2 Cookies, 1 Bowl

I have seen this recipe for two (yep, just two) chocolate chip cookies bopping around the internets and had to give it a try.

It looked perfect for those times that you really, really want a warm, freshly-baked chocolate chip cookie, but you don't want to mix up a whole batch of dough, which you will inevitably end up eating, either raw or baked. 

Pretty awesome.  One bowl, two cookies, five minutes.  Mmm.  My only comment is that it took my cookies a little bit longer to cook than the recipe called for... maybe because they're pretty big or maybe because my oven is crazy.  Either way, be warned.

                                                                                                                                                

Pretzel Toffee

Omg.  This pretzel toffee stuff is addictive.  Pretzels.  Butter.  Sugar.  Chocolate.  Salt.

It's pretty hard to go wrong with those ingredients...  salty and sweet, crunchy and chocolatey.

Although, go wrong I did, but it turned out ok in the end.  I followed Smitten Kitchen's recipe, except I substituted the matzoh crackers with pretzels (a la this interpretation).  For some reason, though, my caramel went wonky, causing the butter and sugar to separate, which I didn't realize until after I had poured it over the pretzels.  Once hardened, it didn't seem to make much of a difference as far as taste or consistency, which is why there are only 2 pieces remaining for this photo shoot.  Addictive, indeed.

Granola Bars, Take 2

After my success with granola bars last week, Tim requested that I make some more, but with peanut butter.  I made mine based on a different recipe, one that didn't involve cooking the bars after forming them.

 

The end result was quite tasty- I like the flavor of these much better than last week.  The consistency was much softer... more like Rice Krispie treats.  Thumbs up, except that they crumbled somewhat when handled.

I used the same technique as the recipe, but switched up the ingredients a bit:

1 cup oatmeal (mine wasn't instant, so I toasted in the oven for about 10 minutes)

1 cup Rice Krispies

1/2 cup slivered almonds (toasted along with the oatmeal)

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup peanut butter

Heated the honey and brown sugar together until the sugar dissolved, then added peanut butter.  Tossed together all of the dry ingredients and poured the peanut butter sauce over the top.  Pressed it all into a lightly greased 9" x 9" pan.  Cooled, cut and ate!

Granola Bars

Granola bars are one of those funny things here in Jakarta.  You can get them, sure, but you will pay an arm and a leg.  And your brand and flavor options are limited, too.  I wouldn't call myself a granola bar connoisseur or anything, but I like to have them on hand for a quick breakfast or snack to take hiking or biking, so this situation is somewhat frustrating.

I wondered if I could make my own and whether they would taste as good as (or hopefully better than) the store bought ones.  I'm not quite sure that this recipe achieves any sort of economical success for me, as the ingredients for making the homemade version are not particularly cheap here, either, but the flavor is pretty nice! 

I made my version basically based on Alton Brown's recipe... I used whole almonds (which I then chopped), roasted and salted sunflower seeds, regular brown sugar, and raisins.  Also, I threw in some chocolate chips when stirring the dry and wet ingredients together... the chips melted throughout so the whole bar has a chocolate-y flavor.  Maybe next time I'll try adding some peanut butter?

Salty Sesame and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tim says these are the best cookies he's ever had.  

Coming from Tim, who usually says "They're fine," that says a lot.

I bookmarked this recipe the second I saw it on Joy the Baker... salty + sweet?  Yes, please.  The recipe is quirky, but it all comes together amazingly... a basic chocolate chip cookie dough, with the addition of some soy sauce in the place of some of the salt and a sprinkling of black sesame seeds.  Sounds crazy, but you should try it.  So good.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I went to the beach for an early spring ladies' getaway, so I needed to bake a quick sweet treat to bring with me.
These peanut butter and oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips fit the bill: sweet, peanuty, rich, super simple.

Belated Birthday Magic Bars

Tim's birthday was last Saturday, but I didn't get around to baking something sweet in honor of his 32nd until Sunday. And we were hungover. So basically we ended up with whatever I could easily make with goodies out of the cabinet.
Ta da: Magic bars! A perennial favorite...

Compost Cookies: Meh.

Remember when I made that addictive and delicious crack pie based on the Momofuku Milk Bar delight? I loved the combination of sweet and salty so much, so I decided to take a crack (har har) at making another recipe from the Milk Bar: compost cookies. These cookies looked awesome: a compost-like combination of traditional sweet baking items (chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, etc.) and salty snacks (potato chips, pretzels, etc.). The recipe also uses a funky, non-traditional method for making the batter than involves creaming the butter, sugar and eggs together for over 10 minutes.Sadly, while the unbaked dough was to die for, I can't say I'm super excited about how the cookies came out. The were super flat, despite the fact that I refrigerated the dough as the recipe suggested. They were also super greasy when baked... maybe due to the added grease from the potato chips? Finally, they were just too big... 6 ounces of dough makes a cookie that is literally bigger than the plate I wanted to put it on.

I think I may try the recipe again, and make the following changes in the hopes that the final product lives up to the hype: for my salty snacks, add fewer greasy potato chips and supplement with some pretzels, skip the extra long creaming process, and make the cookies half the size.

Mocha Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

New favorite cookies.
Mocha cookies with white chocolate chips.
Rich and fudgey, with a hint of coffee, chewy in the middle and crisp on the edges.
Yum. The recipe called for instant coffee powder, but I used instant espresso powder. Not sure if it makes a difference... I also threw in a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips in addition to the white chocolate chips, just for shits and giggles.

Banana Peanut Butter "Ice Cream" with Chocolate Chips

Whenever I buy a bunch of bananas, there are always a couple that turn brown before I get a chance to eat them. I peel them, pop them in a bag and throw them in the freezer with the intention to make banana bread with them, which I never do.

When I saw this ingenious idea for turning those ripe, frozen bananas into a no-sugar, no-cream "ice cream," I was intrigued. Plus, this recipes also has peanut butter and chocolate. How can it be wrong? Give it a try... something about the consistency of the frozen bananas when they're whizzed up in the food processor mimics the creaminess of ice cream, so there's no need to add anything else! The recipe called for cocoa powder, but I threw in some chocolate chips for crunch. I'm sure either would be lovely, though.

Mocha Meringue Bark: Fail.

I saw this mocha meringue bark recipe being made on Claire Robinson's 5 Ingredient Fix and thought it looked easy and pretty tasty... how could it go wrong? It's got almond, chocolate chips, coffee, meringue... seems straightforward and good in theory.

I'm not sure where it went wrong, the recipe or my methods, but it somehow tasted wrong... not very coffee-like, kinda flat and strangely textured, generally odd. No likey.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I couldn't resist buying David Lebovitz's new cookbook, Room For Dessert, since I love both his blog and his ice cream cookbook, The Perfect Scoop. The first recipe I chose to try out was his chocolate chip cookie recipe... the internets tell me that it's as good as, if not better than the NY Times recipe from a couple years ago which is supposed to be "perfect." Both recipes recommend refrigerating the cookie dough for some time before baking the cookies.I made the cookies for a par-tay we had at the house, and didn't get a chance to taste the finished product before they were all gone (snagged by beer drinkers with the munchies), but I can say that after trying some of the dough as I mixed it up, if the finished cookies are half that good, they rock. The dough was super chunky and the toasted nuts (I used half walnuts, half pecans) gave it a rich flavor.

Can't wait to try some of the other recipes from Room for Dessert!

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

I had some bananas getting a serious sun tan on the counter, so I thought I'd make some banana bread. I wasn't quite in the mood for regular banana bread, though, so peanut butter, banana and chocolate chip bread it was. The combination reminds me a sundae I always used to order at Friendly's as a kid... they discontinued it early in my childhood and I never forgave them. Jerks.

This bread is really good- really rich, though, more like a cake. I bet you could cook it in a shallower cake pan or pie plate and cut it in wedges. A great flavor combo.

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

So I've wanted to make my own granola bars for a while, preferably peanut butter ones. Lots of recipes I looked up had corn syrup in them, which sorta defeated the purpose of making my own as opposed to buying the ones in the grocery store with all of the extra crap and preservatives in them.

This recipe from Giada DeLaurentis looked decent, and it was... but I wouldn't really call it a granola bar. It was more of a soft, crumbly, sweet bar cookie, as opposed to a crispy, crunchy, slightly sweet granola bar. Tasty, but not what I was looking for.

The search continues!!!