Dot Matrix with Stereo Sound » Food

Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookies

mario — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:35:17 +0000

My weekly 2011 updates continue with: baking!

This Christmas season, I wanted to make a contribution moderately more interesting than my usual iTunes gift card stocking stuffers. With that in mind, I decided to invent my own recipe, because I figure everyone’s gotta have their own recipe at some point. After many batches of tinkering, I ended up with this, a recipe for chocolate chip candy cane cookies!

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Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookies
(inspired by Original Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies)

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 shakes cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup chocolate chips
14 mini candy canes

Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Crush candy canes to desired consistency, then stir in with chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto greased baking sheets.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

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Let me know what you think of them! Everyone I surveyed thought they were pretty darn delicious, and also a good use for otherwise useless candy canes. Here’s the finished product!

[discuss]

Chocolate-Covered Bacon

mario — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:53:42 +0000

While perusing the RiffTrax Blog (as is my wont), I came across an entry detailing the fascinating concept of chocolate-covered bacon. But this was different from any other ol’ blog post of the “wouldn’t it be crazy if they combined X and Y” or the Photoshopped picture combining rancid milk and bees variety, because it referenced a real place that sold a real product consisting of bacon dipped in chocolate, and most importantly, a real place that I had access to! So this Mother’s Day, when my mom declared her desire to ride the Giant Dipper at the Boardwalk and eat lunch on the wharf, I had the opportunity to stop by Marini’s at the Wharf! And did!!!

Whether a much braver man than I, or just quicker on the draw, my brother Carlo had the first bite of Amalgamation Christmas. The twisted contortion on his face can only possibly be the result of amazement at the synergistic effects of these seemingly clashing flavors coming together at last.

And here’s me having my fill. Some of the other attendees didn’t feel like finishing off their pieces and handed them off to me. Clearly they couldn’t handle the bacon-powered intense flavor rush.

Final verdict: kinda nasty, but now I can say “I’ve tried chocolate-covered bacon. What have you done with your life?” Of course, I’ll need to quickly vacate the immediate vicinity of the conversation so as to not give them sufficient time to respond.

[discuss]

In which I bake: chocolate chip cloud cookies

mario — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:23:00 +0000

After a minor plumbing emergency last night, the household was in need of some relief in the form of delicious desserts. I stepped up and threw together a great treat I’ve made maybe once or twice in my life before, a heapin’ batch of chocolate chip cloud cookies!

I’m no baking expert (cookologist? mixmaster?), so I did what I always do in such situations and googled the recipe. Found a nice one from Free Cooking Recipes, which apparently offers free cooking recipes (I chose them because the recipe was more in tune with most of the ingredients in our house at that exact moment). I got a little extra enjoyment out of the project because I can still remember when I first made and tried a cloud cookie, back in middle school cooking class. Gotta love how strongly food can be tied to memory (especially me, since I generally have lousy memory).

I was a little hasty pulling them out of the oven (a common flaw on my part when it comes to making food; I just get hungry!), so the chocolate chips didn’t all melt as much as they could have, but overall they came out pretty much like I remembered them, light and crumbly and delicious. Natalie said they looked like cat turds, but hopefully they tasted better than that. I thought they did, though I have little basis of comparison.

Henry Weinhard sure knows how to make a good (root) beer (float)

mario — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 04:44:00 +0000

Isn’t it just gorgeous?

WTF Jack in the Box?

mario — Thu, 28 Apr 2005 17:44:00 +0000

I just bought some Jack in the Box breakfast on the way to work (it wasn’t really by choice; Jack in the Box is the only drive-through restaurant in town). When I got to work, I found that they gave me french fries instead of hash browns! How screwy is that? If I didn’t have work to do I’d drive right back and hella complain, but as it stands all I can do is eat my fries.

Say, fries with a sausage croissant sandwich isn’t half-bad.