RECIPE: SOFT AND CHEWY BROWNIE COOKIES

I have to admit, there are days when I just don't want to bake.

Especially now that it's been too hot to do anything except turn on the aircon, stay in bed and catch up on my TV shows.

Seriously, that's how I wanted to spend my Sunday.

But the little boy kept prodding me to bake or bring him to his Tita Carla's house so he can play with her kids.

We started baking after lunch and then that's when I got the call from my friend, Carla sounding very frantic and asking if I could accompany her to St. Luke's because she needs to have her son checked.  You see, she had her son circumcised early last week and according to her, she felt something was wrong because "it" looked wrong.  Of course, when it comes to emergencies like these, you just drop whatever it is you're doing and go.

Luckily, I was almost finished with the batter so I decided to just keep it in the refrigerator.  Joaquin and I got ready as fast as we could and then Carla and I dropped Joaquin off at her house and to the hospital we went.

Turns out, my friend's son's--you know-- was normal and the doctor and urologist assured us that it would look like a typical *ehem*, you know, as soon as it heals.

So anyway, Joaquin and I ended up staying at Carla's till dinner and then our other friends came too and before you know it, it was 10pm and it was time to go home.

"Mama, let's bake the brownie cookies!", my son said while we were on our way home.  I tried to argue that it was night time but at the same time, I kept thinking about how long the batter has been in the refrigerator and how the cookies might not turn out as good if I wait till the next day.

So we baked them cookies.  And how yummy!  They turned out a little crisp on the outside and all chewy and moist inside.  I wouldn't think twice about making these again. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
12 ounces of dark chocolate, chopped and divided into 7 ounces and 5 ounces. (12oz = 1.5 cups)
3 tablespoons butter
2 large eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Combine 7 ounces of chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and melt in the microwave for 1 minute.   Give it a stir then heat in 10-second bursts until the mixture can be stirred smooth.  Set aside to cool.

Using an electric mixer, add eggs, sugar, vanilla and beat for 8 minutes on medium speed or until it looks pale and creamy.

Add the flour, baking powder, melted chocolate-and-butter mixture, and pour in the remaining 5 ounces of chopped chocolate.  Mix for about 1 minute on medium speed. 

Your mixture will look like and have the consistency of chocolate fudge.  And that's why you need to cover your bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to stand at room temperature for about an hour so the batter firms up.

When ready, scoop out mounds of dough onto buttered baking sheets or silicone mats (I don't have one and I want one but so expensive!).  Do not crowd your cookies because these spread.  I placed 9 mounds per tray. I didn't do this part but it is suggested that you do (I think this is why my cookies turned out thinner than I would have liked) -- allow mounds to remain on baking trays, uncovered for about an hour before baking to help batter really set.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Allow cookies to cool on trays before transferring to your mouth (haha!) or an airtight container.

Nomnom!

RECIPE: LONGGANISA and SPINACH PASTA

If you're a fan of reality cooking competitions, you'll be familiar with challenges where they provide the contestants with crazy ingredients and ask them to turn it into something mind-blowing.

I kind of gave myself the exact same challenge last Saturday.

I didn't wake up early enough to go to the market. I checked the ref and I had 4 pieces of longganisa hamonado and some spinach.

It was close to lunch and I decided to just make do with those 2 key ingredients. This dish turned out absolutely yummy and as with most pasta dishes, it tasted better the next day.

LONGGANISA SPINACH PASTA

Ingredients:

cooked pasta (I used about 400 grams)
olive oil
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 white onion, minced
chili flakes (optional)
4 pcs. longganisa, minced
a bunch of spinach leaves, chiffonade
salt and pepper
250 ml all purpose cream
grated parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta accordingly. Set aside.
2. Heat some olive oil in a pan (if you want it a little spicy, this is when you add the chili flakes so it infuses with the olive oil) and add the longganisa. Fry until it turns golden brown.
3. Toss in the garlic and onions. Be careful not to burn them. Saute until the onions turn translucent.
4. Add the spinach. Give it a minute to get settled :)
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Pour the cream.
7. Add the cooked pasta. Fold pasta and sauce together using tongs.
8. Sprinkle a generous amount of grated parmesan cheese while mixing pasta. Turn off heat and eat!

Bon appetit!

RECIPE: DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

This may sound silly but when I became a mother, I wanted my home to always have homemade goodies available for my kids.

And since I purchased an oven last December, I have somehow been able to live that dream.

2 weeks ago, Joaquin and I made butterscotch brownies.  When I got home Friday night, there was only one bar left.

I have a few dark chocolate bars at home which I, for some reason, don't feel like eating anymore so I chopped them up and decided to bake some dark chocolate chip cookies.  This is, by far, the best choco chip cookie recipe I've tried.

DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Recipe from Apple A Day
Makes approximately 3 dozens

Ingredients: 

3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened 

3/4 c. brown sugar 

1/4 c. granulated sugar 

1 egg 

2 tsp. vanilla extract 

2 c. all purpose flour 

2 tsp. cornstarch 

1 tsp. baking soda 

1/2 tsp. salt 

1 c. dark chocolate chunks

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  Using a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.

3.  Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks.

4.  Drop dough (by the tablespoon) onto a prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges. 

P.S.
As of this writing, the cookies are all gone.  

A STICKY SITUATION

And quite yummy, too!

Halloween is my favorite holiday next to Christmas because everyone gets to be crazier than normal and the kids get goodies.

Candies are always fun, but hardly anyone gives out homemade treats these days.  I am currently always on a tight budget so I wanted to make something cheap but delicious.  I almost always have popcorn at home because, I reaaalllyyy love popcorn.(You can ask my friend, Charo. She'll tell you.)  Popcorn is inexpensive and healthy, and if you're feeling indulgent (which is pretty much all the time for me), just add melted butter or a sprinkle of truffle salt and you've got yourself a good snack.

For this year's halloween treat, I decided to make some popcorn marshmallow pops. Here's what you'll need to yield a little over 50 pieces:

1 bar of butter (not a stick, a bar)
500 gms of popcorn kernels
400 gms of marshmallows
salt
Optional: rainbow sprinkles or m&m's

Of course, cook the popcorn.  While the popcorn's cooking, melt the butter in a large bowl in the microwave (you can also use the stove. Whichever way you decide to melt it, be careful not to burn it).   Place popcorn in a large bowl or tray once cooked.

Once the butter has melted, throw in the marshmallows and some salt, and put it back in the microwave for a minute or until marshmallows have melted.  Your marshmallow and butter mixture should look somewhat like this:

Pour that over your popcorn, add your sprinkles or in my case, chocolate candies, then mix lightly to coat.  You might want to use spoons to coat the popcorn as the mixture is hot.

Once the popcorn has cooled, lightly grease your hands with butter as things are about to get sticky.  Shape popcorn into balls, stick a popsicle stick in the middle and that's it!

Trick or treat!

HOMESTYLE SUKIYAKI

It was raining the whole day yesterday plus my family was sick so I knew that a filling, tummy-warming dish would be perfect for dinner. And it was.

It's actually pretty easy and quick to make.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 kilo of sukiyaki-cut beef
1 white onion, cut into rings
2 liters of beef broth
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup mirin (this is sweet rice wine which you can buy in the supermarket.)
1 cup kikkoman soy sauce
100 grams sotanghon noodles, soaked in water.
tofu, cut into cubes
chinese cabbage
dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water and sliced thinly
carrots, sliced diagonally

1. Fry onions in oil until brown. Add the sukiyaki beef and cook until almost cooked. Take the onions and beef out of the pan and transfer to a plate.

2. In the same pan, add the beef broth, soy sauce, sugar and mirin. Bring it to a boil. After that, drop in the shitake mushrooms and carrots. Then, simmer.

3. When the carrots are tender enough, return the sukiyaki beef and onions to the pot. Add the cabbage, tofu and sotanghon noodles. Simmer for a couple of minutes and serve.

FROZEN BANANAS

I decided to make frozen bananas for dessert last night. We had bananas and a big rabbit-shaped milk chocolate bar that my sister, Kristine brought from the U.S. (we were planning on making fondue but it never pushed through). I also had a bag of Hershey's dark chocolate chips.

It's super easy to make!

1. Push popsicle sticks halfway through the banana. Lay Bananas on wax paper (you can also use aluminum foil).
2. Put the bananas in your freezer for about an hour.
3. Melt chocolate (use whatever kind of chocolate you like) and some butter in a double boiler. You just need to fill a saucepan with water then let it boil. Then get a pyrex bowl or another saucepan and just lay it on top of the saucepan. Basically, the steam from the boiling water will melt the chocolate and butter.
4. Mix, mix, mix.
5. Once the chocolate and butter is completely melted, let the mixture cool for a bit.
6. Get a spoon and dip it in the chocolate. If it sticks, then it's time to bring out the bananas.
7. Dip the frozen banana in chocolate. Feel free to roll it in chocolate sprinkles or crushed nuts.
8. In about a minute, the chocolate should harden.
9. EAT!

STIR-FRIED PORK WITH BROCOLLI

My Uncle Danny who lives in Baguio has a small farm in his backyard. He usually sends us a whole box of potatoes. But for the first time yesterday, he sent us brocolli! Lots lots lots!!! So, this is what I made! And it was good :)

ALMONDIGAS

I made this for dinner tonight and it was such a hit. V and Joaquin ate lots!

It's hearty and healthy (there are carrots in the meatballs)! It's yumyum!

Thanks to Pinoy Cook for the recipe!