Halloween Treats!

Look what I made for D's 1st grade Halloween Party! They're caramel apple mice! So yummy.... and cute!

This caramel was not too sticky (like stick to your teeth sticky) and was the perfect balance of sweet, salty, and buttery. I made a second batch the following night. This time I put it in a mini crock pot (but a fodue pot would work too) and served it with sliced green apples!

Let me know if you want the recipe.

Chocolate Decadence Yum!

I am a self proclaimed chocolate chip cookie snob. When they are good, i can't get enough. If they're not good, i can easily pass!

I was fortunate enough, about a year ago, to stumble upon the world's best chocolate chip cookie recipe. I've never baked or eaten a chocolate chipper i liked better than this. Part of me wants to keep my little secret to myself and the other part says 'Let the rest of the world enjoy!!!'.

A friend of mine, who is an amazing baker, always stuck with the Toll House recipe. She decided to give my favorite recipe a try and.......... well she's never gone back!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-chewy-recipe/index.html

The only things I ask of you are:
1) Use high quality semi sweet chocolate chips (meaning don't use Toll House).
2) Don't use artificial vanilla flavoring. If you go to Trader Joe's get the bourbon vanilla instead of the Tahitian.


This is an Alton Brown recipe. He is a genius in the kitchen. Two of my most prized recipes come from him. I also noticed that there is a gluten free version of this same cookie recipe. I've never tried it, but i'd be willing to bet it's yummy!

Short Stack!

Not your ordinary pancakes...... These ones have fiber and protein!



This morning I was awoken by a certain six year old sitting on top of me, requesting pancakes. I make pancakes, usually once a week. Whatever's not eaten gets frozen and reheated for breakfast throughout the week! That way, even if i had already gone to school when D woke up, he could have a breakfast made by mom!

So, the following is my unquestionably perfect pancake recipe. D will not eat pancakes without chocolate chips, so mine are always made with them (blueberries are super good too). Chocolate can be left out if you prefer.

BrattyD's Perfect Pancakes:



Heat pan to medium high temp. I use a square pan. Lightly grease with vegetable oil.

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp Whole Grain Soy Flour
1 Tbsp Ground flax meal

Mix all dry ingredients. Then add the following, one at a time.

1 1/4 cups warm milk
3 Tbsp melted (not hot) Butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients until combined. Pour batter on heated pan, to desired size. When edges bubble and begin to look slightly dry. Flip and cook the other side.

If you are adding chocolate chips. Arrange chocolate chips in poured batter.


Cover each chip with a drop of batter. If you skip this step the chocolate chips will melt and stick to the pan.

The pancake in the picture above is ready to be flipped!

Eat with grade A maple syrup (or Mrs. Butterworths if you're 6)! Yum!

Enjoy!!!

Root Beer Float Cupcakes: Trial # 1

Far from perfection! They tasted good..... but not like root beer. This recipe sounded like such a good idea, however, it needs some serious tweaking.

There are those recipes you come across that are perfect the way they are, like my pancake recipe. I would not dare alter that one. It's perfect the way it is. Next time I make pancakes I'll post the recipe.

The root beer float cupcake recipe I came across, was not one of those recipes that's perfect the way it is. I'm not done with it though. I'm determined to make this recipe work!

This is what happened:

The batter was very thing, so that made a little unsure. Mixing mini marshmallows into the batter was the last step. Yum! Melted marshmallows inside cupcakes...... Genius!


Marshmallows mixed into thin batter is really not such a good idea. What makes marshmallows fluffy? AIR! Yeah, air floats! So really this is not such a good idea.



After the marshmallows finish puffing up, they dissolve. The sticky marshmallow goo has nowhere left to go but down the sides of the paper liners.


What a mess to clean up! What i got were cupcakes that looked more like sticky honey bran muffins (which I actually really like), than like cupcakes.


These were a mess to eat. The paper liners sort of caramelized to the cake (good luck not eating the paper!) The frosting recipe was so terribly flawed I'm not even going to mention it.

The flavor of the cake was good. Very rich and buttery, but not at all like root beer. Next time I'm going to use root beer flavoring. I'm not normally a fan of artificial anything, but I'm determined to make these root beer flavored cupcakes taste like root beer! No marshmallows in the batter next time either!

I would love any suggestions for creating a good strong root beer flavor!

What about Guiness Float cupcakes!?

Dim Sum? Yes!

Dim Sum is even yummy re-steamed!

I recently decided to try something new in the kitchen.

Dim Sum!

My friend Christine introduced me to this fabulous form of cooking/eating just a couple weeks ago. If you ever have the chance, on a weekend to go out for dim sum, do it! It's usually served early in the day, as something like brunch. Go hungry and bring someone who speaks Chinese!

For Mother's Day I received a bamboo steamer basket and was not entirely sure what to do with it. That was, until I discovered the culinary delight of Dim Sum!

Light, warm, fluffy buns with delicious fillings, both sweet and savory. Spring rolls and soft see-through dumplings filled with fresh shrimp. Lotus buns and custard tarts provide the perfect finish to the meal!

I'm hooked. So i gave it a try in my own kitchen and had great success! I am stoked!

Shrimp, Pork, and Shiitake filled Siew Mai Dumplings

Barbecue Pork Buns

I am definitely going to make more dim sum. Next time I think I'll make buns and tarts with sweet fillings! Yum!