The Monster Cookies

I made cookies today because my husband told me that I never make cookies. Well here you go, Cookie Monster!

These large cookies that I ended up making were crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  I used a mix of dark and milk chocolate pieces which added different flavors into the cookies.  I served the cookies with a shot of milk.  I was tempted to put some vodka into the milk just for the heck of it, but it was still too early in the day to be serving alchohol. And I don't really know if Vodka and milk and go together.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

This is my Christmas goody for everyone here in town. Some chewy chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, peanut butter cookies, chocolate revel bars and white chocolate chip brownies. All goodness in one can! Hope you had happy holidays everyone!

Cheers!

-odette

Chunky Cookies

I was craving for cookies yesterday and I thought of baking some of Sarah Phillip's Thick-With-A-Chew cookies. They were really easy to make and my mom was amazed that I had it done in no time. I just kind of threw in the ingredients together, mixed it a little bit, baked and voila, I have freshly baked cookies to serve. I think these are the best cookies that I have made ever, is it me or is it the sparkling new oven? I think it's the oven. Hehe.

The cookies were chunky which I loved. When you bite it, it was crunchy on the outside, yet chewy on the inside. The mix of milk and dark chocolate chips were also a real treat.

Snickerdoodles

I was out on a vacation the past weeks and I even auto-published my DB challenge on the deadline. When I got back here in Israel, the first thing that I baked was these Snickerdoodles by Sarah. I wanted to have some cookies for breakfast once we go back again to work. Manny wanted something with raisins so I just added a piece of raisin in the middle of the cookies. The cookies were very classic, and Kelly (from Baking911) even said that these are the type of cookies which you can pass on to your grandchildren. I totally agree. These are so delicious and chewy!

My mind is still on vacation mode, and I can't think of anything else to write on this post. Hehe.

Chewy Cookies

I managed to bake some cookies today to send home. I was planning on making at least 4 cookie flavors but I ended up with 2. The cookie tin that I will be using to put the cookies in was a lot smaller than I thought and after putting in a few pieces of the first batch of cookies, there was very little space left. I made Sarah's Thick-With-A-Chew Chocolate Chip Cookies first, and then make the Peanut Butter Version next. I thought of making some cookies using a new recipe but I thought not to bother since I have very good recipes and my parents have not tried any of my cookies anyway. So I'm sending them the best cookies out of very reliable recipes.

I made the cookies while cooking dinner. It's easy to make but it's so good! During my pre-baking days here in Israel, Manny and I would go to the building next to ours and buy a 6NIS (or 2USD) to buy a piece of cookie, and it was not even that good! Hehe.


So now the cookies are all canned up and sealed ready to bring back home. I'm pretty sure these cookies will make it because it can easily be in the luggage unlike the cupcakes that I sent which the airport security turned upside down. The cookies were so chewy and the flavors are wonderful! I'm pretty sure they would love these, I just hope my mama would not give some of the chocolate chips to Creamy! :)

Ladyfingers

Ladyfingers are a popular pastry in the Philippines and it was one of my favorites growing up. It is more commonly known in the Philippines as Broas. I'm not sure where the best Broas were in the Philippines but I remember my mother frequently buying a lot of it whenever we pass by Quezon Province.

I was actually going to try to make Ladyfingers because I saw several cakes which had it as a component, like Tiramisu and Charlotte. I was intrigued by what this Ladyfinger is, and I never knew that it is our beloved Broas. Only after baking and trying it did I realize that it is the same thing! Boinks!

I baked Sarah Philips' Ladyfinger recipe and it tasted really good! I would say right now that it is the best broas that I ever had, but I'd wait to judge that when I go back home because I may just be Broas homesick right now. LOL! It was very light, tasty and crunchy, which is my kind of broas. I loved it too because it was not too sweet. The recipe required whipping the egg whites and the egg yolks separately, and then slowly folding them together with some flour afterwards. I was extra careful not to overmix the batter in fear of it not rising. It baked for around 10 minutes and once out of the oven, the smell reminded me of the good old broas days.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mom's day to all my mommy friends and family, and to the soon to be moms. Apparently, Israel does not celebrate this day as Mother's day so it was just pretty normal day here. And oh, I went back to work after a 4 day Israeli holiday plus weekend so I am still on the slow side of things.
Over the 4 non-working day, I just took time to get back on my sleeping groove, and that means sleeping at 11PM and waking up at 11AM, and then taking naps in between (the life!). I did not manage to get anything done except for few inevitable work calls. And because of this, I did not manage to bake anything new that I'd been wanting to try had I been given the time. I wanted to bake some lemon pies, make some gum paste sugar flowers, but I ended up baking the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies above.
We managed to go to the market last Saturday though, out of sheer necessity. It was a dire need, otherwise I'd probably be eating flour for the weekend (hehe exag!). I have all types though, I have the all purpose, the cake flour and the self raising flour! LOL!
When we went to this Russian market, I bought 2 dozen eggs among other stuff. The last time I went there, I bought some eggs from the same stall and they're really very fresh. Now after going home, I was to cook some eggs for brunch and I was utterly surprised that the first egg that I cracked had 2 yolks! Pardon my ignorance but I had not been spending as much time in the kitchen as I do now, and I was really shocked to see the yolks that I had to take a photo of it.
Now as I finished (barely, after much laughs) frying the first one, I cracked another one again and it was the same, two yolks again! It looks totally weird! Imagine having your sunny side up eggs with 2 yolks! After brunch, I again cracked another egg for the cookies, and it's the same thing, 2 effin' yolks. Hehe. This time, I really had to google it, I can't go on having all my 2 dozen eggs to have multiple yolks. I found out that this is an abnormality in the reproductive system of the hen normally when the hen starts to lay eggs earlier than its full maturity. Anyway, the more important thing is that it's safe to eat. So there goes my strange encounter with eggs, and I'm still amazed. Now I still have to figure out how to adjust my recipes assuming all of the eggs turn out to be with the 2 yolks.

Peanut Butter Chewy Cookies

These are chewy Peanut Butter Cookies that I made a few days back for breakfasts with coffee. When I was growing up, I never like Peanut Butter, I guess it is one of those things which I acquired (like eating vegetables, Japanese, etc). Now, Reese Chocolates are even one of my favorites! I bought my Peanut Butter a few weeks back after craving for the Ultimate Peanut Butter Cake by Sarah. I made it and I was surprised that people liked it. And I also feel guilty about never asking people if they have peanut allergy when they took those cupcakes. Same thing now with the cookies. I never bothered asking if they have allergies! LOL

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are Sarah's Thick With A Chew Chocolate Chip Cookies. I baked these last night with the intention of having something to munch until the weekend, or have something to go with coffee. However, it was all gone by the day's end today. For some reason, people kept coming to my cube today to ask something just about the test program that I just released.
The cookies, as the name says, were thick and chewy. I had always wanted my cookies to be like this way, that when you take a bite, you'll have something to chew. It turned out just the way I love my cookies to be!

Dulce De Leche Brownies

These are Dulce De Leche Chocolate Brownies with chopped nuts. This is my first time making brownies because I had always been addicted to making cupcakes and cakes. However this time, I need to make something fast because I cannot afford to spend much time in the kitchen with all my office work. This recipe is by Sarah Philips and that in itself has already a stamp that says it is very good. I made these because Manny and I finished the cinnamon rolls that we're supposed to bring to the office as breakfast (which sometimes could be lunch and dinner). So we brought the brownies 8 pieces at a time to the office so that we'll have something to go by because we were so busy. However, each batch that I brought ended up being finished even before lunch because our officemates who drop by either mine or Manny's cube would take one. And they loved it, one of them even went back to take another piece and another one dropped by my cube the next day looking for some. :)

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I had been contemplating on making some cookies but I don’t have a cookie sheet and when I finally got one, I let it sit for weeks in my cupboard. Having seen a good oatmeal cookie recipe in baking911, I decided to try making one. I wanted to try few flavors all at once, but again, no one will finish it! The recipe that I got was very easy and quite healthy because of the oats.
As always during weekends, I immediately turn on my oven when I wake up (this time at around 11am) to bake something, and normally, I get started at around 2pm. This time around, it was already 3pm but I have not decided to bake anything yet. I had thought of baking some cheesecakes for today but it will take us forever again to finish it! As much as I wanted to eat it, as I got older, I realized that I cannot just eat anything without gaining any weight! So anyway, while I was still thinking of what to bake, I decided to bake something quick in between and decided on popping some cookies in the oven.
After 5mins of making the batter, and 12 minutes of baking, I have freshly made oatmeal cookies. Ate Jen went by our house today to have her laptop installed with some softwares and she initially did not want to eat anything because it was Good Friday. But then I tempted her with some cookies (and some beef with oyster sauce and broccoli meal) and she gave in! :) The cookies were soft and chewy, and smelled really good! We had some after dinner (cookies for dessert, weird eh?) and I forgot to send her some when she went home. My bad!