Nutella-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Apparently, it’s National Chocolate Chip Day. I was going to wait until later this week to write about my Nutella-Chocolate Chip Cookies as another shout out for my love for Nutella but since it’s national chocolate chip day, I might as well. To all the health nuts out there, don’t worry, I baked this a week after I made the Nutella-Chocolate Cake With Nutella Frosting, and I do workout, I swear.
Nutella-Chocolate Cake With Nutella Frosting
When news came out that Nutella decided to settle a lawsuit filed by Athena Hohenberg, for $3.05 million, I felt rebellious. I was sending Facebook statuses and Tweet loves and hugs and kisses to Nutella. I mean, I love Nutella and I admit that my family loves eating nutella off of a spoon sometimes for that quick sweet cravings but I never actually served it on a toast for breakfast on a daily basis even though the commercial made it so appealing to do so. Screw that. I made these treats instead: SELF-FROSTING NUTELLA CUPCAKES, Banana Bread With Nutella, Crepes With Nutella & Raspberry Sauce, Classic Pound Cake With Nutella, Chocolate-Nutella Brownies, Nutella-Chocolate Cake With Nutella Frosting which I’m posting below, and nutella-chocolate chips cookies which I’ll write about some other day.
$2.5 million of that $3.05 million settlement by the way is going to be distributed to anyone who bought Nutella from Jan. 1, 2008 to Feb. 3, 2012, or Aug. 1, 2009 to Jan. 23, 2012 in California. That is if they file a claim, of course.
I’m sure you can guess by now that I’m not filing my claim. Nope. I went to the store and bought a jar instead. I even took a picture of the Nutella jars for the Instagram just to show them some more love.
So the recipe for Nutella-Chocolate Cake With Nutella Frosting… I’m getting to that…
Ghirardelli’s EAT…BLOG…REPEAT!
Imagine my excitement when I received an email from Ghirardelli Chocolate asking me of my address so they could send me samples of their new chocolate products and flavors as part of their 160th year celebration campaign, EAT…BLOG…REPEAT! How can a chocoholic say no to that?
Strawberry-Vanilla Yogurt Smoothies
I made this Strawberry-Vanilla Yogurt Smoothie last Wednesday night. It was one of those, “I want something sweet” cravings a few hours after dinner. I was already in the middle of folding laundry and waiting for American Idol to come one so whipping up a batch of cookies was definitely not something I wanted to do at that moment. But my husband really wanted something sweet. He didn’t want fresh strawberries or yogurt. So I suggested Strawberry-Vanilla Yogurt Smoothie. That solved the problem.
Banana Bread With Chocolate Chips
I’ve made banana bread with chocolate chips numerous times but when I searched this food blog for the recipe as a reference, I couldn’t find it. There’s a Banana Bread With Nutella recipe though. I might have posted the Banana Bread With Chocolate Chips recipe in the other other food blogs I used to write for years ago. Well, it’s time to put this in my own archives so here it goes.
White Chocolate Decadence Cake
I wish I could say I made this White Chocolate Decadence Cake so I could brag profusely about my cake decorating skills, but alas, I didn’t. I bought it at Wal-Mart for $7. As much as I love cooking and fiddling in my kitchen, I’m not ashamed to admit in buying store-bought cakes once in a while. Especially when it looks good such as this one and the price is right.
Chocolate-Nutella Brownies
I had a jar of Nutella so I tried to come up with something to cook using at least a cup of it. Notice I said, I HAD a jar of Nutella. Yup, it’s gone. That’s ok though. I wasn’t able to make the self-frosting nutella cupcakes or the nutella banana bread or the nutella pound cake but I was able to make these rich and chewy chocolate-nutella brownies. The combination sounds really good but I found out after 1 bar that this recipe is more chocolate-y than nutella-y. No complains here thought. These Chocolate-Nutella Brownies are definitely a hit in my household.
Custard Cake (Flan Cake)
Custard cake or flan cake, no mater what you call it, the fact remains, it is a decadent and oh-so-delicious dessert cake. It’s good after chilling for 3-4 hours, but it is so much better after chilling overnight. When you hear custard cake you’d probably say “oh, custard on top of a cake, that’s easy.” Ummm, not really. See, the cake base has to stay in the bottom while the the custard has to be on top once you turn it upside down. You can’t just bake those two separate things together and expect to come up with a perfect layered cake. There’s a a step in the cake-making process that I learned from Kusina Ni Manang in her choco-flan cake. The eggs need to be separated. Make the cake as is with the yolks, then beat the whites with sugar in a separate bowl, then fold it into the cake mixture to make a chiffon-like cake. The technique here is FOLDING, not stirring or mixing the two components. After that, pour the flan batter into the pan first, then the cake batter has to float on top.
Of course you can make chiffon cake from scratch which would be perfect for this recipe, however, any yellow or white or in this recipe, a vanilla cake mix, would be fine too. Like I said, the trick is separating the egg yolks from the whites. Alright, enough talking, let me show you how it’s done.
Hubby’s Surf & Turf Dinner And Tres Leches Cake
Hubby’s birthday is not until the 20th but we had his birthday dinner and cake today. He’s got work and school on that day so he won’t be home util about 9pm. The day after that is his day off but he still has school at 6pm. I don’t want to be cooking dinner for lunch. Besides, Caine would still be at school by that time. He suggested last night to just do it today so today it is. He told me a week ago to do a surf and turf dinner so I made steak and crab legs with broiled potatoes and sauteed asparagus.
Peanut Butter Cupcakes W/ Chocolate Frosting
To tell you the truth, I’m not into peanut butter that much. A peanut butter sandwich hits the spot when I’m really starving and I need to get something quick. Reese’s Pieces is good once in a while too. But like I said, I’m not that fond of it.
On the occasional days that I get a craving for peanut butter, sometimes eating a spoon of it would suffice but sometimes I’ll make it all grand by making peanut butter cupcakes. My family sure appreciates it coz they are definitely peanut butte lovers.
| Peanut Butter Cupcakes W/ Chocolate Frosting |
- 4 tbsp of butter, softened
- 1 1/8 cups of light brown sugar
- 1/3 (or more) cup of peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup of flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup of milk
- 1 stick of butter
- 3 cups confectionery sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
FROSTING:
- Preheat over the to 350°, Line the muffin pans with the paper cases.
- Put butter, sugar and peanut butter into a mixer bowl and beat together for about 2 minutes. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after addition. Add the vanilla extract.
- Combine flour and baking soda in a separate bowl. Using a metal spoon, fold the flour into the mixture, alternating with the milk.
- Spoon batter into the paper cases. Bake the cupcakes for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
- To make the frosting: Beat together the butter, confectionery sugar, vanilla, and unsweetened cocoa powder. If the frosting is slightly runny just add more confectionery sugar.
- Frost the cupcakes and enjoy.
