Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Once again, who doesn't love Ina Garten? If you want to make something delicious and amazing, Ina's recipes is a great place to search. I saw these cookies on Barefoot Contessa and they look absolutely scrumptious. Sometimes I feel like making cookies can be monotonous but there was something about this cookie that helped me get out of my cookie rut. Similar to what I said in my Chocolate Cake post, it is important to use quality ingredients such as cocoa, vanilla, and white chocolate. These cookies had a rich chocolate flavor and chewy inside. What makes these cookies so delicious is the combination of the chocolate. The texture is exactly what a cookie should be, a crisp exterior and a gooey and chewy center. I'm ending this post so I can go and grab a cookie!

Chocolate Cake

I have never been a big fan of cake. I think this is because I have had a lot of mediocre cake in my life and not enough great cakes to say, "I love cake!" Also, I am not a big fan of frosting so whenever I eat cake, I am basing my opinion on the cake alone. Now I know, some of you are reading this and screaming duh to why I don't like cake because the frosting is usually what "makes" a cake good. Frosting aside, isn't a cake suppose to be moist, flavorful, and have a nice texture to it? Yes! This is what has been lacking my cake eating experience. I have also had cakes that had just the wrong cake to frosting ratio where there was so much frosting that I might as well have eaten frosting from a can. This is not to say that I am a frosting or cake hater - gosh no! Surely when I have came across a good cake, I would eat it...ALL!

Focusing on this post, I have come across a cake that is moist, flavorful, and great texture. How could the Barefoot Contessa ever get it wrong? I knew once I saw the episode where Ina made this chocolate cake, that it had to be good. I think there are two things that make this cake fantastic. First, good quality cocoa really makes a difference between an ordinary chocolate cake and a good chocolate cake. Second, the coffee brings out the richness of the cake and makes it taste like it is from a professional. As you can see, there is a thin layer of frosting on the cake. I chose to try a ganache and it complemented the cake very well but the cake is good enough to eat solo!

Thumbprints

This is one of my favorite cookies ever. My mom always made these for the family growing up and because of that, I like to call this cookie one of the classics. These cookies are nice and buttery with the perfect amount of sweetness from the jam. They are so delicious but as much as I love them, they are a bit time consuming to produce. However, the labor is definitely worth it! These cookies got their names because you are suppose to make a thumb imprint into the dough and fill the indent with jam or preserve. My family is a fan of the jam so we make our imprints much bigger than what the name calls for. That's one of the greatest thing about baking, if there is something you don't like, you can always find a way to change it. Also, many recipes of this cookie use strawberry or grape jam. Although both of those are good choices, nothing beats apricot preserves.

Cinnamon Bun Shortcut - Cinnamon Bun Bread

I stumbled upon this recipe from the blog Baking Bites. I'm a huge fan of cinnamon buns but not so much when it comes to dealing with yeast. Making bread from scratch is most definitely rewarding but can be quite time consuming. This recipe attracted me because it requires less time than regular cinnamon buns despite the fact that it requires yeast. Even though this recipe can be made in less time than regular cinnamon buns, the taste and satisfaction is not compromised in any way. Granted, this recipe does not yield individual spirals of cinnamon buns but it is still satisfying nonetheless. The bread reminds me of a coffeecake and the topping is bit reminiscent of a pecan pie. Don't get me wrong, it still tastes like a cinnamon bun.

Chocolate(s) Chip Cookies

The famous chocolate chip cookie. There are millions of recipes and variations to the chocolate chip cookie so it's just a matter of finding the recipe that suits you and your taste. I actually have looked at tons and tons of chocolate chip cookie recipes and after all that searching, I cannot say that I have a favorite recipe. I have a few recipes that I would put at the top of the list that I make depending on what kind of chocolate chip cookie mood I'm in. I have recipes with oatmeal, whole wheat, a touch of cinnamon and some that turn out crispy, chewy, a stronger brown sugar flavor, basically whatever I'm in the mood for. What recipe am I sharing today? It's actually a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe but I tweaked it to the mood I was in that day. I changed the ratio of brown sugar and white sugar and incorporated white chocolate chips with semisweet chips. It turned out to be rich in flavor and the perfect crispy edges and chewy interior!

Garlic Knots

I'm sure we have all had garlic bread some point in our lives. The combination of garlic, butter and oil on a nice crunchy piece of bread are just divine. It's so divine that we want to make ourselves whenever we have a desire for it... well, that's how I feel at least. There are tons of ways and recipes to make garlic bread. I started making garlic bread with toasting some bread and slabbing on some oil or butter, topped with garlic salt or powder. Then I moved on to rubbing pieces of garlic on my toast to heating up garlic infused oil and brushing it on toasted bread. One thing these techniques have in common is that they're quick. However, with a little extra time on hands, try making these 100% homemade garlic knots. I had my first garlic knot about two years ago and was anxious to make my own. The bread dough is super easy because it is a basic pizza dough. Do not be intimidated to make the bread, even if the bread does not turn out perfectly, the garlic mixture will make up for it! The garlic topping is made over the stove and when the knots come out of the oven, toss the knots with the garlic/butter/oil mixture and the heat from the bread will cook the garlic mixture and makes it absolutely delicious!

Rolo Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

Around the holidays last year, my friend and I were making cookies for a cookie exchange party. I opted to make a simple sugar cookie but my friend decided to make a more labor intensive cookie. Even though the cookies were time consuming to make, they were definitely the best cookies at the exchange in my opinion. From its appearance, you would assume it was your average chocolate cookie drizzled with some white chocolate but little you would that inside the cookie lied a secret...a gooey, sweet, caramel surprise! The chopped candied pecans (pecans rolled in sugar) makes these cookies extra special and gives the cookies a sweet and nutty flavor. So, from what you thought as just an average cookie actually turned out to be delicious and unique morsel of goodness. What a nice holiday surprise but I guarantee I will be making these cookies all year round!