Chocolate Chip Cookie Secrets!

I learned a trick today.  Ever wonder why the cookies at bakeries look so much tastier?  Weeeell, now I know.  I, along with several bakers out there, have been in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie.  I have found a really great recipe, the one I used today is very similar to the previous one I have always used, but that recipe is very testy.  It doesn't always come out how I want or has previously.  The secret to a moist and chewy chocolate chip cookie is using more brown sugar then white, adding extra egg yolk, and melted butter.  I have heard that using bread flour makes a chewier cookie because of the high gluten content, but with as much baking supplies I have on hand I never seem to have any of this. 

And the secret to achieving that bakery looking cookie:  Instead of rolling your dough into smooth balls, you want a textured jagged ball.  To make this first roll you dough into smooth balls then break them in half, take the two halves that came apart from each other face them upwards to be the new top of your dough ball and squish the bottoms back together.  Does that make sense?

So instead of this...

Do this....

And you'll get this....

Yum!  I would post a pic of the cooked smooth ball dough to show you the difference but of course the damm thing decided to rebel against me a cook into the most perfect circular cookie I have ever made.  Ha ha, but still I love the textured look of these cookies.  Here is the recipe:

2 cups plus 2 tbl all purpose flour
1/2 tea baking powder
1/2 tea salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted then cooled until just warm
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tea vanilla
1 - 1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Whisk together (this is a lazy way of sifting I use often):
flour, baking soda, salt
Set aside

Mix together by hand or with whisk in mixer:
sugars, melted butter
beat in egg and yolk, & vanilla

Add dry just until incorporated

Add chips

Do fancy secretive dough balls

Bake 325 JUST until edges set and middle still doughy.  Leave on cookie sheet when you take out of oven, they will continue to cook and set up to that perfect chewiness.  They have to cool completely to be at their best, I know SO hard to do but worth the wait.

Wha la!

Brownies, Reeses Peanutbutter Candies, & Cheesecake. Oh My!

I woke up in a bad mood yesterday.  Then I made the made the most decadent dessert I could think of; a  brownie topped with peanut butter cheesecake topped with chocolate ganache and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.  I think my thighs inched a bit closer after eating this, but I did feel a whole lot better.  The powers of chocolate and peanut butter never cease to amaze me.

It also works well as a cupcake...

 I got the recipe here: pipandebby.com  I didn't add the reeses pieces to the cheesecake, and I used a bit more cream in the ganache.

Buttercream Rose Cake

This weekend is the Give Your Heart to Hospice event here in Kodiak. I am so thrilled to be a part of it.  I was asked to donate a cake to be raffled at the event, and couldn't be happier to do it.  It is Valentines themed so I wanted to try out the buttercream rose cake.  I am absolutely in LOVE with this cake, I hope many others are too and it earns lots of money for the Hospice.

It is a layered chocolate and raspberry hot milk cake with vanilla bean and raspberry Italian buttercream.  The pink was tinted with raspberry sauce, made from just cooking down and straining raspberries.  I don't like using food color in frosting, this tastes and looks so much better.

This is not the greatest picture, I'm sure I could get a better one tomorrow on the glass stand I made for it, but I was to excited to share!

My First Ruffle Cake!

So I have been slightly obsessed with ruffle cakes.  I finally figured how to make them.  Simple really, you just need a whole lotta frosting.  This one isn't perfect, but hey when are my cakes?  Can't wait to make another.  This one was for a Christmas party. It was a chocolate cake with an Egg Nog Italian Buttercream.  I just made my basic Italian Buttercream then added Egg Nog, as much as I could while keeping the consistancy about 1/2 cup. 

A Cowboy Birthday

My little cowboy turned 3 last month (!).  When I asked him what kind of a party he wanted first he said 'a blue one', okay I can work with that, then he said 'and a cowboy one.'  So we had a blue cowboy party. 
I wanted to do something a bit more grand and detailed for his cake, but I was having some serious problems with this one.  Every cake I made stuck to the pans, definitely time for some new ones, so I had to remake all of them which means I ran out of flour, of course.  I also used my Cricut for the first time, which is awesome but took HOURS to get the hang of.  At this point I was sadly over this cake.  I know, I know it's my own son's birthday and I just wanted to run to Safeway and buy an ice cream cake or something (gasp!)

I have to include some party pics cause they are so cute.  All the kids got cowboy hats, mustaches, bandannas, and Sheriff badges, they were so cute!

Super Bowl Cupcakes

I grew up in the Bay Area, so of course I was excited to follow The 49ers successful run this year.  They didn't make it to Super Bowl, I contemplated being a poopy pants and refusing to watch the Super Bowl, but in the end I couldn't resist making some cupcakes and going to a game day party.  I've done the 'hamburger cupcakes' for the last few games, so this year I had to do something new.  Hot Wing Cupcakes.  Ya, kinda grossed me out too, but they were super fun to make and I kinda like the gross factor.  But really, the wings dipped in the buttercream- not all that bad.  The cakes on their own were kinda good too, spicy.  I found the recipe here:  http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2012/01/buffalo-chicken-super-bowl-cupcakes.html  I changed the frosting a bit, adding cream cheese and using half the amount of sugar it called for.