Chocolate Chip Cookies

As some of you know, I bake and am a creator of yummy things. One of them is my chocolate chip cookie. If you are a cookie connoisseur such as myself, you have likely both seen and made several chocolate chip recipes. Usually the ingredients are the same, but it's the quantity of certain ones that will affect the outcome of this sweet treat. More brown sugar equals a chewier cookie, whereas using all white will bake a crisp cookie with a snap.

Below I am sharing my gooey chocolate chip cookie recipe. Oh, and just letting you know, it's perfect for making Ice Cream Sandwiches!

Ingredients

2-1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 cups chocolate chips (semi sweet or milk)

2 eggs

1 cup salted butter (room temp)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

Method

Preheat oven to 375C and grease or line parchment paper to cookie sheet.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter for a minute or two on medium speed. Add white and brown sugars and beat until smooth, about 5 minutes on medium to high speed. Slowly beat in eggs and vanilla.

After a minute, slowly add the baking soda, flour and chocolate chips on low speed (unless you want flour everywhere! hehe) and mix until it becomes a dough. Reserve some chips to press into top of cookies to give that visual yumminess.

Refrigerate for 10 minutes, then scoop out a spoonful at a time and roll into balls. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. 

You'll want the centre of the cookie to be soft. Let the cookies cool for 20 minutes, and you'll have a decadent gooey treat. Makes 20-24 

Enjoy!

Pavlova

When I was younger, I remember seeing a Pavlova and doing a double take, because I thought it was a sponge cake covered in whipped cream and fruit. Upon my curious investigation, I saw the cake was actually made of a light fluffy shell! I've always found Pavlova to be quite fascinating because it was the first cake I'd ever seen which didn't contain flour.

This meringue based dessert was named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.
Pavlova was a popular dancer in the 1920's and after touring New Zealand, its people fell in love with her gracefulness so they named a cake after her. She must have been one amazing ballerina because this is one delicious dessert.
Give it a try, you won't be disappointed :-)

Ingredients
Meringue
4 egg whites (room temp)
1-1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Lemon Custurd Cream  (topping)
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 cup heavy cream 35%
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 lemon (zest and juice)


Method

Meringue
Preheat oven to 300C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and with pencil, draw an 8" circle in the middle to use as a guide.

Whip egg whites on high speed in your electric mixer for aprox 3 minutes. Once you see the white fluff up, slowly add the sugar over the next minute and incorporate until it becomes a thick and sticky marshmallow like texture. Make sure to not over beat the egg whites before you add the sugar! They will collapse, and that's not what you want!



Once you have the white sticky meringue you're looking for, gently fold in the vinegar, cornstarch and vanilla. Bring the mixer bowl to your baking sheet, and fold out the meringue onto your baking sheet in the circle you've drawn as a guideline.

Place in oven at 300C for 5 minutes, then lower heat to 250C and bake for another 75 minutes. Turn oven off and let cake cool completely while in oven.

Pavlova

Lemon Custard Cream
In a small pot on a stove top using medium heat, add sugar, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla and whisk for 1 minute, then add 1/2 cup heavy cream (1 cup should remain aside) and whisk constantly for 5-7 minutes until it thickens to a custard. When finished, let chill in the refrigerator until cooled completely.

When both the meringue and lemon custard cream are cooled, make your whipped cream by adding the remaining 1 cup heavy cream to mixing bowl and run on high speed until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold in the lemon custard to the whipped cream, and spread on top of Pavlova once it's cooled.


Top with fresh fruit, and enjoy!

Pasta Bolognese

I love a tomato based sauce for my pasta! Don't get me wrong, at times I crave the delicious, creamy cheese sauces too, but my go to is a sweet tomato sauce, so thick, it coats every crevice of a rigitoni and smothers every fettuccine noodle. Mmm...
Below is my recipe for Pasta Bolognese. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients for Sauce
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
4 mushrooms, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced

Fettuccine Bolognese

4 basil leaves, ripped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp white sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp chili flakes
2 cups tomato paste
3 cups water
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated
1 lbs lean ground beef



1 lbs fresh pasta or 1 box pasta of your choice


Method
Bring 4L salted and oiled water to a hard boil.

Mince the onion, carrot, garlic and mushroom and saute in olive oil on medium heat for 10 minutes or until softened. Add salt, chili flakes and ground beef. Cook on medium heat for 15 minutes. Add the tomato paste and sugar, then stir. Let cook for 5 minutes before adding water and basil. Stir and let simmer for 10 minutes. Add the cheese to your sauce before you serve and make sure you stir it in well until it melts, or just sprinkle some cheese on top. I like to toss my fresh pasta with my sause and reserve more to put on top! It gets messy ;) But today, I kept it easy on the eyes for my photo. I did however add plenty more sauce afterwards! Mmm...

Enjoy!