a chocolate chip cookie celebration | happy birthday to my husband

Last week I hosted a chocolate chip cookie taste off in honor of Matt's 28th birthday. It was quite possibly the best birthday party I've ever hosted. I got the idea from You Are My Fave and used the invitations from there, too.

We had eight entrants into the taste off and almost all of them were classic versions of the chocolate chip cookie. My favorite part about being the host was the questions I got to answer, like this one from my friend Karissa: So if I bring slice and bakes, should I send you the ingredients list and cooking instructions? That was a joke that I didn't get (Matt is vehemently opposed to any and all forms of store bought cookies and Karissa knows it); thankfully no slice and bake cookies were entered in the contest. Another good question: Are we limited to one batch per couple or can we each enter a recipe? There's a back story to that one - my friends Keri and Josh had a dispute about whose recipe to use (they're married) - Keri's famous "Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies" or Josh's "Sweet and Salty Chocolate Chip Cookies" (or, as Keri called them, "Variation on Toll House Because My Wife Wouldn’t Let Me Copy the Recipe Cookies"). Here's a quote from Keri: "I'm glad there can be spousal competition, because I thought marriage counseling was going to be necessary if we had to narrow it down to one recipe."  This is the kind of dedication our friends brought to the party. It was awesome. And Keri won, by the way. Here's her winning batch of cookies...

I highly recommend having your own chocolate chip cookie taste off. Soon. In fact, I may need to have another one.

P.S. I made this for Matt's birthday cake, but doesn't  this one look incredible?

a down home DIY // clean your cast iron pan

Last week I mentioned that I inherited two cast iron pans, one from my mom and one from my aunt, but they were both originally my grandmother's. One was suffering from a bad case of rust but luckily I had just read about how to clean rusty cast iron skillets. Check out what my skillet looked like before...

 

Yes, that is a potato. 

...and after! Chances are you have a potato and some salt on hand, and if that's the case then you're ready to clean your own rusty cast iron skillet. I was worried I would wear my arm out with all the scrubbing but the rust disappeared surprisingly easily and the whole process only took a few minutes. Now I have a nice little cast iron skillet that's perfectly seasoned and ready for many more years of use. Check out the complete instructions here.

hello weekend

Two years ago on Saint Patrick's Day I shared my grandmother's recipe for Irish soda bread, and last year I just posted a cute picture of Ezra wearing a cheesy shamrock onesie. This year we're getting back to our roots, back to the Irish soda bread that is the foundation of my idea of Saint Patrick's Day. I recently acquired two of my very own cast iron pans that were my grandmother's (not my maternal grandmother's, of the Irish soda bread fame, but my paternal grandmother's, who was French Canadian - go figure) so I didn't have to borrow one from my mom this time. Sadly, the smaller pan was in major need of rust removal but it's cleaned up now and I ate breakfast out of it this morning. (Check back next week for the trick to removing rust from cast iron.) My breakfast was, of course, Irish soda bread! Here's the recipe again with one major adaptation - I substituted butter for shortening because no one wants to eat partially hydrogenated oil anymore... or at least I don't. 


For those of you who are wondering - no worries - scroll down for the Friday link list! Lots of fun stuff around the web this week. First things first, though. I know you want to get baking.

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients

3 C flour

2/3 C sugar

1 T baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 3/4 C raisins
1 T caraway seeds

2 eggs, beaten

1 3/4 buttermilk

2 T melted butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° and grease a cast iron pan or loaf pan.  Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl.  Stir in raisins and caraway seeds.  Combine eggs, buttermilk, and shortening in a small bowl.  Add liquid mixture to dry mixture and combine until flour is just moistened.  Turn into greased pan and bake for about 40 minutes.  Remove from pan immediately.  Allow to cool through before serving. I like to eat my slices with a good smear of butter, sometimes toasted and sometimes at room temp.

I'll be bringing one pan of Irish soda bread over to our friends' condo for a little Saint Patrick's Day shindig tomorrow night. How are you celebrating? Remember: everyone is Irish on Saint Patrick's Day!

Now for the link love.

- some great tips on how to prep for a photo shoot
- make yourself a cute bow headband
- love these beautiful images of a mother and daughter
- I'm always up for trying new ways to make brownies even better
- taking photos in a renovated mill for a maternity shoot works out quite nicely
- these little paper boxes by Alli are so cute
- can't wait to try these peanut butter cookie dough balls
- this mini guide to making fresh pasta has me inspired to make some of my own
- thinking about jumping on the antlers as home decor bandwagon
- how to make your own polka dot pants, via { collected }

I said it Monday but I'll say it again: Erin Go Bragh! Happy Saint Patrick's Day and happy weekend, too.

classic banana bread

 Baking banana bread is probably one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen for at least three reasons - it makes the whole house smell delicious, it's incredibly easy, and it gives new life to old bananas. This recipe is an adaptation of the one my mom always used when I was growing up, so it was the first one I ever made. While I've tried lots of variations over the years, I always come back to this old stand-by because it's so simple. Try it and let me know what you think.

Banana Bread
Ingredients
4 very ripe mashed bananas
2 beaten eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 2/3 cup flour
1/4 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Directions
Mix all ingredients together. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and bake at 325° for 50 - 60 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Slice and serve.

Really the only change from the original recipe is substituting applesauce for shortening or oil. And this time I added a cup of 60% Ghirardelli chocolate chips because I just can't resist them. Okay, I confess - I add chocolate chips pretty much every time I bake banana bread. I'm bringing this loaf to our moms' group this morning as a not-quite-breakfast snack. What baked goods do you try to pass off as breakfast?

{the not-so-secret ingredient}

le macaron

Finally I can say that I have conquered the macaron, and I did it before the end of 2011 like I hoped I would. I must confess that I was quite intimidated by macarons but after making them I don't know what all the fuss is about. The process involves quite a lot of steps but overall it isn't difficult at all. I used Martha's recipe and made the chocolate variation with chocolate ganache filling. Of course I'm still only a novice macaron baker but here are my tips if you want to try a batch yourself - 

- Do your homework. I suggest reading this post by Brave Tart, and then read her post on macaron myths and then the one on the ten commandments. Consider yourself prepared. Well, at least I did after I read them. 

- Do yourself a favor and buy almond flour (I bought mine at Stop & Shop in the natural foods section) instead of crushing almonds in a food processor. You'll save a step and some time. 

- Don't have a pastry bag? I didn't either. However, I did have this handy tool that I bought at Target. I had to refill it once but it worked out just great.

- Find a little circle shaped object (I used the lid from a bottle of olive oil) that you can use to trace circles onto the parchment paper with a pencil so you can at least attempt to make the shells all the same size. I flipped the parchment over so the batter wasn't actually touching the pencil circles.

- Most important tip - enjoy them! Even if the tops don't match the bottoms and they're lopsided and the ganache oozes out. Not like any of that happened to mine. Wink.

cookie stars

To kick off the week before Christmas, I'm sharing what I thought was a fantastic idea (if I may say so) for easy and festive cookies. Have any parties to go to this week? Were you pegged to bring a dessert on Christmas Day? These cookies have your name written all over them. They're also delicious, as cookies should be. The process is simple. Whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough (I used this classic recipe) and instead of making drop cookies, spread the dough into a baking pan. Bake as directed. Mine only took about twenty-two minutes in a 375° oven. 

While the giant cookie rectangle is baking, rummage through your kitchen drawers to find your favorite cookie cutters. I selected four stars of different sizes. When the "cookies" come out of the oven, you can do one of two things. Either allow the cookie to cool and cut out your shapes later, or get right to work.

We had plans to go out as soon as my oven timer dinged, so I was forced to let the cookie cool before cutting. I think it would have been easier to cut the star shapes if it hadn't cooled for a couple of hours. Ten to fifteen minutes would have probably been enough. Then I wouldn't have needed to use my entire body weight to press the cookie cutters into the cookie bar and a dishtowel to protect my hands from the sharp edges that were digging into my flesh. Learn from my mistakes, please. 

Anyway, cut out whatever shapes you like from the cookie bar and then enjoy! This is now my official method of making chocolate chip cookies. I know bar cookies aren't new, but I've never really made them before and they're so much easier than drop cookies. One pan makes for much less clean up, and you're not waiting for batch after batch to come out of the oven. So chocolate chip cookie bars it is, and if I'm feeling fancy I'll dig out the cookie cutters. Maybe next time I'll make some wild animals!

Bonus: there are a lot of cookie scraps left over, and you don't even have to share those with your guests.

i heart cookie cutters

(image via amazon

That Martha gets me every time.  I went to Macy's armed with a gift card and intentions to pick up some summer clothes for Ezra.  However, the Martha Stewart Collection was conveniently located on the same floor as the children's department.  I went home with a pile of onesies, a new pastry brush, and the above cookie cutters.  Sugar cookies will be on the menu this week, I'm sure.

half birthday boy

Each year when my birthday rolls around Matt has to endure at least a week of me claiming that we should do things and go places because "it's my birthday in three days" or "it was my birthday the day before yesterday" or some other reason relating to my birthday occurring once again.  

Since Ezra's birthday isn't for another six months I wanted to celebrate another milestone: we survived the first six months of Ezra's life.  For real though, I love birthdays and half birthdays are just as good of an excuse for celebrating as whole birthdays and I want to celebrate them every year with Ezra and any other children God chooses to give to us.  It was Matt's idea for me to bake a half cake and I love him for having that idea.  I made two eight inch round cakes, cut them in half, and stacked them with frosting in between the layers, of course.  I was a lazy baker and just made Funfetti (yes, the first ingredient is sugar and it's basically poison in a box but we love it anyway), but I made the chocolate sour cream frosting from scratch and let me say that it was divine.

Of course, this year was a bit of a bust since Ezra doesn't have a clue what's going on.  He didn't even blow out the candle.  The best part of his cluelessness was that he wasn't trying to swipe the cake so Matt and I had it all to ourselves.  

We gave him a milksicle instead.  Yes, it is what you're thinking.  Also Matt's idea.  Order these popsicle molds if you want to make some for your breastfed baby.

There is way too much much sugar on that plate but guess who finished it anyway...

That's right, it was me.  I'm looking forward to continuing this tradition each year complete with half cakes.  Happy Half Birthday, Ezra!  

triple chocolate

Matt's grandmother's birthday sometimes falls around Easter and this year was no exception.  We combined Easter and her birthday celebration so when I was asked to make a dessert for the holiday this came to mind.  A simple chocolate cake that can be dressed up in so many different ways.

{the birthday girl as we sang Happy Birthday}

I chose to bake the cake in three layers because I think layer cakes always make a statement, especially when they're elevated on a cake platter and especially when it's a scalloped one.  Let's face it, though, layer cakes are great because you can cut yourself a fairly skinny slice and still have lots of cake to eat.  And lots of frosting, too, let's not forget that.

The frosting recipe is my friend Ari's - if you would like to recreate it, here are her words: "I definitely started with two sticks of room temperature butter and 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar. After that, give or take a little, I added about 1/4 cup sifted cocoa, 1/4 cup of nutella, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/3-1/2 cup of peanut butter. You really can't go wrong after you have the butter/sugar base. Perhaps I intentionally didn't write down the recipe so I can always taste as I go!"

I wish I had a piece of this in my fridge right now because I would eat it for breakfast.  Or I could just whip up a batch of frosting and have that instead.  I seem to have lost my senses...

better together

My weekend was complete - I made oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies and the entire batch was gone by sundown on Monday.  During the week I had sent Matt an email with the recipe and his response was, "are you trying to kill us?"  I am happy to report that no deaths resulted in the consumption of said cookies.

Now I'm wondering what else I can hide in a cookie.  My first inclination would be a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, or even better, a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg - so festive this time of year!  What treat would you hide in a cookie?

how to make sugar cookies & a mess

A visual guide to making sugar cookies - 

Thanks to Brooke for the recipe.

more milk

One of my favorite treats lately are lactation cookies, something I had never heard of until I visited my friend Keri of Quaint and Quirky who was a few weeks postpartum and baking them.  Yes, she was baking when her daughter was only a few weeks old.  I was inspired.  However, if you don't have time to bake them yourself then buy yourself a few bags of milkmakers and eat up.  They're full of oats, brewer's yeast, and flax seed - all galactagogues, which are substances that promote lactation.  Or try yummy mummy cookies which contain about a zillion good-for-you-and-baby ingredients, too.  If you're really ambitious postpartum then whip up a few batches of this recipe from epicurious and let me know how they taste.  All I can say that a cookie that increases milk production just can't be bad!

for the love of all things mini

Just before Christmas I saw this incredible kitchen appliance in the Williams-Sonoma catalog.  

For weeks I dreamed about mini apple pie, mini chicken pot pie, mini beef & cheddar pie, and every other mini pie imaginable.  I would serve them at my next dinner party, Ezra's first birthday, and for breakfast if I could come up with an appropriate breakfast food pie.  I would throw a party devoted to pie and pie alone.   

On the Monday after Christmas my mom and I went to the mall to take advantage of the sales at Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel and to check out the pie maker in person.  Much to my dismay, the salesperson informed us that it was sold out!  Now I'm waiting to hear if they receive a new shipment.  Has anyone used one?  Better yet, does anyone have one that they want to let me have borrow?  

ming makes cupcakes

Have you seen these amazing cupcakes?  Ming wanted to have some go-to cake recipes and baking cupcakes was the perfect way for her to experiment.  I would like to begin a similar project, maybe when Ezra is a little older and can join in the fun.  What do you think?  Should we tackle cake, too?  Or would cookies be a better option?  I can't decide now, that image of the peanut butter cupcake with peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache is too distracting.

Celebrating Mothers

I can happily say that all of my planning and preparations for Mother's Day paid off.  We enjoyed the afternoon with our parents and brothers (Matt's sister is away currently stationed in Kansas and his sister-in-law was in New York visiting her mother) and then later visited Matt's grandmother, Mama.  My menu evolved some since my last post... we started off with Kathleen's (of Twig & Thistle) DIY provincial cheese favors as appetizers which I served with four different kinds of crackers and sliced apples.  Next we had vanilla yogurt, almond granola, and blackberry and blueberry parfaits.  The entrees were a ham and cheese casserole found on the kitchn, broccoli garlic quiche from epicurious, baked French toast spotted here, and my friend Kelli's hash brown bake.  I served stephmodo's Blushing Pink Crush for a fun addition to the typical beverage menu, which, at my house, usually consists of orange juice, skim milk, herbal tea, and water.  For dessert we enjoyed banana chocolate chip muffins (adapted from the recipe found in Baked), chocolate chip biscotti (adapted from Giada's second book, Giada's Family Dinners), and fresh strawberries, pineapple, and watermelon.

Success!  I only wish I had taken some photos of the food, but we were all too hungry to bother...  I hope everyone had as lovely a day as we did!