Celebratory Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hello Sweets!


I hope everyone had a good day today.  I saw the doctor today, and the good news is I don't have strep throat, bad news is my glands are swollen so I am on antibiotics in hopes we can clear it up.  I have some very exciting news to announce.......I have over 1000 views on my blog!!!!  I know to some that may seem quite small but I only started writing a month and a half ago, and only for my own piece of mind, not thinking so many would be reading it.  I want to say thank you to all my amazing readers.  :)  You really know how to make a girl feel loved, and I truly appreciate all the support.  Since you guys keep reading, I'm going to keep on blogging, I must be doing something right because you keep coming back for more.  I really am on cloud nine right now, this is a great feeling, and as I sit here typing I have a HUGH smile on my face, lol I'm such a nerd :D

So last night I could not sleep (same old same old), so I started thinking about the savory cupcakes again and Christmas baking, which means research, research, research!  I have found some more interesting savory "cupcakes", and then I kicked over to my holiday goodies research mode, and man oh man, have I found some goodies.  There are some traditional, and some not so much, some that I have made and some that will be brand spanking new!  I do know one thing though, Nathan is going to be one happy camper next month when he has so many goodies to choose from :)

Since I surpassed 1000 views today I thought I would make myself a treat that will make anyone reminisce to their childhood.  The good old, tried, and true chocolate chip cookies, with a canuckette twist of course lol now let us get to the good stuff shall we?

Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Pikky Lady)

Ingredients

1C butter, softened

3/4C granulated sugar

3/4C packed light brown sugar

1Tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 1/4C all-purpose flour

1Tsp baking soda

1/2Tsp salt

2C semi sweet chocolate chips

1C chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 375F.  In a large bowl, cream butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy.

2)  Add eggs, beat well.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture.  Beat well.

 egg mixture/flour mixture

almost ready :)

3)  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (optional).  This is where I put a little Canuckette twist, I added both pecans and walnuts (next time I'll season them lightly), you can add whatever suits your fancy in addition to the chocolate chips.

mmmm cookie dough

4)  Drop by teaspoon full onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

now the house smells delish!!

5)  Let cool slightly on the cookie sheet.  Remove from cookie sheet; cool completely on wire rack and enjoy!

My yummy haul

Needless to say, they are super yummy.  Even John (my roommate's son) loves them.  Definitely the perfect celebratory cookie!  A perfect way to end the day that put a smile on my face, in a very simple way too!

Tomorrow is the day I make pastizzis with my grandfather, :) and I am so excited.  These are something I have enjoyed eating my entire life, but have never helped make them.  There are many members of my family that are looking forward to this post because they are just that good. lol  So either tomorrows post will be the entire recipe, or the dough only.  It all depends on the consistency of the dough.  Either way, yummy family recipe + quality time with my little grandpa (he's really short lol) = a fantastic way to spend an afternoon!  Well sweets, I am going to sit back, relax, and watch Chopped (The Food Network), yea I love watching foodie shows lol obviously ;)  Until next time.......

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo 

  

A successful event deserves brownies!

Hello Sweets,

I hope you all are having a spook-tacular Halloween!  I love this time of year.  The smell of the seasons changing, seeing all the little ghosts and goblins dressed up, and nothing says fall more than a fresh loaf of baked bread :)  Yup that's right, I finally succeeded with the whole wheat honey bread!!!  I either had a bad batch of yeast, or it didn't activate.  Either way, we now have two fresh loaves of bread, and the house smells absolutely divine.

Aren't they purdy :D

After last nights fail, I was feeling a little defeated, and somewhat frustrated.  So of course, I started looking at some of my favorite foodie websites, and came across a recipe for homemade brownies.  Now I don't know about you guys, but brownies always make me feel better lol, and I decided to bake them alongside the bread, just in case I had another mishap.  Now they didn't fall out of the pan easily, so they're not pretty, but they are pretty tasty lol.  Ok, on to the recipe, because that's why you came here after all!

Cocoa Brownies (via The Food Network)

Ingredients

soft butter, for greasing the pan

flour, for dusting the buttered pan

4 large eggs

1C sugar, sifted

1C brown sugar, sifted

8 ounces of butter, melted

1 1/4C powdered cocoa, sifted

2Tsp vanilla extract

1/2C flour, sifted

1/2Tsp salt

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 300F.  Butter and flour an 8" square pan.

2)  With an electric mixer, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow.

3)  Add both sugars and mix well, add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.

4)  Pour batter into the pan and bake for 45 minutes.  Use the tried and true toothpick method to see if the brownies are done.  Check in the middle as that is the last part to bake.

5)  When it's done, remove to a rack to cool.  Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool.

yummy!!

Now believe it or not, this was my first time baking brownies from scratch.  How sad is that? lol  They are so much better this way than store bought or boxed brownies, and it is very simple and quick too!  What is your favorite sweet to bake?  My favorite recipes are the ones that are passed down through families.  With my family, it was chocolate chip cookies, lemon meringue pie, zucchini bread, and banana bread.  My grandmothers banana bread is so moist, and the crust has this nice thin layer of crunchy goodness to it.  When she finally gave me the secret recipe, the first thing I did was make some "jen-ifcations" lol, which means I added chocolate chips and eventually even peanut butter!  I always bring my baked goodies to my grandparents, and she has always liked the changes I've made :)

Now I know this is somewhat of a short post, but tomorrow will be longer as I will be making not one, not two, but three different recipes tomorrow (yikes I'll be one busy little girl).  This is in preparation of the Texas AAA 500 race.  Nathan's family has season tickets, so we will be spending the weekend down at the track!  This also means my posts might be a little spaced out more so than usual starting on Friday.  I am thinking I might do a couple of race themed posts about what we did, and what we ate.  This will sound silly to most of my American readers, but I had never been tailgating before last April when we went to my first NASCAR race EVER, and they bring all sorts of yummy food to cook out in the parking lot before and after the race (when you're waiting for all the cars to vacate the parking lot).  Needless to say, and to Nathan's surprise (but he loves it), I love tailgating and even the races too!  Just another thing the love of my life and I can do together, plus we are the cutest racing couple ever lol, just kidding, but no really we are ;) .

See, wasn't I right :p

Now have a haunting good evening, and enjoy all the little kids that come to your door tonight.  Until next time........

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo