Have you ever seen a picture of homemade marshmallows?

Yum!

I wanted to make some of my own.  Actually, I've wanted to make these for months now.
I found this recipe and thought it looked like one I could tackle on my own.  

All that is needed is these ingredients:

So I started by emptying the gelatin into water.

 Second, I melted the sugar and remaining water in a pot like instructed.  Next, I added the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin/water.  

These were then beat together and the vanilla was added.

In a separate bowl I whipped the egg whites, which were then folded into the other bowl.  

I then poured everything into a pre-prepared pan and sprinkled powdered sugar on top.  

I don't know if I made it exactly right.  I didn't have a candy thermometer to determine the temperature of the hot sugar mixture, so I tried guessing.

Mine didn't quite look like the pictures I found on the internet.  Oh well.

Homemade Marshmallows
1 cup of powdered sugar
3 1/2 - envelopes of unflavored gelatin
2 3/4 - cups of granulated sugar
1 1/4 - cup of water, divided
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon of vanilla (or any other flavoring... orange, peppermint?)

1) Prepare the Pan.  Spray a large (9x13) baking pan with non-stick spray and sprinkle it with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.  Set aside.

2) In a mixing bowl, pour 1 cup of water.  Pour in unflavored gelatin to soften.  Set aside.

3) In a heavy bottomed saucepan, pour in granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of water.  Cook over low heat, stirring, until the sugar has melted, about 2 minutes.  Raise heat to medium and cook, without stirring, for 8-10 minutes until it is hot and bubbly.  Make sure it does not start to turn brown!  If you have a candy thermometer, let the sugar mixture heat to 240 degrees.  If you do not, you can put a drop a small amount of the sugar mixture from the spoon into a small bowl of cold water.  If the sugar stays in a 'soft ball' and flattens out in the water, then it is done.  Remove it from the heat.

4) Pour the hot sugar mixture into the mixing bowl with the gelatin.  With the whisk attachment, beat on high for 6-8 minutes until the mixture has tripled in volume and is white and glossy.  Add vanilla (or other extract flavor) and combine.

5) In a seperate bowl, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.  Fold them into the sugar mixture, mixing just until combined.

6) Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.  Don't worry about getting it all out of the bowl - it is impossible!  Spread out evenly, then sprinkle the remaining powdered sugar on top.  Refrigerate for 1-3 hours (up to 1 day), until it is firm.

7) To cut into shapes, dip your cookie cutter (or knife for squares) into powdered sugar and press down on the marshmallows.

Wow

A friend posted this on another friends profile.
I clicked out of curiousity, and I was amazed.
The idea is to take an old picture, and retake the picture using the old picture.  

This one is my favourite - so far.
It reads:

Dear Photograph, 

Dad never took a picture of me, ever.  Then I noticed his reflection in the glass.
Happy Father's Day, Dad.
Anonymous 

 

I saw this video a while ago on some blog. Unfortunately, I don't remember where I found it.  
I enjoy it.  And it makes a part of me want to road trip across the world.

Brownies Anyone?

I used to have THE BEST brownie recipe ever. It was gooey, fudgey and amazing.  I made it all the time in Saskatoon.  One day I made the brownies and brought them to school.   A friend of mine really loved them and asked for the recipe.  So that evening I went home to copy the recipe for her, but I could not find it. Anywhere.  I hadn't made brownies since.

Recently though, I had gotten a craving for brownies.  I searched Tastespotting to find a recipe that I thought looked somewhat similar to my original recipe.

With the help of Kim, I landed on this one.

It looked gooey and delicious.  Plus, it was a one bowl recipe, which is something I love.

Here were the ingredients needed.

First I melted the chocolate and butter in a double broiler.

Then I let it cool for 10 minutes. Next I added sugar.  Then I whisked in the eggs one at a time. Followed by the vanilla.Lastly I folded in the flour.

I poured it into the pan and baked.  I baked for a bit longer then the recipe called for to get the right texture.

Here are the final results!!

So do these best brownies compare to my old recipe?
Almost.
If my old recipe was a 10/10, this would be a 8.5/10.

Modification: I used semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet. (Semi-sweet came in a 8 oz. box and bitter-sweet only came in a 6 oz. box.)

Brownies
recipe from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 c. sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3/4 c. all-purpose
1/2 tsp. salt (I use sea salt. If using, you don’t need the full 1/2 tsp.)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line an 8-inch square baking pan or heatproof glass dishpan with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on 2 sides. (I use 2 sheets of parchment paper, setting them perpendicular to one another in the pan. This makes for nice corners on the brownies.) Set aside.
2. Place butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over, but not touching, simmering water. (I use this double boiler. It also serves as my one mixing bowl for this recipe. Totally worth the investment, especially after you start making these all the time.) Stir frequently until chocolate and butter are melted, about 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat; let cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Stir sugar into cooled chocolate mixture until combined. Whisk in eggs one at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. Whisk in vanilla. (I use a spatula. Works better than a whisk with batter this thick, in my opinion.) Gently fold in flour and sea salt.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan, and smooth top with an offset spatula. Bake until cake tester inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, 40 to 45 minutes. (These will be fudge-y!)
5. Using parchment, lift brownies out of pan and onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Congrats via Cake

Kayla recently graduated from her program at SIAST. CONGRATS!

The weekend after she headed up to Calgary for a visit and I wanted to make her a treat.  Her and I share a mutual love for Reeses Cups so when I saw this recipe I thought it would be perfect. Plus it also seemed fairly easy.

Mine didn’t turn out exactly the same.

Note: For this recipe I didn’t have a chance to take many pictures.   

To start, this recipe is a bit more expensive than others since it requires Cool Whip and Oreos.  Both need to be bought just for this recipe since a whole package of each will  be used.

 

I started by making the crust.
I then melted the peanut butter and confectioner’s sugar together.



The peanut butter didn’t exactly melt like the recipe called for.
I then  let it cool for about 10 minutes.  After, I folded the Cool Whip into the mixture.  Unfortunately, the Cool Whip didn’t fold well. It more or less melted and got mixed in.

I then covered the whole thing in Cool Whip and my decorative letters.

I made chocolate/peanut butter letters spelling out ‘CONGRATS’.
I had melted chocolate melts and the Reese Peanut Butter Chips in a bowl which was set over a bowl of simmering water.  

I let the chocolate mixture sit for a few minutes before putting it in my piping bag.  I then spelled out the letters onto wax paper.  Once the letters had cooled, I put them in a container and froze them until immediately before I was going to serve the cake.  

Frozen Reese’s Peanut Butter Pie

·         24 oreo cookies, crushed

·         4 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

·         2 ½ cups Cool Whip

·         ¾ cup creamy peanut butter

·         ½ cup confectioner sugar

·         ½ cup crushed Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Oreo Crust Instructions:

1.     Place Oreos in a food processor or blender and pulse until cookies are finely crumbed. Alternatively, place Oreos in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin.  Mix in the melted butter and then firmly press crumbs into pan to create a crust. Bake crust at 350 degrees F for 7-10 minutes.

Reese Peanut Butter Pie Filling Instructions:

1.     Place peanut butter and confectioner sugar in a pan over low heat and stir until combined and peanut butter is melted. Set aside for five minutes to cool. Gently fold in peanut butter mixture into Cool Whip until combined. Gently fold in crushed Reese’s pieces into peanut butter Cool Whip mixture.

2.     Pour mixture into Oreo crust and freeze for 3 hours. Garnish with caramel and chocolate drizzle (for added decadence rim with chopped Reese’s pieces).

I made the cake in a lightly buttered 9” springform pan.  The taste and texture of the final cake was similar to that of the Reese’s Pieces - the coated candy pieces.  It was good but even I found it very sweet, and I have a huge sweet tooth.  I couldn’t eat much in a sitting.  Also, I broke the ‘G’…

I can’t decide if I will make it again.  I am glad I tried the recipe though.   

http://alicepyne.blogspot.com/

Read this blog. I heard about it on the radio on the way to work Thursday morning. It got me a little emotional, hearing about such a brave girl. By the time I got home from work, Perez had posted about her. Not only is she able to fulfill her dreams - for the most part - but she is also bringing awareness to the need for marrow donors. She is amazing.

June 11th, 2011

Chocolate Bliss

I made these Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes recently as I have wanted to try a Flourless recipe for awhile now. I got this particular one from Martha Stewart. I figured her recipe would be fool proof.

It is a fairly simple recipe consisting of only 5 ingredients.

First I suggest separating the eggs.
Next I melted the chocolate and butter in a double boiler [bowl over a pot of simmering water].

After that I folded in the egg yolks.

In a different bowl I whipped the egg whites.

I had forgotten that they would increase in volume so I’m thinking I should have chosen a larger bowl.

I then whipped in the sugar.

Lastly, I folded the egg white mixture and chocolate mixture together.

I then filled my muffin tins 3/4 way full and baked.

Voila!

These were so delicious. They tasted like brownies but with a fluffier texture. They were also somewhat sticky. But I really liked them.

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

6 tbsp unsalted butter
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped or 1 ½ c. semisweet chocolate chips
6 large eggs, separated, RT
½ c sugar

1. Preheat oven to 275F. Line tins. Melt butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water. Stir to combine, then remove bowl from heat and let cool slightly. Whisk in egg yolks. 

2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually add sugar, beating until peaks are stiff and glossy but not dry (do not overbeat).  Whisk one quarter of the beaten egg whites into chocolate mixture to lighten; gently fold mixture into remaining whites.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each ¾ full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes are just set in centers - about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes (centers will sink).  Cupcakes can be kept at RT

Modification: I didn’t have enough bittersweet chocolate so I had to use 6 ounces of bittersweet and 2 ounces of semisweet. I was happy with the turnout. The bittersweet chocolate gave them a nice aftertaste while the sweetness remained but was not overpowering.

I recommend this recipe to any chocolate lover.

June 2nd, 2011

So I haven’t been on here recently. But that’s because…. I got a job!
I’m doing filing/data entry for an outpatient unit at a nearby hospital.

The picture is to give a glimpse of what I looked at all day.  I was in the chart room, which had 40 000 charts. I pulled charts, filed them, filed loose papers. Even though it doesn’t sound too exciting, it kept me very busy.  My feet hurt now.  I didn’t realize i would be on my feet for the whole day today.

I’ll get back to posting other stuff next week.  Kayla Pee is coming into town this weekend. So I won’t be using the computer much.  

Have a good weekend! 

May 27th, 2011

Toms Versus Bobs

The other day I was walking through Town Shoes, and I smiled when I saw a pair of Toms on display.  I thought, yay Toms are getting more awareness.
Now, you see I love Toms.  I have one pair and I want more.  And I love when others buy them because I feel like they’re supporting such a great cause.  So yes, I was happy when I saw them at Town Shoes.

But as I walked up to go get a closer look, my smile turned upside down….
They were Bobs.  Are you serious, Bobs?
I wondered, what sort of company would rip off Toms in such a blatant way?
What I mean is these Bobs look EXACTLY like Toms.
See Exhibit A

and B

and C.

And besides the obvious shoe styles, even the name is similar.  Toms/Tom vs. Bobs/Bob.  Why couldn’t they come up with something else.

The differences that Bobs bring to the table is they are about $5 - $10 dollars cheaper, and I think they tried to one-up Toms.  They give 2 shoes for every 1 bought.

Now see, I don’t want to seem bitter.  Donating shoes to children that need it is a wonderful thing.  I feel though, that if Skechers really wanted to do this through the goodness of their hearts, they could have at least picked shoes that looked different. They are a huge company, especially in comparison to Toms.  They therefore should have had the time, money and resources to come up with a different marketing scheme.  Toms, who created their wonderful business model, should not have to be competing with a giant company when they want to do good.

Anyways, that is my rant.  I was mad when I discovered this.

On another note, I really want these Toms… cute right?

May 26th, 2011

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies?

I’ve been on a quest to find the best chocolate chips cookies.  Working at Subway for years made me picky.  My favorite chocolate chip cookies are those that you find at Subway, they’re gooey and great.  Love love love them.  Needless to say, I’ve been after a recipe that recreates that gooey-ness.

I saw this recipe months ago and bookmarked it.  I didn’t really think much of it at the time, but when I went to bake cookies it’s the recipe that stuck out.  I thought they looked gooey enough in the pictures, and their name seemed to guarantee good things.

Here were the ingredients.

First I mixed together the dry ingredients.

Second, I melted the butter.

The butter was then mixed with the sugars to turn this

into this.

Yummy….

Next I added the egg and egg yolk.

I then mixed the flour mixture into the wet mixture and as well the chocolate and got this:

Now forming the cookies.  I tried two methods.  One was just to form balls from the dough.  The other was to form a ball.

Break it in half. Then squish it together so the jagged edges are facing up.

I didn’t know which would look better initially, but I ended up liking the jagged edge cookies much more.  They almost seemed to bake better.  

Here were the final products.  

One beef I had with this recipe, is that the cookies seemed to harden fairly fast. Within a few days, they got pretty hard.  I did read somewhere that adding more butter sometimes helps that problem, which maybe I’ll try next time.   

Anyways, here’s the recipe.  Enjoy!

Perfect Chocolate Chip CookiesSource: Caleigh’s Kitchen
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips to taste.

Roll about 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.

Bake until the cookies are light golden grown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a side metal spatula.

p.s.  When I was reading “the best of…” cookbook the day after I made the cookies, the exact same recipe was in the cookbook!  Imagine, finding the exact same recipe in 2 different sources within a few hours.  I thought it was cool.  

Tagged: food

May 17th, 2011

This past weekend J.Low wanted to teach me how to fly fish. So Sunday came and we headed out of town.

We went towards  Cochrane and decided to continue out towards the village of Waiporous once we realized how close it was.

This was a little gem of a spot. The village itself is tiny, with a population of 41. But its what’s around there that made J.Low fall in love. They have extensive Jeep trails.

Now I’m not one for off-roading, but I did love the scenery. Here’s some pictures from our little adventure.

We had been following a little convoy of vehicles.  The jeep on the far left was my favorite.  That guy would go through/on ANYTHING.

Sorry about the reflection in the window.  I still thought it was a pretty picture nonetheless.

Gorgeous.

The area is about 30-35 minutes from the edge of the city, yet feels worlds away. Also, I want to add this last picture. This is me after my first experience fly fishing. Wasn’t I beautiful?

May 13th, 2011

World Peace Cookies

On Monday I attempted to bake for the first time this summer.

It was different.  Being in a new house, I don’t yet know where everything is kept. So I’d start making things then I’d think ‘oh I need a spatual’ then I’d have to search for ten minutes. But I got through it.
With pretty successful results I might add.

What I made were delicious chocolate cookies. I originally saw the recipe on Smitten Kitchen months ago, around November or December. And I immediately wanted to make them. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to it till now.

Anyways, these cookies are nicknamed World Peace Cookies. As I said, I got the recipe from here, but due to some constraints I made some small changes.
First of all, I didn’t have a handmixer or standmixer so everything was done by hand. Therefore I didn’t follow the “pulse five times”or “mix for two minutes” type guidelines. I just mixed till things felt right. Also I didn’t “sift dry ingredients” cause I didn’t have a sifter. I just used my fall back method of whisking them to get rid of lumps. Others I will explain as I go along.

So here’s all the ingredients you need, simple things found in the pantry.

First you “sift” dry ingredients so they go from this

to this.

I didn’t quite get out all the lumps, but it was a very light powder when I was done with it - similar to the dusting powder I made in my lab last semester!

In a separate bowl soften butter, then cream sugars and vanilla which turns this

to this.

Add dry to wet. I mixed initially with a spoon then used my hands a bit, to prevent over mixing. It got very messy, which is why there are no pictures for this steps.  You want to make sure the dry ingredients are JUST incorporated, nothing more. You don’t want to over mix. The dough will remain somewhat crumbly.

Incorporate chocolate/mini chocolate chips. I didn’t have mini chocolate chips so instead I chopped up some chocolate chips I had.

If I had left them as is they would have been too big for the cookies.

Next divide the dough in half and form logs.

I know, not exactly the prettiest things.

Cover and refrigerate for min 3 hours as recipe says.(I did for 2, no harm done)
Cut into cookies and bake.

Voila!

My first attempt, I just baked one log. I baked them about five minutes too long. They were hard, but still REALLY good. J.Lows brother in law actually said he preferred them hard as compared to gooey cookies. I then baked the second log on Tuesday for the proper amount of time. They were still harder than I expected but still very good. My recipe yielded about 56 bite sized cookies. The original recipe called for them to be made larger. But I wanted many small cookies compared to fewer larger ones.

I think one thing I loved about these cookies was the dough. I am a big fan on eating dough and this one was delicious. Do you remember school fundraisers where kids would sell cookie dough? Did anyone ever get the triple chocolate chunk dough? I would get my parents to buy that stuff just so I could eat the dough. These World Peace Cookies have a very similar dough. Delicious.

World Peace/Korova Cookies
Smitten Kitchen

Makes about 36 cookies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup  (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

Working with a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. If there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Working with a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them — don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about one inch between them.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.