Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Double Chocolate Dark Chocolate and Mint Chip Cookies

That was a mouthful...and literally, you'll want a mouthful after your teeth sink into these gooey, minty, chocolaty delights. Cheese! Well, maybe not cheese, but CHOCOLATE!! :-D Drooool....

Don't forget the leche!!!

I had no idea that Nestle sold so many specialty chocolate (and other flavor) chips at Christmastime. And yes, it's Christmastime officially. Thanksgiving has yet to arrive, but city trees are going up, rolls of wrap stand tall in cardboard displays, Christmas tunes jingle and dingle over radio airwaves, and Central Market has officially become a fir wonderland. It's here! 

Do you see my snow-friend? What a cute green nose! :-)
So, a couple weeks ago I was leaving Walmart and I stumbled upon a bag of glorious mint and dark chocolate chips. All I could think was, must have them! And, mint thins! By the time I got home, I almost had my mind made up. I would make double chocolate chip cookies, and just use the bag of chips. Then I peered at the back of the bag of chips and decided to follow the recipe for "Mint Chocolate Delights". They were amazing. The first time I made them, I actually used white whole wheat flour. If you are unfamiliar with white whole wheat flour, it has all the nutritional benefits of whole wheat flour, but behaves like white flour. White whole wheat flour yields baked goods that are milder in taste, fluffier and lighter in texture. I can definitely attest to the fact that whole wheat flour will make your baked goods pounds heavier. Okay, maybe not pounds, but it does make baked goods dense. And it tends to have a very strong, bitter flavor. Back to the white whole wheat. I was thrilled that the double chocolate mint cookies took to the flour. Biting into that warm, soft cookie was like sinking my teeth into a pillow. The gooey goodness! The melted chocolate! The cool bite of mint! Yummm. The second time I made the cookies, I used all purpose flour, and they came out similarly. I couldn't really tell the difference. I honestly really love this recipe. If you aren't a huge fan of mint, you probably won't like it too much, but if you like mint, this is a great recipe!
Ze recipe! I actually rolled the dough into golf-ball sized mounds and dropped onto baking sheets, and baked for the same amount of time-amazing!




Why are School Counselors so Awesome? Hint...possible answers below...

I work with schools on a daily basis. Something that I have noticed is that elementary school counselors are awesome. They ROCK!

Here's why, and this list is in no way all-conclusive:

  • They set the tone for the school. I have fallen in love with the many quotes, quips, and sayings decorating school hallways and school counselors' offices. They are so happy to let students be who they are!
  • They wear a LOT of different hats. Many of the school counselors we work with not only provide students with much needed social and psychological support, but they also recruit and coordinate volunteers, promote community involvement through various programs, organize book fairs, plan luncheons, and so much more. 
  • They are super creative! They can roll tissue paper, staple and stencil letters, and create beautiful displays and bulletin boards like nobody's business!
  • As if the above didn't make it clear--they work super hard!
Here are some pictures of some of the quotes and wall art I've seen at a few of my schools. I just love it!




Did I mention teachers are awesome too? One of my school districts often displays student work in the hallways. The student work is evaluated using a peer system, in which students describe how their peers met the learning standard. Amazing! Look at these boards!








Tuesday, November 19, 2013

How to Botch a Cake...


Does anyone else grow tired of seeing pin after pin, picture after picture of marvelous baked goods, baked goods that look a little too easy to recreate? Well, hear me roar--I AM!!!

So the bestie sent me a pin for a pumpkin spice crunch cake. It looked easy enough. Make a box of spice cake batter, add in some pureed pumpkin and a mound of heath toffee bits. Bake, spread with icing, add a sprinkle of heath bits, and voila, done! 

Once I took a second look I thought, "Wait wait wait..." Here were my issues:
  1. Exactly HOW much pumpkin puree (canned, no doubt) was I to add to the batter? Typically recipes using canned pumpkin call for one 15 oz can. Okay. Whew. That wasn't too bad. 
  2. Then I worried about the amount of moisture in the batter. Would the water the box recipe called for, plus the water in the pumpkin, be too much for the cake? But I didn't know how to modify it, so I kept going. 
  3. Wait--how much of the heath bits to add to the cake, when I needed to add some to the batter, the middle layer, and the outside of the iced cake? The good thing about that is that no amount of heath bits is too large, so I put about a third of a cup in the batter, and then sprinkled onto the middle layer and outside of the cake until it looked pretty. Cool. 
  4. Wait, now with all the extra ingredients, is the cake going to bake for as long as the box indicates? Nope. As a matter of fact, it took much longer, much much longer. Then again that could have been because I had to place all the batter in my one springform pan. I thought it'd be prettier as a round cake rather than baking in two bread loaf pans like the picture directed. So maybe that part was my fault!
After all of this, I removed the cake from the oven and let it cool on a wire cooling rack. If you need a lesson in patience, bake a cake. I did not fully succeed in learning my lesson, as I was too eager to cut the cake in half so I could frost it, pop it into its pretty glass home, and be DONE. So as I was cutting the cake in half, part of it started to crumble. EXPLETIVE! EXPLETIVE! EXPLETIVE! Mind you, this cake is for my office's Thanksgiving lunch today. But I REFUSED to start over (no ingredients to do so) or bring something else. I was gon' finish this cake come hell or high batter! You get the picture. 

Also, when turning a cake out onto a cake dish, and you have NOT baked the layers in two separate pans, be sure to have a large spatula with a lot of surface area. This will help. Or, you can place a plate on the bottom of the cake and turn it over. I used a combo of all of these techniques to get the layers on the cake dish. 

When it came to the top of the cake, about a third of it did crumble all the way off, but, you guessed it, I let the icing do its magic to bind all parts of the cake. I spread that icing like my life (and the cake's life) fully depended on it (and it did). The finished product wasn't perfect, but it held together, and looks pretty purty. Let's just pray the folks at my job like it! I know that to be a real chef means tasting as you go, but am I the only one who finds that just a little scary? In my quest for avoidance I wait until I take the first bite and let that tell me all I need to know. And by the by, if this cake turns out tasty, I'll post the recipe. :-)

Happy Early Thanksgiving! 
The crack...ominous much?!

Looks okay, right?


Yeah, it crumbled. Don't judge me. :-p



The aftermath...not too bad if I do say so myself!!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Ree Drummond and a 5-Minute DIY Project

The title of this post is rather un-dramatic, but that's okay. I want to get down to business in this post. 

I. met. Ree. Drummond. On Monday, November 4th, two thousand and thirteen! Here's how it happened...

My first book signing was on a frigid November night. The line of culinary enthusiasts stretched and coiled down the parking garage lot. When I arrived, a Sam's Club staff member (and gentleman) almost burst my bubble. "I just want to let you know that this is the cut-off, and you may not make it to the front of the line. There are people who were waiting since 6 am to get their books signed.".I nodded and turned my head away so I could blink back tears. Hard-headed as I am, I stayed in line. About 5 other people joined the line after me, and I couldn't help but feel relieved. Earlier that day I'd spoken with an associate on the phone. "Ree said she'll stay until the last book is signed, but Sam's closes at 8:30." Having entered the line at 6:30, I worried I wouldn't make it. But, angels do exist. And I am convinced Ree Drummond is one of them. This sweet, kindhearted woman signed books until well after 8:30. We left at around 9:40, signed book in hand, almost glowing ethereally. Even during the signing, Ree raised kindness to an art. She made small talk with us, welcomed us into a picture, and then signed my book with large, flourishing script. Definitely one of the highlights of this November. 

Ree! Ree! Ree! And me! And Kathy!

*Sigh*

5-Minute DIY project-Potholder Hooks

This is so easy breezy. Tonight I got the inkling to put in two u-shaped hooks to hang my potholders from. In my small kitchen, which unashaedly boasts 10 cabinets (2 of which are my pantry) and three drawers, one drawer is dedicated to kitchen towels. My potholders, although small, are taking up unnecessary space, and, I've been wanting easier access to them. I pulled out my hammer, a tiny nail, and two u-shaped hooks and went to work. Check it out:
 Place the nail where you want the hook. Tap it into the wall, one or two taps. Pull it out. Place the pointy end of your hook into the hole, and screw it in. This way you don't have to drill a hole. Hang up your potholder(s)!!!! THAT IS IT!!! SUPER DUPER EASY! I know you probably could have figured that one out for yourself, but I'm in love with sharing, so! :-) Muahs darlings!