"The Best" M&M Cookies

M&M Cookies - made dough December 6, 2015 from Cookies and Cups

It's no secret that I love chocolate chip cookies and make them pretty much year round. Although this is the season of fancy holiday cookies, I'll take a good chocolate chip cookie over the fancy every time.

But you can also dress up your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and make them holiday appropriate by adding red and green M&Ms if you celebrate Christmas or, if you have the patience, pick out the blue and white ones from a 4th of July M&M bag if you want to align them more with Hanukkah. Either way, these will taste great.

I like using the mini M&M baking bits rather than the full size M&Ms as I made these cookies small and chubby. The regular size M&Ms might've taken over the cookies but the baking bits were just the right size, especially paired with mini chocolate chips like I did with these.

Similar to other cookie recipes that use vanilla pudding mix, these have a wonderfully chewy texture when they're just slightly underbaked with crisp edges. The M&M bits add a nice crunch and chocolate punch along with the mini chocolate chips. They don't spread much so you don't have to worry about thin cookies but I still recommend portioning into dough balls and freezing first before baking.

¾ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (3.4 oz) box instant vanilla pudding mix
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1½ cup Mini M&Ms, plus ¼ cup more for garnish

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and brown sugar, beating until combined.
2. Add in egg and vanilla; continue mixing until smooth, scraping sides as necessary. Mix in vanilla pudding mix, baking soda and salt.
3. Add in the flour and beat just until combined. Stir in the M&Ms with a wooden spoon,
4. Portion dough into golf-ball-sized balls, cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight until firm.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and space frozen dough balls evenly on each sheet.
6. Bake for 9-11 minutes until edges are golden and middles no longer look raw. Cook for 3-4 minutes on baking sheet, remove to wire cooling racks and let cool completely.

Red Velvet Kiss Cookies

Red Velvet Kiss Cookies - made December 12, 2015 from The Cafe Sucre Farine

I'm blogging out of order but I want to get the more Christmas-themed treats up first or else, at the rate I'm going, I'll be blogging about Christmas cookies well into March, I'm hopelessly behind. I actually have been baking, nowhere near the level of holiday baking I normally do, but baking nonetheless.

The funny thing is, much as I (used to) bake, I don't actually make a lot of traditional Christmas cookies. I've already laid bare my deficiencies at cookie decorating so no fancy snowflake cookies will emerge from my kitchen and I don't really like the more traditional holiday flavors so I don't have any special holiday cookies I make for the season.

 I'm indifferent to gingerbread or ginger molasses cookies, I don't like eggnog anything, and we shall not speak of fruitcake...ever. I like peppermint but only by itself, like in gum. Never with chocolate. That's just wrong.

But I did give in to self-imposed peer pressure to have somewhat of a holiday-themed cookie with these red velvet kiss cookies. I'd made a version of these last year that were more in line with Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies but colored red. This time, these were "real" red velvet, meaning chocolate sugar cookies rolled in red sanding sugar and pressed with a candy cane Hershey's kiss.

Candy cane kisses. Shudder. I'm not a big fan of white chocolate either much less white chocolate combined with peppermint. But I figure I wasn't actually going to be eating more than one of these cookies and they did look festive, not to mention holiday appropriate. So sometimes my baking soul has to make compromises in the name of aesthetics.

As for flavor, I did like the cookie itself as a red velvet cookie with a moist, fudgy interior. Surprisingly, I wasn't repelled by the candy cane kiss either. High praise, I know. In any case, I do think these are pretty to bring to a holiday cookie swap or for giving away as a holiday food gift. The cookies look aesthetically pleasing without taking up any decorating time in your busy holiday baking schedule.

14 tablespoons butter
1 3/4 cups (219 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (88 grams) cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups (350 grams) brown sugar, packed
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon req liquid food coloring
1 cup (175 grams) mini semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup red sanding sugar
1 12-ounce bag Hershey's Hugs for topping

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, melt 10 tablespoons butter. Cut the remaining 4 tablespoons butter into 6-8 pieces, add to the melted butter and stir; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder. 
4. Add the brown sugar, vanilla, red food coloring and salt to the melted butter. Stir well to combine. Add the egg and egg yolk; stir until smooth.
5. Add the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon just until combined and flour is incorporated. Add chocolate chips and mix just until incorporated.
6. Put red sanding sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll the dough into balls, about 1 1/2 tablespoons for each cookie. Roll the balls in the sanding sugar until well coated and place on prepared baking sheets.
7. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until they have puffed and have cracked running through the top, about 12-14 minutes; do not overbake.
8. Upon removing cookies from the oven, immediately place a Hershey's Hug in the center of each cookie, pressing down to adhere the candy into the cookie. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.

Nutella Brownies

Nutella Brownies - made November 25, 2015 from Handle the Heat

Still trying to use up my Nutella. Unlike the NutellaFudge Brownies, instead of a layer of Nutella fudge on top of the brownie, this incorporated Nutella in the batter. Previous experience has taught me the Nutella flavor would get lost in the brownie batter and would probably be there more for moistness than actually providing Nutella flavor. 

Never fear; an easy way to get around that is to add dollops of Nutella as you spread the brownie batter. I spread half the batter on the bottom of the pan, dolloped Nutella generously over it then covered it all with the rest of the brownie batter. The result? A thick fudgy, chocolate brownie with surprise Nutella lava goodness in almost every bite.

I do suggest letting these cool to room temperature before consuming. If you can wait that long, the texture is more like baked fudge and the Nutella flavor is more pronounced. If you eat it while it’s too warm, it’ll be more mushy than fudgy. Trust me, fudgy is better.

1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar`
1/2 cup Nutella
3 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup (3.4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the chocolate chips, butter, and unsweetened chocolate. Heat in the microwave for 1 minute then stir. Continue heating in 30-second bursts, stirring between each burst, until the mixture is melted and smooth but not scorched. Remove from the microwave and let cool slightly. Stir in the Nutella. 
3. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed until light and thick, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract. 
4. Stir in the cooled chocolate mixture with a rubber spatula. 
5. Add the flour, cocoa, and salt, folding gently until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. 
6. Bake until a tester comes out with moist crumbs still attached, 35 to 40. Do not overbake.

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough November 21, 2015 from American Heritage Cooking

Blogging out of order and still catching up on what I made during Thanksgiving week when I had some vacation time. I had a request from one of my nieces for her to take down chocolate chip cookies to her Thanksgiving gathering. Out come recipes I’ve pinned and I picked this one for Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies  because I had purchased a multi-pack of cream cheese blocks from Costco that I wanted to use. I don’t even like cream cheese so don’t ask why I bought so much of it. Because I can’t explain it either.

Despite my cream cheese prejudices, I thought this cookie turned out pretty well. Meaning it didn’t spread too much, it stayed thick and it was chewy like a good chocolate chip cookie should be. You can taste the tang of the cream cheese but it isn’t overwhelming and I would guess if someone didn’t know this contained cream cheese, they might not know what it is.

This is the rare, maybe only, time I’m going to say this was better when it had fully cooled so it could be eaten at room temperature. When it was still warm, which is normally when I advocate eating a chocolate chip cookie, it was just a little too mushy. Not the good kind of mushy either. But when it was at room temperature, the texture was much better. My cookies didn’t turn out as pretty as the one from the original blog I got the recipe from but I thought it was still a good cookie. My niece assured me when she got back from her Thanksgiving travels that her boyfriend’s family enjoyed them. That’s all I ask.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips

1. Whisk together in a medium bowl the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. Cream butter, cream cheese, sugars, egg and vanilla together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. 
3. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture. After each addition mix until just incorporated.
4. Add the chocolate chips and mix briefly to distribute. Scoop into golf-ball-size dough balls, cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
5. Preheat the oven to 350° and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Space dough balls evenly on baking sheets. 
6. Bake 11-12 minutes until edges are golden and middles no longer look raw or shiny. Let them cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies

Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies - made dough November 21, 2015 from The Domestic Rebel

With Christmas bearing down on us, it’s also the season of sugar cookies. I don’t do a lot (or any) dessert decorating and I’ve never been good enough at cookie decorating to make fancy-looking sugar cookies with royal icing in various colors, sparkly edible glitter or intricate piping. Those pretty snowflake cookies piped to look like snowflakes? Yeah, those are unlikely to emerge from my kitchen.

But I do like sugar cookies in general and they don’t have to be fancy, just tasty. Like these were. At first I was a bit skeptical about the recipe since it contains oil and you know I’m a butter girl. But I’m pragmatic enough to know oil adds a light crispiness to cookies that butter has a harder time achieving. Plus oil helps the cookies keep their shape better.

Although the dough was soft enough after I had mixed it that it gave me pause on whether these cookies would spread like errant spaghetti sauce on your new white blouse (I know all about that). I had to chill it before I could even scoop it into dough balls and freeze them. Good thing that’s what the directions said to do or I might’ve despaired in one of my more dramatic moments. If you can be dramatic about cookie dough. (Why, yes I can.)

Anyway, after I froze them overnight, I rolled the frozen dough balls (do not thaw!) in a shallow bowl containing a mixture of red sanding sugar and white sparkling sugar. Yes, that’s the closest I get to fancy cookie decorating for Christmas: red and white sugars for rolling. Don’t judge me too harshly because these cookies were fantastic. Fantastic, I tell you. Just the right level of airiness and crispness at the edges yet soft and chewy in the middle with terrific vanilla and butter flavor. Super yum. They may not be the fanciest cookies this holiday but bet you can’t eat just one.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
additional granulated sugar, for rolling cookies

1. In a large bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, oil, sugar, powdered sugar, vanilla and eggs until creamed and combined, about 2 minutes.
2. Add in the baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and flour; gently mix until a soft dough forms. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Portion out golf-ball-size dough balls and roll in the additional sugar to coat. Place 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.
4. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Do not overbake. Cool on the cookie sheets for several minutes before moving to wire racks to cool completely.

Banana Cake #16 from Cooking Classy

Banana Cake #16 - made November 21, 2015 from Cooking Classy

I'm blogging out of order because I forgot to write this one up earlier and didn't get to it until now. I made this as a birthday cake for my nieces before Thanksgiving. I was using up the overripe bananas I had in the freezer and I was going for attempt #16 to replicate the banana cake from Icing on the Cake. The baking gods forbid that I quit going after that particular holy grail anytime soon.

I had pinned this recipe awhile ago, before I had narrowed down some key elements I thought the Icing on the Cake recipe had, such as being made with cake flour for that fluffy texture. This one uses all-purpose flour but I'd had the recipe so long that I felt duty-bound to try it out regardless.

Like many other attempts, this one didn't quite replicate my favorite cake from my favorite bakery. It was more dense and not as fluffy. Taste-wise it was pretty good though and moist like a good cake should be. It garnered the highest parental praise of "it's not too sweet" so that's as high an accolade as anything I bake is going to get.

The frosting was also good (although a reminder that I'm not a frosting person); lighter than the traditional cream cheese frosting, not too sweet but sweet enough to take the edge off the tang from the cream cheese. All in all, a pretty good banana cake.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (from about 4 medium bananas)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
14 ounces cream cheese, softened slightly
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 9-inch round cake pans with parchment circles. Spray with cooking spray, then dust evenly with flour and shake off excess.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt for 30 seconds. Set aside. Mash bananas with 1 teaspoon lemon juice. 
3. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, whip together butter, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, granulated sugar and light brown sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, occasionally scraping down sides and bottom of bowl, about 3 minutes. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. 
4. Blend in eggs one at a time, mixing until combined after each addition. Stir in vanilla and mashed bananas. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add flour mixture alternating with buttermilk in 3 separate batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing just until combined after each addition. 
5. Divide batter evenly among prepared cake pans and spread batter into an even layer. Bake in preheated oven 45 - 50 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely then frost with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting. For best results frost within 30 minutes of serving and store left over cake in refrigerator and allow to rest at room temperature about 10 - 20 minutes before enjoying.

For the Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip heavy cream on high speed until stiff peaks form, then transfer whipped cream to a mixing bowl and set aside. 
2. Replace whisk attachment with paddle attachment and add cream cheese and butter to stand mixer bowl. Whip together cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy on medium-high speed, about 2 minutes, occasionally scraping down sides and bottom of bowl. 
3. Add in powdered sugar and vanilla and whip on medium speed, about 2 minutes longer. Add half of whipped cream into cream cheese mixture and gently fold until combined, then fold in remaining half.

Nutella Fudge Brownies

Nutella Fudge Brownies - made November 25, 2015 from Life, Love and Sugar

I buy Nutella at Costco. Which means that jumbo-sized two-pack. But because I don’t eat Nutella straight out of the jar or eat it at all except in baked goods, if I’m not baking with it often enough, it can get close to its expiration date. Such was the case when I realized I had one jar expiring in November and one in December. It’s unthinkable to throw away Nutella so I knew I had to hurry up and use it.

A quick search on pinterest brought up this recipe – a fudge brownie bottom layer blanketed with a layer of Nutella fudge. Nutella heaven, right? Well, sort of. The brownie came out as well as expected – nice, fudgy, chocolaty, moist. You don’t want too thick of a layer when you’re going to have two layers. The Nutella fudge had a good texture but not a very strong Nutella taste. I think it got overwhelmed by the chocolate so it lost the flavor that makes it Nutella.

This was still a good brownie and its looks can’t be beat but I also have a similar non-Nutella, pure chocolate brownie recipe, Essence of Chocolate Squares, that delivers the same look with a more pure flavor punch sans Nutella.

Brownie
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
6 tablespoons cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Fudge
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup Nutella

Topping
6 ounces chocolate chips
1 tablespoon shortening

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9" x 9" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Combine melted butter, sugar and vanilla extract in medium bowl. Whisk in eggs.
3. Combine flour cocoa, baking powder and salt in separate bowl and whisk until combined.
4. Add dry ingredients into egg mixture and stir until combined.
5. Pour batter into pan and bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs.
6. Once the brownies have cooled, make the fudge: combine sweetened condensed milk, butter, chocolate chips and Nutella in the top half of a double boiler set over hot water. 
7. Stir until melted and smooth. Pour over cooled brownie layer and smooth top. Place in refrigerator until set.
8. Melt chocolate chips and shortening over the top half of a double boiler set over hot water. Whisk until melted and smooth. Pour in an even layer over the chilled brownies after the Nutella fudge has set. Let cool and set. Cut into squares and serve.

Japanese Hot Cakes

Japanese Hot Cakes - made November 21, 2015 from Tara's Multicultural Table

Do you know how hard it is to botch a simple pancake recipe? Considering it’s a quick mixing of liquid and dry ingredients and pouring it into a skillet or griddle then flipping over, pancakes should be foolproof, right? Ha. Meet the fool.

It was my own fault and probably not the recipe’s. Because I was so obsessed with getting a golden brown pancake rather than a dark brown or veiny-looking dark brown pancake that I took the pancakes off too soon before they were fully cooked. They appeared to be done on the outside (sort of) although the batter turned out to be so thick that I knew they couldn’t possibly have been fully cooked yet when I took them off. Their golden brown color was what I was trying to achieve but alas, when I cut into it, it was obvious the insides were still more raw than cooked.

Back to the frying pan they went after I had taken the obligatory pictures. If you like light and fluffy pancakes, this may not be the recipe to use. These had some chew to them, more like a cake than a pancake. The taste was good, almost like a vanilla cake, but this is the kind of pancake where you’d probably just eat one, rather than a stack of them because they’re filling. The stack was just for posterity.

2 large eggs
3/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1. In a medium bowl, use a mixer to beat together eggs, milk and vanilla until foamy.
2. In another medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and sugar. Fold into the liquid ingredients until just incorporated. Do not overmix. Allow to rest until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes.
3. Place a large skillet over medium low heat and lightly grease with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Once heated, pour 1/4 cup of the batter into prepared skillet. Once golden on bottom and bubbles begin to form on top, flip to the other side. Continue to cook until golden. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve immediately, topped with butter and/or maple syrup.

Thanksgiving 2015 Meal 2

Thanksgiving, November 26, 2015

As Thanksgiving weekend draws to a close, I hope all of you who celebrate it had a good one. We got back yesterday from spending a few days at my sister's where we had our second Thanksgiving meal of the year.

This one was a combination of American and Filipino food. There was the traditional turkey, complete with stuffing and mashed potatoes. My sister got a fresh turkey and I have to say, although I'm not a fan of turkey, this was probably one of the best I've had. Much more flavorful and moist. One of the reasons I don't care for turkey is it's often dry, no matter how well it's been cooked. Not this one; it was moist and tasted pretty good.

Pancit Bihon

Lechon

The Filipino side was represented by the lechon (roast pork) and a traditional version of Pancit, a Filipino noodle dish, similar to Chinese chow mein but with "bihon" or rice noodles. My sister softened them in water and steamed them with soy sauce. That was pretty tasty too.

Mashed Potatoes

Cranberries

Green beans

It was snowy at my sister's and had stormed the day before we arrived. Thankfully, the snow limited itself to just enough flurries to cover the ground but not enough to stop us from getting around.

View from my sister's backyard

And of course, my sister's dogs joined us in the festivities. Apologies the picture is a bit blurry but it's hard to get them in the same shot, much less to get them to look or stand still. That's Dougie, her Newfoundland on the left and Sammy, a chocolate lab/Keyshawn mix on the right. Both were very well behaved and always fun to spend some time with.