Greek Yogurt Pancakes

After buying my DSLR, I couldn't wait to experiment with it and try shooting a video! Looking through some of my favourite Youtube channels was definitely an inspiration to make this as well. This is my first ever "cooking" video so don't mind the shaky camera and choppy editing skills! My sister is actually the one doing all the cooking while I'm recording. We were making Sunday breakfast and I decided to make it a video! Enjoy :)

*the quality of the video on the post is horrible! check my vimeo link instead* 

Ingredients:

3/4 Greek yogurt

1/2 cup flour

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

chocolate chips (or blueberries, or whatever you have on hand)

Mix it all up and pour small dallops into an oiled and heated pan. 

New Year, New Camera!

I am SO, SO, SOO excited about my new DSLR! I've been telling myself I was going to buy one for the past three years and I finally did it!! I bought it on Boxing Day but spent HOURS researching on different brands and models. I absolutely love mine! My DSLR came with two lenses and a bag so it was a nice starter kit. I ordered the memory card from Amazon and it just came in last week so I've been using my camera everyday for random things. My future posts should look 10x better thanks to the amazing picture quality of the DSLR. I still have so much to learn about all the different functions but right now I'm just playing around with it. Here it is!!

Cheddar Biscuits

My dad brought home this calendar that had a bunch of awesome recipes for each month and cheddar biscuits was one of them! I had the ingredients on hand and decided to give it a go. I've never really worked with dough or made anything dough-like on my own or..ever. I was home alone for this one and the recipe gets your hands pretty messy half way so I couldn't take pictures of the entire process. I even got to use a rolling pin! I haven't used one of those since I was a kid when my mom made rotis. The biscuits actually came out really nice! I was a little worried that I barely added any salt but they were seasoned nicely when they were baked. 

Ingredients:

2 cups of all purpose flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

1 cup shredded cheddar

1/3 cup chopped green onions

1 cup milk

Butter topping:

2 tbsp melted butter

1/4 tsp garlic powder

makes about 12

Preheat the oven to 450F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (I ended up using two baking sheets). In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, sugar and salt. Break up the butter until crumbly and add it to the bowl. Stir in the cheese and green onions then slowly add the milk. I started mixing it with a spoon then just got into it with my hands to really combine the ingredients. 

On a lightly floured surface, knead dough gently 3 to 4 times until it holds together. Roll out 3/4 inch thickness and then cut into squares or use a cookie cutter. Place each piece two inches apart on the baking sheets. At this point, mix the butter topping together and brush the biscuits with part of the mixture. Bake for about 12 minutes or until they start to brown. Brush the biscuits with the left over butter topping and then bake again for 2-3 minutes. 

I bought a silicone mat and tested it out compared to the parchment paper and LOVED IT! The biscuits came right off without hassle and didn't brown as much at the bottom. 

I wish I had circle cookie cutters so they would look more like traditional biscuits but I'll keep that in mind for next time :)

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!

Night Out #01

Night Out #01 by kayyayy featuring a bright bodycon dress

Casual Outfit #1

Casual Outfit #1 by kayyayy featuring a lace up ankle bootie

Top 9 Beauty Essentials

Top 9 Beauty Essentials by kayyayy 

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:

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)