I first got these little ramekins months ago when I went on a shopping spree at Cost Plus World Market. I seriously can spend a good few hours in that place. I’ve been meaning to make some kind of pudding in these, but life got in the way.

But an opportunity arose, and I took it. I was having this big lunch at my home with my parents and my boyfriend, D. this past weekend to celebrate Chinese New Year, and it dawned on me that morning that I didn’t have any dessert planned for it. So I grabbed my trusty Everyday Food cookbook and found a wonderful recipe to use.

This wasn’t your typical Chinese New Year lunch. It was more of a “let’s celebrate the New Year with some of our favorite foods” lunch. And that is what we did. My dad made some tasty tri-tip, roasted. And I made some sweet dessert.

I chose to make Molten Chocolate Cakes because D. happens to love stuff inside of stuff. These little cakes had some gooey deliciousness baked (or should I say “unbaked”) right in the middle. All it is is just chocolate cake not baked all the way, but it is like a surprise when you get to the middle. The plus side to making this recipe is that it only makes enough for four people. No left-overs here!

When I baked the cakes, I wanted to use the ramekins so much, that I didn’t even realize that the inside won’t be able to drool out. But then again, I should have baked it much closer to lunch, or during lunch, because by the time we got to dessert, the middle was not so creamy anymore.

But… my oh my… was this cake good! The cake was not too dense and the middle was still creamy. It’s not crazy sweet, either. I think it just depends on the type of chocolate you use. I used the Nestle Dark Chocolate Chips and it is just the right amount of sweet. I have a high tolerance for sweet, but my mom, who does not enjoy very sweet things, liked this cake. No need for coffee here to balance out the sweet.
This cake is D. approved… gots to love stuff inside of stuff.

Hope you all had a great Chinese New year celebration!

Molten Chocolate Cakes
Recipe from Everyday Food’s book “Great Food Fast”
makes 4 cakes in 6 oz ramekins

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for ramekins
1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for ramekins
3 large eggs
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Whipped Cream, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously butter the 4 ramekins. Dust with granulated sugar, and tap out excess. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, beat in flour and salt until just combined. Beat in chocolate until just combined. Divide batter evenly among prepared ramekins.
3. Place ramekins on a baking sheet; bake just until tops of the cakes no longer jiggle when the pan is lightly shaken, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes.
4. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, and serve with whipped cream, if desired.

Continuing on to my trip to SoCal months and months ago… I had such a blast. It was my first road trip with just my dad and it was pretty fun. We didn’t have the greatest relationship when I was younger. But now that I’m older, and somewhat wiser, we can bond. Do things together. Eat. Talk. And just… bond. You know… that kind of deal.

We did a bunch of stuff together. We went to the Santa Monica Pier. Tried Barney’s Beanery. Then some cuban food. Much eating was happening. Then some weight-gaining. It’s cool.

But then there comes Diddy Rieses. What’s a few more lbs?

Doesn’t that ice cream sandwich look so tasty!? Yep yep, it is tasty. You’ll find it even more tasty once you find out how much you can get one of these for…

You got it… $1.50!!! It’s such a good deal for a whole ice cream sandwich. The cookies are soft and fresh. The ice cream is creamy. And they definitely don’t skimp on the ice cream!

I think it can definitely be a hit or miss on Diddy Riese’s for some people because it all depends on the cookie and ice cream combination you choose. You might like the white chocolate macadamia cookie. You might like mint chocolate chip ice cream. But do they go together? Maybe not (sorry dear brother for your unfortunate encounter with Diddy Riese’s). Just think of what might be a good combo. If it didn’t taste good, try another one. I swear, Diddy Riese’s has some good stuff. And it’s cheap too, so make as many combos as you want!

Click here for more information

Below are some pictures of cookies I have baked during the class. There were only five classes, so only five cookies! They are all fairly easy, so please, take a stab at it! If you are an expert at baking already, you will still enjoy these cookies.

My favorite out of all of them must be the sugar cookies. It is probably my favorite sugar cookie recipe yet. It is soft, which is hard to get from a cut-out-sugar cookie recipe.

The peanut butter blossoms are classic too! These always end up tasting fantastic. Peanut butter just does something to the cookie that makes it so soft and chewy. You can never go wrong with a peanut butter cookie.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
makes about 6 dozen sandwiches

Cookie:
2 packages (18-1/4 ounces each) devil’s food cake mix
1 cup canola oil
4 eggs

Filling:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, combine the cake mixes, oil and eggs until well blended. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Do not flatten.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks (cookies will flatten as they cool).
3. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Beat in sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread on the bottom of half of the cookies; top with raining cookies. Store in the refrigerator.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies
Recipe from Food.com
makes 36 cookies

8 ounces white chocolate baking bar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
3 ounces white chocolate baking bar
1/2 teaspoon shortening

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Chop 4 oz of white chocolate in small pieces and set aside.
3. Over a double boiler, melt 4 oz of chocolate; set aside to cool.
4. Combine the butter, sugar, salt and baking soda in a large mixing bowl; cream until fluffy.
5. Add the eggs and melted white chocolate; mix well.
6. Gradually add in the flour and mix well.
7. Stir in the 4 oz of chopped white chocolate.
8. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough 2″ apart on a greased cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned.
10. Cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet before moving to a cooling rack.
11. Make a small indentation in the center of each cookie and spoon on a small amount of jam.
12. Combine 3 oz of white chocolate and the shortening in a double boiler; melt and drizzle a small amount on each cookie.
13. The cookies can be refrigerated 10-15 minutes to help the chocolate set.

Peanut Butter Blossoms
makes about 4 dozen cookies

48 Hershey Kisses
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Granulated sugar

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.
2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Cookies by Design Sugar Short Bread Cookies

1-1/2 cups butter softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough on floured surface to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool Completely.

Smooth Almond Frosting

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
assorted food coloring

1. In a small bowl, stir together confectioners’ sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
2. Divide into separate bowls and add food colorings to each to desired intensity.

Red Velvet Cookies

1 (8 ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature (1 stick)
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 (18 ounce) box red velvet cake mix
Confectioners’ sugar, for rolling and dusting

1. In large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth.
2. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract and cake mix.
3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls.
4. AFter batter has chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon-sized balls and then roll them in confectioners’ sugar.
6. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.
7. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies should remain soft and gooey.
8. Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners’ sugar, if desired.

My last trip to SoCal was very productive, in regards to being a foodie. I had so many delicious sweets and meals (yes, sweets come first!) that I didn’t get to try all that I wanted to when I was there. I guess I’m just lucky enough to even try these places. I shall go back and try something different when I have the chance.

The first stop in my trip was Porto’s Bakery and Cafe.

I was so overwhelmed with this bakery because the shop is abnormally huge for a bakery/cafe. One side of the shop was for the cafe and one side was just for the bakery.

We went to the bakery side first, of course! You can also order cafe stuff too on this side, but they won’t have any of them displayed. Go to the cafe side for that, I’m assuming. I did not have the chance to look on this side because I was so focused on having me some baked goods.

My dad ordered this hot pastrami sandwich.

It came with some banana chips. The sandwich was really fresh and it was the perfect meat to bread ratio.

My dad and I got some smoothies to go along with the sandwich. He ordered the Guava smoothie (left) and I order the Strawberry smoothie (right).

These smoothies were pretty good. It was the perfect consistency and the taste was not too sweet.

For dessert, we got the mango mousse.

The mousse was creamy with a bit of cake on the bottom. Plus, it looks so cute!

Then we had to get a cupcake… a red velvet cupcake!

What is that on the top of the cupcake, you ask? Why, it’s a flower petal. Pretty neat, huh? But… don’t eat it! Well, I guess you could, but I’m pretty sure it’s a real flower petal. The cupcake tasted great though! I’m not a big fan of red velvet cupcakes, but this one is moist and not too dense. The cream cheese frosting was also not too sweet, which to me, makes a perfect red velvet cupcake.

For breakfast the next day, I ordered a chocolate chip muffin. I love me some sweets in the morning! These muffins is a perfect breakfast option for that!

I really need to come back here and try more savory (and sweet!) items. This trip was very short and packed, so I only grabbed as much as we can handle. Next time…

Click here for more information

Nutella can be a wonderful little spread. You can spread it on bread, be used in crepes, or just eat it straight from the jar. But that’s only half of the fun. Nutella is wonderful for baking. There’s so many recipes for everything Nutella that you might never get bored of it.

Lately, I’ve been trying all kinds of crepes. I found this one crepe place close by, and they have a large display of Nutella jars near their kitchen. Now you know they use Nutella pretty frequently if you see how many jars they have.

T- and I got together to bake these little gems. We wanted to make something with hazelnuts, and we landed on Nutella cookies. These cookies were very easy to make, but they taste so expensive because they have hazelnuts .

Bake them and take them to someone you want to impress. These do not fail.

Chocolate Nutella Cookies
Recipe from Simply Recipes
makes about 6 dozen cookies

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup of white sugar
1 cup of Nutella
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of chocolate chips
1/2 cup of chopped hazelnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter in an electric mixer for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and Nutella and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
2. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds between each. Add the vanilla and mix for 10 seconds.
3. Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda (do not skip this step as sifting eliminates clumps of cocoa). Mix into the butter mixture on low speed until fully incorporated, scraping down the bottom and sides at least once to ensure even mixing. Fold in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts and refrigerate the dough for ten minutes.
4. Spoon tablespoon-sized drops of dough onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on the sheets for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Since I have been out of college for a couple years now, I haven’t really taken any real vacations. My trips these days consists of taking a couple days off and driving down to Socal and going to Disneyland. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Disneyland, but I would love to actually use my passport and go on a real vacation out of the continent to like Europe or Asia.

Even though I haven’t been on a real vacation in a while, I still do enjoy my days off to go on little trips like Socal. I get to visit my little brother and see my favorite place in California: Disneyland! These short trips do help me wind down and relax from my day job and spend quality time with people who I care about deeply… and that’s what matters most.

I haven’t baked cookies in a while when I decided to make these, so I wanted to choose a recipe that I have never used before for a simple cookie. I love this recipe because it doesn’t use oatmeal. Even though I like oatmeal cookies, I have yet to find a recipe that I enjoy that doesn’t use it.

The result? Pure bliss. The cookie is buttery, soft, and has the texture of a chocolate chip cookie. The macadamia is a great addition to the cookie for it adds to the texture… and such a great nut! This will be my go-to recipe for cranberry cookies for sure.

White Chocolate, Cranberry, Macadamia Cookies
Recipe from Epicurious
makes about 36 cookies

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries (about 6 ounces)
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips (about 8 1/2 ounces)
1 cup coarsely chopped roasted salted macadamia nuts (about 4 1/2 ounces)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift first 3 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add both sugars and beat until blended. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. Add dry ingredients and beat just until blended. Using spatula, stir in cranberries, white chocolate chips, and nuts.
3. Drop dough by level tablespoonfuls onto sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart.
4. Bake cookies until just golden, about 18 minutes for large cookies and about 15 minutes for small cookies. Cool on sheets.

These little cookies look so pretty, but they’re actually extremely easy to make. That is why I decided to make these last minute for my company garage sale. The day before, I decided I wanted to bake something for my co-workers who would be working that weekend for the garage sale (only a select few were chosen to work). I thought it would be a nice treat.

They only took about 2 hours to make and they are more than worth it. It’s kind of surprising how great these cookies turned out, and they don’t even use flour! Such a simple cookie. You gotta love simple!

My favorite part about making peanut butter cookies is to make the criss-cross pattern. It’s kind of satisfying to squish a fork into the dough and come out with a pattern.

Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe from Bakerella

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
4 oz. Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts

1. Preheat oven to 325. Mix peanut butter, sugar and egg until well blended.
2. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Remove and roll mixture into 18 balls.
4. Place on ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
5. Flatten each ball by using a fork to make a criss-cross pattern.
6. Bake 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
7. Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet and then cool completely on a wire rack.
8. Melt chocolate.
9. Dip one end of cookie into melted chocolate and then dip into chopped peanuts. Repeat with other side.
10. Place on wax paper covered cookie sheet and refrigerate until chocolate hardens.

Le Moose is a Thai and crepe place. I found out about this place because it’s right next to my favorite Korean fried chicken place. The restaurant has an open kitchen, meaning you can see them make the food.

Even though my mind was set on ordering a crepe, I decided to go with Pineapple Fried Rice. I saw that on the menu, and knew that I just had to get that. Who knew pineapples can taste great in fried rice?!

But no worries, I also tried the Chicken Pesto crepe. It is their most popular crepe. I’m not sure how I feel about this crepe. I have had it twice so far, and there’s nothing too special about it. I feel like I can just make it at home and it would taste the same. But nonetheless, it was still very satisfying.

And for dessert, I chose the strawberry nutella crepe. I love how they did not skimp on the strawberries. They were warm, soft, and juicy, just a how strawberries should be. The nutella was a nice touch for the crepe with strawberries.

I really enjoy this cafe because they have good quality food and they have really tasty desserts. Definitely a place to go back to try more things on the menu because they are likely all good!

Click here for more information

I usually bake by myself. It’s a way to relax and take my mind off things. I love to wake up in the morning and bake something sweet so that the day starts off just a bit sweeter than not baking at all.

However, it is also fun baking with other people who enjoy baking too. I had just discovered that my old friend, T-, loves to bake too. I finally found a baking buddy!

When looking for a recipe to make, I wanted us to do something fun and not stressful since we needed to catch up (I haven’t seen her in six years!). I chose this recipe for chocolate whoopie pies because all you need are regular marshmallows for the filling.

They get super fluffy when you put them in the oven! It’s so fun to put them on the pie! Whoops… some fell!

There we go!

This recipe is super simple, but yet so tasty. It’s basically a cake sandwich! They are very sweet, so one little pie will satisfy your sweet tooth. You will fall in love with whoopie pies after you taste these little babies!

Chocolate Whoopie Pies
Recipe from Food Network
makes 18 whoopie pies (but we ended up with 14)

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup natural cocoa powder, such as Hershey’s or Scharffen Berger
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons fine salt
18 large marshmallows, (not minis)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet.
2. Put the unsweetened and semisweet chocolates and butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl; heat at 75 percent power until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir, and continue to microwave until completely melted, about 2 minutes more. (Alternatively, put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with an inch or so of water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl over, but not touching the water, and stir occasionally until melted and smooth.)
3. Whisk the sugar, eggs and vanilla into the chocolate mixture until smooth.
4. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt into another bowl. Gradually whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until moistened. Switch to a rubber spatula and finish folding the batter together; take care not to over-mix.
5. Use a small cookie scoop or spoon to drop a heaping tablespoon of batter onto the prepared pan. Repeat to make 36 cookies, spacing them about 1-inch apart. Bake until the cookies spring back when lightly touched, about 6 minutes.
6. Cool the cookies slightly. Transfer half of the cookies to a rack. Turn the remaining cookies on the pan over, so they lay flat side up. Place a marshmallow on top of each flipped cookie and return pan to the oven. Cook just until the marshmallow begins to soften and puff, about 3 minutes. Cool marshmallow topped cookies slightly, about 2 minutes. Top with the remaining cookies, pressing lightly to make sandwiches. Cool whoopee pies completely on wire racks. Serve.
7. Store in tightly sealed container for up to 1 week.

One of the reasons why I love making cookies so much is because each person I have ever spoken to has an all-time favorite cookie. If you haven’t read my blog in the past, my favorite cookie of all-time are chocolate chip cookies. It could also be a white chocolate cranberry cookie or peanut butter cookie.

Today, I met someone at work who’s all-time favorite cookie is the oatmeal raisin cookie. We discussed my love for baking and how I sometimes bring my baked goods to work for co-workers to eat. Now, I just met him (since he is new to the company), but I thought it quite funny that he loves oatmeal raisin cookies, and I made these cookies not too long ago, and brought them to work.

Finding out his favorite cookie makes me want to know other co-workers’ favorite cookies so that I can bring those kinds to work for them to enjoy. Kind of like making their day a bit brighter because they had their all-time favorite cookie.

These particular oatmeal raisin cookies are a bit crispy on the outside, and chewy on the inside (hence the “chewy” in the name of the recipe). I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t like crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. That’s like the perfect texture for a cookie!

Some step-by-step photos to a perfect-textured oatmeal raisin cookie…

Cream butter, egg, vanilla, and the sugars together.

Get your dry ingredients and combine it with the wet ingredients from the above picture.

Add the raisins, oatmeal and walnuts.

I slightly flattened the dough balls, so that they won’t just come out like balls of cookies.

And they will turn out like this:

Looks quite delicious, if I do say so myself. And they were… they were.

Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen
makes 28 cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins and walnuts, if using them.
3. At this point you can either chill the dough for a bit in the fridge and then scoop it, or scoop the cookies onto a sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking them. You could also bake them right away, if you’re impatient, but they end up slighly less thick.
4. The cookies should be two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes (your baking time will vary, depending on your oven and how cold the cookies were going in), taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.