Oatmeal Choc Chunk Cookies

We have a big bag of oatmeal gifted to us during the holiday season and I swear it begs to be noticed. The holidays never seem to stop for us. I guess that's because some of our cousins who don't actually live here[they're from the US] are still here and my Lola[grandmother]'s dining table is never empty. Meat mostly and sweet sweets[know what I mean?], foods like these make me miss the good stuff. I mean those that are really good for the body like veggies and fruits, and maybe oatmeal. :)

I was browsing through Tastespotting days ago and found this Oatmeal Kiss Cookie Recipe from Within the Kitchen Blog. Like her, I am looking for a good oatmeal cookie recipe. Hers looked really appetizing so I decided to try it. I found the chocolate addition interesting as it wasn't mixed with the batter like the ones with chocolate chips, just placed on top. I didn't have 'mini-kisses' but I still had about two thirds of a bar of dark swiss chocolate sitting in the fridge [one of the many chocolate gifts last Christmas.] Please forgive me if I didn't get the name. I found it wrapped in foil when I decided to use it for the recipe. I then used a knife to cut it into small bits and topped them on each cookie. 

So here they are.

Wish i took better photographs. 

Guess I'm just not a pro in that aspect. 

The Verdict? Right after baking it, I said to my mom that I want to just give them away because they're not sweet. I didn't like them. She grabbed a bite and so did my sister. They both disagreed with me and my ranting. I then decided to pack them and keep 'em in the fridge. Yesterday, we went to an island and I gulped up considerable amounts of salt water like more than three times! So when I got home, I needed a quick sweet fix. I opened the fridge and looked for my cookies. I grabbed one, then another, until I finished what were left in the bag. [Don't look at me with accusing eyes yet. There were only about five left and I gave one to my sister so I ate the four. haha] In short, I loved them and I'm going to make more of them soon. :) 

Thanks, Within the Kitchen Blog for the recipe. [I'm sorry I can't find the name of the writer].

If you need the recipe, head over to her blog entry. 

Holidays of 2010

First off Happy New Year, Everyone! 

I know it's been quite a long time since I last posted. The holiday season has been quite busy yet very rewarding for me. I've baked quite a number that's why I got too lazy to post. 

Anyhoo, 2010 has been a fun year for me. Especially that I got to get back to work at the hospital and travel even to just nearby destinations. It also marked the start of my baking blog which will be a year older next month.[Yay!] And it was on that year that I kinda fell in love and got broken hearted a few months after. 

Now 2011 is here and I'm looking forward to a number of things. I know so many can happen within a year and we'll never know what might come our way. Well anyway, I only have fond wishes and hopes of continued good health for everyone.

Right now though, I'd like to share to you the last few goodies I made for 2010. Did them through the holidays. Btw, my aunt brought more than 10 cake, muffin and brownie mixes for me to do. I'm not a fan of those stuff but sometimes, it's just the most convenient and because my family thinks of me as the 'baker girl/cupcake girl' already, I have to do the baking for them. It's not always fun but there's something with the sound of the mixer and the heat of the oven that makes my day. hihi

Here are the stuff I sold during the holidays.

 Holiday Cookies [Poinsettia, Christmas Tree, Santa Claus, Winter House, Hollies and 2011 Bunny Cookies]

Chocolate Fudge Frosted Chocolate Cakes for Christmas and New Year

Here are the ones I made for the family. 

 Scorched Cheese Lasagna :D

Berry Medley Cheesecake

[Pie crust was ready made by Honey Maid but cheesecake was made from scratch. Berry Medley  Filling by Comstock.]

Chocolate Mint Brownie 

[Brownie Mix by Pillsbury]

There are still a lot more but haven't taken pictures of. 

More box mixes to bake. 

Happy New Year again, Everyone! 

:D

Chocolate Pudding Pie

It's not the first time I made this but it never fails to please my chocolate loving taste buds. :)

I made this for dessert this lunch time still in connection to Jonatz's presence here. hihi

Lookie!

No crushed grahams in the grocery so I manually crushed them a while ago and yielded chunky grahams. hihi

Slice me! So yum, I can't get enough. 

Lookie!

Chocolate Flan Cake [2]

I have always been fascinated by this type of cake because they describe it as one that will trigger 'Oooooohhh's and 'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh's. You're supposed to place the flan mixture above the cake batter then when it's cooked already, you'll find the flan at the bottom of the pan and the cake on top. That's because the flan is denser than the cake.

I usually have the urge to bake this when I have lots of egg yolks in the fridge after baking something else. And so when I found out I was stocking about 8 already, I thought it was time to pull the idea out again. :) So I did but the people I asked to get me condensed milk bought me evaporated instead. I was clearly upset at first but realized that I couldn't do anything to reverse the situation. I first opted to just turn down the whole thing but then I was so excited I mixed the chocolate cake batter ahead of time. In the end, I made use of what was available and hoped for the best.

As expected, the cake didn't come out perfectly. Still, it turned out good. I invited a friend to come over and have a taste for herself. She kinda enjoyed it as well. She says though that she didn't like the flan so much. My sister and I still liked the flan though. hihi

See for yourself.

The Flan is supposed to sink to the bottom.

Dusted with confectioner's sugar for aesthetic purposes. 

Took a slice and that's how the innards look like. :)

The recipe for the chocolate cake I used for this is found here. 

I used the eyeball technique for the flan. 

I read through recipes of chocolate flan cake for the directions on how to bake it. 

A slice as my World Teacher's Day offering.

Just like a teacher, this cake offers a good learning experience. 

[The names listed above are those of my near relatives who are great teachers as well.]

Holiday Cupcakes

My holiday cupcakes are making a comeback. :)

Well it's undeniable that Christmas is in the air and everything about it is making me excited at fever pitch! Oh yeah! 

[Back to normal self.] I made these cupcakes for the holidays last year and posted photos on my Facebook account. Lucky me, my most recent client took notice and wanted exactly the same look for her birthday/grandchildren's christening cuppies. I delivered the box to her personally this morning and felt awesome as she is a complete stranger to me. I think she heard about me from my granny during the banana muffin bake sale at the mall. 

With regards to the cupcakes she ordered, she said she liked them. I am so relieved. 

Without further much a do, here they are. 

She ordered 18...

...moist chocolate cupcakes...

...under marshmallow frosting decorated holiday style with colored sanding sugar. :))

Shiela turns 23

Shiela is one of my closest childhood friends... one of my few bestfriends actually. Though we had a lot of time apart [we weren't in the same school during high school and college], we never ceased to become friends. And after a long long time of being apart, we have been close again ever since. We work at the same hospital with Erin.

It was her birthday on the 23rd and she had a dinner bash from her loving parents so I also made her something that I imagined making. Chocolate Pudding Pie. Yes, that's right. Sounds like yum, huh? It is definitely yummy... She loved it very much.

That's her boyfriend, Shiela and Me. 

Look at that cookie in the middle. 

It says, 'happy birthday shiela!'

[Too bad I didn't get to take an upclose photo. I was too hungry I guess. haha]

Those are her cakes. 

Love the slippers by the way.

That's us minus Erin. :|

But anyways, we had fun. Too bad I had to go home early. 

Chocolate Pudding

... heals the weary heart.

Man, my heart is weary. That's so true at this point. So many things to think about. But hey... there's a rainbow always after the rain, right? I don't want to delve in more about my personal sentiments. I'd just like to share to you this simple yet wonderful confection that I have just made a few hours ago.

Yesterday, I've been wanting to eat anything chocolate and I wanted to eat it with a spoon. I've thought of ice cream but nah I was too lazy to even go out to my grandma's house which is just a few steps away. I have some cocoa powder and sugar and other stuff hidden in the cupboard. So I browsed through tastespotting and alas... I got the idea of making pudding. My siblings and I made some before but were never satisfied because we used a low quality cocoa powder. Not very chocolatey. This time though, I know better.

So here it is.

beautiful eh?

It's actually a very simple recipe I found at Cooks.com.

Easy Chocolate Pudding

1/2 c. sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
2 1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. cocoa
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar, cornstarch, cocoa and salt in saucepan. Slowly stir in milk, cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick. Stir and cook 3 minutes longer; stir in vanilla. Chill. Makes 6.

Absolute winner!

Now I feel a little better. :)

Chocolate Chunk Nips Cookies

I just came from a graveyard shift duty and I'm so drowsy right now. But I feel the need to share my baking adventure last night. I was browsing through some photos at Tastespotting when I found this cookie photo that looked really yummy. I clicked on and was brought to Bakergirl's blog. As I read on her story, I realized that I am somehow in a similar situation as her. 

Well anyway, I copied the cookie recipe and commented that I would make my own. And I did, last night. I used Nips instead of M&M's as they are cheaper of course but taste just as good. The cookies turned out really chocolatey and she was right about the cinnamon. It makes the chocolate flavor pop. Needless to say, the cookies were a success and I felt so fulfilled. 

beautiful eh? 

cookie on my hand... will bite soon :D 

packed some for my childhood nurse friends :)

Thanks, Bakergirl :))

Chocolate Coated Polvoron

I've tasted some of those before and lately, I've wondered if I could make my own.

Polvoron is a common treat for the Filipinos and one that those living overseas surely miss. An old favorite of mine is that of Goldilocks. No matter how I tried to copy the taste before, I never got it right. I ended up making my own without measurements and recipes... just toasting and mixing and molding and wrapping. :)

It's been like years since I've made these candies and I totally forgot already how to. The only things I can remember about it is adding dried fish to it as an investigatory project in high school. That earned us a decent 3rd place in the competition. I've been craving for it for days already, that's why I googled a recipe and made them last night. I then used the remains of  my chocolate bar and used Ate Claire's techinique in coating cake balls. :) Sadly though, I ran out of chocolate so I only had a few finished products. 

Here are the finished products. 

decent looking, huh. 

i know there are already a lot of commercial versions of this in the market,

but nothing beats home-cooked goodness. :)

right?

still have to ask my critics about their comments on the taste.

at times, me and my sister don't trust our tastebuds anymore. :D

Send Off Cake

Yup. Send off I say because my second brother, Jonathan, already left for Cebu last night to start his new found job there. Of course, there has to be something special for dessert last night since we had eggplant omelets for dinner. Sounds nice eh? But the main dish was just a typical dinner dish in our family. The event wasn't really very sad too since Cebu is just a boat ride away. But still, we have to cross the seas, right?

The Magic Chocolate Mug Cake has been doing wonders for me too because it makes an instant delicious cake during times when everything's uptight that I can barely even make way for it. It's fairly easy and doesn't involve taking out too many utensils and equipment. I only use a wire whisk, a bowl and some measuring spoons to mix the batter; a mold and I put the mixture into the microwave to cook. 

I've also done my first attempt of Cooked Chocolate Frosting last night and it came out really delicious. I mean really delicious. I made use of the cooked frosting recipe I found at Tummy Yummy's site. I halved the recipe and added a few tablespoons of chocolate powder to the mixture. 

So needless to say, we were all sated. We ate the rest of it after lunch today. :D

:)

a closer look

my brother making the first slice. 

[looks pretty small huh. that's the mug cake recipe times 4]

ooooooh yummy gooey innards. 

enjoy! :D

Yakult Chocolate Cake

I've always wondered how my favorite pro-biotic drink, Yakult, would taste if used as a substitute for milk in baking. 

taken from the site above.

I love Yakult. I grew up loving it. I don't know how I came to love it. All I know is that it's been there since I was a child. It's good for the tummy too. 

So last night, the thought hit me. And so I pulled out my Magic Chocolate Mug Cake recipe and mixed in the Yakult and microwaved it. Here's the result. 

Looks like tree barks. :)

still has the microwavey texture.

Taste-wise, it was good enough. 

I wouldn't recommend it though because it's not something I think everyone would like. :D

Chocolate Flan Cake Yummy Flop

Yup. You read it right. I saw it once at TasteSpotting.com and I knew I had to make it. Having lots of egg yolks from a weekend of baking was the perfect opportunity. I was inspired and made use of the microwave to get fast results. Talk about fast. After about 2 and a half minutes of cooking it, when I poured it onthe plate, I realized that the center was not cooked yet! It was a total flop. But anyway, it was not worth stressing about because the cooked parts were really yummy. I took them out, placed the uncooked batter into a mug and shoved it back to cook a minute more. It didn't come out as I have expected. Maybe because I tried to do it on my own and I didn't make enough flan to equal the amount of chocolate cake. But still... it was a yummy flop. 

cooked part after 2:30 minutes

see the uncooked batter looking like chocolate sauce?

a cleaner slice

here's from the mug. 

Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies

My brother Jovan asked me to make some cookies for him the other night. We were supposed to get the box mix for brownies and crinkles but I didn't want to cheat on myself so I told him that I'll make from scratch. And last night, I pushed through. I didn't make brownies nor crinkles but decided on a recipe at Bakeat350 that I have been eyeing for like weeks already. The recipe was the one she used as last-minute valentine cookies that looked like scrabble pieces as they were squares. I used a heart cutter for my version and also did away with the icing decoration. I wanted to but didn't have the time. Just in perfect timing did my nieces come for a visit and took their share of the cookies.

These were the ones at Bakeat350.

The cookies were chocolate flavored but I used sweetened native cocoa[Tableya] powder instead of dutch-processed cocoa and cut one-fourth of the sugar needed. The cookies were great for me even without icing... They cracked though but it didn't really matter.

Here's a copy of the recipe.

Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies
{modified from Cookie Craft}

2 & 1/2 c. all-purpose, unbleached flour
1/2 c. dutch-process cocoa (natural is OK, too)
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 c. unsalted butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour,cocoa, espresso powder and salt; set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light an fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.

In 3 additions, add the flour mixture at low speed. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as needed.

Roll the dough on a lightly floured and cocoa-ed surface. (I mixed the 2 of these, then spread on my rolling surface, on my rolling pin, and used it to dip my cookie cutters.)

Cut the cookies with a square cutter, then divide into smaller squares, if necessary, using a bench scraper.

Freeze cut cookies five minutes.

Bake 8 minutes. Let cool completely.

With white royal icing and a #4 (or so) plain tip, pipe the x's and o's.

With red icing and a #3 or #4 tip, pipe hearts on some of the cookies.

Let the icing dry (overnight is fine).

Mix equal parts meringue powder and water. Brush onto piped designs with a small paintbrush and sprinkle on sanding sugar. Shake off the excess.

Stray sanding sugar REALLY shows up on these cookies, so use a dry paintbrush to remove the excess.

different views of the cookies

[weren't as brown as the ones of Bakeat350... maybe because of the type of cocoa used.]

here are the girls, Rai and Zoie taking their share...

[Sad to say, Zoie didn't like it that much. We really can't please everyone, can we?]

I must say, I'm such a Bakeat350 fan.

Head over to her page and feast your eyes.

Sweet Escape

Okay... so I've been complaining... It's been really hot these days[as I say time and time again].

Makes me wanna crave for something sweet and cold at the same time. My baby oven is still in the repair shop and I so miss it every time. I don't know when I'm gonna get it back but I really wish I will soon. Back to my craving, well there's no better way to satisfy it than making a concoction... and here's what I came up with.

I used the Magic Chocolate Mug Cake recipe but downsized it to half. You can imagine how little the measures are already but the serving is just right [for me]. The mug cake I made days ago, I shared with my family. This one, I ate alone. :D I made use of a small bowl too instead of a coffee mug and cooked it on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds instead of 2:30. I also used just the egg yolk instead of one whole egg. When cooked, I let it cool a bit and transferred it to a small plate/saucer. I then topped it with leftover Double Dutch ice cream from last night and ate it all away.

So here are the evidences:

mmmm... look at the ice cream melting away... :P

sorry for the bubbles but well, that's how it is when the ice cream melts. [i think]

i loved the texture of this one.

I didn't really know what I was going to call it thus the title...

It tasted more like brownies than cake but it was yummy... really yummy. :D