Favorite Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookie + Round-Up

Hello, I hope everyone is doing well. Today, I'm here to talk about a new favorite tried-and-true recipe.  Breana recently came across a great cookie recipe. It is The Most Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies by Laura from her website Joy Food Sunshine. For the longest time, I have been looking for cookies that remain chewy after baking. Most of the recipes tasted good. However, they were chewy when warm and crispy when cooled. This one is, kind of, the opposite. Breana described it to me as being slightly crispy (but still soft) out of the oven, and chewy once cooled.

After Breana made a half batch, we discovered how good they were. So, she made a whole batch soon after. When I made them, I used white chocolate chips (pictured). However, I didn't have enough brown sugar at the time. One commenter, Gulshan Naqvee (on October 6th) mentioned they used all white sugar. So, I just used 1 ½ cups of white sugar. These ones were really rich. To be fair it could have been the difference in sugar, but I’ll eventually remake them with the proper measurements.

We also tried other add-ins besides chocolate chips. Some of the combinations we tried were chocolate chips and raisins, chocolate chips and peppermint chunks*, and just peppermint chunks. Speaking of which, I totally recommend Ghirardelli Peppermint chunks, it taste just like their peppermint squares, without the chocolate.

*With chocolate chips and raisins/peppermint chunks, I used 1 cup of each one. 

And with that, let’s get to the Round up. It’s holiday baking season, so I thought I would re-share some desserts (except for one).

Brownies

In our experience, you can throw everything in the bowl without separating it. However, following the directions exact is what guarantees that top layer.

Our thoughts about the recipe: HERE

Original Recipe by Sarah: HERE 

Waffle cones/ bowls

I preferred making waffle bowls because it was easier than trying to roll it into a cone…

Our thoughts about the recipe: HERE

Original Recipe (chocolate) by Sara Wells: HERE

Original Recipe by Williams-Sonoma: HERE 

Pie crust and pumpkin cheesecake pie

This is a mix-match post. The crust is flakey, and the pumpkin cheesecake pie was delicious.

Our thoughts about the recipe: HERE

Original Recipe by Melissa Stadler: HERE 

Stadler includes both a single and double pie crust recipe.

Original Recipe by Lyuba Brooke: HERE 

Dark chocolate sour cream cake

I love sour cream cakes because most of the time they come out moist.

Our thoughts about the recipe: HERE 

Original Recipe by Tami Baity: HERE 

Biscuits

I know I said desserts, but biscuits occasionally end up part of our end of the year baking, so I have to include them. Plus this recipe has been forgiving when I’ve been lazy about making it.

Our thoughts about the recipe: HERE 

Original Recipe by Amber: HERE 

Eggless Sugar cookies

I’m including this last because of some technicalities. Some of the amounts called for are different than when we first found this recipe. The main difference is that we use only ½ cup of butter and 1 cup of flour + any extra needed. Everything else is the same. 

Our thoughts about the recipe: HERE

Original Recipe: HERE 

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. What's your favorite recipe to make around the holidays? And do you prefer crispy or chewy cookies? We would love to know.

Music Monday (141): Pentatonix, Stevie Wonder, Duke Ellington, Lil Nas X,

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: I'm currently listening to Pentatonix's new holiday album, We Need A Little Christmas. I enjoyed all of the songs, but then again I should have expected it. Pentatonix's holiday albums are always a perfect way to set a festive mood. One of my favorite songs from it is Once Upon A December. This song is just lovely.  

  

Adri: I'm listening to Sugar Rum Cherry by Duke Ellington and Holiday by Lil Nas X.

Andrea: This week I'm listening to Ave Maria by Stevie Wonder.

What are you listening to this week?

I Watched Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Story (2020)

It has been a while since I’ve been this excited to talk about a holiday movie, but Jingle Jangle deserves all the praise. This is probably one of my favorite movies released by Netflix to date, and it goes alongside others I’ve recently enjoyed—i.e. The Babysitters Guide to Monster Hunting and Vampires VS the Bronx. Jingle Jangle was fantastic, and it ticked all the boxes for everything I look for in a musical. It’s the kind of family-friendly movie that feels like it’s going to be a holiday classic, and in my opinion it more than has the potential to cross that threshold.

For a movie about a toymaker, the holidays, family, and stolen inventions, the story was just good. It was a magical adventure with steampunk notes. It seemed equal parts heartwarming, sad, but still all around fun and humorous. And even when there were some of the more emotional moments, the movie never quite lost its hopeful tone.

Jingle Jangle is very stylish movie. The casting decisions Netflix made were top-notch with picks such as Keegan-Michael Key from Key & Peele, Forest Whitaker, and Anika Noni Rose who voiced Tiana. Every actor was phenomenal in their roles, and as a result the characters came off as charming and joyous. The costuming as well as the set design was colorful, wintery and eye-catching—and it really set the mood for the movie.

Since Jingle Jangle is a musical, I was paying close attention to the aspects related to it. Well, the dance numbers were excellent, the music is just “chefs kiss,” and even after the credits were rolling, I was already thinking about listening to the songs again. The scene transitions were notable as well, especially between the talking parts and the singing/dance segments. It was so smooth that the overall impression left by Jingle Jangle is that the movie found its rhythm and kept it.

Jingle Jangle was fantastic. I can’t recommend it enough, and if you’re looking for a holiday movie to watch, then consider giving this one a try.

Also, check out the trailer….

ARC Review: Finished Off In Fondant by Rosemarie Ross

Title: Finished Off In Fondant
Series: Courtney Archer #2
Author: Rosemarie Ross
Source/Format: Netgalley; eARC
More Details: Cozy Mystery
Publisher/Publication Date: Kensington Publishing; December 1, 2020

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble     Target

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Hosting a reality cooking show could be the perfect career boost for Chef Courtney Archer--as long as the contestants aren't suspected of murder . . .

Despite a few early hiccups, Courtney is thrilled with her starring role on The American Baking Battle, filmed at a grand resort in the Pocono Mountains. The icing on the cake? The new season has a wedding theme--complete with formalwear. But the first day on set, the producer seems to care more about profits than pastry--and the topper comes when her cohost Skylar falls ill. Little does she know things are about to end in tiers . When a barely coherent, blood-covered Skylar is discovered at the doorway of his room, Courtney is horrified to walk inside and find a towering wedding cake--thoroughly smashed by the body of a woman in a bridal gown. Now suspicion is filling the studio and falling on Skylar, and Courtney has to look at coworkers and contestants, working through layers of deception to find the real culprit . . .

I was excited for Finished Off In Fondant. It’s been a while since I dived into a cozy mystery, and this one seemed like one I would like. Finished Off In Fondant was fine. I liked it. The characters were good, and the setting afforded for some interesting situations.

I liked the idea of Finished Off In Fondant, since it had a main character who was a host of a cooking competition as well as for her own show. It was a fun set up, and for the most part I did like the competition as well as the cooking aspects of the novel. I liked how much knowledge the character had about food, as it did come in handy. For the most part, I did like the cast of the characters. Courtney was interesting. Her situation was up-in-the-air for a while, as she had to come clean about her identity and the discrepancies of her on-air persona. So there was the possibility that her career could take a hit. So there was some tension in the story before the mystery began. I also liked the side characters. They were interesting in their own right.

Now when it came to the mystery—the very thing that hooked me from the start—at times it seemed to take a backseat to the filming of the competition, and the actual investigative portions seemed few and far in-between for much of the story. There was more speculation than anything else, and a lot of time was spent on other characters telling Courtney to mind her own business. That’s a common thing I’ve come across in most cozy mysteries I’ve read, and the characters always kind of disregarded that. However, Courtney did stumble onto some clues, but I wish the development of the mystery was more present than it was.

Overall, Finished Off In Fondant was fine.

About the author....

Rosemarie Ross is neither a chef, gourmet cook, nor television cooking star, but she loves watching them and turned that love into a cozy mystery series. Rosemarie Ross is also the pseudonym of multi-published author Rose Ross Zediker, who writes contemporary and historical inspirational romance novels.

Disclaimer: This copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Kensington) via Netgalley for this review, thank you!

Music Monday (140): Tkay Maidza, Charlie Wilson, Smokey Robinson

  

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: Two weeks ago, I mentioned I was listening to a Mixtape called Last Year Was Weird Vol.2. Well, I finally checked out Last Year Was Weird Vol.1, and I love it as much as Vol.2. One of my favorite songs from it is Lullabies. 

Andrea: This week I'm listening to All of My Love by Charlie Wilson featuring Smokey Robinson.

 

What are you listening to this week?

Short Stories I Read In October...

It’s the twenty-ninth of November, so it’s time to talk about the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in October.

Juvenilia by Lavie Tidhar (Uncanny; Issue Thirty-Six, September/October 2020)

The first story I read in October was Juvenilia by Lavie Tidhar. I really enjoyed this story. Coming on the heels of reading Mexican Gothic, many aspects of Juvenilia reminded me of that story. There was a little mystery as well as some genuinely creepy moments—and the atmosphere and way the story went reminded me of that achieved by Mexican Gothic—even though it wasn’t inherently a horror story. It was kind of a house story too, given that the setting primarily took place at a single property—Wildfell Hall—which was an integral part of the plot. It was well-developed with an eerie atmosphere and an equally odd set of rules the character was asked to follow. Overall, Juvenilia was a fantastic story. 

Hearts in the Hard Ground by G.V. Anderson (Tor.com; September 9, 2020)

Feeling in the mood for another house/ghost story, I decided to check out something that had been on my radar since September. Hearts in the Hard Ground is an incredibly somber tale of a haunted house and the woman who moved-in. There were themes of loss and grief, and it was in the form of the character’s mother having suffered from an illness before passing away. Fiona’s story was an excellent read. Her journey was one filled with memoires and ghosts, as she tried to make a home of the house she’d moved in to. In a lot of ways, this was a story about navigating grief and about places being haunted as well as people being haunted by their memories: of what’s happened and the choices they did or didn’t make. It was about coming to terms with and accepting the “would have” and the “could have,” and the secrets and fears. And while some of the ghosts were charming, the house, for the most part, was suitably frightening with spirits that refused to—or simply couldn’t—rest. 

From around the web…

• A Children’s Tale for All Ages: Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker (Alex Brown; Tor.com, October 6, 2020)
• A Question of Horror: Stephen Graham Jones’ Night of the Mannequins (Tobias Carroll; Tor.com, October 8, 2020)
• Our Opinions Are Correct episode #68
• Fangirl Happy Hour episode #131

Review: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Title: Artificial Condition

Series: Murderbot Diaries #2

Author: Martha Wells
Source/Format: Tor ebook club; ebook
More Details: Science Fiction
Publisher/Publication Date: Tor.com; May 8, 2018

Goodreads     Amazon        

Synopsis from Goodreads...

It has a dark past – one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot”. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more. Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue. What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks…

**This review may contain mild spoilers for All Systems Red.**

It’s been a while since I last read any stories from the Murderbot Diaries, and recently I was in the mood for it. After the end of All System’s Red, I was curious to see where our favorite media obsessed SecUnit would go after its split-second and pivotal decision to go off on its own. Artificial Condition is the direct continuation, and the story starts a short time after the end of All Systems Red. I had a lot of fun reading this book. It was a fantastic sequel in so many ways, primarily for the main character. It was on a mission, a personal one, to discover the truth behind the incident that caused its memory to be purged. I enjoyed the way Wells handled the mystery aspects of the story. The lessons learned by the SecUnit were tough, and it highlighted the intricacies that often take place in complicated occurrences. It also showed that answers might not bring closure and may in fact present more questions. Along the way, it met some new characters. One of them, ART, is by far one of my favorites yet. The scenes with ART were filled with snarky sarcasm and plenty of commentary about media, which made the “Research Transport vessel” all that more endearing of a character. I hope to see it again in later stories. Artificial Condition is, so far, one of my favorite stories from this series, and I hope to read Rogue Protocol soon. 

Review: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark

Title: The Haunting of Tram Car 015

Series: n/a

Author: P. Djèlí Clark
Source/Format: Tor ebook club (freebie); eBook
More Details: Science Fiction; Fantasy; Alternative History
Publisher/Publication Date: Tor.com; February 19, 2019

Goodreads    

Synopsis from Goodreads...

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 returns to the alternate Cairo of Clark's short fiction, where humans live and work alongside otherworldly beings; the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities handles the issues that can arise between the magical and the mundane. Senior Agent Hamed al-Nasr shows his new partner Agent Onsi the ropes of investigation when they are called to subdue a dangerous, possessed tram car. What starts off as a simple matter of exorcism, however, becomes more complicated as the origins of the demon inside are revealed.

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 has been on my TBR list for way too long. I’ve been into ghost stories lately, and it seemed like there was no better time to finally read it than now. I enjoyed a lot about The Haunting of Tram Car 015. Clark painted a story with a setting that was rich with vivid detail and history. From the beginning, it was easy to picture every scene as it was happening—such was the degree to which the descriptions brought the story to life—and it really set the tone of the story. I enjoyed all of the historical details, as well as how the advances of technology and the emergence of more fantastical elements was evident throughout this alternative version of Cairo. The actual ghost end of the story presented a bit of a mystery to the characters, and I enjoyed reading about the process they undertook to identify just what was haunting Tram Car 015. Overall, I’m glad I can finally take this one off my TBR list. 

Music Monday (139): Tierra Whack, Meghan Trainor, Earth Wind and Fire

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: Tierra Whack recently released a couple of new songs. One of my favorites is Peppers And Onions.

Andrea: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. So this week I'm listening to Holidays by Meghan Trainor featuring Earth, Wind And Fire. Have a great week all! 

What are you listening to this week?

The Friday 56 (190) & Book Beginnings: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 returns to the alternate Cairo of Clark's short fiction, where humans live and work alongside otherworldly beings; the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities handles the issues that can arise between the magical and the mundane. Senior Agent Hamed al-Nasr shows his new partner Agent Onsi the ropes of investigation when they are called to subdue a dangerous, possessed tram car. What starts off as a simple matter of exorcism, however, becomes more complicated as the origins of the demon inside are revealed.

Beginning: "The office of Superintendent of Tram Safety & Maintenance at Ramses Station had all the décor befitting someone who had been elevated--or likely pushed along the lines of patronage--into such a vaulted position." 

56: "Madaam Mariam remained quiet for a while. She turned to stare at a painting above her work desk, one of the few spaces not taken up by dolls."

Comments: I finally read The Haunting of Tram Car 015, and I really enjoyed this story. What are you reading this week?