Social Butterfly
My adoring fans who read this blog regularly must be incredibly envious of my jet set lifestyle. I mean I am baking for event after event. It is so hard being this popular and keeping up with the needs of the people. On Thursday night I was a baking fiend. FIEND. And if you recall, Thursday night was pretty humid here in New York City.
My friend Carlos was coming over at 6:30 and I got home from the day job at 5:30 so I had T-minus one hour to make as much as I could before our hang. Oh man. First, I went to work on the Blondies for my Fire Island adventure. Btws, I am really into making bars these days. I haven't really ever gotten into them so I have decided that this summer is the summer of bars. You know, lemon squares, raspberry bars, peanut butter heath bars, brownies... Sorry visions of brownies and bars were dancing in my head!
Where was I? Oh yes, the blondies. I have made these once or twice before and they always go over well. I like to use both semi-sweet chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. It gives it a little more oomph. I made sure that they were super ooey gooey when I took them out of the oven. Cooked through, but not too through so that they were chewy. They were golden brown and smelled like heaven. The only challenge I had was getting them out of the pan looking good. They were a little crumbly which I wasn't expecting. However, they made it to Fire Island in one piece and upon arrival were devoured by my friends who were super excited to have a homemade sweet treat.
I then moved onto the chocolate chip cookies. I had about 30 minutes left before my friend arrived and I am a master of this recipe. I think you recall me writing about my famous cookies in an earlier blog. I haven't made them since I was in Baltimore so it was time. And what better excuse than game night? I got to it and in no time I had delicious fluffy chocolate chip batter. That is one of the secrets - if you really want to know - whip the hell out of your butter before you cream the sugars. TRUST. It makes a difference. So those went into the oven. Yummers.
As those were baking I thought about my friend Cecily and her love affair with cinnamon raisin cookies. She craves them. I believe she told me once that there was a period of time when she went to Starbucks everyday for a cinnamon raisin cookie. I can't have that!
I haven't made a quality cinnamon raisin cookie in a small lifetime. Last year when I was baking cookies for Curly's Luncheonette I came up will a great vegan oatmeal craisin cookie, but I wanted to go the straight ahead route this weekend. So, I did some research, found a good recipe, and started in on it when I heard my buzzer. I was literally pulling cookies out of the oven when Carlos walked in. I thought he was going to swoon.
He immediately went for the Blondies. Had a taste of those then went for one of my just out of the oven FAMOUS chocolate chip cookies. That is when I heard it..."these are amazing. I think I am in love. Will you marry me?" He usually only has my experimental baking so he was floored when he had the choco-chip cookies. We hung out while I was running back and forth making the rest of the chocolate chip cookies and onto the oatmeal raisin.
He really liked the oatmeal raisin cookies, but I thought they were too sweet. I wanted them to be spicy. You know, have a little bit of a kick to them? So I think next time around instead of cinnamon and allspice I am going to use cinnamon and either cardamom or nutmeg. Yum.
As I said before, the chocolate chip cookies were made for a game night I was attending. I always bring baked goods and usually cookies. I find that the my chocolate chip cookies are the most popular at game night, but since I made oatmeal raisin cookies too why not change it up a little and bring both?
The cookies went down on the table and before the first game - running charades - started they were ALL gone! AMAZING. That is when I heard, "who made the cookies?" My friend David responded, "Alison" and then I hear, "these are amazing. Will you marry me?" What? Two marriage proposals in two days. Who knew it was just that easy?
My friend Carlos was coming over at 6:30 and I got home from the day job at 5:30 so I had T-minus one hour to make as much as I could before our hang. Oh man. First, I went to work on the Blondies for my Fire Island adventure. Btws, I am really into making bars these days. I haven't really ever gotten into them so I have decided that this summer is the summer of bars. You know, lemon squares, raspberry bars, peanut butter heath bars, brownies... Sorry visions of brownies and bars were dancing in my head!
Where was I? Oh yes, the blondies. I have made these once or twice before and they always go over well. I like to use both semi-sweet chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. It gives it a little more oomph. I made sure that they were super ooey gooey when I took them out of the oven. Cooked through, but not too through so that they were chewy. They were golden brown and smelled like heaven. The only challenge I had was getting them out of the pan looking good. They were a little crumbly which I wasn't expecting. However, they made it to Fire Island in one piece and upon arrival were devoured by my friends who were super excited to have a homemade sweet treat.
Blondies with Semi-Sweet and White Chocolate Chips
I then moved onto the chocolate chip cookies. I had about 30 minutes left before my friend arrived and I am a master of this recipe. I think you recall me writing about my famous cookies in an earlier blog. I haven't made them since I was in Baltimore so it was time. And what better excuse than game night? I got to it and in no time I had delicious fluffy chocolate chip batter. That is one of the secrets - if you really want to know - whip the hell out of your butter before you cream the sugars. TRUST. It makes a difference. So those went into the oven. Yummers.
As those were baking I thought about my friend Cecily and her love affair with cinnamon raisin cookies. She craves them. I believe she told me once that there was a period of time when she went to Starbucks everyday for a cinnamon raisin cookie. I can't have that!
I haven't made a quality cinnamon raisin cookie in a small lifetime. Last year when I was baking cookies for Curly's Luncheonette I came up will a great vegan oatmeal craisin cookie, but I wanted to go the straight ahead route this weekend. So, I did some research, found a good recipe, and started in on it when I heard my buzzer. I was literally pulling cookies out of the oven when Carlos walked in. I thought he was going to swoon.
He immediately went for the Blondies. Had a taste of those then went for one of my just out of the oven FAMOUS chocolate chip cookies. That is when I heard it..."these are amazing. I think I am in love. Will you marry me?" He usually only has my experimental baking so he was floored when he had the choco-chip cookies. We hung out while I was running back and forth making the rest of the chocolate chip cookies and onto the oatmeal raisin.
He really liked the oatmeal raisin cookies, but I thought they were too sweet. I wanted them to be spicy. You know, have a little bit of a kick to them? So I think next time around instead of cinnamon and allspice I am going to use cinnamon and either cardamom or nutmeg. Yum.
As I said before, the chocolate chip cookies were made for a game night I was attending. I always bring baked goods and usually cookies. I find that the my chocolate chip cookies are the most popular at game night, but since I made oatmeal raisin cookies too why not change it up a little and bring both?
The cookies went down on the table and before the first game - running charades - started they were ALL gone! AMAZING. That is when I heard, "who made the cookies?" My friend David responded, "Alison" and then I hear, "these are amazing. Will you marry me?" What? Two marriage proposals in two days. Who knew it was just that easy?
My famous Chocolate Chip Cookies that lead to marriage proposals
My Experimental Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
My Experimental Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
I head home on Thursday for a weekend of beach and sun? I am keeping my fingers crossed. There will be a couple of events for the Fourth; the requisite BBQ, the fireworks, the late night karaoke sessions, and probably a brunch. I am thinking some vegan raspberry bars, some lemon squares, and some vegan blueberry muffins. I will let you know how they go...
One for the road. The Chocolate Chip Cookies & Oatmeal Rasin Cookies in all of thier glory
One for the road. The Chocolate Chip Cookies & Oatmeal Rasin Cookies in all of thier glory
0 Comments