Saturday, November 23, 2013

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies


I came across this recipe a while ago and never really had the chance to make them until today! I was working on an assignment and started craving something sweet and had all the ingredients so why not? They didn't turn out as chocolate-y as I wanted because I was running out of chocolate chips, hence the lack of chocolate chips in the picture. So I added some chopped up Hershey kisses (desperate times call for desperate measures) and chopped up cashews for some crunch. AND they turned out HUGE!! They were not supposed to be this huge. Clearly I don't bake cookies enough to know how much batter to scoop out. They were still yummy nonetheless :)

Ingredients:
1 cup of unsalted butter 
¼ cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 ¾ cup (210 g) flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda 
handful of chocolate chips 
any kind of chopped nuts


 
I got too excited and forgot to take a picture of the actual chocolate chips. And I never know how to measure out "1 cup" of butter when it's not melted..I just chopped it up into pieces and hoped for the best! I think I had a little less butter than I should have though. Still came out soft and chewy so no biggie. The cookies tasted a little less sweeter to me than I would've liked but I'm not sure if it's because I was short on chocolate chips. I might throw in a bit more sugar next time!

In a big bowl, add the chopped up butter and both sugars. Realizing this AFTER I started  mixing, if you want to make your life easier, make sure the butter is SOFTENED and at room temperature. It makes it much easier to work with and saves a lot of time. 

So I used a hand mixer but a stand mixer works best. I have yet to buy a KitchenAid one..maybe during boxing week. Along with a DSLR. Basically I'll be broke by January. While I was doing this I had to keep stopping to use a spatula to break up the butter because it was too cold and started forming into little balls. You should mix until it becomes nice and fluffy. It kind of had an icing-like consistency to me.

          
Add in one egg at a time and mix until it's completely incorporated. My bowl looks so messy but you should've seen my counter..I REALLY need a stand mixer. Add a splash of vanilla and this made the batter smell sooo good mmm.. I preheated the oven at this point to 350 degrees too. 

                 

Mix the rest of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly start adding it into the dough mixture and mixing it after each addition. After I added in the eggs and vanilla, I got worried that the dough seemed too runny. But after adding the flour it thickened up again. 

                 
Scooped out the dough with an icecream scooper but I scooped out too much! I'll be using half of what I used this time for sure. Because they were so big, the cookies didn't flatten out like I wanted them too and the bottom cooked more than the insides. I made sure to leave it in the oven a little longer to cook it through. I baked them for about 13-15 minutes and then took them out and let them sit for another five minutes to cook in its own steam. 

This made 12 HUGE cookies (I baked two more in another pan with the extra dough) but they can definitely make 20-24. They were so soft and chewy! Even though there was a lot of things that I would redo, I was so happy that for the first time that I could eat my cookies without the fear of breaking a tooth. I love this recipe because it has ingredients that I almost always have on hand so I'll be making them again for sure!



Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Easy Profiteroles (Choux à la Crème) Recipe

I had ice cream stuffed profiteroles at my friend's house the other day and they were the cutest little desserts ever so I knew I had to give it a shot. Turns out, they are SUPER easy to make! Made them last night at about 2am and they turned out perfectly on the first go. Here's a step by step recipe:

Monday, July 22, 2013

DIY Gold Chunky Chain Necklace


I've been wanting to make this for a really long time and finally got around to it! So here's what you'll need:

  • chain (purchased at a jewelry/bead shop)
  • pliers
  • 2 jump rings
  • 1 clasp
  • *2 links from a smaller chain (this is only needed if your jump rings are too small to fit around the chunky chain)

Friday, July 19, 2013

DIY Studded Iphone Case


You will need:
- a hard iphone case (bought mine for $2 on ebay)
- 8mm bronze iron on (flat back) studs (bought 80 for $5 on ebay)
- super glue (glue gun does NOT work, I've tried)

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

French Macarons

Made french macarons for the first time and it was..an interesting experience. Half my batch turned out like this:

DIY Chevron Canvas


                       image


You will need:


8"x10" canvas (from the dollar store)

pencil

ruler

tape

acrylic paint + paint brushes