Finding THE recipe...

for Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Tonight, my friend is coming over for dinner and I was super excited to bake these chocolate chip cookies for her to take home.  She'll be leaving on a trip to Australia in a few weeks so tonight's our night for catching up and pigging out!

To say I have found my favourite cookie recipe is a bold statement, but I think I am ready to make it.  I've been looking around for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe and my search is over!  At least, until I have reason to believe there's another recipe out there that can top the one I tried today.

This cookie has the perfect ratio of chocolate chips to toffee bits and I'd be surprised if you could stop after just one.  And, it never hurts to add just a little bit more semi-sweet chocolate.  Next time, I'll try making them with milk chocolate chips, although I think the cookie will be way too sweet.  But when has a super sweet cookie ever been a bad thing?

These cookies are packed with chocolate and after tasting them, I knew without a doubt that baking cookies at home from scratch makes them taste that much better. Hopefully my friend will enjoy them as much as I did... am.  I've certainly had more than my share of these cookies today.   

Here's the Recipe: (I don't recall where I found it as it was jotted down on a recipe card a while ago... but just for the record, I didn't create it myself!)

Chocolate Chip & Toffee Cookies

Ingredients

1 Cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature

1 1/2 Cups Light Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar

1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1 large egg, room temperature

2 Cups AP Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

12 Ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate

1/2 Bag of Skor Toffee Bits

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Combine butter, and both sugars and beat until light and fluffy.  Add Vanilla, and mix to combine.  Add egg, and continue beating until combined.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.  Mix on low speed until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips and toffee bits.

4. Scoop out 2 tablespoons of dough and place onto the baking sheet, leaving them 3 inches apart.  Bake for 15 minutes.

An update!

My my my... I can't believe it's already May!  I've been post-less for 2 weeks but it feels like it's only been a few days.  Since my last post, I've been slowly working on building... a portfolio.  Of what, you ask?  Cupcakes!  I've always loved baking cupcakes and whenever I have an excuse to bake (even when there isn't one) I do so.  However, because I've never had people 'order' cupcakes from me, I usually show up unannounced with a box of the little yummies, I don't have any nicely displayed cupcakes to show people.

So, with the encouragement from my girl friends, I started talking to different people: friends, friends of friends, church friends, etc. and in less than a week I have orders for cupcakes!  My mom's church is holding a fundraiser and she's asked me to bake 100 mini cupcakes to sell.  Even though there's no profit in it for me, there's much to gain!  I'll be able to perfect my recipes and play around with new flavours and ideas!

Another friend has asked me to bake cupcakes for her fiance's birthday at the end of May.  I know he's a fan of the Mango-Banana drink at Starbucks so I'm definitely going to attempt something fun with that.  Also, one of my high school friends wants to meet up to discuss my possibly making cupcakes for her 400 guest wedding!  Is that not crazy or what?! I will be meeting up with the bride & groom this Thursday evening to discuss their ideas and set up a taste testing.

As excited as I am to discuss all this, it's truly humbling.  I've never had to do a taste testing before, but the hubby has been super supportive and so have all the girls who have prayed and nudged me along with this dream of mine.

So... there it is.  Believe me, I'll be updating more often and posting pics of my new adventures!

Oatmeal Cookies & Bow Ties

In the time it takes to make and bake Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (super healthy by the way, as I only put in a little bit of chocolate chip!) one can learn how to tie a bow tie.  Really, just ask the Hubby.

He'll be part of a wedding this coming Saturday and part of his attire as a groomsman is to wear a bow tie.  Very cool if you ask me!  Anyway, just as I began my baking, he started watching youtube videos on 'how to tie a bow tie'.

When the smell of freshly baked cookies filled our house, he was standing in front of our full length mirror with a wide grin on his face and a pretty looking bow tie to show off.

Not bad... and neither are Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Chocolate Banana Cake!

A friend of mine, whose birthday was last week, loves the banana and chocolate combo, so I immediately knew what type of cake I wanted to make him for his birthday.  

There were many recipes claiming to be 'the best' but I chose this one because it looked... pretty.  (Yes, I am a sucker for pretty things!)  I especially liked the inside of the cake with all the many banana and chocolate layers!

The only thing I didn't really like was the banana chocolate cake layers.  When we ate the cake, I found the cakey part to be dense (which banana bread is supposed to be like) but as a cake, it didn't really hit the spot for me.  

If ever I attempt the recipe again, which I most probably will, I'll make it with a vanilla chocolate chip recipe instead.

Slacker.

Yep, that's ME!  I have so many pictures to post but lazy me doesn't like uploading... but I will very soon!

My blog has been sorely neglected, so it's time for me to update - tomorrow.  I will be making cupcakes in the morning so when I wait for them to bake, that's what I'll do - blog!  Oh, and I think I might give our convection oven a whirl.  I've been afraid to use the convection setting in fear that my cupcakes will blow-up (okok, so I know they won't) but we'll see how risky I feel in the morning.

Until then... happy eatings!

Red Velvet & Cinnamon Cream Cheese Cake

Delicious.

Lovely.

Red!

The last time I attempted to make Red Velvet cupcakes, they turned out PINK - not that it was much of an issue considering pink is my favourite colour.  This time, however, I made sure to double the amount of food colouring and thankfully, it turned out a nice deep shade of red.

And the cinnamon cream cheese.  Oh boy, it turn out delightful!  I didn't think 1 tsp of cinnamon would make much of a difference but it did.  You could taste a hint of cinnamon with the cream cheese and the little speckles throughout the frosting certainly looked pleasing.

Sadly, you can't see the frosting in the middle of the layers because of the red cake bits.  Next, I'm going to attempt working with an ingredient I've never used before.  We'll see how that turns out!

Happy Birthday Jared!

The recipes can both be found here: Red Velvet Cake & Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Go BIG...

or go home!

I'm a fan of trying new things.  I believe mixing random combinations of foods is... genius.  Really.  Honey goes with just about anything, and so does brown sugar.  Ok ok, so maybe it's my sweet tooth talking, but nevertheless, mixing and matching flavours is awesome in my books.  

When I first heard about the 'Compost Cookie' on Regis & Kelly, I knew I had to try it.  I especially liked the ingredient "your favourite snack food".  It caught my attention immediately so off I ran to the store to pick up some hickory sticks, pretzels and ringolos!

What I ended up with was a super ginormous cookie stuffed with the perfect amount (I really did pack the thing!) of chocolatey and salty goodness.  Did I ever mention I have a sweet tooth?  The hubby didn't particularly like it *gasp* but the recipe is a keeper!  Kettle corn, watch out!

Compost Cookie 

By Christina Tosi

Ingredients

• 1 cup Butter
• 1 cup Sugar
• 3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Corn Syrup
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 3/4 cups AP Flour
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 2 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1 1/2 cups Your favorite baking ingredients! (Kelly used mini chocolate chips, Raisinettes, Rollos & Cocoa Krispies)
• 1 1/2 cups Your favorite snack foods (chips, pretzels, etc. - Kelly used Goldfish, Ritz, & Fritos)

Directions


In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and corn syrup on medium high for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.


On a lower speed, add eggs and vanilla to incorporate. Increase mixing speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes. During this time the sugar granules will fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color and your creamed mixture will double in size.


When time is up, on a lower speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix 45-60 sec just until your dough comes together and all remnants of dry ingredients have incorporated. Do not walk away from your mixer during this time or you will risk over mixing the dough. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.


Scoop cookies onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for 1 hour.


Bake at 400 degrees for 9-11 minutes.