All Kinds of Awesome.

In the world of desserts, there are two main contenders in the category of snacky-finger-foody-perfect-for-potluck-can't-go-wrong desserts.

Brownies and Cookies.

They are your All-American casual dessert items. Hardly anyone will turn down a good ol' brownie or chocolate cookie. They are the epitome of comfort food.

In the past 6 months or so, I have become slightly obsessed with brownie-cookie fusions. I am on a constant quest of seeking new, innovative ways of combining the chocolatey gooeyness of brownies with the comforting nostalgia of a good chocolate chip cookie.

One day, a friend of mine sent me a link to this video. It demonstrates the inspiration for my latest brownie-cookie fusion: All Kinds of Awesome.

The concept: A peanut butter cup stuffed inside a brownie stuffed inside a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie.

"All Kinds of Awesome? What kind of name is that?" You may be asking. Let me tell you, it is the kind of name that describes the indescribable. There is simply no other name that could do these decadent, gooey, chocolately, simply delicious brownie-cookie fusions, justice.

I should probably stop raving and ranting and just get to it, but seriously, these are the perfect example of synergy (let the geekiness begin). Synergy is when two or more things are combined to create something that is greater than what the parts are separately. And that is exactly what All Kinds of Awesome is.

What you need is a pan of baked brownies, some mini peanut butter cups, and cookie dough. I baked two pans of brownies a day or two ahead (one pan to eat and one for this project). I also made the cookie dough ahead of time (a double batch...to eat and for this project). So all I had to do on the day I made these was assembly!

Brownies: 
(My favorite recipe, provided by Bake At 350)

What you need:
1 c. dutch-process cocoa
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 & 1/2 sticks (~170g) unsalted butter
2 c. sugar
1 TBSP. vanilla
3 eggs (room temp)
1 c. flour

What you need to do:
Preheat oven to 350F (176C). Line a 9"x13" pan with tin foil and then grease the foil (either with butter, Crisco, or some non-stick spray)

Combine the cocoa, salt and baking powder in a small bowl and set it aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.  Turn off the heat; add the sugar and stir to combine.  Return to the heat until it's hot again, but not bubbling.

Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa mixture. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla. Mix just until it's smooth. Add in the flour and stir just until combined.

Pour batter into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.



Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies:
(Classic Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookies, slightly modified)

What you need:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (~227g) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temperature
1/4-1/2 cup peanut butter (you can use your own judgement for peanut buttery-ness!)
12 oz (~340g) chocolate chips (mini ones work really well)


Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. 

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Mix in peanut butter just until combined. Add in flour mixture in 2-3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Stir in chocolate chips.


Living in a tropical climate, I prefer to refrigerate the cookie dough for a little while before assembly, otherwise they get too sticky. You may or may not need to do this. 


Assembly:

Cut the brownies into squares that are approximately 1-1.5 inches wide. 

Unwrap the peanut butter cups. Make an indentation in the underside of your brownie and stuff the peanut butter cup into it. If you want, you can smoosh the brownie around it so it is encompassing all of the peanut butter cup.

Make a ball of cookie dough that is slightly smaller than a golf ball (1-1.5 inches in diameter) and then break it in half. Turn each half into a little disc (flatten like a pancake with your palms), big enough to cover the brownie. Sandwich the brownie between the discs of cookie dough and then seal off the edges.

It should look like an over-sized sphere of cookie dough when your done.

On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, place your spheres of goodness, an inch or so apart (don't worry, they won't spread too much). Bake at 375F (190C) for 8-10 minutes.

Now, I also tried these using regular chocolate cookie dough, brownies, and Hershey Mint Truffle Kisses. They were also delicious. But the regular cookie dough didn't have as much staying power as the peanut butter ones did, and they spread just a little bit too much. So that recipe is still being perfected.

 

I heart breakfast. (Chapter One)

I love breakfast.

Actually, I think that my immense appreciation for breakfast originated with my dad. For as long as I can remember, he has always been the source of all things breakfast in my house. Every Sunday for my entire life (or at least pretty close) at my parents' house we would have scrambled eggs and doughnuts. Mmmm mmmm. And on special occasions we'd have pancakes or french toast or cinnamon rolls or bacon or some combination of the aforementioned.

After I moved out to go to college, when I came home to visit for the weekend or holidays, I would be greeted most mornings to the mingled smells of coffee and some form of the best possible breakfast food.  Thanks Dad.

Like I said: I love breakfast.

And I love Asia.

BUT

I do not love breakfast in Asia.

Somehow, curry or fish balls first thing in the morning just doesn't do it for me. Unfortunately, there are no diners here. No Perkins or Denny's or Keys (my favorite breakfast place in St. Paul). No where to get GOOD breakfast (except Hatched, and if you live in Singapore, you should definitely go there).

Thus I am left to my own devices. And Banana Pancakes are where it's at.

They are the ultimate bum-around-all-morning-stuffing-your-face-and-ignoring-the-world-at-large breakfast food. Jack Johnson even wrote a theme song for them:

**Listening to this song is a vital part of preparing the pancakes, so don't forget**

What you need:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs (room temperature)
2 cups buttermilk*
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 stick/2 oz/~54 g butter (melted) or oil (plus a little extra butter for the frying pan)
2-3 just a little too ripe bananas

*If you don't have buttermilk (because it's *ahem* too expensive, or like most people, you don't keep it lying around) you can use what I like to call "the poor man's" buttermilk: 1 3/4 cup of milk mixed with 1/4 cup lemon juice.

A word about bananas: the absolute best bananas to bake with are the ones that are just past their peak of ripeness. The ones that have a fair number of brown spots that are just mushy enough that you don't really want to eat, but will eat in a pinch. What you can do is pop them in the freezer when they reach that point and then just pull them out whenever you feel the urge to make banana bread or even better, pancakes. After you freeze them, the skin turns all brown and gross looking, but trust me...this is what you want!

What you need to do:

Sift/whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl (no need for a mixer).

In another bowl, whisk the eggs and then add in the buttermilk, vanilla, and melted butter/oil.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk just until combined (lumps are good!!).

Peel the bananas (if frozen, peel before defrosting by using a sharp knife). Should they be frozen, microwave them 10 seconds at a time until they are soft enough to mash. Mash the bananas with a fork and then fold them into your batter with a rubber spatula. Once again, be careful not to over mix!

Heat up your frying pan or griddle on medium heat. Add a little bit of butter (< a Tbsp, you want just enough to cover the surface, but not enough that you're deep frying the pancakes).

When the butter is hot, spoon or pour your batter onto the pan (~1/3 cup per pancake, but you can use your judgement). It'll be time to flip when there are bubbles breaking through the surface of your pancakes.

Now, when it comes to eating banana pancakes, I have tried many different techniques and toppings. And I don't know that I've ever come across a bad one. But my absolute favorite goes as follows:

Take one pancake and spread a thin layer of peanut butter on it

Then put another pancake on top and drizzle some syrup on top...

Note: these are best enjoyed in the company of a good friend or family member.

 

This recipe was modified from a pancake recipe in Desserts by the Yard, a most fantastic dessert cookbook.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

As an American, the most I ever learned about Chinese New Year and the Chinese Zodiac was by reading the paper place mats at Chinese Restaurants. You know the ones...red and white with all of the animals and the story about how they all raced and the rat won. And then it would tell you some horoscope style thing about which of the animals you are compatible with and how lucky you would be that year...

I've known my whole life that I am a Dragon, and I was always proud of it because, frankly, dragons are sweet. I've also always known that one of my sisters is a Tiger, the other a Snake, and my brother a Rat.

This information always seemed somewhat useless, until I moved to Singapore. And then Chinese New Year became a big deal.

I could write pages and pages and pages about all the things I've learned about Chinese New Year--the traditions, the stories, the foods, the implications of what year you were born in.

But I won't.

Instead, I will relate the story of my CNY dessert this year. It all starts with Bake At 350.

I started following this blog about a year ago, and I fell in love with it almost instantly. Most of my regular and favorite things to bake have come from this blog in some form or another. But the stars of this blog are the cookies. Not just any cookies. Gorgeous cookies. Stunning cookies. AMAZING cookies. They are cut and decorated into just about anything!

And for a year, I have been intimidated by these cookies.

But then came CNY, and I needed to make a dessert for this party I was going to and I really wanted to do something festive but I'm not really an authority on Chinese desserts and that was when I thought of the cookies.

All it would take would be a batch of round sugar cookies and some colored royal icing to produce this.

  
Sugar Cookies (original found here)

What you'll need:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cups sugar
2 sticks or 227 g butter (unsalted), cold
1 egg (room temperature)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F/176C

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and then set it aside.

Cream together the sugar and butter in your mixer. You may need to let it do it's thing for a few minutes, though you should scrape down the sides halfway through.

Add the egg and vanilla and mix it just until they are combined.

Gradually add in the dry ingredients that you set aside earlier (roughly a cup at a time) while mixing at a low speed. Don't forget to scrape down the bowl, especially getting the crumbs at the bottom!

On a clean surface, dusted with flour, roll the dough out to approximately 1/4 of an inch. It might be a little crumbly, so just knead it together and don't worry. Then you can cut out your shapes! For lack of an actual round cookie cutter, I just used a glass.

Place your cookies on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. They will be golden brown around the edges and on the bottom.

For the icing, I'll just let you follow the recipe from Bridget:  Royal Icing

I used Wilton's Copper gel food coloring, and just used different amounts to make the different shades.

I decided to make them into Chinese coins and while trying to research different Chinese characters, my sister had the most amazing idea of putting dragons on them. Which is how we ended up with Mushu from Mulan!

And can't forget the cake!!

Seeing as we just rang in the year of the Dragon, I am so very excited to be a dragon. Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!!

Cookie + Muffin = ....Mookie? ...Cuffin?

Do you ever have that moment, standing in your pantry thinking: Thanskgiving is over, Christmas is done with, and yet there you are, you lonely can of pumpkin sitting on the shelf. Just WHAT am I going to do with you?!

I have those moments. Pumpkin after Thanksgiving, minty things after Christmas, and pastel colored things after Easter. So here I was thinking to myself...I don't really want to make a pumpkin pie, that'll take too long to bake. Pumpkin bread? Been there, done that. Pumpkin muffins? Meh.

So then I decided to Google pumpkin cookies just to see what was out there. I came upon this recipe, and after some modifications here and there, I pulled out of the oven something that resembled a cookie but with the texture of a muffin. Thus was born the Mookie. Or is it Cuffin?

Another thing to note is that the batter is AWESOME. So watch out for vultures in your kitchen:

Here's what you'll need:

5 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger (you can safely go up to 1 tsp if you like ginger!)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
4 large eggs (room temperature**)
2 1/4 cup light brown sugar (dark brown sugar is also acceptable, or if you are ill-equipped like me, a combination of the two is great)
1 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 small can of pumpkin

For the glaze:

3 Tbsp water
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar (aka icing sugar) 

**Eggs can in fact be stored outside of the fridge, especially if you have a high turnover like there is in my house. Should you keep them in the fridge and don't plan ahead (like me), pull them out and put them in some warm-bordering-on-hot water like this:

By the time you have all your other ingredients ready to go and do the first few steps, your eggs will be at the right temperature and happy.


Putting it together:

First, it's always important to have an enthusiastic helper:

Preheat oven to 325F (165C) and line some cookie sheets with parchment paper. Believe me, you'll be much happier later on if you do.

In a large bowl (not your mixer bowl), sift/whisk together your flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.

In your electric mixer bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and smooth...it'll be about 2 min and you should see the color change fairly easily. Add in the oil, vanilla, and pumpkin and beat it at a medium speed until it's blended well together.

Add in your flour mixture a cup or two at a time, while beating on a low speed, just until it is incorporated. Your batter will be gooey, half way between a cookie dough and muffin batter.

Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, make blobs about the size of doughnut holes on your cookie sheets. They won't spread out too much, so feel free to space them about an inch apart.

Bake for about 15-18 min until one or all of the following: 1. You tap the top of the cookie and it springs back 2. You stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean or 3. The bottom of the cookie is a beautiful golden brown (only slightly darker than the top of the cookie).

You'll want to let them cool for about 30 min or so. While you're waiting you can make the glaze. Depending on how much you want, it takes approximately 1/2 cup of powdered sugar for every Tbsp of water. Put both the sugar and water into a small bowl and mix with a spoon. It shouldn't be too thin, just thin enough to drizzle.

When the cookies are cool, drip the icing glaze onto the cookies using a spoon. It'll take about 10 min or so for the glaze to harden. Once it does, you can store the cookies stacked on top of each other without fear of ruining them!

Whether you call them Mookies or Cuffins or Muffkies, they are quite delicious, almost like eating the top of the muffin. And they are easy enough to whip up last minute for that meeting you forgot you were supposed to be bringing snacks too...