where oh where has my little grace gone..

You know that feeling when you walk away from something you love for what's supposed to only be a couple of weeks and the next thing you know months have passed and you haven't gone back? It's a terrible little nagging and guilting feeling, isn't it? Well, that's how I've been feeling. It seems like just yesterday I was happily updating my page with tasty recipes accompanied by badly lit photographs when in reality it's been about.. three months. THREE MONTHS! That's a lot more than "a couple of weeks". Shame on you Grace, shame. I do have a good excuse though...I started culinary school! Finally! After all this time of telling myself that I was going to pursue what I love, I am! I started the Patissiere and Baking AOS program at Le Cordon Bleu on Septermber 27th and I could not be more satisfied!  I've been in culinary as well as pastry classes these past twelve weeks and It's been beyond fantastic, but I really truly do not know where the time has gone. If you know, please tell me!

Currently I'm in academics which gives me a little bit of a break and more time to be in the kitchen at my house. I decided to get back on the "at home baking horse" this weekend and I went with small baby steps. I fingered through my recipe book and this buttermilk chocolate chip crumb cake was the winner. I've always been a fan of baking cakes with buttermilk. It helps bring out the flavors and the perfect moisture and richness to the texture. The crumb cake is super tasty and also sort of interesing, almost donught-y. By the way, does everyone agree that the top and sides of these kinds of cakes are always the best? The crispy baked brown sugar gets me goof each and every time.

I might have put a little too much powdered sugar.. to each his own :)

Buttermilk-Chocolate Chip Crump Cake

Butter Crumb topping:

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup light brown sugar

¾ cup cold butter, cut into chunks

1 tsp vanilla extract

Batter:

1¼ cup plain flour

¼ cup cake flour

1 stick butter

¾ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

¾ cup mini bittersweet chocolate chips

¾ cup granulated sugar

½ cup buttermilk

1½ eggs

1½ tsp vanilla extract

¾ cup mini bitter-sweet chocolate chips, for sprinkling on top of the cake

Powdered sugar, for sifting on top of the cake

1) Preheat oven to 375°F.

2) Lightly grease a 9×4 inch loaf pan, and line the inside of the pan with parchment paper or foil, and then great it as well.

To make the topping:

3) Thoroughly mix the flour and sugar in a large bowl. Drop in chunks of butter, using a table knife, cut the butter into the flour until it reduces to the size of large pearls. Sprinkle vanilla extract over, working with fingertips, knead the mixture together until moist, clumpy lumps are formed. DO NOT overmix.

Mix the batter:
4) Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder and baking soda. Then toss the chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon of the sifted mixture in a small bowl.

5) Cream the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer for about 3 minutes.

6) Add in the sugar in 3 additions, beating for 1 minute after each portion is added.
7) Add in egg and beat.
Mix in the vanilla extract.

9) Alternately add in the sifted mixture in 3 additions with the buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the sifted mixture. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl to ensure even mixing.

10) Stir in chocolate chips.

11) Spoon the batter into the baking pan, and spread evenly, smooth the top with rubber spatula.

12) Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly on the cake batter, make sure that the whole surface is covered.

13) Bake the cake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake turns out clean. The baked cake should pull away slightly from the sides of the pan.

14) Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly on top of the baked cake immediately. Let the cake cool completely. Use the parchment or foil to lift the cake out of the pan, then sift some powered sugar on top of the cake. Serve!

Heavenly Chocolate Chip Cookies

The other night I couldn't think of what I wanted to bake. Part of me wanted to bake a lovely, rich, chocolate cake..but the other reasonable part that hates the treadmill realized that maybe a whole cake to myself wasn't the best way to go. So my two parts agreed that a cookie would be safe. Sike! I fooled myself. Sure, if I had just baked the cookie neatly and only had one or two before shutting down the kitchen for the night, I wouldn't be in my gym clothes right now lacing up my tennis shoes.  Self control baking isn't my style. From licking the beaters and eating raw dough (I know, I know!) to taste testing the first batch out of the oven and being curled up on the couch at 10pm with cookies and ice cream watching television. You could say that I thew caution to the wind. I should also point out that I  munched on these cookies after lunch on Saturday and again after dinner. I may have had one for breakfast. I'm going to justify my actions by saying that these cookies are so freaking delicious! I've baked (and eaten) plenty of chocolate chip cookies in my day and these ones are up at the tippity top on my list. I think I knew what I was getting myself in to from the beginning. As soon as I read the desciption of the recipe on A Southern Grace, I had a feeling that this was going to be a success. She descibes the cookie as"drool worthy" and "heavenly" and I have to say that if I'm going to take someone's word for a delicious description.. it's going to be hers. Maybe it's because everything on her site seems taste bud successful or maybe because our names are so similar.. or both ;)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe from A Southern Grace

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups miscellaneous morsels (I used semi-sweet and white chocolate)

1. In a large bowl, beat the butter with the shortening; gradually beat in the sugars until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, and beat into the wet mixture. Stir in the morsels and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes (hardest part!).
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto appropriate baking sheets. For best results, flatten to 1/2-inch thickness with a fork. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes or until the edges are golden and centers are still slightly underbaked. Let the little pieces of Heaven cool on the pans for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to let cool completely.

Triple Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie

Today was the kind of day that needed a cookie. The kind of day that begged me for a chewy, chocolatey, straight out of the oven little piece of heaven. As I sit here updating my blog, watching 17 Again (judge me later), and taking little bites of this delicious morsel of flavor.. I realize that this is the highlight of my day. This single cookie has made my day. Keeping in mind that today is a Friday aka the gateway to the weekend and that I got paid today, well, that says a lot about this cookie- don't you think?

Triple Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 salt

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup butterscotch chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract.
4. Gradually beat in the flour mixture, mixing only until the dough comes together. Do not overmix.
5. With a large wooden spoon or spatula stir in the rolled oats followed by the chocolate chips.
6. Spoon the cookies on the prepared cookie sheet about two inches apart and bake for about 14 minutes or until the cookies are slightly browned aorund the edges but still soft and puffy in the middle. Rotate the baking sheets halfway through the baking time.

Chocolate Chip Cookie #10

Well look at this: elevn whole days into June and not one baking adventure to show for it! June is shaping up to be a crazy month and I never have been great with time management.. Anyway, I'm bringing myself back with some chocolate chip cookies! Chocolate chip cookies from Alton Brown to be exact. All week I was debating what I would bake Friday night and as the week shaped up to be more and more hectic all I could think about was the warmth and comfort of a fresh homemade chocolate chip cookie. Let me just say that I think I failed somewhere between the egg yolks and the folding of the ingredients so the texture was a little different, but these cookies were not a dissapointment (and I still ate more of them than I should have). I would say that when you mess up an ingredient and cookie is still delectable, you got yourself a grade A recipe!

By the way, I have no idea why the recipe is titled Chocolate Chip Cookie #10. Is it the painfully obvious "10th cookie" reason or is there another story behind it..anyone know?

Chocolate Chip Cookie #10

Alton Brown's I'm Just Here For More Food Cookbook

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 egg yolks, slightly beaten

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

2 cups chocolate chips (I used semisweet)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. **As soon as you put the cookies in the oven turn the temperature down to 350 degrees (Alton Brown swears by this initial temperature boost).

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, sugars, egg yolks, and vanilla until combined.

3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour in butter mixture and fold the ingredients together until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and fold to combine. Be careful not to overmix!

4. Using a spoon, dish out cookies about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper.

5. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for a couple of minutes before transfering to a wire rack.

*Alternate option: For a cookie cake (what!? YUM), dump the dough into an ungreased pizza pan or whatever kind of pan you have and gently press down until the dough is evenly distributed around the pan. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until light gold brown.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies? Yes, please!

It seems that every blogger/baker has their perfect go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe that they swear by. I haven't been fortunate enough to find the recipe that I can in perfect confidence call "the best" and in an attempt to do so have decided to work my way through as many chocolate chip cookie recipe renditions as possible until I find that "wow" factor.  To me the perfect chocolate chip cookie would be moist, extremely chewy, and of course extra chocolaty. I was inspired while eating chocolate chip cookies baked with a recipe from honeydukes pastries. These cookies were delicious and I was very pleased with how thick and chewy they turned out. In her blog she writes that she came out with 16 cookies. As for me, the recipe only gave me 12 cookies, but they were so big that each cookie was kind of a two in one deal.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chunks or chips
1 cup chopped nuts *

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the salt, butter, sugars, and vanilla in a medium bowl until well combined.
3. Beat in the egg and scrape down the bowl using a rubber spatula and beat for a few more seconds.
4. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. 
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix on low speed until absorbed. 
6. Combine the chocolate chunks and nuts* into a small bowl and stir into the dough.
7. Shape the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and drop them about 3 inches apart onto greased baking sheets (the recipe says ungreased, but I greased them out of habit).
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until edges are golden. Let sit for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

 * I chose not to add the nuts.

Cherry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I started making these cookies last year during Christmas (what better time to make cookies?) and they were a hit with everyone! The original recipe calls for dried cranberries but I've never been a fan so I substitue them with dried cherries which gives them this wonderful sweetness with every bite. I made them again last night for my brother and dad as a thank you for helping me move new furniture into my bedroom earlier this week. What better way to say thank you and show someone how much you love them than baking for them?

1 cup AP flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup quick cooking oats

9 tbsp. butter [room temperature]

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup dried cranberries

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 roughly chopped pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and line two cookie sheets with foil or parchment paper.

2. Measure flour, baking powder, salt, and oats into a bowl. Put butter and sugars in seperate bowl and beat together until creamy. Then beat in the egg and vanilla extract.

3. Beat in the flour mixture, then cherries, pecans, and white chocolate chips.

4. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls. Place them on cookie sheet and sqush down with a fork.

5. Bake for 15 minutes or until the cookies start tinging a pale gold.

You won't regret making these. The recipe yields about 24 and we're already down to the remaining 4 cookies in our house. We have to litereally make a conscious effort to walk away from them.

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

The original recipe comes from http://natalieskillercuisine.com/ and they are wonderful! I didn't make any changes to the recipe, I followed her ingredients and instructions exactly and they were delicious. The pudding made them very soft and chewy - which is the way I prefer my cookies. And rolling the dough into little balls before baking them gave them the perfect shape and fluffy texture which made it easier to put scoops of ice cream inbetween them for munchy purposes.

- 1 cup butter [2 sticks] room temperature

- 3/4 cup brown sugar

- 1/4 cup ganualted sugar

- 2 eggs

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 2 1/4 All Purpose flour

- 1 vanilla pudding mix [3.4 oz]

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 3/4 choclate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the butter and sugars together in a mixing bowl until creamed then add in the eggs one at a time followed by the tsp of vanilla. In a seperate bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour, pudding mix, baking soda, and salt). Add these to the wet mixture and mix until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Scoop out tablespoons of the dough and gently roll into a ball, leaving space inbetween each cookie. Bake for 11 minutes (took me around 15) and remove from the oven. Let cool and enjoy!