Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookie

During my usually browsing of baking blogs, I found this carrot cake breakfast cookie recipe from Cookie Madness. Just by looking at the name of these cookies, most people would be intrigued about what exactly this baking morsel is. Well, the name itself describes what the cookie is. It is a cookie with a cake-like texture, carrots, and the healthiness and heartiness of a complete breakfast.

I followed the recipe and added orange zest and although it gave the cookies an extra zip, I don't know if I will add it in the next cookies. It's not that it's bad, it was just slightly too much fragrance for my taste. I would suggest trying the cookies with the zest first before deciding to omit it. I think these cookies are pretty healthy and is a good option if you are health conscious. I think it uses a minimal amount of oil and sugar to make a delicious cookie!

Challah

What is usually the first thing that you think of when you hear homemade bread? I would assume that most people would get an uneasy feeling of fear, anxiety, or intimidation. Although I haven't made loaves and loaves of bread, the same feeling came over me as well. Bread is different from other baked goods because there are so many factors to take into account that could affect the final product. I think the hardest part about making bread is dealing with the yeast by making sure it is mixed with the right temperature liquid and is stored in the right temperature to proof. Another reason why people stray away from making their own bread is because of the amount of time it takes. From my experiences, I've had productive days while making a loaf of bread. I have gotten things done around the house and even run short errands.

Making bread is definitely doable, especially after a few trials. I decided to make a challah bread today. It is one of my favorite breads to eat because of its eggy taste which is funny because I do not like eggs! I have made this before but it did not use any butter and had a limited amount of oil. This recipe does include butter

Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Although these cookies look like ordinary chocolate chip cookies, these cookies have little bit of a different take on the standard chocolate chipper. The difference is malted milk powder. It may sound different but it gives the chocolate a fuller chocolate flavor in my opinion. It twists your ordinary chocolate chip cookie to extraordinary. Although you taste the malted milk powder, it does not overpower the cookie. The malt also gives the cookies a nice brown color with a hint of pink. If you are a malted milk drinker or malt ball eater, this cookie is definitely for you! Even if you don't, you might be converted after these cookies!

Sugar Cookies

Ah, the famous sugar cookie! I feel that sometimes its simple appearance gives the sugar cookie a bad name but I believe it can be as complex or satisfying as any other cookie out there. What constitutes the perfect sugar cookie? chewiness? cake-like? cookie cutter shaped? crispiness and thinness? In my opinion, there is no perfect sugar cookies. Just like my chocolate cookie repertoire, my sugar cookie repertoire is no different. I have a sugar cookie recipe for every type of sugar cookie. Of course we all have a type of sugar cookie that we are partial to, but instead of calling it the perfect sugar cookie, I like to call it my "ideal" sugar cookie: thin, light, crispy, and a lightly brown around the edges.


Believe it or not, I have only eaten my ideal sugar cookie once. It was from a family friend that made them when I went to her house. These cookies were one of the most addicting cookies I had ever eaten. The cookies were thin, light, crispy, and a little brown around the edges - my "ideal" sugar cookie. On top of that, they were all cookie cutter shaped like a bunny. They were perfect! I remember on the way home, I was telling my mom how infatuated I was to those cookies that she told me I should learn how to make them. She told me that they key would be to use cake flour to get the cookies that light. I went home and started experimenting but never achieved my ideal sugar cookie. I began trying numerous recipes and altering different proportions but it seemed that my favorite sugar cookies were never to be seen or eaten again.

Now I know what you are probably thinking, why didn't I just ask for the recipe. To be completely honest, I was too shy. Also, I figured it wouldn't be that hard and I could figure it out on my own...boy was I wrong! Anyways, recently I went on a day trip up north with a bunch of my friends and I wanted to bake cookies. I figured sugar cookies is a neutral cookie that most people enjoy. I didn't want to use any of the recipes I had so I went to Cookie Madness' blog. I had been looking at the blog for the past several days and was anxious to try a recipe from it. As I was scrolling through the different sugar cookie recipes, one of them struck me. It used powdered sugar in addition to regular sugar as well as oil in addition to butter. I thought it was interesting and from my what I gathered, it seemed like it would make a lighter sugar cookie. The results?

A light, crispy, and brown around the edges sugar cookie! These were drop cookies but had I used a rabbit shaped cookie cutter, they would have turned out insanely similar to my family friend's. I will give up bunny shaped cookies to get the taste and texture of my ideal sugar cookie! Another great thing about this recipe is that you can cook them a little less and the cookies can be soft and chewy. I love these cookies and will be making them all the time!

Just for kicks, the description of this cookie on Cookie Madness is, "Random last minute cookies I made for T&F Day." What? Random? Last minute? I have been searching for this recipe for almost seven years! There is nothing random and last minute about these cookies!

Swispy Sandwich

I don't know if there is such an invention like this out there but I could not find one. This creation came to me one day when I wanted to make my little brother an afternoon snack. This sandwich can also be eaten for breakfast or dessert. This sandwich is sweet and crispy, hence the name swispy sandwich.

How did I come up with the swispy sandwich? Well, I am a huge fan of peanut butter sandwiches. I am also a huge fan of fluffernutter sandwiches. Then one day, I discovered the deliciousness of Nutella and began eating Nutella sandwiches, Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches, and Nutella and marshmallow sandwiches. So I thought to myself, why not combine peanut butter, marshmallows, and Nutella together? Since I didn't have any marshmallow fluff on hand, I had to melt the marshmallows to make it yummy so I used my sandwich maker. Another reason I used the sandwich maker is because it toasts the bread and melts everything together. When the marshmallows melted, it fluffed up the sandwich nicely and made the sandwich divine. No fears if you do not have a sandwich maker because you just warm it up on a griddle or panini maker. The only difference is that it won't turn out fluffy.

Buttermilk Pancakes

What is a better way to start off you day than eating a nice stack of buttermilk pancakes? I can't think of anything better than these light and fluffy concoctions. I like this recipe because it has great flavor and turns out to be everything you expect in a buttermilk pancake!

Mochi

What's mochi you ask? It is a Chinese snack made popular in Japan. Aside from finding mochi at Asian supermarkets, I have seen mochi bites at frozen yogurt places as one of the toppings. You can always try it with your fro-yo before you try to make it at home. It is essentially sweet rice flour with sugar and water and although it may sound simple, it can be just as complex as a cake or cookie. Inside the ball of flour, you can find some sort of filling. These filling varies from jellies, ice cream, pastes such as red or mung bean, or the classic peanut and coconut filling. If you have a weakness for chewy textured foods like myself, than this is the perfect little sweet treat for you! The key to the chewiness? The sweet rice flour, aka glutinous rice flour. This ingredient is used to make a lot of Chinese snacks. Some people are turned off by the chewy texture of mochi but I believe with some getting use to, these things can be addicting.