Holiday Treats: Chocolate Chip Cookies

The December festivities finally crept its way to the food corner of the blog. No, I'm just kidding. Holiday Treats was a minor part of the plans I made in November—I even had the post graphic ready—but once December started, I originally I thought I would skip it altogether because WIP December was taking longer to finish than I originally thought. Then I did some baking and everything changed.

Making something sweet and festive is simple even if you onky have the basic ingredients. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. It can have classic flavors with fun shapes or simply a variation in color. And sometimes, it’s as simple as making a few alterations to a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe.

I chose cookies because they’re easy to make and it’s kind of simple to mix and match flavors and add extra ingredients like sprinkles, dried cranberries, etc.. Time is always a factor, and simply put, cookies aren't as time consuming as my favorite rough-puff-pastry recipe, which requires chill time and a few tedious little steps—but the end result is worth the effort.

I used Hershey’s Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and dressed it up to make them more festive. I replaced vanilla extract with almond extract, and added around a ¼ cup of Christmas tree sprinkles for the whole batch. That’s it. The almond extract alters the taste, and the sprinkles give the cookies little pockets of texture—a light crunch that’s similar to the edges.

Of course, almond extract isn’t the only option. There are other choices like mint—which always pairs well with chocolate—strawberry, lemon, hazelnut, and even cinnamon. Yes, cinnamon extract. And sprinkles are always an option. In my opinion, cookies are better with sprinkles.

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What are you cooking this holiday season?

Favorite Recipe: Eggless Sugar Cookies

What do you do when you don’t have vanilla extract? Obviously, you make eggless sugar cookies...

Today, I’m here to talk about another one of my favorite recipes to use. And let me tell, this is a versatile recipe—more on that later. So, what are eggless cookies? Obviously, cookies that don’t use egg but are still delicious anyway. I’ve had my fair share of hit and misses, but I’ve narrowed my collection down to a few recipes that work the best for me. The one I’m talking about today is: Fluffy Eggless Sugar Cookies (Breathtaking Delicacies).

Since this is kind of a smaller batch of cookies, I typically double the recipe. It’s also incredibly easy to make, which is great because I love making food—particularly breads and desserts—that don’t require too much time. Hence, this recipe will always be one of my favorites.

I’ve made it a bunch of ways including substituting the butter for margarine or Crisco, and adding things like chocolate chips, raisins, and chopped nuts—sometimes all three at once. I also use the milk interchangeably with just regular old water. The most recent batch I made didn’t actually involve any vanilla extractor butter, because, as it just so happened, we were out of those two ingriedients. So, I went ahead and made the cookies anyway using margarine, extra water to make up for the lack of vanilla, 1 tsp of cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp of nutmeg to give the cookies some flavor. They turned out just fine. The edges were crisp, the top was crinkled with cracks, while the inside was light and fluffy. Honestly, I didn’t even miss the vanilla extract since the flavor was vaguely cinnamon roll-ish. It was the best result I could have hoped for, because you never know what the outcome will be once you start tinkering with a recipe.

Favorite Recipe: The Best Brownies

Oh yes, it’s time for another Favorite Recipe. This time, it’s brownies. Yes, rich, chocolatey brownies. Just a quick note: the pictures for this post were collected over time thus the plates don't match. I’ve made brownies all sorts of ways including from the box. I've also made them from scratch using a different recipe than the one I’m going to talk about today. I’ve had all kinds of results, including one unfortunate batch that was too much like particularly dry chocolate cake, i.e. not like a brownie at all. So, I have been on that quest to find the perfect brownie recipe, and to date I think this one is the best I’ve tried. The recipe I’m talking about is this one: Mmm-Mmm Better Brownies. (Pictured to the right is a double batch in a 9x13 inch pan before baking.)

When I say I love this recipe, I’m not kidding. It’s a huge hit in my house. There is nothing cakey about these brownies. They’re perfectly moist and fudgy, and the top and edges form this crispy layer. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the kind of dreaded crispiness you get from burning the brownies. No, this is the kind of crispy layer that you actually want on your brownie—hence, why I always go for one of the corner pieces. But it’s not just the texture that I’m a fan of, the flavor is just as good. It’s really chocolatey! The flavor reminds me more of dark chocolate—so, sweet, but with just a hint of bitterness. That’s what I like about dark chocolate anyway, so the flavor is right up my alley. (Pictured to the left is the double batch in the 9x13 inch pan after baking.)

Speaking of flavor, I can’t forget to talk about the extra things I’ve added into the batter. Per the recipe, walnuts are optional, but I actually prefer these brownies with them. However, leave them out if you have a nut allergy. Pictured below is the result I got when adding chopped walnuts and white chocolate chips to the batter before baking. I prefer to mix the extra ingredients into the batter rather than sprinkling them on top, because I feel like it’s evenly distributed throughout the entire batch of brownies. Of course, you could really add anything you want into it, like M&Ms, things like that.

My only other recommendation is: double the recipe (which makes enough for a 9x13 inch pan instead of just a 9x9 inch pan), especially if you’re making these brownies for more than just yourself. (Pictured to the left is a closeup of a piece of walnut and white chocolate chip brownie.)



What about you? What’s your go-to brownie recipe?

Favorite Recipe: Baking Powder Pizza Crust

Typically I share recipes I’ve recently tried whenever I have a new Weekend Tidbits post for the blog. However, I’ve decided to try a different approach by dedicating an entire post to whatever recipe I want to talk about, instead of just mentioning it. In light of that, today I’m here to talk about one of the best recipes I’ve come across online: Baking Powder Pizza Crust. The recipe I use (with some minor adjustments) is The Bake-Off Flunkie’s Baking Powder Pizza Crust. It’s my go-to recipe for baking powder pizza crusts.

Now, before I get more into all the little changes I’ve made, I just want to mention that you shouldn’t approach this crust and expect it to be a carbon copy of a yeast crust. If that’s what you’re expecting, you’re essentially setting yourself up for failure. Baking powder isn’t the same as yeast, and I don’t expect it to behave the same. I appreciate this recipe for its easiness, texture, and flavor. I just consider it to be its own thing rather than trying to compare it to the traditional method. If you’ve made a yeast pizza crust before like I have, then you know it takes some time for it to rise and all that. I don’t mind doing that, but sometimes I don’t feel like having to wait as long. And that’s where this recipe comes into play. It takes less than half the time to rise. Trust me when I say that this is actually a very simple recipe to make. I’m not going to talk about toppings because that’s one of the more subjective parts about pizza. You make it how you personally want it to taste, with your favorite toppings. (pictured below is just cheese (right) and a ground turkey & pepperoni pizza (left))

Adjustments I’ve made…

The adjustments I make start with the dough. I don’t double the recipe but I one and a half it, which is the perfect amount of dough for the two rectangle cookie pans that I always use because they fit in my oven side-by-side. (Pictured to the left) I also add seasoning into the crust, rather than brushing it on with more oil. One of my recent favorite combinations is 2 tsp of minced garlic & 1 tsp of thyme. Another major adjustment is that I cook the pizzas for a little bit longer. So, instead of 6-8 minutes, I normally set the timer for around 10-13 instead. I think it has more to do with my oven, and I recommend sticking to the recipe and adjusting the cook time as you see fit. But remember to check the bottom and if it's lightly browned then it’s definitely done. I personally like to cook the pizzas until the cheese is a little crispy.

What do you think? Is this a recipe that you would be willing to try? Also, do you add different flavors to your pizza crust?