Cookie Butter Stuffed Brooksters

Cookie Butter Stuffed Brooksters - made October 25, 2014 from Shared Appetite

Ever since I made the brookies, I've been enamored of pairing brownies and chocolate chip cookies together. When I stumbled upon this version on pinterest where you stuffed cookie butter or nutella between the two, well, okay, yeah, let's give it a whirl.

And I have to confess, I even followed the recipe's direction to use a brownie mix. I know, I know, I should be shot by the Baking Gods for my hypocrisy. A mix? Really? I didn't have one in my pantry so I even had to go out and buy one. I'd been hearing for years from my brownie-mix-defending friends that Ghirardelli brownie mixes are "almost as good" as the made from scratch variety. Heresy. But I figured if I had to use a mix, I should use it with this kind of recipe since the chocolate chip cookie part would be made from scratch and the cookie butter was sure to hide a lot of sins so it's not like I would have to judge the brownie on its own. So I did it. Target didn't have the Dark Chocolate version recommended in the original recipe and I didn't know the difference between "Dark Chocolate" and "Double Chocolate" as the Ghirardelli people defined it so I went with what was available. In using the said mix, I'd have to guess "double chocolate" means they started with their original version of their brownie mix, threw in a handful of chocolate chips and considered that doubling the chocolate.

Anyway, the experiment forged on since I had managed to clear the hardest hurdle of buying a brownie mix. This recipe isn't hard to make; it just has a couple of components so it takes a little more time and a few more baking implements to wash up. I made the cookie dough first as instructed in the recipe but in hindsight, I'd recommend making the brownies first. The brownie batter goes on the bottom and you want it to firm enough to bear the weight of the filling and the cookie dough or else everything will sink and you'll get marbling instead of layering.

The trickiest part of this recipe is the baking. You don't see how the brownie layer is coming along and the toothpick test won't help because you'll mostly encounter the filling. Instead, I had to go by how brown the cookie layer was getting and hoping the brownie layer was baking at the same pace. I did lower the temperature to 350 degrees and changed that in the directions below. The original recipe called for baking at 375 degrees but in my oven, that baked the cookies too brown too quickly so 350 worked better for me.

For the most part it worked but since I tended to underbake my cookies, I think the brownies were a bit soft. They're fine when cooled but when warm, which is when the cookie layer was best, the brownie layer was a bit mushy.

The cookie butter filling is always amazing, especially when eaten lukewarm and it's still gooey. When it cools completely, it's more manageable to eat without a fork and doesn't flow like lava. Not that that's a bad thing but this is easier to serve at room temperature.

I do strongly advise lining your muffin tins with cupcake liners. I tried baking a batch in a mini muffin pan with no liners and got the cookie layer divorcing from the brownie layer with the filling forlornly torn between the two. Not pretty. It only worked to use the liners. Conversely, you could try putting the cookie layer on the bottom and the brownie layer on top. Those would be easier to take out because the cookie layer has a firmer texture than the brownies when cool. Either way, don't forget the cookie butter. You can also use nutella or peanut butter for the filling if you wish.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups good quality semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
• 
  

Brownies*

• 1 box Ghirardelli Chocolate Brownie Mix
• ¼ cup water
• ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 egg
• *or your favorite brownie mix (follow directions on box) or homemade recipe.

for Brookster assembly

• Brownie Batter
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
• Nutella
• Cookie Butter (alternatively, Biscoff Spread or Speculoos)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. 
2. In your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter, sugars, and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. 
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Gradually mix in flour mixture, and then stir in chocolate chips. Refrigerate until well-chilled, about 1 to 2 hours.

Brownies

1. Place water, oil, and egg in a medium mixing bowl and stir until fully combined. Add brownie mix and stir until fully incorporated, about 50 strokes.
2. Fill 2 cupcake pans with cupcake liners. 
3. Divide brownie batter among the cupcake liners, filling each one with about ¾" of batter. 
4. Refrigerate until very well-chilled, about 2 hours.

Assemble the Brooskters

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove cookie dough and brownie-filled cupcake pans from the refrigerator.
2. Drop approximately teaspoon-sized amounts of either nutella or cookie butter on top and in the center of each of the brownies.
3. Scoop cookie dough by heaping spoonfuls, roll into ball, and flatten into discs slightly smaller than the size of each cupcake liner. Gently press cookie dough discs into the brownie batter and sealing the nutella/cookie butter inside.
4. Bake Brooksters for approximately 15-20 minutes, until the cookie is golden brown.
5. Remove from oven and let cool.

Restaurant Review: Asian Box

Asian Box - dinner on October 24, 2014

My friend Queen of Cheap Eats and I met for dinner one Friday night to try out a new restaurant. Thanks to poor time management on my part, commute traffic, and a wrong turn, I ended up being 30 minutes late - yeah, I suck. Fortunately she bore with me and amused herself by checking out other restaurants on the same street. some of which have quite a high turnover so we have some new places to try in the future as well.

Despite my lateness, we entered around 6:30 and it was sparsely populated. Not a good sign but they're also on "restaurant row" with a lot of competition so it takes time for a new place to catch on. I don't know how long they've been open at that location but apparently they're a (small) chain with 3 locations in the Northern California (Palo Alto, Mountain View, and San Francisco) and 2 in Southern California (Burbank and downtown LA).

Box with chicken

Asian Box has a similar premise to VN Grill. You build your "box" with a starch (rice or noodles) or a salad, a protein (chicken, beef, pork, tofu, or shrimp), toppings (bean sprouts, pickled vegetables, peanuts, herbs, and the like), then pick your sauce - tamarind vinaigrette, their own housemade sriracha, no-oil fish sauce, a dry rub, hot sauce or peanut sauce. If that's too much decisionmaking for you, they also have "house favorites" that pre-determine the boxes, no substitutions.

I'm a build-my-own sort of girl so I eschewed the normal menu offerings and went with their daily special of Asian pork ribs as my protein. I also flung caution to the winds and paid an extra 95 cents for the caramel egg because Queen said the yelp reviewers spoke favorably of it. I asked the counter person what a caramel egg was and she said they boil it in some kind of caramel sauce. That sounded good so I forked over the extra 95 cents.

Caramel Egg - $.95 extra

In the interest of candor, however, I have to say that while the hard-boiled egg was good and perfectly hard-boiled, I'm afraid it's just an egg. The brown coating on the outside white of the egg tasted more like it was boiled in soy sauce rather than caramel as it was more salty than sweet. It wasn't bad and it was a cheap experiment but I didn't think it was all that. Unless you've a passion for eggs, save your 95 cents. Overall, though, the prices were reasonable and the food was good. The build-your-boxes were in the $8-$9 range, depending on your choice of protein and the portions were reasonable to sizable, depending on your appetite. The house-determined boxes are a bit fancier and range from $8-$13. If you've never been to an Asian Box before, I recommend giving them a try. If I worked in the area, I could see becoming a lunchtime regular whenever I wanted Asian food. They have a lot of competition on that street alone though so I hope they make it.

Honey Chicken

Honey Chicken - made October 26, 2014 from Heart Mind & Seoul

If you notice it's been awhile since I posted a "real food" recipe, it's because I also haven't cooked real food in awhile. They feed us breakfast, lunch and dinner at work so I haven't had to cook during the week and I usually go out on the weekends. And given the choice, I don't and won't cook. I did finally try it again last weekend and was forcibly reminded why I don't cook. I'm not good at it. I'm not terrible at it (with terrible being I don't give myself food poisoning. Well, except that one time...) but I'm not good at it and I don't really enjoy it.

So it should come as no surprise that I kind of messed up this recipe. Or it's not what I expected. Or both. I cut the chicken too small and the breading got a little whacked so the pieces were small and misshapen. I didn't fry them long enough for the coating to get very brown as they seemed to take a long time to cook and still were pasty white so I took them out when I got tired of frying them. I know, I suck at cooking. The sauce was easy but it didn't have much flavor. I expected it to have more of a honey taste. But it appeared the water really diluted the flavor. Then I tried masking my cooking sins by sprinkling sesame seeds generously over the whole thing. But I don't think that fooled anyone, least of all myself. This dish wasn't horrible. It was edible. Which is kind of the (low) bar I set for myself. Good thing I made this on a Sunday and I could go back to work on Monday and eat someone else's food again. I'll have to go back to not cooking again.

1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1” chunks)
Oil (for deep frying) – canola or vegetable oil

Batter-
4 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup liquid egg (or 1 egg + 1 egg white)

Sauce-
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil (or regular vegetable oil)
2 teaspoon ginger (minced)
3 tablespoons garlic (minced)
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar (or apple vinegar)
½ cup water
1 teaspoon cornstarch (mixed with 1 teaspoon water)
Sesame seeds (for garnish)

1. In a plastic ziploc bag, place chicken.
2. Add cornstarch, flour, baking powder, and salt. Toss them together to coat the chicken evenly with the flour mixture. 
3. Add liquid egg (or 1 egg and 1 egg white) to the chicken. Close the plastic bag and toss them together to coat the chicken evenly with the egg mixture.
4. Heat oil to 375 degrees F. (Using a fryer is helpful. If you don’t own a fryer, heat oil in frying pan. To test if it’s ready to fry the chicken, add a pinch of flour to the oil. If the flour floats immediately making a sizzling sound, it’s ready.) Add the chicken and fry until dark golden brown. 
5. Make the sauce – Heat oil and add ginger and garlic, and stir until garlic turns golden brown. Add salt, honey, rice wine vinegar, and water to the pan, stirring occasionally. Add water and bring it to boiling. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and water together until smooth and add it to the sauce, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens. Reduce heat to simmer and add the fried chicken to the sauce, and stir to coat.
6. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve over rice.

Halloween 2014 - get the leftover candy ready

Happy Halloween! I've paid almost no attention to Halloween fast approaching (and now here) this year. It's not really my holiday and I've been busy so October 31 just crept up on me. I don't get many kids trick or treating in my neighborhood so I didn't even really stock up on candy this year. In prior years, I would buy a few bags and end up using them to bake with. Typical Halloween candy has no appeal for me and doesn't tempt me to eat as is. That would be my inner candy snob rearing its haughty head. But I don't mind if they're baked in something. So I thought I would curate some past recipes in case you wake up tomorrow with leftover candy or you want to raid your kids' Halloween haul, especially if you have an overabundance of Snickers, peanut butter cups, Midnight Milky Ways, M&Ms, Rolos, etc.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies

If you want to stick to your own recipes, it's still easy to use up Halloween candy. Chocolate bars can be easy add-ins to brownies and some cookies. If you have peanut butter cups, cut them up and stick them on top of peanut butter cookies. Almond Joys and Mounds can be cut up and added to Magic Cookie bar recipes. Sugar cookie dough wraps easily around Rolos. Snickers, Milky Ways, 3 Musketeers and the like are easily folded into brownie batters and/or sprinkled on top during the last few minutes of baking. Get creative and bake away.

Snickers-Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cup Snickers Crunch Brownies

Candy Corn M&M Macadamia Nut Cookies

Midnight Milky Way Brownies

Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

Ferrero Rocher Brownies

Oreo Rolo Magic Cookie Bars

Mississippi Mud Brownies

Soft Monster Pudding Cookies

Double Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

Double Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies - made dough October 20, 2014 from Living Better Together

If you notice I've been making a lot of cookie recipes lately, that trend is likely to continue. I'm still trying to keep on a baking and blogging schedule even though I can rarely bake during the week and I write up my blog posts like mad on the weekends for doled out blog posts during the week. Cookie doughs are the easiest to make when I have time then I can freeze the cookies and bake them off just when I need them. Plus when I'm making up goodie bags for social occasions, it's nice to be able to provide several different kinds of cookies, all of which I have as dough reposing in my freezer until it's time for them to leap into the oven for their transformation from raw dough to cookie.

I'm also trying to make my way through my cookie board on pinterest and this one was an easy recipe to cross off my list. Time these since it's hard to tell when chocolate cookies are done just by appearance and you never want to overbake cookies. The nice thing about these cookies is they stay almost as chubby as how you make them. If you want puffy, rounded cookies, scoop them with an ice cream or cookie scooper, freeze then bake from frozen dough. They won't spread much and will retain that chubby cherubic appearance.

Taste-wise they're not super chocolaty since the chocolate flavor comes mostly from the pudding mix and the rest from the chocolate chips. If you're a die-hard chocoholic, you might have to eat several before your chocolate tooth is satisfied. But it's a nice little cookie, soft and moist. If you want to increase the chocolate punch, try subbing out a little of the flour (no more than 1/4 cup) with dark unsweetened cocoa powder.

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 - 3.4 oz package instant chocolate pudding mix
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup 60% chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips

1. Cream butter and sugars together until smooth. Add pudding, eggs, additional egg yolk and vanilla. Beat for about one minute on medium speed.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a 1/2 cup at a time and mix until combined.
4. Fold in chocolate chips. Portion into golf-ball-sized dough balls, cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours or else place in freezer bag and freeze for at least 2-3 hours.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Space dough balls evenly on baking sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes.

Restaurant Review: Thai Noodle, Berkeley, CA

Thai Noodle - dinner on October 18, 2014

After my family and I went to see the Cal vs UCLA game at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, we all went out to dinner after the game. There were surprisingly a ton of Bruin fans at the game and milling around after so my UCLA niece didn't feel like such an outlier. Except when she sat in the Bears student section with my other niece during the game, of course. Ha.

We went to dinner early enough that we thought we'd beat the post-game crowds but the Thai restaurant my Bear niece took us to was still full when we got there. Not surprising given it was rather small and didn't have that many tables.

Fried Tofu appetizer

Still, we lucked out that a larger group was on the verge of leaving so we didn't have to wait longer than 5 minutes or so for a table to free up.

Fried chicken over fried rice

The menu was rather varied and like, most popular restaurants in many college towns, the price points were reasonable (around $10 more or less) and the portions were generous. I bypassed my usual pad thai when trying out a new Thai restaurant and went with fried chicken over fried rice. Despite my love of pad thai, I have to say the fried rice at almost every Thai restaurant I've gone to has always been delicious. Usually moist without being greasy and always tasty. This was no exception. I don't usually eat a lot of rice but I could eat Thai fried rice more than is good for me.

Duck Fried Rice

My Bear niece got the Duck Fried Rice and that had a fair amount of roast duck in it so that was a good choice.

Some kind of veggie noodle dish

Grilled chicken over Thai fried rice

Veggie spring rolls

Pad Thai with Shrimp

My sister ordered the pad thai and I tried a bit of that. She got hers with bean sprouts though and I dislike bean sprouts intensely since their non-taste, crunchy texture ruin a good noodle dish so I can't say I could evaluate the pad thai with any justice.

Beef and eggplant

I didn't try everything since I was involved with my own order but everyone appeared to enjoy their dishes so I'd call this a good choice. It's pretty casual dining but the food was delicious and when in Berkeley - or anywhere else - that's what matters.

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies - made dough October 15, 2014, recipe modified from Julie's Eats and Treats

This is a nice version of a white chocolate macadamia cookie. I did my usual routine when it comes to cookie baking: toasted the macadamia nuts and let them cool completely before adding them to the dough, portioned the dough into golf-ball-sized balls, chilled them briefly to be sure they'll hold their shape then placed them in a freezer bag to freeze them until I was ready to bake them (freeze at least overnight).

When I was ready to bake, I lined the baking sheets with parchment paper and baked the cookie dough balls directly from the freezer. No need to let the dough thaw or come to room temperature or you'll negate the whole freezing process you did in the first place.

The true test of successful cookie baking though is the baking itself. Or the underbaking if you're me. I like to bake cookies only until the edges are golden brown and the middles no longer look like raw dough. Do not let the middles get puffy and cracked or you'll have overbaked them. See how it looks moist in the middle in the pictures above? That's what you want. The edges and outer ring are more fully baked but the middles should still look moist and underbaked. When the cookies are completely cooled, they'll be moist and chewy.

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

1. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl and set aside. 
2. Mix butter with sugars in a different bowl. Add vanilla and eggs and mix until smooth and fluffy.
3. Add flour mixture and combine. Then add chips and nuts.
4. Portion into golf-ball-sized dough balls and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven 350 degrees F.
6. Space evenly on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. The tops might still look doughy but they will cook as they sit on the cookie sheet. Let sit on cookie sheets for 5 minutes then remove to wire rack and let cool.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - chill overnight vs freeze immediately

Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough October 11, 2014, adapted from Number 2 Pencil

Left: chilled overnight; Right: Froze immediately

I've made dozens if not hundreds of different chocolate chip cookies over the years. My taste buds are pretty jaded but I can tell you even the most average recipe for chocolate chip cookies will seem like manna from heaven if you eat said cookie 10 minutes out of the oven. And even the best recipe will seem mediocre if you eat the cookie several days after baking.

Chilled overnight before baking

I've heard about the merits of letting chocolate chip cookie dough chill for 24 hours before baking. That's supposed to develop the flavor. I usually make the cookie dough, portion it out into dough balls and freeze the dough immediately then bake it off at least a day later. No time to let those flavors deepen before freezing them. I decided to run a mini experiment with this recipe. Half the dough I left to chill overnight in my refrigerator and the other half got the freeze-immediately treatment. I was curious to see if they looked or tasted any different with the two methods.

Froze immediately then baked the next day

As you can see from their appearance, the chill overnight cookie looks more craggy while the freeze immediately cookie wins the beauty matchup in terms of looking smooth and a little more - well - professional. Both cookies are from the exact same batch of cookie dough.

Chilled overnight then baked

Taste-wise, while still lukewarm, the chill overnight cookie wins the taste round as it did have a more pronounced buttery and brown sugar flavor. The freeze immediately cookie was still good and if I hadn't eaten a bite from each one after the other, I wouldn't have thought the freeze immediately cookie was inferior as it was still delicious. So it was an interesting baking experiment. Although I'm reminded why I rarely conduct these kinds of experiments as I had to eat both cookies to test them out. I normally only eat one cookie for a taste test and to not be a pig. I compromised by eating half a cookie from each one day and saving the other halves for the next day. The next day, the flavor differences between the two weren't that pronounced. Or else to my jaded taste buds, cookies older than an hour out of the oven just don't cut it, no matter how they're made.

Froze immediately and overnight then baked

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
13 tablespoons of butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup of granulated white sugar
3/4 cup of firmly packed golden brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine melted and cooled butter, both sugars, vanilla and salt. Beat on medium speed until well combined, about 2 minutes.
3. Add egg and egg yolk, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.
4. Add in flour mixture and continue mixing until incorporated.
5. Add in chocolate chips and give a final stir.
6. Portion dough into golf-ball-size balls, line in a single layer on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
8. Place cookie dough balls on baking sheet. Bake about 9 minutes, just until edges are a light golden brown.

Banana Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Banana Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting - made October 11, 2014 from Lil Luna

I was still so enamored of my new large star decorating tip and what it looks like when you pipe frosting with it that I made another cupcake recipe. Serendipitously, I also had bananas (over)ripening on the counter that were at the near-perfect stage of being used in baked goods. I'd like to tell you I planned that far ahead but in reality, I had bought a bunch one weekend then forgot them on the counter.

But I remembered them in time to use in this recipe. It's a fairly straightforward, standard cupcake recipe. It wasn't as soft and fluffy as I had hoped but I wonder if that's because I baked them a little too long or a bit too short. Cupcakes are not my realm of expertise so I regularly miss the mark. If you don't bake them long enough, they can be dense. If you bake them too long, they're dry. These weren't quite dry but they weren't Sprinkles-moist as I had wanted.

The taste was good though and I like the pairing with the cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Since I'm not a super fan of cream cheese, the cinnamon not only adds more flavor but mutes the tang of the cream cheese. And really, I just wanted to play with piping frosting with the decorating tip.

4 large eggs
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (from 3-4 mashed bananas)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups cake flour (all-purpose flour can also be substituted)
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Frosting
6 tablespoons butter, softened
4 ounces of cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar (more as needed)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare two muffin tins by lining with paper liners.
2. Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then set aside.
3. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the mashed bananas, egg yolks, and vanilla, and mix until smooth. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg white mixture.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Gently fold in remaining egg whites.
5. Fill paper baking cups half full and bake 11-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove and let cool completely.
6. To make the frosting, beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar slowly and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and cinnamon.
7. If necessary, add more powdered sugar until the frosting is firm enough to hold its shape but still light and fluffy. Frost the cooled cupcakes.