{Baking Tip 2}

Baking Times

Bake your cookies for 2 to 3 minutes less than the recommended cooking time from your recipe.
Cookies that are not so cooked are softer and not as dry as over baked ones. Take the cookies out of the oven when the centers do not look that cooked yet, because once you take the cookies out of the oven the cookie sheets will continue to bake them.

{Baking Tip 1}

Always have your ingredients at room temperature - especially the butter and the eggs. Your ingredients will incorporate better. Try to avoid melting butter in the microwave, because the butter usually gets exceedingly soft and wet, and this will give you a different result when you bake. You can try cutting the butter into pieces so that it may reach room temperature faster.

{Baking Tips}

From the time I forgot to buy butter for a recipe (which gave me a disastrous result!) to the time when I baked cookies that were so big that they stuck to each other, I always learn something new whenever I am in the kitchen. Every few days I will post a tip to help me remember what I have learned from baking, and I hope that you will be able to learn from and remember these tips so that your baking will become more successful. I learned most of these tips the hard way (I guess you can describe these tips as trial and error), but I am glad that I have learned these things to help me whenever I am in the kitchen.

{A Different Kind of Chocolate Chips}

The cookies that I bake usually consist of semisweet chocolate chips. While I was in the grocery the other day, I decided to try using dark chocolate chips instead of my regular semisweet chocolate chips (I have been wanting to try using dark chocolate chips for a while).




To see the recipe that I used, click here. Just substitute the semisweet chocolate chips with dark chocolate chips.

The first thing I noticed when I bit into one of these cookies was that they were not as sweet as the cookies that I make with semisweet chocolate chips. For me, dark chocolate is always delicious, whether it is eaten by itself or with other food and desserts, like chopped up with bananas or drizzled on cake.




Usually we try to limit the amount of chocolate that we eat all the time, but here's some good news: dark chocolate can actually be healthy for you (sorry, but milk chocolate and white chocolate do not apply to this). It has health benefits such as lowering high blood pressure, and containing numerous antioxidants (even more than some fruit). Keep in mind that although dark chocolate is healthier than other kinds of chocolate, we should not eat more chocolate than the recommended amount.

If you would like to try a cookie that is not as sweet as your regular chocolate chip cookie, try using dark chocolate chips!

{Halfway Through Summer and a Small Update}

I was able to take some pictures while we were at the beach recently. I really loved being able to just lie on the beach and soak in some vitamin D by basking in the sunlight. It was really tranquil - the waves lazily chased each other, and I could feel embraced by a gentle breeze from time to time. The weather was just the way I like it - not too sunny, with a slight drizzle as nighttime approached.

It got very cloudy near the afternoon.

Nothing like cooling off with a delicious, sweet, ice-cold chocolate shake!

A necklace that I purchased recently.

Some cute gold leaf earrings that I wore to the beach.

To celebrate the start of July, my family and I went to relax at the beach. I still can not believe that half of my summer vacation is over!

I also just want to thank you all for reading my blog. I hope that you have enjoyed it so far, and that you have made a few of the recipes that were posted here. I would just like to inform you about a few things that I have fixed onto my blog. At the top right, you can see three buttons. They are labeled Home, About, and Archives. I have added links to the About and Archives buttons, so now you are able to view a list of all the treats that I have made.


I will be making some fruity treats soon, such as banana ice cream (which uses just one ingredient!) and key lime pie (which uses just four ingredients!). I hope that you have all had a great summer so far!

{Craypays... er, I mean Crepes}

When I wake up, I instantly head towards the kitchen to whip up something yummy for breakfast, whether it is something sweet like pancakes, crepes, and mini choco chip muffins, or other traditional breakfast food such as eggs and bacon.

To show you what my morning was like today, here is a never-before-seen preview of my new play entitled "The Big Sister Who Asked Her Little Sister What She Wanted For Breakfast, and The Little Sister Who Did Not Make Any Sense When She Said A Word That Her Big Sister Thought Was Made Up And/Or In Another Language."*

*Disclaimer: I am just joking. This is not a real play, and if it were, it would not be too successful. Not everyone thinks that a little sister mispronouncing a word is hilarious.

CAST

Big Sister
Little Sister

Mother

Act 1, Scene 1

(Little Sister goes into the kitchen and sees Big Sister peering into the fridge.)

Little Sister
What are you looking for?

Big Sister
I don't know what to make for breakfast. I'm looking for food to eat.

(Little Sister's face lights up)

Little Sister
I know! Remember before when you made something like pancakes, but it wasn't
pancakes?

(Big Sister looks perplexed and thinks, What is that? Pancakes but not pancakes...)

Little Sister
Remember? It was thin and we put chocolate and syrup on it? What was it called? Hmmmm..... (thinks for a few seconds) Oh! I know now! They were called craypays!

Big Sister
(stifles a laugh) What!?

Little Sister
Craypays? Creepeys? I forgot how to say it, but they were good!

Big Sister
(finally gets it) Oh! You mean crepes! (Bursts into laughter) What are... (giggles) craypays?

Little Sister
(smiles sheepishly) Oh! Ooops! Sorry, I meant crepes....(giggles)....craypays.

(Both sisters stare at each other until they start laughing hysterically on the kitchen floor, which is where they still are when their mother arrives)

Mother
What are you doing on the floor?

Big Sister
We're having craypays for breakfast.

Mother
What's a craypay?

End Scene

Ingredients
1 1/3 C milk
1 C flour
3 Tbs sugar (use less if you want to make savory crepes)
2 Tbs canola oil
2 eggs

To Make the Batter

1. Mix the eggs, oil, and sugar together.
2. Gradually add the flour while you are whisking. You need to have a batter with absolutely no lumps.
3. Keep adding flour until your batter is at a point where in it is thick and hard to whisk. Add milk bit by bit and whisk until all the ingredients in the bowl are mixed. The result will be a very thin batter.

Unlike other batter, like that of waffles and pancakes, you need a very thin batter for crepes.

To Cook The Crepes

You can use a crepe pan, but it is not necessary. You can also use a normal non-stick skillet. You need to make sure that your pan is hot before pouring the batter in. Also, before you pour the batter on the pan, grease it with a bit of butter.

Remember not to use a lot of the batter! All you need is enough batter to be able to fill the bottom of your pan (you can move the pan with one hand in a circular motion). Place your pan back on your stove and wait until the edges of your crepe have browned a bit. The time varies depending on the amount of batter you have, the heat of your pan, and the type of pan that you are using. It might take 30 seconds to cook one side of the crepe, but sometimes it may take more. If you are able to place a rubber spatula under your solid crepe, this means that it is cooked. Flip it so that the other side of the crepe is cooking.

Once you are finished cooking a crepe, you can serve it immediately or place it on a plate so that after you have finished cooking all of your crepes you will have a stack of them. Repeat these steps until you have used up all of your batter.

A crepe with chocolate sauce... yum!

Before I started making crepes, my mother reminded me not to make the crepes too thick, and I have to agree with her. I think that crepes taste better if they are thin, and not thick like a pancake.

After you have made your crepes you should look around your kitchen to see what you can out on top of your crepes. Let's face it, who enjoys plain crepes?

For people with a sweet tooth:
Fruit like strawberries, bananas, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. You can use any of the fruit pie fillings or jam for crepes, like peach, cherry, and blueberry. If you want your crepes even sweeter, you can try sifting some sugar on top. Another kind of topping that I like is chocolate sauce. Try peanut butter, whipped cream, or maple syrup with some butter. You can even add some finely chopped nuts, like walnuts, hazelnuts, etc.

If you are not really fond of sweet crepes, than you can try some savory crepes.

For people who prefer things savory:
Scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, ham and cheese, and mushrooms and cheese

These are just some suggestions. Look around to see what you like - you might come up with a new delicious topping for your crepes.

{Mmmmini Choco Chip Muffins}

Recipe Adapted from Bakerella

This morning I woke up and felt like baking something for breakfast. I have made pancakes and crepes in the past (I will post something about how I make my crepes soon), but I have a soft spot for these mini muffins because they are so minuscule and adorable and I could not help myself to just one.You can even bring them with you whenever you go somewhere so that you always have a little snack on hand (I can just pop them in my mouth).


Some of you may find them sweet, and I can see you crinkling your noses when you imagine adding even more sugary goodness to these mini muffins - maple syrup. It is so sweet, but I always find myself reaching for it whenever I devour breakfast food like pancakes, waffles, or crepes.

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk*
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (and more if you want to drizzle it on top of your mini muffins after they are finished baking)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips (these can be the miniature kind if you prefer)


*After a few minutes of searching online, I quickly found out that you can make a buttermilk substitute if you do not have any buttermilk. The ways to make the substitutes sound interesting, but I have never tried making a buttermilk substitute. If you like using these methods, you do not have to run to the grocery store just to buy buttermilk!

If you want to try and make a buttermilk substitute, all you need are milk (slightly less than one cup) and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice

1. Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to the milk.

2. Let this stand for five minutes.

(Yes, that's it! It is that easy)

Also, you use plain yogurt or sour cream instead of buttermilk.

If buttermilk is not available at your supermarket, you can try and search for powdered buttermilk. All you need to do is to add water to it.

1. Set oven to 350 degrees (180 degrees Celsius).
2. Mix the first five ingredients together (the dry ingredients) in a bowl. Set aside.

Make sure you have greased mini muffin pans nearby.


3. Mix the egg, milk, vanilla, and butter, and then pour this mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients.





4. Mix until they are well incorporated.



5. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the mixture into your mini muffin pans.




6. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes.

A lot of them looked plain on the outside, but it was okay since you can taste all the chocolate chips that were hidden inside.

I hope these give a fantastic start to your day!