I make brownies or chocolate crinkle every weekend for my brother. He is obsessed. It’s not fun to make the same thing over and over again especially if you have a food blog, but I still make them all the time.. a million times. When I found this chocolate chip cookie brownies recipe I knew I needed to make them.

For the brownies, I used my brother’s all time favourite brownies recipe. These brownies are fudgy and gooey in the middle topped with chocolate chip cookie. 

The author of this recipe suggested to cover with foil while baking them. I uncovered them for the first 20 minutes, covered for 10 minutes and the last 5 minutes uncovered.

They came out perfect!

On an unrelated note, grocery shopping with my family is the best. My dad paid my cart full of everything that I need for baking. I was fascinated with these magic milk straws flavours from got milk so I bought all the flavours during our recent road trip to Seattle. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies from Pinch of yum

Ingredients

1 stick salted butter (1/2 cup, very soft)

¾ cup white sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars in a small mixing bowl. Add vanilla and egg; cream again until smooth. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir gently until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare brownie batter as directed. Pour batter into a glass 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish. Scatter pieces of cookie dough over the top of the brownie batter. Press gently on the dough just until it starts to sink down into the batter a little bit.

Bake for 35-40 minutes (35 for gooey, 40 or more for fully baked), covering with foil if you need to keep the cookies from getting too brown on top. Let stand for 15-20 minutes and cut into pieces for serving.

I’m not a cookie person, but I enjoy making cookies. They’re simple and easy to carry. I always have the ingredients on hand when I want something sweet to eat or my brother get a craving for cookies. 

Anything with peanut butter is my favourite! And these are my kind of cookies! Very thin and chewy. I made about five cookies without chocolate chips and the entire batch with chocolate chips are for my brother! He’s such a cookie monster!   

The treats that I made with peanut butter  for my family and friends are always a hit! 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from American cupcake abroad

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup all-porpuse four

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used earth balance)

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tbs honey

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbs Greek yogurt (I used sour cream)

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

fleur de sel, for sprinkling (optional)

Directions

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter, peanut butter and sugars together until thoroughly blended. Add in the yogurt and stir until combined.

Beat in the egg and egg yolk, honey and vanilla. Pour in the flour mixture and beat until the mixture just comes together. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough for minimum 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C. Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on a baking tray. Sprinkle the tops with the fleur de sel. Bake for 9-12 minutes until the edges turn brown.

Today penguins and cupcakes turns two! I’ve been baking and blogging for two years! I like to think that my baking and photography skills have improved a lot! Boxed cake mixes and canned frosting turns me off! I love making things from scratch!

I’ve been eyeing these homemade oreos since I saw them lurking around the web. Nothing can top the original oreo, but they’re delicious and crunchy. Let them cool completely until they’re firm and ready to fill.  

I have a lot of time to bake since I’m on my spring break. But who wants to stay indoors if spring feels like summer? I went hiking and spent more time in nature instead of baking! The views are stunning! Here are some of my pictures. 

1. View from the top of Baden Powell trail 2. Prospect point park 3. My friend did my fishtail braid 4. Ice cream! Chocolate fudge almond and cherry custard with sprinkles and my homemade oreo cookie crumbs! 

THANK YOU everyone for visiting my blog and for all your likes. It means a lot to me! Check out these flamingo cupcakes that I made for my first blog anniversary. 

Homemade Oreos from Bakerella

Cookies
1 cup (2 sticks/228 grams) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips, melted and slightly cooled
1 egg
1 1/2 cups (210 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (90 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Filling
1/2 cup (1 stick/114 grams) unsalted butter, softened
1 2/3 (230 grams) confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
Pinch of kosher salt

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar until well combined. Whisk in the vanilla and chocolate. Whisk in the egg until combined.

In another bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, salt and soda until combined. Stir flour mixture into the chocolate mixture. Mix with your hands if it helps to combine the two. Let the dough sit for an hour to firm up.

Transfer the dough to a sheet of wax paper. Shape into a log about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Place log along the edge of wax paper and roll. Shape as you roll to maintain a smooth cylinder. Twist ends of paper to secure and help keep the shape compact. Refrigerate at least two hours or until firm. If log settles and flattens on one side, rotate every 15 minutes or so to maintain a round shape.

Heat oven to 325 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut dough in quarter inch thick slices and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cookies are firm to the touch. 

For the filling

In a mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add milk and salt and continue beating until smooth again. Place about a tablespoon of filling on the bottom of one cookie and sandwich with a second. Repeat with remaining cookies.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PENGUINS AND CUPCAKES!

The past few weeks have been a roller coaster; project deadlines, more homework, a lot of group work, brainstorming and group presentations. I thought it would be nice to give ourselves a reward, COOKIES! So I made cookies for my group mates baking for me, of course and cookies for them.   

I bought a jar of nutella for this cake. It’s very tempting so I hide it in my cupboard and used all the remaining nutella (about 3/4 cup) These cookies are hard to resist especially that I love, love peanut butter, but I restrict myself from eating sweets and desserts after I ate way too much desserts last weekend! 

This recipe is simple and easy to follow. The dough requires only 15 minutes to chill. If you don’t have a cookie scoop you can use a 1 tbsp measuring spoon. My mom also brought some of these to work. Her co-workers likes them and ask for the recipe! 

To make it presentable, I packed the cookies in decorative bags with labels using these free printable gift tags from Love vs Design. 

Peanut Butter and Nutella Swirl Cookies from Delightful Bites

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Nutella

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Mix until well blended.

Add flour, baking soda and salt. Drizzle Nutella on top of the dough then swirl it through the dough with a butter knife. 

Chill dough 15 minutes in the refrigerator. Roll into balls by hand. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Using a fork, press down the balls to flatten slightly. Bake until edges are very lightly browned (about 7 to 10 minutes). 

Allow to rest 2 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring cookies to a cooling rack.

Things have been a little crazy and hectic lately with school and work. I enjoy many things, but baking is my favourite. I also enjoy taking pictures, although I still have a lot to learn and I still get disappointed with my photography once in a while. Luckily, Mr. Sun was out that day! I don’t have to go outside to take pictures.

Last weekend, I made a cookie cake and these cookies that came out successfully to bring for my friend’s birthday. They’re crispy and a little fudgy in the middle, very rich and sprinkled with sea salt. They’re my friends midnight snack and they absolutely loved these!

I love making cookies especially if there is no-chilling required. These cookies are so simple to make. I was skeptical to add more salt since the recipe has 1/2 tsp, but the sprinkled salt and rich chocolate cookies complemented nicely!  

Brown Butter Chocolate Salted Cookies from Picky palate

Ingredients

1 stick/ 1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used dark organic cocoa powder)

1 1/2 cups chocolate chunks

2 tablespoons kosher salt for sprinkling on top

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper.

Place butter into a small saucepan over medium heat. Melt and swirl pan until butter is browned with brown bits stuck to the bottomo of the pan. Takes generally 5-8 minutes.

Place sugars into stand mixer and add browned butter mixing to combine.

Add egg, vanilla, mixing to combine then add flour, salt, baking soda, cocoa powder and chocolate chunks. Mix until combined then scoop dough onto prepared baking sheet, pressing cookies evenly, about 1/4 inch thick.

Sprinkle tops with kosher salt if desired. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove and let cookies cool on rack for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Yesterday I went to whole foods market just to buy whole wheat pastry flour. I love everything about whole foods; the fresh smell of vegetables and fruits, free samples and healthy foods. But things get little out of hand every time I go there, because I ended up buying lentils, chai seeds, buckwheat flour, quinoa, spinach, kiwi and chocolate chips. It’s like going to michaels, ming wo or any other store that carries baking supply. I can’t help myself. I also got a free booklet guide that explains everything about different kind of flour, beans, rice, grains, nuts, peas and lentils and more!

These thumbprint cookies are one of my favourite kinds of cookies at whole foods. I’m so happy that I found the recipe at their website. They also have a lot of healthy and easy to prepare meals. These cookies are amazing, very tasty and not too sweet. They’re healthy too! 

From now on I want to make healthy and delicious desserts and snacks to share with you, my family and friends. I will make and post some sinful desserts once in a while. 

Thumbprint Cookies from Whole foods market

Ingredients

• 1 cup almonds or pecans (I used almonds)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup safflower or canola oil
• 1/2 cup maple syrup or brown rice syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons fruit juice sweetened jam (I used strawberry jam)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Put almonds and oats into a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground.

Transfer to a large bowl and add flour, oil, syrup and salt.

Stir to combine well. Roll walnut-sized balls of the dough in the palm of your hand to form each cookie, then arrange on 2 large baking sheets, spacing cookies 2 inches apart.

Press your thumb gently down into the center of each cookie to make an indentation. Spoon a scant teaspoon of jam into each indentation.

Bake cookies until golden brown and just firm around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to let cool completely, then serve immediately or store between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container.

First birthday celebration and birthday cake of the year!

Last friday night we surprised our friend for a potluck birthday party at her house and had a potluck dinner.  

I’ve always wanted to make this giant s’mores cake since I saw it over at erica sweet tooth’s food blog. This cake is made of graham cookie, brownie and toasted marshmallow with a kitchen torch. I made every thing from scratch. But you can buy a brownie mix and jars of marshmallow fluff. Don’t worry with the graham cookie because it’s very easy to make! 

And you don’t need to served this cookie cake immediately after torching.  

Giant S’mores Cake from erica sweet tooth

For the graham cracker cookie bars

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

For the brownies, I used this recipe. 

 toasted marshmallow or 2 jars marshmallow fluff

Kitchen torch

Graham cookies directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a 9×13″ pan with tinfoil or parchment paper, and grease lightly

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and combine

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, salt, and baking soda.

Add dry ingredients to butter mixture slowly, and mix until just combined

Pour batter into prepared pan, and use a spatula to spread evenly

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow cookie bar to cool completely in the pan before removing

Assembly

Remove cookie bar from pan as 1 piece and place on a cutting board. With a large serrated knife, shave off the sides so you’re left with a roughly 8×8″ piece. (There will be a lot of extras, but I’m sure you’ll find a use for them) Carefully cut the 8×8 slab in half horizontally so you end up with 2 equally-sized thin 8×8 cookies

Cut out an 8×8″ piece of cardboard and place one of the cookies on top of it. Then remove the brownies from the pan in 1 piece and place on top of the cookie.

Fill a piping bag (or ziploc bag) with fluff and cover the entire brownie in a relatively thick layer. The marshmallow will ooze down the sides, especially when you torch it, but that’s what happens in real s’mores too so it just adds some appropriate character.

With a kitchen torch, torch the marshmallow uniformly so that each bite will have that toasted flavor. Be ready to blow out any bit that catches fire!

Allow the marshmallow to set for a few minutes, and then place the final layer of cookie on top. 

Dessert tasting for two. One bite each and we’re done! 

My personal favourites.

Pink strawberry ombre cake. I love everything about this cake!

Flamingo Cupcakes for my first baking blog anniversary.

Spring Chicks cake pops. They’re super cute!

Birthday rainbow cupcakes

Matcha green tea cupcakes these cupcakes got accepted to foodgawker!

Mocha cheesecake bars

Pink Rhubarb Cake

In an “apple” apple pie

Banana nutella wontons

Nutella filled cream puffs

Chocolate french macarons

Bacon chocolate chips with maple glaze, my first submission to foodgawker and got accepted! :D

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Healthy granola bars

oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies

cinnamon rolls with icing glaze

chocolate nutella molten lava cake

I’m back from our wonderful vacation. 16- hour road trip was very very tiring but it was  totally worth it! 

I did all my holiday baking 2 weeks ago for my friends. I forgot that I still a lot of candy canes, oreo candy cane, candy cane flavoured hershey’s kisses in my cupboard and gingerbread dough in the fridge! It turns out that I still have a lot of baking to do, but I don’t mind! 

So today I made cookies for my family. These cookies are thin, soft and chewy. I don’t like mint flavour but my brother like them. My sister also brought some of these to work. 

I wish you all a MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies from Two peas and their pod

Ingredients

I used this recipe to put in my DIY Christmas cookies in a jar. I had to test the recipe first before I give them to my friends. The directions says “10 minutes or more” after 10 minutes the cookies were still raw so I put them back in the oven and cooked for 5 more minutes.    

These cookies came out great and crispy! 

Holiday Monster Cookies from Erica sweet tooth

Ingredients

1-1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup cooking oats

3/4 cup Holiday M&M’s

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 slightly beaten egg

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Stir all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl
Add the wet ingredients and use a large spoon to work the dough together
Use hands to roll out 1-1/2″ balls of dough
Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes 

Aren’t they cute???!!! Ahhh they’re too cute for words!

I made these sugar cookies to give out as gifts! Again, thanks to pinterest for this cute idea!

Visit the melted snowman cookie tutorial here

Sugar Cookies Recipe from Annie’s Eats

Our fall semester is over! 

Christmas is just around the corner I’m sure everyone is busy planning parties, making lists, Christmas shopping and more. It’s emotionally and financially stressful, but it’s the most wonderful time of the year so go for it!  

Last Christmas, I went crazy making hundreds of cookies and cake pops to give away. This year, I’m going really easy when it comes to giving gifts. This cookie mix in a jar is one of the great DIY ideas that I saw on pinterest. The best part about it is, I have all the ingredients on hand except for holiday m&m’s and jars which is only $.30 at the thrift store. 

This is my first DIY gift. It’s super easy and fun to make. You can save a lot of money too! 

Holiday Monster Cookies from erica sweet tooth 

Layer 1 = 1-1/3 cups all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt
Layer 2 = 1 cup cooking oats
Layer 3 = 3/4 cup Holiday M&M’s
Layer 4 = 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Layer 5 = 1/2 cup brown sugar
Layer 6 = 1/2 cup white sugar

To add:
1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Stir all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl
- Add the wet ingredients and use a large spoon to work the dough together
- Use hands to roll out 1-1/2″ balls of dough
- Place on a cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes

Happy Wednesday!

I finally made picky palate’s famous oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies. I always have oreo and chocolate chips in my cupboard but I haven’t got a chance to finally make these untiI last night. 

I just bought a huge bag of chocolate chips. I got a little too excited and put too much chocolate chips in my dough!!

I know some people love their chocolate chip cookies. I don’t like them. Most food bloggers are on the hunt of the “The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies.” I think they’re too sweet and not quite healthy. 

Don’t shoot me. 

I need to stop hating on Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Did I mention OREO? The combination is perfect! 

Random side note: I really enjoy and love baking, but it makes me 10x more happier every time I bake something with nice and painted nails. Soooo random.

GIANT COOKIES.. anyone? 

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies from Picky Palate

Ingredients

2 sticks softened butter

3/4 Cup packed light brown sugar

1 Cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla

3 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

10 oz bag chocolate chips

1 bag Oreo Cookies, I used the double stuff

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer cream butter and sugars until well combined. Add in eggs and vanilla until well combined.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. 

Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie. Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo Cookie.

Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo Cookie is enclosed with dough. 

Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until cookies are baked to your liking. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. 

ENJOY!

I’m trying to figure out what to do with my pumpkin puree leftover. I’m so happy to find a dairy free recipe! I also used vegan chocolate chips for these.

These cookies are very soft, moist and light. They came out really nice and golden. Perfect pair with a cup of tea. 

On the other hand, when I started blogging I didn’t realized that it takes a lot of work!  Since my photography skills are the worst I downloaded Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4. Ughh it drives me crazy! I spent 2 hours watching the video and try to educate my self. I photoshopped these cookies using lightroom. I’m still trying to figure out how to use it. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies from Kerbie’s Cravings

Ingredients