food i made #4

New favorite cookie alert!

This Cookies & Cups recipe for Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Marshmallow Cookies is delicious. Now I know, those cookies sound intense and probably time consuming. Au contraire my friends. The chocolate chip cookie itself is super simple, and if your house is like mine you already have the ingredients you need. 

I had been wanting to use cornstarch in a cookie recipe for a while since I’ve read countless times about the awesome chewiness that happens when baking with cornstarch. I also wanted to make something sort of decadent since I hadn’t baked anything in a while. This cookie fit the bill. I used mini semi-sweet chips for these cookies and I really loved the results. I had forgotten how fun and tasty the extra small pieces of chocolate are, plus they seemed to be more evenly distributed throughout the batter.  See? Look at that glorious batter. YUM.

I didn’t have parchment paper even though I could have sworn we had some at home… Apparently not. So instead of putting wax paper underneath my cookies and risking wax transfer I used foil, that old standby. I also used a cookie scoop to form these fat balls of dough because the recipe said large scoops and I really wanted chewy cookies.  Oven ready!

I followed the recipe’s instructions for the marshmallows and cooking time, only adding about a minute of time since my oven is temperamental. Then, once all the cookies were cooling I could use the mixing bowl to make the cream cheese frosting. Now of course, I didn’t have very much cream cheese left in the container. What can I say, I like bagels. But I figured I could make due with what I had, cutting it a little with butter and milk, plus not wanting to make as much frosting anyway. The results were still super tasty, just enough frosting to drizzle over each cookie. 

The sweetness of the frosting/glaze + the marshmallows cut the the less sweet chocolate chips which I knew would sell them to my family. Later on once they completely cooled, I liked these cookies better re-heated slightly to melt the chocolate up making them more ooey-gooey (my favorite!). I made them a week ago, and they kept for about 5 days in a reusable container. Reheating them is definitely the trick though, because they tasted soooo much better warm.

Overall, I would definitely make these again, perhaps even just the cookie recipe without all the trappings. I was really happy with how  thick the cookies stayed while still cooking through, because  I prefer chewy cookies over thin crunchy ones. What’s not to love about a warm, hefty chocolate chip cookie?Again, new fave! And of course, all credit to Shelly over at Cookies & Cups.

 

food i made #3

This is the ugliest cake I’ve ever made.

 I mean look at it. Everything that could go wrong to make a cake ugly happened to this cake. I used a fudge cake recipe which apparently didn’t mix up right so each layer was weirdly separated at the bottom. So I scraped the bottoms a little which only added to the dilapidated appearance. The density of the cake was off from the get go too, super sticky to handle and not really cakey. The 3 layers started drooping  and it was nearly impossible to re-center them because the cake was ridiculously sticky. THEN, to top it all off (literally and figuratively) my frosting was runny no matter what so I gave up and just dumped it on top. Such a hot mess.

Only good thing, this ridiculous cake still tasted great. After all that work that turned out poorly, at least the taste factor was still there. And that is what’s all about when cooking or baking. Yes, plating and appearance and all that are important too, but if your food tastes crappy what’s the point?  Plus my grandma’s cake stand is really pretty no matter what sad cake is sitting on it.

Moral of the story is that ugly food can taste good too.

food i made #2

A while back I made this crostata/galette/rustic tart/open face pie thing and I feel like sharing it because it was delish.

 Sidenote, why are there so many names for this damn thing??? I mean all that matters is that it was delicious but still.

I can’t for the life of me remember which recipe I used as a guide (maybe this Giada one?) so if this looks tasty to you you’re going to have to resort to Google. I’m so sorry. Whoops.

I used one Gala apple and about 1/4 cup of blueberries in my filling, but the cool thing about these tarts is that you can really fill them with whatever. I like recipes that allow me a little bit of wiggle room, because let’s be real, most of us don’t have as fully stocked a kitchen as we’d like. This little tart tasted even better the next day once the slightly macerated berry juice soaked into the dough a little while the crust stayed buttery and flaky. Delicious. I may have had a piece for breakfast because it’s fruit so it’s ok.

Now that I’m talking about this tart again I’m starting to think it’s high time I make one again. Perhaps…

food i made #1

Occasionally I cook. It’s a wonderful way to pass them the time and when I’m done there’s food to eat. Win. My latest recipe following success story is from the tumblr blog no-more-ramen which is even more magical than it sounds. If you want cheap, creative, varied, and easy recipes check it out because that blog is a marvelous safe haven. Anywho, the particular recipe I felt today was this chickpea stew. It was cold enough today in Southern California to warrant cooking warm hearty food. And this stew (saute? topping? sauce? idk stew didn’t seem like the right word once it was cooked) did the trick. It was so tasty. I added frozen peas to the recipe which was a perfect pop of color plus extra nutrients. (Also added hefty amounts of curry powder.)

 My sad photo doesn’t really do the flavors justice. Toasty spices, hearty chickpeas and peas, and all on top of couscous! Yummy right? My parents and I really enjoyed it and I would definitely make this again. Hurray!