Stef's Choco Chunk and Orange Cookie

I'm a big chocolate lover so to me it makes sense to naturally be a big choco chip cookie fan. Big, fat dough with chunks of chocolate surprises makes me a happy girl.

Before I learned how to bake them, I've been munching on Chips Ahoy, Famous Amos and Mrs. Fields. I like those 3 types of cookies but somehow it lacks certain "cookie qualities" that would send me head over heels in love. I take my cookies seriously that is why commercialized cookies are not my thing. Imagine how happy I was when I baked my first batch of cookies. They weren't that pretty for I didn't know know yet the bru-ha-has of making a perfect cookie but to me they were delicious.

Anyway the recipe of my first ever attempt to bake choco chip cookies I found at the back of the Nestle Tollhouse semi-sweet morsels bag. I was thinking "This is a 'safe' recipe.. No screw ups here." WRONG!!!! I somehow managed to screw up the tried and tested Nestle recipe that every homebaker must've made.

And so... in honor my first ever failed choco chip cookies, I decided to bake my "gourmet-ed" up version of the Original Nestle Toll House Choco Chip Cookies.

Here's the Original Nestle Toll House Choco Chip Cookies Recipe

2 1/4 cups APF (All purpose flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 pcs large eggs
2 cups / 12 ounces NESTLE TOLLHOUSE Semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F

1. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.
2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixing bowl until creamy.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
5. Stir in morsels and nuts.
6. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies

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Here's my "gourmet-ed up" version of the Nestle Tollhouse Choco Chip Cookie Recipe

Stef's Choco Chunk and Orange Cookie Recipe

2 1/4 cups APF (All purpose flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (I like using butter over margarine)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange zest
2 pcs large eggs
350 g Callebaut Milk Chocolate or any other fine quality chocolate, chopped into big chunks (explains the name above)
1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.
2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixing bowl until just about incorporated.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
5. Stir in zest, chunks and nuts.

let's use walnuts!

chunky chocolate... this is the way I like it!

the zest, chunks and nuts

6. This is only where you PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F. Let the cookie dough rest in the chiller for awhile. (This is important. It helps infusing the orange flavor more and the butter to harden a bit so that your cookie won't spread so much on the pan)
7. When oven is ready, drop by rounded tablespoon of the cookie dough onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. (I personally can't follow this rule... I end up eating the cookie warm!)

Makes about 5 dozen cookies

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The Verdict:

The Cakey Cookie

It really was a no surprise that it would end up a "cakey" cookie. It was "cakey" in the center and quite crispy around the side. I think the crispiness was caused by the granulated sugar. If it was all brown sugar and was creamed with the butter a bit more, it will be chewy. But nevertheless, it is very yummy! The chunks barely melted are such a delight! The orange zest gave the cookie a little bit of a depth. To me, nothing beats the beautiful combination of chocolate and orange.

A little warning though.. the cookie is quite sweet because of the milk chocolate chunks. I think dark chocolate will go nicely with this. The walnuts added a nice bite to it and an earthy flavor to it but I honestly think you can do without it.

Over-all it was an 'okay' cookie for me... I love the flavor that's why I'll try it in another cookie recipe that I have so that I can see what texture I like more.

Now let me say sayonara for now as I pick crumbs off my plate. :)

Buttercream Cupcakes

Cupcakes with buttercream frosting takes me back to my childhood. It was during my birthdays when I had a Goldilocks bought character cake. Remember the super sweet white fluffy frosting, the gold chocolate coins, lollipops, sugar flowers and porcelain made cartoon characters? How 90’s was that?! Okay okay, so its not exactly a memory of a cupcake and certainly not buttercream icing. The “fluffy white frosting” is actually boiled icing. Nevertheless, it is my humble memory of a frosting. There were no pretty cupcakes back then. It wasn’t just the trend.

Today, cupcakes are everywhere! They come in all sorts of flavors, sizes and colors. My multiply account is flooded with business contacts making and decorating cupcakes as well. How can you possibly compete with those? I’m lucky I found my niche in decorating cupcakes with fondant.

Trish's 17th Birthday Cupcake Tier

But buttercream cupcakes have a different appeal to me. It has a “rustic-pretty” or “vintage-chic” sorta thing charm to it. I love it also because it’s easy to make the frosting, easy to tint, I can go crazy with my piping tips and I could dash colorful sprinkles. Bottomline, I can create pretty cupcakes with less effort!

Here are some photos of my “non-fondant obsessions”and some of my clients…

Paolo, Rovie and Jeremy

I "Heart" Cupcake


Celebration cupcakes

Jason and JL Wedding

Fondant Cupcakes

Did I tell you about how much I love baking and even just looking at cupcakes??? Cupcakes make me happy and I really don’t know why. Maybe because I find it cute, colorful and small. Wedding cakes make me happy too but that is for another post.

Anyway, I collected so much recipes and pictures of it in different colors, design and presentation that it ate a huge chunk of my memory of my notebook. I printed the best recipes out and organized them in clearbooks. Now, finding space for my clearbooks is my problem.

Setting that aside, I wanted to write about cupcakes because of the small business my friend and I had back in college. We were decorating cupcakes using fondant and edible luster dusts for our friends. Soon it became a hit that people we don’t know manage to get our numbers and order from us. It was really fun at first but when school started demanding our attention more, business became stressful. Needless to say, my partner bailed out but I still continued the business. But I sometimes do not accept orders that is too much for me to make. It breaks my heart everytime I do so.

If I’m not baking a batch for an order, I bake because its just my hobby. Here are some of my fondant designed creations…

“Design my Cupcake”

Any design a client wants that is workable on a 3 oz. size cupcake I can do and believe me I had tons of strange requests. I embrace challenges but I love clients who give me the blessing to design their cupcake how I want it as long as it is according to their “theme”.

For more designs, you can check out my other website.. The Vanilla Bean

Next post will be more on cupcakes..

French Truffles Obsession

That’s it! I’m addicted to Trufettes de France. These are little pieces of heaven that comes in a box.

An opened box in hand and lounging like the great Cleopatra on the sofa, I’m off to lala-land as I engage myself in my personal ritual of chocolate solemnity. I give in to the marvelous scent and taste of this chocolate. I bite and let it melt in my mouth … until I swallow an enormous mouthfuls and dreams aplenty. A truffle is all it takes. And to experience this explosion of love in your mouth, there’s a certain way on enjoying it according to what’s written on the side of the box.

“How to taste these delicate truffles: place them at an ambient temperature of 19-20°C one hour in advance and savour them in the height of their aroma and smoothness.”

Yup! One hour in advance. But a girl like me can’t wait that long for any chocolate. I admit that I sometimes eat these babies straight out my fridge while being so aware that I am cheating myself out of what is meant to be a “food-gasmic” experience.

Although it is now available in the country, the price is ridiculously expensive. I get mine from Canada where it is sold like half the price here.

Enjoying them as is, is one thing but using it to make a dessert is a whole different experience. Of course the sensual experience in the mouth is quite lost (okay, different) but flavorwise, it retains it’s characteristics big time!

Sooo… how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

I have melted and made these babies into a sinfully good cupcake, flourless cake, rich bittersweet mousse and cute little chocolate tarts.

My Grand Truffle Cupcake Tree Flourless Chocolate-Kahlua Cake with Chocolate-Kahlua Icing

I have paired it with Kahlua, hazelnuts, coffee, cherry, lavender, mint, orange… it tastes even fantastic! I’m glad to say I never felt I wasted a good chocolate with it.

To conclude, Truffettes de France are not your-average-ordinary confections. Translated as Truffles of France, these rightfully called “food of the gods”.

Original.. My favorite!

How exquisite is that?!

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies with Belgian Chocolate Chips

I recently bought a big can of Quaker Oats for the sole reason that I was getting tired of bread that I’m always having for breakfast. I just pour hot milk over it, cover and top it with fresh fruits.

But now I noticed even though I have been eating it daily for the past 2 weeks, it doesn’t seem to run out. In a mission to use the oats left something other than for breakfast, I began browsing through magazines for a dessert recipe that I could easily make and be ready as my afternoon snack. I spotted the easy and simple Oatmeal Cookies recipe. The recipe turns out to be the The Ultimate Oatmeal Cookie recipe of Betty Crocker.

After reading the recipe, I found it very plain so I opened my pantry and scoured for anything good that I could zest up my cookies. The recipe calls for a cup of raisins (if desired) to be baked with the cookies. But I was never a fan of raisins so I decided to use chocolate chips instead. You can never go wrong with chocolate on cookies. Thank goodness I had some Callebaut Hard Chips left!

Betty Crocker’s recipe calls out also for brown sugar in the recipe but I decided to go with the all natural muscovado sugar instead to make my cookies a bit healthier.

Since I’m living and baking in a country that has terrible humidity, I learned a trick that got rid of my flat and ugly cookies. The trick that I learned is that after mixing the batter, let it rest first inside the refrigerator. I usually clean up a bit and prepare my trays while my batter is resting. This helps the butter solidify a bit and produces a nice texture on the cookie. To also control the spread of the cookie when baking is that after you scoop them on the tray, place back again the rest of the batter inside the refrigerator so that the butter won’t soften even before it hits the oven. I try to indent a little of my thumb on each cookie so that while it is baking; you’ll get a perfect shaped top on the cookie.

My cookies baked perfectly! I loved how the muscovado sugar and the chocolate chips gave the cookie an awesome balance of sweetness. After successfully baking a perfect batch, I christened thee… “Healthy Oatmeal Cookies with Belgian Chocolate Chips”.

Here’s my tweaked Betty Crocker recipe for you to try out. Happy Baking!

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies with Belgian Chocolate Chips
Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

1 ¼ cups packed light muscovado sugar
½ cup butter, softened
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 ½ cups of quick cooking oats
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 ¼ cups high quality chocolate such as Callebaut hard chips

Procedure:
Heat oven to 350F. Beat all ingredients except oats, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and chocolate chips using a stand mixer on medium speed for about 30 seconds or until no lumps of butter are visible.

Then, using a spatula, stir just until blended the rest of the ingredients.

oats, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and chocolate chips

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until light brown. Remove immediately from the cookie sheet to the wire rack.

perfect cookies

After cooling and eating a dozen, I packed the rest of the cookies and gave to a friend as a gift