Jackpot!

I found it.  The. Best. Chocolate Chip Cookie. Ever.  I loooove chocolate chip cookies!  I've never been too picky about them... Chips Ahoy, refridgerated Pillsbury, home-made Toll House... I love them all.  But this is it!  This one tops them all.  Here we go.  Are you ready to try a cookie that will change your life? 


Yummmmmmmmm

This recipe was adapted from Savory Sweet Life.  I was blog stalking, as I've already admitted to doing often, and somehow came across Alice's blog.  She has amazing recipes and very good pictures and writing skills.  I've enjoyed picking out many things that will most likely show up on my blog before too long.  You should check her out... and then make these cookies! :) 

I was excited all day looking forward to baking these cookies.  But right before I got started, I got scared that I had bought into all the hype and would end up disappointed.  On the contrary.  They met and exceded all my expectations.  Enough with the talking.  Here's how you can get in on this crunchy, yet chewy, chocolatey... sweet and salty... ooey, gooey goodness.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour *Highly recommended weighing the flour

3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt *NOT table salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips *This is about 18oz, so go with the big bag or two regular sized bags (There will be leftover if using 2 small bags... Too bad, huh? ;) )

 Did I mention this is a lot of chocolate??

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 360 degrees.  (Not a type-o.  360.)  Cream butter, sugar, and dark brown sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes on med-high speed.

Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes.

Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until all mixed.  It's getting pretty thick!  Now add the mountain of chocolate chips.


I dare you not to taste the dough.

Drop scoops of cookie dough on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  (How have I lived without parchment paper until now?!)  Bake 10-12 minutes, until edges are brown.

Place cookie sheet on a cooling rack for 2 minutes.  Then slide entire parchment paper onto counter top to continue cooling.  I know you'll want to eat one of these things while they're hot out of the oven.  I won't tell you not to because I did, and it was wonderful.  But I will tell you that they are even better (if you can believe that, at this point) when they are a bit more cooled and have become slightly chewy in the middle. 

Now stop whatever you are doing, and go to your kitchen.  You probably already have all of these ingredients.  If you don't have 2 cabinets and 1 side of your pantry dedicated to baking, like I do, then run to Kroger real quickly, and grab what you need.  Bake up some goodies, and let me know what you think.  I can't wait to hear from you all!!

Sarah

Waste Not, Want Not

I was voicing my concern of the "wasted" cake when I level them to make layered cakes, when my brilliant friend suggested cake balls.  Of course!

There was A LOT of extra cake after making this!

So, here is my first tutorial. :)  BTW, you don't have to use "extra" cake; you can actually bake a cake just to make the cake balls. 

First, crumble up the cake in a bowl, and scoop in whatever flavor icing you want.  (The best part of this recipe is there are no measurements.)

Then mix it up till it's not cakey any more.  You won't want it too creamy, though, just because it will be hard to shape.

Since I had two different kinds of leftover cake, I made two different kinds of cake balls.  I just used whatever I had in my cabinet, so I made yellow cake with chocolate icing and chocolate cake with cream cheese icing.

I save my sprinkles from the Funfetti icing cans to use whenever I want. :)

Next, roll the dough into little balls and place on a platter or cookie sheet and refrigerate to harden a bit.

If you skip this step they'll fall apart when you dip them.

After you can touch them without them easily losing shape or getting all over your fingers, melt your chocolate and begin dipping... Here's where I forgot to take pictures. :/  You pretty much just drop them in the chocolate and use a fork to make sure they get completely covered.  Then place them on wax paper to harden. 

I used brown almond bark on my yellow cake/chocolate frosting balls and white almond bark on my chocolate cake/cream cheese frosting balls.

I put a few sprinkles on top to jazz them up a bit.  Yum-O!  Try them out.  So easy and makes you look so good! :)

Let me know if you make them!  I'd love to hear how impressed all your friends are. :)

Sarah



Delivery!

I have a cake to deliver for FGC tomorrow.  I'm excited about this one because I was able to incorporate fondant decorations for the first time.  The only direction I had was the age of the boy... 12!  What a tough age.  I didn't want to pick a sport and choose the wrong one.  I didn't want to do something I thought was "cool" and he think it's "lame", so I went with blue and simple.

I guess I got a little bake-happy and decided to do 3 layers, 2 cake flavors, and 2 frosting flavors... I wish I was invited to the party now.

yellow, chocolate fudge, yellow

I leveled them and stacked them with chocolate frosting in between each layer.  Later, I'll show you what a did with all most of the leftover cake!  Then I frosted the outside with my homemade vanilla buttercream icing and smoothed it out with a magical Viva papertowel... They have a special spot in the pantry, and no one is to use them for anything but smoothing icing. :)  Yes, THAT magical.

Then the fun part: playing "play-doh".

 

Then toss them on the cake wherever they land, add a name and border.  I hope he likes it!

Happy Birthday, Kevin!

For Goodness Cakes

I am not a cook.  I wouldn't even go as far as saying I'm a baker, but I actually enjoy (look forward to) that one.  I think it's the artistic side of it.  I really just love the decorating.  And now that I'm learning more, I like to carve and build a cake, too!  I have always liked to decorate cupcakes with all their tiny details.

Well, last fall, a friend at work told me about this awesome group, called For Goodness Cakes, who bake cakes for kids in foster care and in shelters.  It was around this time I was starting to see the effects of the cakes on my body :/ and couldn't give up a chance to be able to bake all I want and not gain an ounce, especially when it is for such a good cause.  (You all know the batter on the spatula is calorie-free, right?)



My first assigned cake

Since then, I have taken a few cake classes and started selling cakes, too.  I'm really enjoying it!  B will tell you I'm obsessed.  I love looking at blogs and books and coming up with new designs.  I have way too many ideas to ever complete them all, but I will try!

Well, I need to check on my cake!  My house has been smelling gooood....

Sarah



Confessions of a Blog Stalker

I am an avid food blog stalker.  I check a few daily; they're in my favorites.  (The Decorated Cookie and Bake at 350, to name my first go-to's)  So I guess the guilt of not "contributing" and the nice "push" by some of my family members (probably the only people even reading this ;) ) led me to finally create this blog.  I am by no means a blogger.  I am not the best writer nor photographer, and I take most of my recipes/ideas from other blogs. :)  I've been trying to plan ahead (another thing I don't do much of) and start taking pictures of the baking process and not just the final project... so last night when I made cinnamon bread, I took a thousand pictures of the process... AND FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE FINAL PROJECT! haha

So, here goes!  May I introduce you to my blog: Sarah's Got a Sweet Tooth.  Because a sweet tooth is something I do know a lot about!

And I know we all look at blogs for the pictures, so here's one to make it worth reading all the words. :)

(My first cake from class... cute, but I promise they get better!)