Tiny Chocolate Chip Cookie Buttons

I mentioned here before that I will be graduating from college this April. A week ago today, I did. So now I'm officially unemployed!

Me with my grandmother and sister

I'm just so glad to be done with that part of my life. But I would be lying if I said that I won't miss going to school, hanging out with my friends and even the professors who have inspired me so much these past years. 

There were a lot of times when I just wanted to give up and shift majors but my friends would help me through it. It also helped that my professors were always encouraging us to do our best. There's this professor I have, Mr. A that always yells at us and sometimes swears at us to study harder. His way may not be the most pleasant or traditional but I know that he only wants us to be the best that we can be. 

Another professor that influenced me so much is Ms. D. She's the polar opposite of Mr. A. Instead of the yelling and the cursing, she's soft-spoken. But I can see that she also wants her students to excel and be great accountants and even become a CPA. Her passion for teaching is almost tangible that I found myself studying hard no matter how dull and difficult the subject matter is. As cliche as this may sound, I know that my college life will not be the same without them.

A week into my unemployment, I'm already bored out of my mind. I'm trying to study some Accounting subjects that I suck at in preparation for the board exams. Because I will be taking the CPA board exams this October! This thought never fails to make me nervous. It will be the biggest thing I will do so far. Starting this May I will be staying at a boarding house in Manila since commuting everyday for four hours would kill me for sure. Another thought that fills me with dread. I have never experienced living somewhere that's not the house of a relative. I'm not even sure if I'll have someone I know living with me there. Please wish luck for this awkward and sheltered girl. Maybe I can gain new friends by bringing baked goods? That works, right?

I got the idea for these cookies from 17&Baking but we're not big fans of peanut butter so I used Pioneer Woman's Spreads recipe since it also doesn't spread.

Tiny Chocolate Chip Cookie Buttons

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman and 17&Baking

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup margarine
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Granulated sugar, for rolling
Chocolate chips

Mix together brown sugar and margarine. Add egg and mix together. Add flour, salt, and vanilla, and mix together well.

Chill for an hour. After chilling, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a 1/2 tsp, roll dough into balls. Roll in granulated sugar and place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 7-9 minutes (8 is best for me) and remove from oven. Immediately press a chocolate chip into the center of each cookie. Let cookies cool a minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. [Note: the chocolate chip will be warm and gooey for some time, so be careful before stacking them.]

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake with "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting

Random: more food photos taken from my Facebook page! I don't know why I didn't just upload these on Flickr. Maybe the quality wouldn't have compromised if I did.

Wow. That name sure is long. This is my favorite chocolate cupcake ever. Actually, this is the first chocolate cake recipe I tried when I started learning how to bake two years ago. I never felt the need to look for another. It's that good. And, and, and you can find the recipe on the back of a Hershey's cocoa can. How's that for convenient? Unless you don't use Hershey's cocoa powder. Then, never mind.

And just to again show everyone how good I am at keeping on top of things, I baked these in December of last year.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake with "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting

From Hershey's

Makes 60-ish mini cupcakes

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa (I used dutch-processed)

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Place cupcake liners on mini cupcake pans..

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans, filling cupcake pans 2/3 full.

3. Bake 8-10 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING.

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine

2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.

Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

World Peace Cookies

*tap tap* Is this thing on? I'm baaack. Heh. After four months of not posting, I'm back with cookies. Not just any cookie, it's Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies!

Since I've been missing for a such a long time, I feel like I should tell you what I've been up to:

-I made a promise to myself to make cakes for all my friends' birthdays since cakes are pretty much a requirement in any birthday. Bonus points if it's homemade. So far, three of them celebrated their birthdays and two of them have already appeared on this blog and the other one, I forgot to take pictures. I'll recreate it sometime and I'll post it here.

-I'm a senior now. Woot! Just one more year of exams and studying hard then I'll be taking the CPA board exams. Well, I'll be reviewing for six months first. But after that, board exams! :o

-Does anyone know how I could learn French? Other than go take a class. I don't think there's one near my area. Maybe books or websites? Thanks.

-I don't know what to say anymore. For four months, I didn't post anything and that's the only thing new that's happened. My life is riveting.

Anyway back to the cookies. I know this has been on the internets plenty of times and you probably don't need convincing to make these cookies or probably you have made them too. But I am in love with them. Deeply chocolate-y but I don't get sick even if I eat the whole batch. Not that that's ever happened before. Not me. I have amaaazing self-control.

World Peace Cookies

From Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

Yield: About 36 cookies (I get 24 exactly, every time)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

GETTING READY TO BAKE:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Working with a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them — don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.

SERVING:

The cookies can be eaten when they are warm or at room temperature — I prefer them at room temperature, when the textural difference between the crumbly cookie and the chocolate bits is greatest — and are best suited to cold milk or hot coffee.

STORING:

Packed airtight, cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days; they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

S'mores

Believe it or not, I first ate s'mores only this year. Growing up, our house was not stocked with a lot of junk foods. Chocolate bars were only available when relatives from abroad come home and bring bags of chocolate. Also, it didn't help that s'mores were only some food I see on cartoons.

When my uncle came home from the US, he gave us some Hershey's bars so I bought marshmallows and graham crackers. I roasted the marshmallows on the stovetop and placed it on top of the waiting graham and chocolate. I placed another piece of graham and squished the whole thing. The marshmallow released all this gooey goodness. It was so good!

This time though, I didn't roast the marshmallows, I microwave them instead. I used Meiji Black instead of Hershey's. I have to say, the dark chocolate tastes so much better. It cuts the sweetness of the other elements of the s'mores.

I also used all store-bought ingredients. If it tasted this good without using homemade stuff, I can't imagine what it will taste like if I made my own graham crackers and marshmallows. It will probably blow my freakin' mind! (For all How I Met Your Mother fans out there ;) )

Vampire S'mores!

Oh, wait. Introductions! I'm Marie from the Philippines. I'm eighteen years old majoring in Accounting. I love to bake in my spare time. Hello, world!