Betty Crocker's Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm trying to get the perfect chocolate chip cookie these days, so I've already tried about four different recipes just last week. 

One of them was the turtle cookies I posted a few hours ago, which was awesome, but that technically wasn't a chocolate chip cookie, and they had nuts in them.

This one's more of a pure, classic version:)

Of course, they're huge, soft, thick, moist, and chewy - just how I like'em!

I usually try to underbake my cookies so that there's a little cookie doughy bit inside:)))

And these cookies certainly gave me that!

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies
Recipe from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook
Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar*
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour**
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F.
Mix sugars, butter, and egg in a large bowl. Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt.
Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving 3 inches between cookies.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are set but the center is still soft. Let the cookies cool for about 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to wire racks and cool completely.

Notes:
*I used splenda brown sugar blend, just to make it a little healthier:)
**I used 2 1/4 cups of self rising flour and omitted the baking soda and salt.
For regular sized cookies, drop by heaping tablespoons about 2 inches apart and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen.

Asian Chicken with Peanuts

Chicken is officially my favorite meat.

Well, they're poultry, not exactly 'meat'. So let's say.. favorite protein?

No, wait. Beans are better.

Okay, chicken is my favorite animal to eat... that sounds weird, doesn't it?

Forget it. I just like chicken.

They're so versatile and easy to prepare in a snap. Plus, they're healthy!

I don't know how many people are like me, but I like the taste of healthy food. I usually eat the chicken breasts rather than the wings or drumsticks.

And I love munching down a big bowl of chunky vegetables.

It makes me feel so... pure and organic:)

But at the same time, I love chocolatey, buttery, fudgy desserts, so I guess that evens it out.

Asian Chicken with Peanuts
serves 4 (2 cups each)
Recipe adapted from Campbell's Kitchen
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 3/4 cups less sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/4 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 2 inch strips (2 cups)
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
2 cups broccoli
2 small red peppers, cut into 2-inch strips (2 cups)
1/2 cup salted peanuts*
2 tablespoons chunky or creamy peanut butter (optional)**
1 cup long grain white rice, cooked (3 cups cooked)

Directions:
Stir cornstarch, broth, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil in a medium bowl.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium high heat and stir fry chicken until well browned. Remove the chicken from the skillet and keep warm.
Reduce heat to medium, heat 1 tablespoon oil, and add broccoli, pepper, and garlic and stir fry until tender crisp. Stir in the cornstarch mixture; cook and stir until it boils and thickens, then stir in the peanut butter. Return chicken to skillet.
Stir in peanuts and season with salt to taste. Cook until hot and bubbling.
Serve with cooked rice.

Notes:
*I didn't have salted peanuts, so I used regular peanuts and added about 1/2 teaspoon salt.
**The original recipe doesn't include peanut butter, but I felt that the end result didn't really pick up the peanutty flavor from just the salted peanuts.

Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

How about that, eh? Ooey and gooey. And chewy.

I made these for my dad and his golf friends, since they always skip lunch when they go golfing.

I had less than an hour left until my dad had to go, so I made these in a real hurry. 

Notice that they are quite underbaked. Problem? Nah.

They didn't even get to cool down before getting packed, which meant EXTRA gooey:)

These are the BEST peanut butter chocolate chip bar cookies I've ever made!

They have a slight crackling top, and the interior is very soft and moist. 

Every bite gives you a huge chunk of oozing chocolate and a killing smell of warm peanut butter.

I'll probably make these again... and again...and again... 

until I become a big, fat chocolate chip.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars
Makes 16 bars
Recipe adapted from Bakeat350
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted  butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8x8" square pan with aluminum foil.
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
Cream the butter and peanut butter together until smooth. Beat in both the sugars until combined.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Stir in the vanilla; stir in the flour mixture. Add the chocolate chips and mix until just combined.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake about 40 minutes. Cool completely; cut into 16 squares.

Caramel Turtle Cookies

I love chocolate chip cookies. That's an undeniable, solid fact.

I baked big, fat chocolate chip cookies three days in a row last week, all of which I have gobbled up after lunch (and dinner... and umm.. breakfast too). 

But I don't like just any old chocolate chip cookie..

Wait, let me fix that. I like any chocolate chip cookies, but I don't fall in LLLOVE with all of them.

There are lots of things to consider when you're choosing THE ONE.

Crunchy vs. Soft

Thick vs. Thin

Chewy vs. Cakey

Crisp vs. Ooey Gooey

Chocolate chunks vs. Specks of mini chocolate chips

Nuts vs. No nuts

....

...

...

I could go on forever, but my criteria is simple.

1. Soft, but not cakey

2. Loaded with chocolate chips

3. Thick

4. No nuts

That's all I ask for.

How come none of my chocolate chips turn out that way? It's so frustrating.

These caramel turtle cookies are a little twist to chocolate chip cookies, because I added some caramel bits and nuts to it.

I know, I know, I hate nuts in cookies, but these were requested by my mom, who loves anything with nuts in them, so I reluctantly grabbed a bag of some forgotten macadamia nuts and poured them into my precious cookie dough.

And surprisingly, they were perfect! Even the nuts gave them a great flavor and a nice crunch. I think I didn't mind the nuts because the tops of these cookies were crackly and crunchy anyways.

The inside is soft though, so I munch-munched until I realized it was 11pm. 

Hmm... I'll walk 10 miles tomorrow.

Caramel Turtle Cookies
Makes 1 dozen 5-inch cookies
Recipe adapted from My baking addiction
Ingredients:
1 cup minus 1 tablespoon cake flour
5/6 cup bread flour (1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup caramel bits (I used Kraft)
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Combine both flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until very light, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and mix well. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips, caramel bits, and chopped nuts.
Using a regular ice cream scoop, scoop a generous amount of dough and place on the cookie sheets. I got 9 on one of them and 3 on the other.
Bake until golden brown but still soft, about 18-20 minutes. You might want to switch the two cookie sheets  during baking for even browning. I didn't, so 9 of them were golden brown while 3 of them were a tad bit pale:( Cool completely on a wire rack, then store in an airtight container.

Notes:
For smaller cookies, you can use a heaping tablespoon instead of an ice cream scoop, and bake for 12 minutes.

Golden Pecan Pie (Pecan Tart)

Here comes Christmas holidays!

It feels great to look out the window and see all the decorations that my neighbors have put up on their houses.

It makes me feel all warm and cozy:))

I know it's not Christmas yet, and it's not the holidays yet either, but I wanted to celebrate the first of December with something holiday-ey!

I've never made a pecan pie before, but I've always wanted to try one, so I whipped up my favorite pie crust recipe and filled it with sweet, gooey, crunchy, nutty, indulgent pecan filling... YUM!

I had a problem with some filling being left over, but that's probably because I used a tart pan instead of a pie pan(which I sadly didn't have). But no worries! I simply baked the rest in some crushed graham crackers and called it an individual pecan pie:)

Golden Pecan Pie (Pecan Tart)
makes one 9-inch pie
Recipe from Pillsbury: Best Desserts
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold shortening
2 to 4 tablespoons ice water
For the Filling:
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups light corn syrup*
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup pecan halves
2 tablespoon margarine or butter, melted

Directions:
For the Crust:
In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt; mix well. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the cold shortening until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of ice water at a time, mixing lightly with a fork. Add water until the dough is just moist enough to form a ball when lightly pressed together. Shape into a ball and flatten to a 1/2-inch thickness. On a floured surface, roll into a 11-inch circle, using gentle, light strokes from center to edge. Do not roll back and forth, or else it will become tough! Roll up the circle onto the rolling pin, place it just above the pie pan, and roll it off to place it on the pan. Gently press in the bottom and up the sides with fingertips. Do not stretch. You can trim the edges and use the scraps to fill in any holes.
For the Filling:
Preheat oven to 375F.
In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, corn syrup, vanilla dna eggs; beat well. Stir in pecans and margarine/butter. Pour into pan lined with the crust.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the filling is puffed and the crust is golden brown. Let it cool completely, then store in the refrigerator.

Notes:
*I found this a little too sweet, so I would reduce the corn syrup to 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) OR reduce the brown sugar to 1 tablespoon. But then again,  I don't even eat the icing on cupcakes because it's too sweet.