Condensed Milk Cake from 4 a Kid

Condensed Milk Cake - made January 29, 2025, modified from 4 a Kid

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1/2 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

1 cup (120 grams) all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 9-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the condensed milk, eggs and vanilla extract until well combined. Add flour and baking powder and mix until combined. 
3. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and let cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

I wanted to like this cake. It's easy to make and only has a few ingredients so it's also simple and no fuss to put together.

The flavor itself was fine as a nice vanilla cake. What threw me off though was the texture. I don't know if I overmixed it (but I don't think I did) or if my expectations were wrong. I expected a cakey texture based on the ingredients and the appearance of the inside.

But it was....spongy. Not like a chiffon or angelfood cake sort of spongy. It was more rubbery than spongy. Almost like a mochi but with the deceptive appearance of a cakey cake. But it wasn't really cakey. 

I don't know if I did something wrong in the mixing or baking but the texture was deceptive in that it looks cakey but it's rubbery.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Tasty

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough January 21, 2025 from Tasty 

1 cup bread flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup unsalted butter

2 tablespoons water, room temperature

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon espresso powder

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

1. In a medium bowl, sift bread flour, all-purpose flour, salt and baking soda.
2. In a medium saucepan, add the butter and melt over medium heat. Bring butter to a boil, stirring constantly, until milk solids brown and a nutty aroma ensues. Once butter has browned, remove from heat and pour into a heatproof measuring cup. Allow it to cool for 1-2 minutes, stir then carefully add 2-3 tablespoons water to bring butter up to 1 cup (240 ml) liquid. Cool to room temperature.
3. In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together cooled browned butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla and espresso powder until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
4. Add egg and egg yolk, beating until incorporated.
5. Add the dry ingredients, 1/3 of the mixture at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition until just combined. Fold chocolate chips and chunks into the dough.
6. Portion dough into golf-ball size balls. Cover and chill for 1-2 hours or overnight.
7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space chilled dough balls.  Bake 12-14 minutes until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from heat and let rest on baking sheets for several minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Someone commented on my blog and provided this recipe for chocolate chip cookies that they highly recommended. So of course I had to try it. Fortunately I was also going to a quilting lesson (quilting, my new hobby obsession) and had a group of quilting friends to help me taste test this recipe.

This recipe has all the ingredients and process for rich, chewy cookies with crisp edges. Using melted brown butter contributes to a richer flavor and more crisp edges. Water evaporates when you brown the butter so this recipe calls for adding water to bring it back to its original, pre-browning volume. Bread flour adds to the chewiness, dark brown sugar add a richer molasses/caramel flavor and the additional egg yolk also adds to the richness of the cookies. The espresso powder brings out the chocolate and chilling the dough overnight (highly recommended) concentrates the flavor.

You can tell from the pictures that these cookies delivered on all the ingredients promised. Those crinkly edges can be achieved by banging the baking sheet halfway during baking to cause the ripple effect but with this recipe, no pan-banging is needed to achieve this look. The darker color comes from both the caramelization and the espresso powder.

And the flavor was indeed richly chocolate-chippy with that brown sugar caramelization. The only thing I think I did "wrong" or could've done better was I didn't let the browned butter cool completely before using it. I was pressed for time to finish making the dough before I had to leave for my volunteer shift at the food bank so the butter was still somewhat lukewarm before I started mixing the dough together.

Which is why (I think) the cookies spread a bit more than I would prefer as the dough was a bit soft when I finished mixing it. It didn't affect the flavor though and this still delivered rich, buttery cookies. My quilting group enjoyed them as well so this recipe delivered.

Crumbl Cookies review #88 - Strawberry Cake

Crumbl Cookies review #88: Strawberry Cake - visited February 12, 2025

I was originally going to skip this week at Crumbl. It's Valentine's week and I wasn't very interested in Valentine flavors. I like cutesy hearts and flowers as much as the next person (as long as the next person isn't all that into it) but most Valentine flavors are some sort of strawberry-based dessert. I like strawberries but as standalone whole fruit, not made into jams, jellies, extracts, oils or anything else Mother Nature never intended. Strawberries incorporated into desserts that aren't actual whole strawberries always seem to taste artificial to me. And I really don't like jam.

But careful scrutiny of the strawberry cake on offer this week didn't seem like there was jam in it, despite the description. A non-Marketing person such as myself might have rewritten the description to match the picture as strawberry adjacent: there might have been a bit of jam in it but we added sugar and other things so you can't really see the jam. Fine, sold.

What actually sold me on the cake was its aesthetics. I love that flower-rose piping on top. It's beautifully done and a piping skill I don't possess but always wanted to learn. It's just so pretty.

Second reassurance was the cake matched the picture in that there aren't random bits of strawberry or a layer of jam anywhere in the cake. Instead, it's a mildly flavored, slightly pinkish cake that was nice and fluffy. There is the tiniest bit of grit, possibly from the jam somewhere, but not enough to distract from the cakey texture. 

I liked this cake better than I expected but it still tasted mildly artificial to me and reinforced my preference for strawberries as a standalone fruit rather than incorporated into desserts. If you like strawberry flavor, you'd probably like this cake. It's not overly sweet and Crumbl does nice cake extensions of varying flavors. Not as good as the butter cake but similar in texture and (mild) flavor to the S'mores Cake. This has a $0.99 surcharge at my store so with tax, it was $5.93. Glad I tried it but don't need to get again.

Crave Cookies review #8 - The Twix

Crave Cookies review #8: The Twix - visited January 18, 2025

I'm trying to get caught up on my reviews of Crave Cookies. I haven't gone every week, either because I couldn't make it to their store in time or none of the flavors interested me enough to make the calories worthwhile.

Here was the lineup for the week when I did go  to get the one cookie that did interest me: The Twix.

And holy freaking wow. I definitely made the right choice in getting the Twix. It was amazing. It had all the elements I like in my cookies: vanilla cookie (buttery rich goodness), caramel (OMG) and the milk chocolate melting on top was literally the icing on the, er, cookie.

The Twix

The caramel really makes this cookie. It's stuffed inside and must be "homemade" or made from scratch directly onsite. Or they have a really excellent caramel supplier. It was not as thin-liquidy as the caramel filling inside a Caramello but more rich and flowy than the (slightly solid) caramel inside a Rolo. Actually to compare it to grocery store caramel is a disservice. I love caramel anyway and this was amazing caramel. Crumbl also has good caramel but I have to give the nod to Crave on their excellent caramel.

I also love their vanilla sugar cookies. Perfect texture, not too underbaked and not dry or crumbly either. Just good. The Twix is now one of my favorite Crave cookies.

Crumbl Cookies review #87 - Churro Cake

Crumbl Cookies review #87: Churro Cake - visited February 4, 2025

One of my favorite Crumbl cookies - and I've eaten so many that having a favorite really says something - is their churro cookie. I can't explain why I like it so much over all the others, except maybe I had it for the first time at exactly the right time from exactly the right store that made it so well. When I first had it, it was just the right texture with the warmth of the cookie pairing perfectly with the cool temperature of the frosting. Not to mention all that cinnamon sugar goodness.

So I had to try the churro cake this week. And it delivered. The cake was good with the perfect cakey texture and the frosting was the same as what they use for the churro cookie. My favorite part though was the coating of cinnamon sugar on the outside of the cake. The cake itself actually wasn't too sweet (good call on that one, Crumbl) so the cinnamon sugar coating as well as the frosting provided the sweetness.

I'm not sure I'd consider the actual cake all that special but it was good. It had the right cakey texture and I liked the flavor. But it was the overall combination with the frosting and the coating are what made this cake for me.

This had a $1.49 surcharge at my store and I was willing to pay it to try the cake. I would probably get this if they offer it again, although that might depend on what else was available that week. Still. this is a good one to get this week, especially if you're a fan of cinnamon sugar.

Buttermilk "Brownies" from Living on Cookies

Buttermilk "Brownies" - made January 6, 2025 from Living on Cookies 

2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour

2 cups (400 grams) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (225 grams) unsalted butter

1/3 cup (40 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup (240 ml) water

1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate Buttermilk Icing

1/4 cup butter

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tablespoons buttermilk

2 1/4 cups (250 grams) powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, cocoa powder and water. Bring just to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour over dry ingredients.
4. Beat on medium speed until combined, scraping sides and bottom of bowl to keep mixture even textured. Add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla extract, beating on medium speed to combine, 1 minute. Pour into prepared pan.
5. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. 
6. Make the icing: once brownies are out of the oven, place the powdered sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. In a medium saucepan, bring butter, unsweetened cocoa powder and buttermilk to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
7. Remove from heat and pour over powdered sugar. Add vanilla extract and beat until smooth, scraping bottom and sides of bowl to keep frosting even textured. Pour icing over the warm brownies and spread evenly.

I had to put the "brownies" in quotes as this is more like a chocolate cake than a brownie. Which is what I expected as it's made like a Texas sheet cake so I know it would be more cake than cakey brownies. I didn't make the ganache for it since I had so much frosting left over from the Buttermilk Texas Sheet Cake which I used instead. Overall, this was a good cake. Don't expect a brownie but it is slightly more dense than a regular cake. Still good though, no matter what you call it. For a more chocolate flavor, use the deepest, darkest chocolate you can find. Pernigotti used to be my go-to but I think they got bought out or don't have the US retail outlets they used to. For this one, I used the fair trade cocoa powder from Costco and it worked just fine.

Crave Cookies review #7 - The Crookie and Coconut Macadamia Cookie

Crave Cookies review #7: The Crookie and Coconut Macadamia Cookie - visited January 16, 2025

I discovered a couple of weeks ago that my local Crave is a test location for the national chain - woot! As in the days past of Crumbl, a test location is just that: they introduce a new flavor first and test out whether it works or not, presumably not just how well the public will like it but also how easily (or not) the employees can make it and keep it in stock.

Crumbl seems to have done away with test cookies (too bad!) so I was glad to see Crave had it and that my location was a tester store. I was even more glad to try out this test flavor, the Crookie. As the cutesy name implies, it's a combination of a croissant and a cookie.

The monthly cookie

The other cookies of the week

Almost got this one too but The Crookie won out

Always a pass on anything with marshmallow

The Crookie

When I first saw The Crookie in the store, I was underwhelmed by it. It looked just like their regular milk chocolate chip cookie baked on top of a croissant. That didn't seem like a true integration like a cronut is. But I made the impulse buy, especially since I had a $5 reward to put towards it.

And it turns out I was really, really glad I did. Against all odds, I liked The Crookie. You can see from the picture that the croissant is cut lengthwise in half. I guessed correctly that they had "stuffed" more cookie inside the croissant. I got it warm from the store but by the time I got home, had a salad starter for lunch then some protein, the Crookie was at room temperature. No matter, I popped it into the oven for a few minutes to warm it up slightly before I tried the taste test bite.

O, M and Gee. This was amazing. I don't usually eat croissants since I know how much butter is loaded into them (that's what makes them so good and flaky) and the milk chocolate chip cookie is buttery enough. But this was so good. Definitely a super indulgence, sometime-food but worth the indulgence. The cookie on top is baked but the inside stuffing seemed more like cookie dough. Again, a surprise that I liked it since I'm not a big cookie dough fan. But if you're going to indulge, don't half-ass it. Put your whole ass into it. This was almost, though not quite, like eating a pain au chocolat with a cookie on top. I don't advise eating it all in one day but I made it last 2 days and several double workouts. Worth it. As was the $1 surcharge on this one.

I had actually gone to Crave to get the Coconut Macadamia as that's one of my favorite flavor combinations. Since I'd had the Crookie first, I waited on the Coconut Macadamia. By comparison, it seemed just "okay". 

Coconut Macadamia

I thought I would like it better since it had all the hallmarks of what I like in Crave cookies. Not just the flavor combination but also the thickness and texture. 

But for some reason, this hit just the okay mark for me. It was more sweet than I would've liked. I would've attributed that to the coconut but there didn't seem to be a lot of coconut in this one. Either that or it was the dessiccated coconut that comes in bits rather than strings of sweetened flaked coconut. Instead, the sweetness seemed to come from the sugar and because the cookie wasn't fully baked, there was a grittiness that comes from sugar not fully dissolving into the cookie during baking. 

I wouldn't call this a failure as I liked it well enough but if I had to suggest an improvement, it would be to use the sweetened flaked coconut for better texture and to cut back on the sugar.