Are You Kidding Me Cake from Cooktop Cove

Are You Kidding Me Cake - made May 8, 2024 from Cooktop Cove 

1 box cake mix, any flavor (I used yellow cake mix)

1 can pie filling (I used apple pie filling)

3 large eggs

Caramel for drizzling on top of baked cake, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix all three ingredients until combined. Pour into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Drizzle with caramel glaze if desired. Serve.

I'm going to admit I was a little disappointed in this cake. Not in how easy it was to make because it was: cake mix, 3 large eggs and a can of pie filling. Mix together, pour into pan and bake. Drizzle with caramel topping if desired (I desired) and you have an easy snack cake.

The flavor was fine as you can hardly go wrong with caramel apple cake. My disappointment was in the texture. It was a little too "airy" for me as you can tell by the large air pockets/holes in the inside pictures.

The pictures from Cooktop Cove looked to be a more dense yet still soft crumb. This was mostly airy pockets. Still tasted good but you can tell it's from a cake mix. At least I could. And no, I didn't mix it too much either as I actually had to give a couple of manual stirs to incorporate all the cake mix into the batter after I mixed it with a paddle attachment for less than a minute.

Oh well, tried something new, got to serve it at a financial literacy class I gave at my house for a few local people and they seemed to enjoy it so all was not lost.

Black and Whites from A Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Black and Whites - made dough April 3, 2024 from A Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

2 cups chocolate chips
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar in separate bowl, for rolling

1. Melt chocolate chips and butter in the top half of a double boiler set over hot water. Stir until combined and completely melted.
2. Add in brown sugar and let cool, 5-10 minutes.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla, baking powder and salt. Add flour and mix until just combined.
4. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls (or smaller), cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Roll chilled dough balls in confectioners' sugar and evenly space on baking sheets. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, cool on baking sheets for several minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Before you get too far into this post, let me caution that, as you can see from the pictures, these are not the traditional "black and white" cookies that are common on the East Coast (New York City comes to mind) where a vanilla cookie is covered half in vanilla glaze and half in chocolate glaze, hence the "black and white" term. This black and white is more commonly referred to as chocolate crackles: a chocolate cookie rolled in powdered sugar before baking. Black and Whites is what they were called in A Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke so that's what I'm listing them as.

I had mixed results on this one. After I mixed the dough, it was very, very soft and liquid-y, more like a thick brownie batter than actual cookie dough. I had to chill it for half an hour before I could even reasonably scoop it out into dough "balls". Even then the dough was still rather sticky.

I froze them before I baked them like I do with most cookie doughs as I was afraid these would spread too much if I didn't. They did still spread but not as much as I feared they would.

Flavor wise, they were good but I think I underbaked the first batch a tad too much as they were more like fudge than chocolate cookie. Nothing wrong with that but make sure they cool and set first before you eat them or you'll just have mushy goo instead of fudgy cookie.

Giant Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from Mom on Timeout

Giant Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough March 1, 2024 from Mom on Timeout

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together melted butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined. Add vanilla extract, egg and egg yolk, mixing until combined.
3. Add dry ingredients in 2 additions, mixing on low speed after each addition, until just combined.
4. Mix in chocolate chips until evenly disbursed.
5. Portion dough into 1/4 cup portions and roll into balls. Flatten each ball slightly, cover and chill for at least 1 hour up to overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough balls. Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from heat and let rest on baking sheet for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

I've been lagging on the posts because I've been lagging on the baking lately. You'll notice I made this cookie dough way back in early March. I didn't start baking it off until the past few weeks when I needed it for care packages and events I was hosting or going to so the dough definitely kept well in the freezer.

Besides being easy to make, handling beautifully (the dough was not too dry or too sticky), and keeping well in the freezer for a couple of months, this dough also baked into really good chocolate chip cookies.

I didn't make them "giant" as the recipe instructed but kept them normal-sized. They still turned out well. The edges were airy and crisp and the middles were chewy. The whole cookie had that brown sugar caramelization that marks a great chocolate chip cookie.

I definitely want to make these again in the giant size so I can see how they turn out. I imagine they would be even better with the same crisp edges but also a gooey middle.

Crumbl Cookies review #70 - Caramel Praline

Crumbl Cookies review #70: Caramel Praline - visited April 25, 2024

Caramel Praline

Remember when I said in my last Crumbl review for the Maple Cream Sandwich that I've hit saturation point on Crumbl and their flavors as I felt like I've had all the ones I wanted to try and there weren't that many new-to-me flavors I was interested in?

Menu week of April 22, 2024

This week's menu almost proved my point as I had already tried 5 of the 6 flavors offered in days gone by. I've already had (and reviewed) the Confetti Milkshake, the Galaxy Brownie, the Strawberry Cupcake, the Snickerdoodle, and of course, the Milk Chocolate Chip.

Fortunately, however, the 6th flavor this week, Caramel Praline, was new to me and I was interested in trying it. As always, I'm not a fan of nuts in my cookies but these appeared to just be on the outside so I could live with that. Plus, the caramel topping beckoned since Crumbl does such a nice job with their caramel. "Come try me," it seemed to say. "You know you want to." I did so I did.

I still don't love nuts in my cookies but the pluses of this cookie outweighed that. The caramel was a bit sticky and thin, as opposed to the caramel used in say, the revamped Salted Caramel Cheesecake, which was thicker and more silky but it was still good nonetheless. But what really sold me on this cookie was the texture.

Crumbl really nails texture on most of their cookies and a big reason I keep coming back. What impressed me about this one was the edges were crisp and light, almost airy, while still being chewy. The middle was the perfect soft, slightly underbaked texture I like. Combined in one cookie, that's a great baking feat. Usually (thick) chocolate chip cookies can also achieve that combination but mostly the ones that tend to be on the buttery side. This was not overtly buttery/greasy.

The only other thing I could pick on about this cookie is, despite the claim of being a brown sugar cookie, it didn't have a lot of flavor. Usually brown sugar cookies are a bit maple-y or have caramel overtones. This did not. It didn't seem that sweet either, despite the caramel. Maybe they cut back on the sugar because of the caramel? I'm not complaining about it as for me the texture makes the cookie. It might've had more flavor from the nuts if they'd toasted it first prior to baking but I imagine they didn't want the nuts to burn if they went in already toasted. Either way, it's still a good cookie. But I'd go for the texture more than the flavor.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake with Streusel Crumb Topping from Go Go Go Gourmet

Cinnamon Coffee Cake with Streusel Crumb Topping - made March 30, 2024 from Go Go Go Gourmet

Cake

1 stick (4 ounces, 8 tablespoons) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

3/4 cup whole milk

Filling

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

Topping

5 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tablespoon cinnamon

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 9 baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla and egg; mix to combine.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add half the dry ingredients to butter-sugar mixture and mix to combine.
4. Add milk and mix to combine. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until combined and no floury streaks remain, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl to keep mixture even textured.
5. Make filling: in a small bowl, mix together butter, cinnamon, flour and brown sugar until well combined and no large butter lumps remain.
6. Make topping: in a medium bowl, mix together butter, cinnamon, flour and brown sugar, cutting the butter into the dry ingredients. Use your hands to squeeze large handfuls of the streusel mixture together into large clumps.
7. Spread half the batter evenly n the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the filling mixture, covering batter completely. Gently dollop the remaining batter over the filling, covering as much as possible without dislodging the filling.
8. Squeeze clumps of the topping together to form large crumbs before dropping on top of the batter. Cover top as much as possible with the topping mixture. Press gently into batter for the crumbs to adhere.
9. Bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.

I’ve been giving financial literacy workshops in my area lately and for each session, I bake something to share with the participants. It gives me a chance to try a new recipe that I can’t send in a military care package since it would take too long to get there and I wouldn’t risk mold or staleness in sending cakes, even if vacuum sealed. Plus I like a good bribe to entice people to attend.

I liked this recipe. The cake part was fluffy and the cinnamon swirl running through it gave it extra flavor while the streusel topping gave it a little crunch without using nuts. The glaze tops it with a bit of sweetness.

When you make the streusel, squeeze it into large clumps with your hands. Grab a handful and make a fist. Then break the larger chunks into slightly smaller pieces. This helps from just having streusel dust as a topping and the chunks add to the crunch when baked. My glaze was a bit runny so you can't see it very well as it absorbed into the top after a few minutes. I didn't measure when I made the glaze but it's made of powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract. If you want a thicker glaze, just cut back on the milk or use more powdered sugar.

Crumbl Cookies review #69 - Maple Cream Sandwich

Crumbl Cookies review #69 - Maple Cream Sandwich, visited April 18, 2024

If it seems like I've been slowing down on the Crumbl reviews, it's because I've been slowing down on the Crumbl eating. I don't know if I've reached saturation point on eating their cookies but I probably have on trying out their flavors. There haven't been a lot of new-to-me ones, much less new ones I was interested in eating.

So when the Maple Cream Sandwich came out, I decided to try it, more out of habit than real interest in the cookie. I like the fact that it was a sandwich cookie (2 cookies for the price of 1, especially with their recent price increases) and that it was stamped with a maple leaf which I thought was pretty. I didn't like that it was chilled but that's fine since I always let chilled cookies come to room temperature before eating anyway.

Truth be told, I wasn't a fan of this cookie. I liked the cookies themselves, upholding their end of the sandwich. Flavor was good and texture was great, exactly what I like about Crumbl cookies with their soft, slightly underbaked interiors. I was not a fan of the maple cream cheese icing. At all. As in, after one bite, I scraped it off and just ate the quarter cookies (I split the cookie into quarters and only had a quarter piece). I'm not a big maple fan to begin with unless it's maple syrup over pancakes or waffles. But the maple cream cheese filling wasn't worth the calories to me. Glad I tried it, pass on it in the future.

The rest of the lineup also wasn't interesting to me since I've already tried what I wanted to try from it in days gone by: the Cinnamon Square and Red Velvet White Chip. Plus the Cinnamon Square was sold out when I went so it wasn't an option anyway. I kinda miss the days when I was really into Crumbl and couldn't wait for the weekly menu to drop and to try out new cookie flavors and test cookies. Now, I feel like I'm moving more into indifference. Even repeat flavors I loved in the past haven't been enough to get me to buy more cookies. While my wallet and waistline thank me, my sweet tooth soul misses the old thrill and anticipation. Ah well, I'm sure I'll find other baked goods to obsess over in the future.

Triple Chocolate Oreo Bars from Cookies and Cups

Triple Chocolate Oreo Bars - made March 29. 2024 from Cookies and Cups 

1 16.6-ounce package of Oreos

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 cup white chocolate chips, melted

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Set aside 8 Oreos. Place the rest in a gallon ziploc bag and crush with a rolling pin. 
3. Empty the Oreo crumbs in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add melted butter and salt, mix to combine. Press mixture into an even layer in bottom of prepared pan.
4. In the top half of a double boiler set over hot water, combine sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, semisweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips. Stir until combined and melted.
5. Pour melted mixture over Oreo layer and smooth into an even layer. Chop remaining Oreos into chunks. Sprinkle chopped Oreos and mini chocolate chips evenly over the filling. Bake 20-22 minutes. Cool for 1 hour.
6. Melt the white chocolate chips and drizzle over the brownies. Let set before cutting and serving.

Here’s an easy bar cookie recipe if you’re short on time and need to feed a crowd. It’s fastest if you pulverize the Oreos in a food processor but once you’ve got the Oreo cookie crumbs for the bottom layer, the rest of the process goes quickly.

The sweetened condensed milk forms the top for the creamy layer and is a little rich. If you want a more chocolate punch, cut back on the milk chocolate chips and increase the semisweet chips. I followed the recipe as written and was okay with it but I have a high tolerance for sweet over chocolate. 

I liked the look of these, especially with the white chocolate drizzle to contrast with the dark chocolate and Oreos. The top layer was creamy-sweet, tempered with the dark Oreo crust and complemented by the white chocolate drizzle. This is a good bar cookie to serve to a crowd, especially anyone with nut allergies since this doesn’t contain nuts.