaharu Aoki, Jean Paul Hevin, Eric Kayser, Dalloyau, etc)

Huge mosquito

Thomas Jefferson...in Paris?

Giant chocolate gorilla, awww

Candy bars from the UK. One of our favorites was the double decker

London and Paris Part 1

2011-08-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

Gosh, it's been quite some time since my last post, especially a recipe post. This post doesn't include a recipe, but it does include tons of pictures...or London and Paris! Not much writing, but lots of pictures!

Not sure what plant, but it looked so cool!

So I tried to go running, I really did! But there was so much to see and eat!

Regents Park

Squirrel

beefeater at the tower of london

Buckingham Palace

Horses going to the changing of the guard

In front of westminster abbey

Big ben!

Traditional English food? Yorkshire pudding, meat, potatoes..

Best veggie burger!

Yea, it looks gross, but my brother said it was soooo good!

Yes, that sign is correct. Ice cream made with nitrogen. Amazing!

Chin Chin Labs menu

It's different than what's on their website!!! Agh, we came on the one closed day at first!


Darn, I should've taken a video of how they made the ice cream. They make it right in front of you (it's made to order!) and he explains the whole process. First, he pours a liquid mixture in to a normal kitchen aid mixer. Next, he turns on the mixer and adds liquid nitrogen, increases the speed...and voila deliciously smooth ice cream!

Sauces at Chin Chin labs....Salted Caramel anyone?

Chin Chin Labs toppings

Vanilla with salted caramel and caramelized pretzels...don't forget it's made with liquid nitrogen!!!

Chin Chin Labs was probably my favorite place in London and definitely my favorite ice cream. The ice cream is smooth and rich. Unlike some ice creams that have slivers of ice or a grainy texture, Chin Chin's ice cream tastes almost velvety and sooo creamy! Plus, who doesn't love toppings like hazelnut crunch or popping candy?

Just some random photos...

2011-08-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

This is the flower bow thing on the Godiva chocolate boxes

Hehehe, so this is my new pot I got from my grandma's basement. It's a pretty cool picture...except you can see me! I spy....me! Oh, and my Abercrombie and Fitch bag; can you?

Browned Butter Pecan Brownies

2011-08-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

Are you a browned butter kind of person? A bread and butter kind of person? Maybe a no butter kind of person? I'd have to place myself in the third category. I know, butter, it's what makes all these delicious sweets taste oh so delicious(!), but sometimes, it's just a little too heavy, you know? Especially after eating these Browned Butter Pecan Brownies. Ugh, my stomach hurts so much! I know, I said I'm not a butter kind of gal, but c'mon it's browned butter pecan brownies we're talking about! Browned butter pecan brownies! C'mon!

Browned Butter Pecan Brownies
Adapted from Bon Appetit
Ingredients
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, chilled
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup pecans toasted and roughly chopped

Directions
1. Preheat to 325°F and line an 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan with foil. Coat foil with nonstick spray.
2. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Continue cooking until butter stops foaming and browned bits form at bottom of pan, stirring often, about 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat; immediately add sugar, cocoa, 2 teaspoons water, vanilla, and salt. Stir to blend. Let cool 5 minutes (mixture will still be hot).
4. Add eggs to hot mixture 1 at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition. When mixture looks thick and shiny, add flour and stir until blended. Beat vigorously 60 strokes.
5. Stir in nuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
6. Bake brownies until toothpick inserted into center comes out almost clean (with a few moist crumbs attached), about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Using foil overhang, lift brownies from pan. Cut into 4 strips. Cut each strip crosswise into 4 brownies.

Snickerdoodle Bars

2011-08-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

I love making cookies, but sometimes scooping and shaving just takes WAYY too long. Plus, it's way to hot to keep the oven on any longer than it needs to be. So....I made some snickerdoodle bars! Yes, you read it correctly. Snickerdoodle Bars. A cinnamon-y sugary cookie in bar form! I thought they taste super similar to the real thing. Soft, chewy, and cinnamon-y. :)

Snickerdoodle Bars
Adapted from here
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla
1 Tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 8x8 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat until well blended.
4. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
5. In a small bowl, combine the white sugar and cinnamon.
6. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the batter in the baking pan.
7. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the surface springs back when gently pressed. Remove from oven and let cool slightly on a wire rack. Cut, then serve!

(Hot + Bread) x (Hot + Running) = ???

2011-08-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

Do you know what (Hot + Bread) x (Hot + Running) = ?

A.) Hot ^2 + Hot Running + Hot Bread + Bread Running

B.) Soggy Bread

C.) A sweaty girl running home from the grocery store with a loaf of hot bread

D.) All of the above

E.) What the heck is she talkin about?!?!

The correct answer is....
.....
.....

.....
.....
D.)! If you answered E.), what is the world are you talking about!

If you thought of hot, bread, and running in algebraic terms, well then you'd get the first answer (Sorry if I just reminded you of your 8th grade Algebra class). Since the bread was sealed in a plastic bag - the one they give you at the store- the heat didn't have anywhere to go and yup, I ended up with some soggy sourdough bread, but it still tasted pretty good! And, the answer could also be C.). Can you picture it? You're driving in your car and you see this sweaty looking girl running on the sidewalk with a plastic bag dangling from one hand and a yogurt cup in the other (the yogurt was for homemade yogurt, if you were wondering). Strange, but oh so true. I bet you're wondering what this has to do anything. But....I just made some bread that tastes pretty darn good!

A couple weeks ago I started a sourdough starter and I'm finally getting a darn good loaf. Actually, it didn't taste that sour. Well, it was a whole wheat rye bread, so maybe that's why.... I used KA's Whole Wheat Rye Bread for the recipe as well as their recipe for a sourdough starter.

Oh, and it tastes delicious with fig jam! yum :)

Cherries!

2011-08-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's August already, gosh, summer flew by so fast! Is it still cherry season? Oh well, fruit seem to be in stores 24/7 now...Don't those cherries just look so plump and juicy? Anyways sorry for the randomness, but I'm going to tell you a super duper ultra short story...

So there once was a little cherry. He lived happily among his other cherry brothers and sisters in their glass bowl home. One day, he wanted to stand out among his fellow cherry siblings. So he turned himself into a dessert. But not just any dessert, a cherry crumble!

What do you think of my efforts at creating a story about a cherry? Lame? Well that may be so, but this cherry crumble was definitely not! The recipe came from Eating Well, so it must be healthy, right?

And the story goes on...but ends once he's eaten! The End.

Daring Bakers Make French Frasier

2011-07-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

Usually I wait until the last weekend of the month to attempt my daring baker's challenge. I know this probably isn't the most ideal approach to the challenge, but sometimes it just seems so daunting I'm not sure when to start! This time, however, I was so ready for the challenge.

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make French Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

After months of owning the Tartine cookbook, I was finally able to try my hand at making one of their beautiful cakes (I visited Tartine a couple of years ago, and boy, was it soooooo AMAZINGFABULOUSTASTYDELICIOUSAHHHSOOOGOOD!!!!) The French Frasier has several components. The cake, the pastry cream (which is later folded into the whipped cream, and the fresh fruit. I made all of the components and assembled the entire cake in a single day (we had the cake for dessert after dinner :] ) It was a lot of work, but totally worth it. The cake was light and fluffy, and the stabilized cream was the perfect match for the fresh fruit and fluffy cake! YUM!

Fruit Tart for Summer

2011-07-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

Ah, I love fruit tarts. Fresh fruit, pastry cream, a flaky tart shell. Yum, three essential components of a fabulous summer dessert. Although the weather, mangoes, and pineapple are great in Hawaii, we have some pretty bad berries (except strawberries!). So whenever I do get really good fresh fruit, I usually just eat it fresh. But.....I just couldn't resist after flipping through Sarabeth's Bakery's cookbook(which is where the recipe is from.)

La Palme D'or

2011-07-25T23:57:00.000-07:00

La Palme D'or is a French / Japanese bakery located on the ground floor of Ala Moana. They make beautiful desserts and drinks, and definitely worth a stop if you're in the area!

Pear tart: Yum. I loved the crunchy crust!

Strawberry roll cake: I was hoping their strawberry roll cake would be as delicious as their vanilla roll cake. The cake was fluffy, but didn't really have that strong strawberry flavor I was looking for. The vanilla version is still my favorite...

Mont blanc: I've always seen these at Japanese bakeries, but every time I try one I'm always a little disappointed. I mean it's not bad, but it just looks so much cooler than it actually tastes! Anyways, I thought there was a wee bit too much chestnut mouse/cream. The whipped cream covered blueberry cake in the middle was an interesting surprise, but still way too much cream for the amount of cake.

Apple pie turnover: I love apple turnovers. Flaky buttery crust and spiced apples...Yum. Anyways, in addition to the apple filling I think they added some kind of almond paste (?). It was good, but not great. I think I'll stick with the vanilla roll cake.

On a side note, their drinks are pretty darn fancy. Darn, I should've taken some pictures....

Butterscotch Blondies

2011-07-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

These bars remind me of one of my favorite bodywash/shampoo by Philosophy. Actually, I love all of them, except for vanilla and sugar cookie. They just smell strange. Their butterscotch bodywash smells warm and buttery. It makes me crave these bars! Wait, can a body wash smell warm? Thinking, thinking....Definitely. I currently am using the Coconut Frosting bodywash, but my all time favorite is their cinnamon roll bodywash. It's amazing! Even better than a cinnamon roll. Oh, and did you know on the packages they print recipes. I've never tried making any, have you?

Butterscotch Blondies
Printer Friendly Version

Adapted from Smitten kitchen
Ingredients
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup butterscotch morsels

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and butter an 8×8 pan

2. Mix melted butter with brown sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.
3. Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in any butterscotch morsels.
4. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes, or until set in the middle.

Strawberry wild smoothie

2011-07-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh, I just had The Best Smoothie Ever. No, it wasn't an actual strawberry wild smoothie from Jamba Juice, but a homemade-almost-tastes-exactly-like-it-but-better smoothie! It was Amazing. Cool and refreshing with the perfect balance of strawberries, bananas, and creamyness!

Darn, it's too bad I didn't write down the recipe. I used some homemade strawberry frozen yogurt, one homegrown bananas (can you see them all in the background?!), a splash of milk, couple of sliced strawberries, and voila, a delicious post run snack. Oh, and it tastes just like a dessert if you add some cinnamon cheerios!

Mutant English Muffins?

2011-07-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

When I saw Sarabeth Bakery's recipe for English muffins I knew I just had to make them. I love english muffins and they didn't call for first cooking them on the stove top then baking them. I have english muffin rings (I've been meaning to make the real thing) but they weren't tall enough to use in this recipe. Rather than buying some more kitchen tools I'll only use a couple times...I baked my muffins in a popover pan.

The final product didn't remind me of an english muffin at all, but they still tasted great with some fig jam!

English Muffin

From Sarabeth Bakery
Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
1 cup water
2 ½ tbs butter
2 tbs gran sugar
1 tsp salt
3 ½ tsp yeast
1 egg
4 cups flour
butter for rings
½ cup instant polenta

1. 4 hours before making muffins, bring milk, water (3/4 cup), butter, sugar, and salt to a simmer. Transfer to a stand mixer and cool to room temp
2. Sprinkle yeast over reaming water. Whisk to dissolve. Add to stand mixer. Add egg. Beat with paddle attachment. Gradually beat in flour. Once a stiff batter forms, increase to high speed and beat for 30 seconds. Refrigerate for 4-8 hours.
3. Butter the inside of 12 entrement rings (3 inch diameter 1 ½ inches tall). Coat insides with polenta. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and arrange rings on it. Sprinkle approx ¼ tsp polenta in each ring
4. Stir down batter, and fill rings using a 2 ½ inch scoop. Sprinkle with remaining polenta
5. Proof for 1 ½ hours
6. Preheat oven to 350˚F bake for 25 minutes, let stand for 5 minutes, then remove rings.

I think I've been writing too much...

2011-07-19T16:32:00.000-07:00

Remember how I said I was going to practice my photography? Well, it seems I have not had time, and well, these post have just been a wee bit too long and filled with words. So, I'm going to minimize the words of this post and just let the pictures speak for themselves.

I've done it! And it's all thanks to the step by step tutorial from Pastry Pal!

One of my fav cereal!

2011-07-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

You guys all remember my review on Nature's Path cereal? Well, my dad loved the cereal so much that when he saw this cereal at Trader Joe's, he just had to buy it. Plus, it was only 3 bucks, which is pretty cheap considering cereal is running about $5 per box!

Anyways, my dad thought it was going to taste like wood, so he was planning on just giving it to me. Little did he know that this cereal is amazing! So much better than corn flakes. He actually ended up eating some too. At least the little bit I hadn't eat yet!... :)

These flakes are comprised of several whole grains, such as spelt flour (<---my favorite grain....spelt pancakes = delish saturday breakfast). I looked for it at the whole foods near my house, but couldn't find it! :( Oh, well. I'll just eat their flax version! (Which my dad also bought-it's not as nutty tasting or delish, but it's pretty good)

This cereal tastes delicious on it's own, but if you add some homemade yogurt and fresh fruit, it'd make a delish parfait!

Note: Nature's Path did not provide me with this cereal and these reviews here are all my own.

HARRY POTTER IS AMAZING...and Cheddar Scallion Scones

2011-07-15T03:52:00.000-07:00

OMG HARRY POTTER WAS AMAZING!!! I know the time difference and all means I've seen the movie a few hours after those east-and-west-coast-harry-potter-premier-attenders-diehards, but I just gotta say it was soooooo good! This was actually my first ever movie premier and it was AWESOME!! Well, not standing in line from 10 in the morning, but good thing my friends came to take my place :) I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone else, so go watch it before I do! Just kidding, I'd never intentionally spoil the last and greatest movie of all times!

What are those funny looking hunks of browned dough? Well, they are, as you can tell from the title of this post, Cheddar Scallion Scones, which btw are delish are perfect at 3 in the morning if you were wondering....The recipe comes from Flour, and like most of her other recipes is filled with butter, sugar, cream, and most of all...deliciousness! The cornmeal added an interesting texture, which I didn't love, but didn't hate, kinda mealy, but added to the overall flavor. I think next time I would add more cheese because you can never have too much!!! :P

The sweet stuff....FINALLY! :D

2011-07-14T00:50:00.000-07:00

I know the past few posts have all been pretty healthy, so I'm going to sweet stuff. S'mores. Yes, the all time favorite summer camping treat. But who has time to go camping? Or really, who wants to have to do their business in an outhouse? Ew, sorry that was a little gross. Anyways, I'm not much of a camper, I do like to go on hikes and all, but really, that outhouse porter potty thing is just too nasty. So I set out to turn my favorite flavor combo (marshmallows, chocolate, and graham cracker, or sweet, sweeter, and sweetest) into a dessert that can be enjoyed and made in the comfort of my home.

What do you think? It was a graham cracker layer topped with a chocolate chip marshmallow cookie dough and then studded with Hershey's pieces. YUM :)

S'mores Bars
Bottom Layer:
5 ounces graham crackers * May need a little bit more (6-7 oz) to cover bottom of pan
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup butter, melted

Top Layer:
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
3 regular sized hershey bars, broken into pieces

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325˚F. Butter a 13 x 9 inch pan lined with aluminum foil.
2. In a food processor, pulse graham crackers until crumbs are evenly fine. Add in brown sugar and process to combine. Drizzle the butter over the crumbs and pulse until mixture is evenly moistened. Press into bottom prepared pan. Bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool on a rack while making top layer. Do not turn off the oven.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add in the egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt. Mix into the butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chips and marshmallows. Evenly spread the dough over the cooled graham cracker layer. Bake for 15 minutes. Take out and press Hershey squares on top. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes.
4. Allow to cool on a wire rack before cutting.

Recap and a cool new oil!

2011-07-12T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! So, what did you think of the 5 grain salads? It's a healthy start, right? Well, since I've been bombarding you guys with healthy stuff, well, I thought I'd take a break and maybe share some of the sweeter items I've made lately. (Actually, it's a little healthy.) But first, a little recap of the 5 Days of Grains.

Day 1: Quinoa. It's the new superfood, right? Plus, it tastes great.

Day 2: Couscous. Whenever I'm in a rush, this is my go-to grain.

Day 3: Scarlet Quinoa. A red version of the super healthy superfood? Yes!

Day 4: Israeli Couscous and Scarlet Quinoa Salad. Cook and easy, sign me up!

Day 5: Barley Salad. A new grain, one that I wasn't really sure how to cook, but nonetheless tasty! Agh, I keep spelling it barely, not barley. Oops o.O

Now onto a sweeter note....these Cranberry Almond Oatmeal Cookies. They're vegan and made with coconut oil! First off I want to say Coconut Oil smells AMAZING. No coconut body lotion could ever smell as good. It's not that fake coconut fragrance, but the true authentic coconut oil smell. I don't think I can do the smell justice, but trust me on this, it smells out of this world! Also, it makes a pretty darn good cookie. My dad said they taste more like oatcakes than cookies, but that's okay because he said they're still extremely tasty. I may have baked the cookies a little too long (hence their oatcake-like-texture) but they were really tasty. Even after baking they smelled and tasted faintly of coconut.

If I ever make a coconut or haupia cake (which I hope I will soon) I plan to use this coconut oil. Yup, I bet it will bump up the coconut flavor even more YUM! :) I also used the coconut oil to make some spelt pancakes. But sadly I didn't take any pictures. Darn, I should've taken some because they were pretty tasty. And by that I mean I inhaled those delicious hotcakes! I'll probably make another batch this weekend, so hopefully I'll take some pictures.

Oatmeal Raisin

Adapted from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

Ingredients:

⅓ cup soy milk

2 Tbs ground flax seed

⅔ cup brown sugar

⅓ cup coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

¾ cup flour

½ tsp cinnamon

⅛ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 ½ cups quick cook oats

½ cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup almonds, toasted and chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 350˚F

2. Beat together soy milk and flax. Add sugar and oil. Beat until resembles caramel

3. Mix in vanilla

4. Sift in flour, spices, and salt. Mix in oats, cranberries, and almonds

5. Drop tablespoons onto a cookie sheet, flatten slightly

6. Bake for 10 minutes or until very lightly golden. (For firmer cookies / oatcake-like-texture, bake slightly longer until golden brown)

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.

5 Days of Grains: Day 5!

2011-07-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

At first I didn't know what salad to post. Should it be simple with only a few ingredients or complex with a myriad of veggies and grains. In the end, it came down to the time I had to make lunch the other day. The night before I made some barley. Actually, it was more like I just boiled some water with the barley, covered the pot, and left it overnight. When it came to lunch time, I just threw some chopped carrots, shelled edamame, spinach, squirt of olive oil, and a dash of salt. It took almost no time to make, and in a matter of minutes I was sitting down chowing down on grain salad. Maybe this wasn't the most complex salad, but it did use a new grain, barley!

5 Days of Grain Salads: Day 4

2011-07-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

Are you guys tired of these grain salads? Don't worry, maybe I'll do a five days of cakes one of these days. Anyways, today's salad incorporates some of my mom's homegrown veggies. Actually, it only uses her spinach, but it counts, right? It's great having a spinach plant in my front yard because whenever I want to add a little green to my meal I can just pop outside, pick a couple of leaves, add it to my meal, and ta dah a delish meal with a little green.

The grain is this salad is Israeli couscous. I wonder why they call it that? Anyways, the individuals round spheres aren't like their non-Israeli couscous friends. Israeli couscous is larger, lighter in color (or is it just me?), and perfect spheres. Oh, and I added a little quinoa for that added effect!

5 Days of Grain Salads: Day 3

2011-07-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if you can tell, but edamame is one of my favorite components of a grain salad. It adds a punch of green, as well as tastes great. Sometimes I like to buy the unshelled soybeans and eat them as a snack. It's a perfect healthy snack (if you're not interested in something healthy, why not try these chocolate donuts?!) and tastes delish.

This salad is mainly comprised of two components: edamame and scarlet quinoa. I used to call scarlet quinoa red quinoa, but once I saw it called scarlet quinoa at a restaurant I just couldn't go back. Doesn't scarlet quinoa just sound so classy? It's like, "what are you eating?" "Why, I'm eating a scarlet quinoa salad". Classy? Yes!

5 Days of Grain Salads: Day 2

2011-07-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of my 5 days of grain salads! Today's recipe is similar to yesterdays (this one also has edamame, chickpeas, and carrots), but it uses couscous in place of the quinoa. Couscous takes less time to make, so when I'm in a rush I like to make this salad rather than a quinoa or barely grain salad.

5 Days of Grain Salads: Day 1

2011-07-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

To kick start the healthy aspect of this blog, I've decided to begin with 5 Days of Grain Salads. Yup, you read correctly, five consecutive days of only salads. No, not those leafy green ones. I'm not much of a raw leafy green kind of person, though I do like to gnaw on a carrot stick once in a while. Instead, these are grain salads. Not plain 'ol grains like pasta and white rice, but supposedly "healthy" grains like quinoa and couscous.

So, today is day 1 of 5 days of grain salads, and the first salad is a quinoa salad with edamame, carrots, split peas, and chickpeas a.k.a a rainbow salad! Just letting you guys know, I love to incorporate beans into my grain salads, especially edamame (which will probably show up in every salad). Enjoy!

Tag your it!

2011-07-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

I wasn't originally going to post today, but I found out Mellie from Eat, Read, Move and Serena from The Teenage Foodie tagged me in the ...

Gosh, I feel so special! Here are some questions I have to answer:

1. Favorite cartoon character: Hm, probably Perry the Platypus. I love his purr like grrr, and isn't he the cutest secret agent platypus ever?

Phineas and Ferb: Perry the Platypus

2. Favorite thing to photograph: Food!

Vegan Gingersnaps

3. Favorite thing to cook: Uh, is baking considered cooking? Because then probably baking cookies. They're so versatile and easy to make!

4. Favorite way to exercise: Running...or ocean swimming! I love the adrenaline rush I feel after an intense practice.

5. Favorite Movies: Hm, this is going to be a long list.....Let's see: Ratatouille, The Proposal, She's the Man, Step Up, Twilight, 13 going on 30, Date Night, and Iron Man. Yea, I'm a sucker for chick flicks.

6. Clothing: I know this probably won't come as a surprise considering I live in Hawaii, but I love my shorts!

Shorts from Hollister

7. Flower: Hm, probably lilies. I love all the various colors, especially the pink ones.

Lilies

8. Breakfast: Oh, that's easy. My dad's homemade yogurt, multi grain cheerios, and a bowl of mixed fruit.

9. Book: Recently I read Outliers, and it's now one of my favorite books.

Outliers

10. What is your least favorite food: Uh, I don't really care for a lot of foods, but one of my least favorite is kale. I just can't stomach that leafy green leaf!

I'm not really sure how these blog awards go, but I don't think I could just choose a few bloggers. So, I'm going to tag all of you! Yep, that's right, everyone!

4th of July Dishes

2011-07-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

I was originally going to post a dish that's uber healthy, but I just remembered this weekend is 4th of July. So I thought I would post a couple 4th of July dessert ideas from other blogs. Things are going to be pretty quiet around here, considering the ban on fireworks and all. :( But that doesn't mean I can't have a bbq or make some delicious desserts, especially if they look like these ones:

Red White and Blue Raspberry Candy Bars from Cherry Tea Cakes

Don't those just look amazing? The minute I saw these I dropped off the couch and headed towards the kitchen to make these. Turns out I didn't have enough time to make these before I had to leave. Oh well, maybe tomorrow and hopefully in time for 4th of July.

Fourth of July Jello Shots from Bakers Royale

I don't think I would use the vodka (minor, remember!), but they layering is absolutely gorgeous!

Pink, white, and light blue ice cream cake

He he he, I guess I should've put my picture first since it's the lamest....But it tasted pretty good! Plus, it's the only 4th of July dessert I had.

Fruit salad from Whole Foods

If you're not in the mood to turn on the stove or oven, then why not try this fresh fruit salad. Plus, if you top with some freshly whipped cream (yum, btw) it will be a refreshing summer dessert!

The start of a healthy (er...uh ish..uh hopefully) blog!

2011-06-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

Recently I've stumbled upon (no, not using stumble upon, though) many blogs written by other food loving teenagers. The surprising thing was that these blogs not only focused on food, but also healthy food and exercise. I know this is not unusual, but the funny thing was that I had a lot in common with these health-conscious-food-loving-teenage-bloggers. Not only do I love food, but also good-for-you (aka healthy) food and exercise. I just thought no one would want to see or hear about these other interests. But now, after reading some very intriguing blogs, I've realized my blog doesn't have to always be about buttery, flaky, baked goods, it can have a balance of exercise, wholesome food, and those sweet indulgences everybody needs. So while I'm not going to stop posting my sinfully delicious baked goods, I'm going to start posting about the other foods I enjoy, such as edamame salads, whole grain breads, or that funny story about yesterday's run.

I thought I'd start with some vegan chocolate chip cookies. I know, they're not much healthier than normal cookies, but I've got to start somewhere, right? It's all about baby steps, and actually, if you substitute applesauce for the oil and whole wheat flour for some of the all-purpose, then you've got a delicious cookie with not too much fat and a little more fiber. Don't worry, if you're looking for super healthy nutrient packed foods I'll try to post about those too. Oh, and definitely don't worry about a shortage of buttery baked goods. I'll still post those too! :)

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Vegan Cookies Take Over the World
Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2/3 cup oil (or applesauce)
1/4 cup nondairy milk
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup almond meal (optional-I had it in my pantry, but it gave the cookies an interesting look..)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F
2. Combine sugars, oil, milk, and cornstarch mixing well for 2 minutes until mixture resembles caramel (I was surprised, it actually does). Stir in vanilla
3. Add 1 cup flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix in the rest of the flour. Fold in chocolate chips and almond meal
4. Roll in to balls then flatten slightly. Bake for 8 minutes until browned on the edges.

Baklava for Daring Bakers

2011-06-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

Agh! I hate it when you work so hard to roll out thin layers of dough, only to discover after stacking and cutting the dough that you didn't flour inbetween and as a result now have a huge mass of dough. Ugh. Sorry about my little rant, it'll all make sense. Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

So I made the dough, waited, then begin rolling it out. Rolling it out took about 30-40 minutes, but in the end took about an hour fifteen minutes because of my stupid mistake of not flouring enough. If you make this, make sure to flour well inbetween the stacked layers to make peeling apart the layers after cutting much, much easier. Instead of having uber thin layers of phyllo dough, my layers were on the thicker side and not as flaky. I also used pecans for the nuts. My mom said it tasted more like a cinnamon roll in layers.

Sorry about the awful pictures. Yellow kitchen lighting :( It was late by the time the baklava, uh cinnamon layered bar finished baking and the syrup cooled. However, I still had fun with the challenge!

What to do with yogurt cheese?

2011-06-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

Remember that post about making your own yogurt? Well my dad likes to experiment with using different types of "starter" yogurts. So far, we've tried Stonyfield, Fage, and Brown Cow. Sometimes when the store doesn't carry the plain version, we have to buy the fruit one and only use the yogurt at the top. I think it may have been with the brown cow brand...anyways, we couldn't find the plain and used some sort of fruity yogurt. I think it was apricot. Usually the final yogurt does not take on the flavor, but for some strange reason this batch did. It was really weird. My favorite is still the stonyfield plain because it results in a tangy, slightly less thick yogurt. The brown cow yields a much more creamy yogurt that is slightly thicker than the stonyfield, but still not like the commercial yogurts (which I bet they strain). The Fage yogurt was my least favorite (sorry to all the greek yogurt lovers) because the yogurt was not only super watery, but also lacking that tangy flavor I love so much. Rather than chucking the "bad" yogurt, I instead strained the batch and made...Yogurt Cheese!

Yogurt is a low fat alternative to cream cheese and sour cream. I used it to create this Coffee Cake.
Sorry for the bad pictures, I just couldn't wait to eat it!

Coffee Cake
Adapted from here
* I substituted yogurt cheese for the sour cream

Souffle...gah it's sour! O.o

2011-06-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

Oh no, it's going to deflate! This is my first attempt at making a souffle, and I have to say, I'm pretty happy. I followed Almost Bourdain's Souffle Recipe, but I substituted lemon juice for all of the lime and orange juice. (oops!, but more on that later) Many of the comments said their souffles turned out fantastic, and the recipe seemed pretty straightforward, so I was pretty excited. After watching countless cartoon shows where any movement or jingling of the pan caused the souffle to fall, I could not resist standing in front of the oven the entire baking time. Watching the souffle rise was pretty cool. At first I thought I was going to end up with lopsided souffles, but everything worked out. Oh, and the other thing, fill the bowls to the max! Some of my souffles didn't rise over the top because it was just too low.

So...now onto my substitution of lemon juice for the other two juices. Well, let's just say I won't be trying that again, especially if I don't want my mouth to pucker and my eyes to squint shut. It was so sorry I felt that tingly sensation in the back of my jaw, even after I had stopped eating!

Recipe from here.

More pictures...but this time a recipe too

2011-06-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my photos! But I thought maybe I'd include a recipe too (which is at the bottom)

Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Cookie
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
3 cups rolled oats

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
2. In a bowl beat butter until creamy. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in eggs.
3. In a separate bowl sift together flour, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir into butter mixture.
4. Stir in oats, walnuts, raisins.
5. Use a two inch ice cream scoop to place mounds of dough on parchment paper.
6. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

What's Up With This Weather? And my epiphany

2011-06-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Have you all been enjoying your summer? Or, if you live in Australia, have you been enjoying your winter? Man, the weather here has been weird. Everyday it rains, but it's still sunny outside. For example, today I was walking to school, the sun was shinning and my face felt like it was burning, then BAM! er, i mean SWISH, all of a sudden this huge sheet of rain just starts to fall, but it's still sunny! At least the rain helps plants grow, like my mom's tomatoes.

I was reading Katie's blog, and she recently wrote a post about what makes a successful blog. As I was reading, I realized I should do what I want on my blog, what I like to do, what I like to eat, not what I think other people want me to. So, I've decided to take more pictures and write less. I know I'm writing a lot now, but I've realized I don't really enjoy writing too much. However, if I only had a photo blog that'd be pretty boring cause my pictures aren't that great either. I've decided to work on that. My dad lent me his book on photography for the camera we have (rebel T2i), so I've been taking photos of the foliage around my house. I'm still getting the hang of it, so my pictures aren't the greatest, but I'm trying!

Some of my photography attempts...

Nature's Path

2011-06-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

What's your second favorite meal? Why did I ask second? Well we all know everyone would choose dessert, but anyways, my second favorite meal would have to be breakfast. Waffles, french toast, and cereal. Yum, they're almost as tasty as desserts, but you can eat them right when you wake up (and pretty much anytime of the day). My fav breakfast food has to be cereal. I could eat it any time of the day! So when I received a box from Nature's Path, I was so excited!

I opened the box and found to my great delight: Blueberry Cinnamon Optimum Cereal, Lotta Apricot Granola Bars, and Pumpkin Granola Cereal!

I was at first skeptical of the optimum cereal because it just looked too healthy to actually taste good. Do you see those twig looking things? Last time I had those they were in some cereal and called fiber twigs. Does that not scream healthiness to you? However, once I tried the cereal I was hooked. Slightly sweet, nutty, and cinnamon-y. Not at all what I would expect. My dad actually announced he would be buying some more!

I have yet to try the granola bar and granola, but I'm sure I will love it!

* Disclaimer: Nature's Path provided me with free samples to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.

bacon ccc cookies

2011-06-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

Every guy loves bacon, so why not treat yours to some bacon chocolate chip cookies? It's the best of both worlds. Sorry, I just had to say..er write that. Anyways, whenever my mom makes bacon we always have a ton of bacon fat leftover. Once I burned it (it burned for over an hour! - which was a lot of fun), this time I refrigerated it just to see what would happen. The next day, the fat had solidified and had the consistency of butter. We also had leftover bacon...so what did I do with leftover bacon and bacon fat the consistency of butter? Make bacon cookies using bacon fat instead of butter! It may not be the healthiest, but who would say no to bacon and chocolate in cookie form? My parents said they couldn't taste the bacon too much (even though I used bacon fat O.O ) unless they chewed on the actual pieces of bacon.

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 cups bacon fat strained, chilled (or butter)
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 cup bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
A dozen strips bacon, crumbled

Directions:
1. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.
2. In an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the bacon fat and sugars together until very light and fluff for about 5 minutes. Then, add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir the chopped chocolate and bacon into the dough.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Scoop large rounds of dough onto a baking sheet, and bake them until golden brown but still soft for 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more.

Chocolate Donuts

2011-06-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

Whenever I visit the east coast, I always visit a dunkin donuts with my grandma. (Their glazed original is my favorite, btw.) Even though I had my fill of donuts last week, this morning I woke up craving a donut. Sadly, there are no donut shops on the island :( , so what did I do? Make my own, of course. However, I'm a little scared of cooking with hot oil (I have bad experiences cooking bacon...but that's a different story) so instead I pulled out my mom's old donut maker. When I mean old, I mean really old. Like ancient. I found it while digging through my grandma's basement :) Anyways, if you are looking for a donut maker you can buy one here.

These donuts are quite tasty even though they are not fried. Moist and chocolate-y. For the chocolate glaze I merely mixed together cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and water. I then sprinkled the tops with sprinkles. Oh, and a tip is to wait a couple seconds after putting on the glaze to use the sprinkles. If put on too soon, the sprinkles sink in to the glaze. If I waited too long, the sprinkles didn't stick.

Chocolate Donuts
from here
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup sugar
1 TBs baking powder
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Stir dry ingredients together in mixing bowl. Add egg, buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla. Using a mixer on medium speed, blend until smooth.
Fill each cooking reservoir with about 2 tablespoons of batter.
Bake about 4 to 5 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into donut comes out clean.
Glaze or coat with powdered sugar, as desired.

Bouchon Bakery, Financier Patisserie, Minamoto Kitchoan, and La Maison Du Chocolat

2011-06-15T21:32:00.000-07:00

My mom and I stayed at a very convenient boutique hotel near Rockerfeller Center. This meant we were not only close to the subway, but also Bouchon Bakery and Financier Patisserie.

Convenient? Check.

Delicious? Check.

For the two mornings we were there, I went out to each bakery to buy breakfast (on different days, of course). The first day I felt unusually hungry and ended up ordering a craquelin, chocolate croissant, and raspberry almond croissant. Even though it was only the two of us, we ended up eating everything. Actually, it was more like I ate two pastries and my mom ate one, but that's okay they were worth it because they were absolutely delicious! My mom enjoyed the craquelin because of the (candied?) oranges and tons of orange zest. I loved the sugar on top (of course!). I loved the chocolate they put in the croissant. It was dark, rich, and paired well with the buttery and flaky croissant. The raspberry almond was interesting. I only picked it because it looked good with the sliced almonds on top and dusting of powdered sugar, but it turned out to be a great choice. Like the chocolate croissant, the croissant was flaky and buttery, but the filling was what set it apart. The combination of raspberry jam and almond frangipane was a wonderful combination. I didn't try their macarons this time, but I did have one before in Vegas (which was tasty!).

The next day I didn't fell like such a heavy breakfast (I actually felt a little buttered out-my new word for when one feels tired of eating buttery foods like pastries.) Gasp, I know! Me not wanting sweets? What is happening?! Anyways, I ordered a pistachio biscotti and a diplomat. I know what you're thinking, you ordered a diplomat? What the heck is that? The place had some long explanation about what it is, but basically it's like a bread pudding in a tart shell with an apricot glaze. It tasted creamy and bread-y like a bread pudding, but I think I just wasn't in the mood for such a heavy breakfast item because I didn't really enjoy it. The pistachio biscotti wasn't as heavy, but it still wasn't as light as a piece of fruit, which I was probably craving at the time. The biscotti had a nice flavor and they used the perfect amount of spices. My mom enjoyed dipping it in her free(!) coffee (nope sorry, it wasn't from the Patisserie, but they do give you a mini financier when you order a coffee or something. The hotel has this coffee machine in the computer area. Yea, most people would probably not be amazed by it, but I got to use the machine so I thought it was pretty cool). I didn't try one of their macarons, but now I wish I had cause they looked yummy!

You know what else was near the hotel? Minamoto Kitchoan and La Maison Du Chocolat. Are you wondering what hotel I was staying at? The Jewel! BTW, they had some pretty cool water machines! Now back to the food. Sorry for that odd transition. Anyways, Minamoto Kitchoan sells Japanese wagashi or sweets. They import them from Japan so they're a tad expensive, but taste like the ones I remember from Japan! Ah, I wish I could go back. *sigh*. La Maison Du Chocolate has some amazing chocolates. We only ordered two since we had dinner reservations, but boy, is their chocolate decadent!

Help!

2011-06-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,
I was just wondering what you guys think of wordpress? Do you think I should start using wordpress instead? Any info or advice would be great!

Thanks,
Lynne

Sushi Yasuda

2011-06-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

As you guys may know, I absolutely love ikura. If I were stranded on a deserted island with only one food I would choose ikura. I used Yelp to find the highest rated Japanese sushi restaurant, and my decision came down to two choices: Sushi Yasuda and Ushiwakamaru. In the end, I decided to try both places, but will only be posting about Sushi Yasuda. I didn't take any pictures at Ushiwakamaru, and I was not pleased with the service or food.

Sushi Yasuda was Amazing with a capitol A. I typically don't sit at the sushi counter, but I'm glad I did and will surely try to again. Rather than a single sushi chef, there were an entire row! Our sushi chef was not only knowledgeable about the fish, its preparation, and its origin, but he made some sushi that was out of this world. We ordered: seaweed salad, clams, fish liver, several salmon sushis, ikura (salmon roe), tamago (egg), ebi (shrimp), kani (crab), cucumber ume roll, and other various sushis.

Line of sushi chefs

Seaweed Salad

The seaweed salad was refreshing. I didn't even know there were so many different types of seaweed! I enjoyed the red seaweeds the most, as they had an interesting crunch unlike the others. The seaweeds tasted okay by themselves, but the sauce really pulled the dish together. It was a miso based sauce that perfectly complimented the taste of the seaweed. The clams were very well prepared and came in a delicious soup. I'm not much of a fan of liver, so my mom enjoyed that dish by herself. However, I don't think she enjoyed it as much as she thought she would when she initially ordered it. Now onto the sushi...

Liver

Clams

There are two types of ikura, the sweet and the salty. This place seems to have the salty version. I love either version, as long as it is not too sweet or salty, not fishy, not dry, not gummy, not broken, and not unappetizing. Yes, it's a long list of requirements, but that's why there are only a few places I order my ikura from again and again. This place will now be one of them. The ikura was perfect. It passed my ikura test and tasted as good as the ikura I eat from Gaku and Japan!

IKURA

Tamago

Made to order Ebi

Abalone?

They carry several different types of salmon and while I typically do not eat salmon, I was pleased I did. It melted in my mouth and tasted sooooo good. The kani sushi was interesting, as they had shredded the kani instead of leaving it whole. Unlike typical sushi spots, Yasuda cooks each ebi or shimp when you order. It's made-to-order-shrimp! This change made a huge difference in the taste of the shrimp. It didn't taste bland and tough. Rather, it was tender and flavorful. Oh, and on each piece of sushi they either sprinkled a small amount of salt or a light touch of sauce. This small touch made each piece extraordinary. The only dish my mom disliked was their ume cucumber roll. Actually, it wasn't that bad. My mom just thought the ume would taste better (but I thought it tasted average, not great, but okay). Also, the combination did not compliment each other. Shiso and ume would probably have been better. Overall, this place was amazing and am adding to my list of the greatest sushi places.

Salmon

Tuna? Salmon?

Kani...it looks like a snowball, doesn't it?

ume cucumber roll

Coming up......Minamoto Kitchoan, La Maison Du Chocolat, Bouchon Bakery, Financier Patisserie

Big Apple :]

2011-06-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. There were just so many exams to study for... :(

Did you miss me? I sure missed you guys! Once school ended my mom and I went on a little trip to the east coast.We mainly visited family, but we did go on a little side trip to .... the Big Apple. My second favorite foodie destination after Japan.

In two days, er actually it was more like one full day and two half days which pretty much equal two days, my mom and I visited about twenty different foodie places. I felt like I was going to burst! :0

Our first stop was Chelsea Market, home to Amy's Bread, Sarabeth's Bakery, and Fat Witch Brownie! Sadly, I was not able to try the Fat Witch Brownie because they were closed, but I did stop in at Eleni's, Amy's Bread, and Sarabeth's Bakery. First up, Amy's Bread. Because it was just my mom and I, we decided to go with their twists, which are smaller breads in a stick-like form, rather than a large loaf of bread so that we could sample several different ones without carrying around a huge hunk of bread afterwards (because we don't want to over eat at the very first place!). We split a black pepper prosciutto twist, a country sourdough twist, and a mini whole wheat baguette. The black pepper twist was slightly too salty, probably due to the prosciutto, and the mini whole wheat baguette was exceedingly dry and hard. At first this place was looking like a bummer, but once I bit into the sourdough twist everything changed. The twist was slightly sour, but also slightly nutty from the various seeds and nuts. If I were to order again (I probably would have, had I not been so full already) I would try their normal loaf and maybe find a good soup place. Yep, that's definitely what I will try. A hearty loaf of bread and soup, yum.

Woah! Look at Amy's Bread's Kitchen

Prosciutto Twist

Sarahbeth's Bakery Jam

Next up was Sarabeth's Bakery. I borrowed her cookbook from the library and was looking forward to trying her pastries. Her recipe for peach crumble pie caught my eye, and without hesitating ordered this when I realized it was there. I was slightly disappointed because the crust was thick and gummy, and totally not what I was expecting. I enjoyed the filling and crumble on top, but what is a pie with a gummy and thick crust?! I know I probably should've given the bakery another chance, but I was just too disappointed. I really wanted to try their famous preserves, but I was already carry a ten pound backpack full of clothes and I definitely didn't want to add an extra pound just for jam!

Darn, I wish I had tried some other items

Peach Crumble Pie

Look at all the jams!

Since Fat Witch was closed at the time, I tried Eleni's, which is right next door. They carry beautiful, hand decorated cookies and cupcakes. My mom ordered their Chocolate Neat cookie, which is chocolate cookie with white chocolate chunks. The cookie has a subtle chocolate flavor and large chunks of chocolate. At the time it was a little too sweet, but when we ate it for a snack in our hotel room it actually tested even better.

In center chocolate neat cookie

Father's Day is coming up!

Coming up..... Sushi Yasuda

The Love Child of a Brownie and a Blondie

2011-06-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

What would happen if a brownie and a blondie had a child?

What would we call it?

A browndie?

A blonwie?

The love child of a brownie and a blondie?

What would it look like? Now that's an easy question. It would look like..... this:

A fudgy brownie topped with a layer of blondie goodness.

Oh, and don't even get me started on how this baby (no pun intended) tastes! Okay, maybe I will start on how good this tastes.

Well, first you have the rich chocolate flavor from the brownie, then as you bite in to the brownie/blondie and start to chew, the light caramel taste emerges offering a contrasting twist to the chocolate.

Basically, it tastes Amazing. Yes, flat out amazing. And why wouldn't it? It comes from NY's Fat Witch Brownie recipe book. The original brownie and ~~lemon~~ lime bars were fantastic too! Oh boy, I can't wait to go there and try them for real!

If A Brownie and A Blondie Had A Child....A.K.A Butterscotch Flip

Adapted From Fat Witch Brownie

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer

7 Tbs butter

⅓ cup bittersweet chocolate

2 large eggs

½ cup sugar

½ tsp vanilla

⅓ cup flour

pinch salt

¼ cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Top Layer

4 Tbs butter

1 egg

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

¼ tsp vanilla

½ cup flour

pinch salt

½ tsp baking powder

¼ cup white chocolate chips (optional)

1. Grease a 9x9 and preheat oven to 350˚F

2. Make bottom:

-Melt butter and bittersweet chocolate. Set aside

-Cream eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add the chocolate mixture

-Sift in the flour and salt.

-Spread in to pan and place in freezer while you make the top layer.

3. Make top layer

-Melt butter, set aside.

-Cream the egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add butter,

-Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and then sift in to the batter

-Stir in white chocolate chips, if using.

-Spread evenly over the bottom layer

4.Bake for 32 minutes

5. Enjoy!

M&M's + Chocolate = The Fudgiest Brownie...Ever!

2011-06-02T18:45:00.000-07:00

This is. Hands Down. The Fudgeist Brownies. Ever.

I'm not joking. I had to chill the pan for quite a while before I was able to even slice it. My mom even said these brownies might be too fudgy. Can you believe that?! Too fudgy. I always thought brownies were made to be fudgy. If people wanted cakey brownies, why didn't they just make a chocolate cake?

Do you see the M&M's? I sprinkled them on to the batter after pouring, hoping they would "float" on top. As you can see, they seem to have sunk a little lower than expected. Only the middle M&M's were visible. Darn. Too bad I don't have more pictures. The above picture is from before chilling, and once I chilled and cut them, I forgot to take a picture! Whoops :O But you've got to try this recipe for yourself. It's that fudgy!

Note: I made another batch of brownies and accidentally over baked them by a couple minutes. Ooops! Keep a careful eye on your brownies if you want the fudgy texture because my slightly over baked brownies were quite cakey and not at all dense and fudgy. :( But they were still tasty!

From Flour Bakery Cookbook: Intense Chocolate Brownie

Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

2011-05-31T19:05:00.000-07:00

If you like decadent chocolate bliss, then these are the cookies for you. Rich, dark, chock full of ooey gooey delicious chocolate chunks. Yum, just writing about these cookies make me want to march into the kitchen and chow down on one of these. Oh wait, I just polished one off while writing this post. Oops, maybe I should wait until after dinner to have another!

Scroll down for recipe

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
From My Baking Addiction
Ingredients:
2 sticks cold and cubed unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, cream together butter and sugar until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until well-incorporated, then beat in cocoa powder.
3. Mix in flour, salt and baking powder until just combined. Gently fold in remaining ingredients.
4. Bake in the preheated oven 16-20 minutes
5. Let cool on a rack and store what you don’t immediately eat, in an airtight container. (To freshen them after a few days microwave for 5-10 seconds)

B stands for Buzz....B stands for Brownies

2011-05-27T00:23:00.000-07:00

I've always loved the smell of coffee, but for some reason I just can't bring myself to drink it. Even with several scoops of sugar and probably way too much cream, I still can't swallow that bitter tasting liquid. But for some strange reason, I absolutely love, love, love, Roselani Kona Mud Pie ice cream. It's creamy kona coffee ice cream with a decadent fudge swirl and chunks of chocolate cookie pieces. Yum, pure caffeine heaven. The first time I ever tried it, I thought it was the best ice cream ever and continued to eat several bowls of it. Little did I know that my body was not used to caffeine, and I ended up staying awake for a really long time. Let's just say I did not sleep until the following day...

So anyways, how does my story about caffeine relate to those brownies above? Well, those brownies aren't just any old brownie. No, they are espresso brownies. Made with 2 whole tablespoons of espresso! Definitely going to pack a punch, don't you think? I made these for my friends birthday, and everyone loved them. You could definitely detect the coffee-ness, but it wasn't too overpowering, more of a subtle hint of a caffeine buzz!

Espresso Brownies

Adapted From Fat Witch Brownie

Ingredients:

8 Tbs butter

½ cup bittersweet chocolate

2 eggs

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tbs instant espresso powder

1 Tbs hot water

1 cup flour

½ tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and grease a 9x9 pan

2. Melt butter and chocolate. Set aside

3. Cream eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add in the chocolate mixture

4. In a small cup mix together water and espresso. Add to the chocolate mixture.

5. Sift in the flour and salt, then stir until combined.

6. Pour in to prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes

7. Cool for an hour. Cut before serving

America has her own kitchen?

2011-05-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

Can you believe I've I had never even heard of America's Test Kitchen? Who knew America had her own test kitchen!? (You know I'm joking, right?). Well that was the past, as I'm now a definite fan of America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Illustrated, and the like. My mom bought me their Holiday Cookie edition, and my oh my, are those recipes amazing. Btw, if you're wondering why I'm posting something from a holiday cookbook now, in the spring time, well, that's how good they are!

While flipping through the recipe booklet, the cream cheese brownie immediately caught my eye. Actually, the recipe was for a raspberry cream cheese brownie, but I had to omit the raspberry since I had none of hand :( But what caught my eye was having the cream cheese in a layer, rather than marbled into the batter. From the top they look like an ordinary brownie, but from the side...they're awesome!!

Cream Cheese Brownies
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Holiday Cookies
Ingredients:
For the cream cheese mixture
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

For the brownie:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and line a 8 x 8 inch pan with foil. Spray foil with pam.
2. Cream together cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla until smooth
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. In a microwaveable bowl, microwave butter and chocolate until melted
5. Add in egg, vanilla, and sugar, stirring until smooth.
6. Add in the flour mixture, and fold until combined
7. Place half of the batter in to the pan. Smooth out, and then top with the cream cheese mixture. Smooth out, then pour the remaining batter on top.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes
9. Enjoy!