Chocolate Crackle Cookies

How to lesson # 1: How to make your co-workers like you.
There can be many answers to this question. Possibilities include: being a hard worker, offering to switch shifts with somebody in need, not making a mess in the staff room, being on time, etc. etc.

BORING.

A fail-proof solution, and my go-to: Make them cookies! Feed them delicious home baked goodies! You could make these chocolate crackle cookies... instant friend makers as I like to call them.

I did in fact, make these for my fellow co-workers. The girl who started working when I did had her last shift the other day, so I did what I do best and gave her a parting gift of cookies. And fed the rest to everyone else! It makes farewells a little bit more sweet. Especially when you dunk them in powdered sugar before you bake them. The cookies, that is.
Oh man, these were pretty darn great.

They are super soft! They melt in your mouth! And they are totally chocolatey. What more could you ask for? Oh right, powdered sugar. Makes them look a little more dressed up. It also adds a nice little change of texture on the outside. Like a sugary shell.

How to lesson # 2: How to make Chocolate Crackle Cookies.

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

Recipe from this book.

• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped and melted.
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup milk (recipe calls for whole, which my fridge lacked, so I used skim)
• granulated sugar for rolling
• powdered sugar for rolling

1. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
2. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer until pale and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Mix in the eggs and vanilla, then the cooled melted chocolate. Reduce the speed to low. Add in half the flour mixture, followed by the milk, and then finally the other half of the flour. This method is easier than the route I took: Forget completely about the milk altogether, realize it after refrigerating the dough, and attempt to mix it into an already chilled and hardened dough. Don't get me wrong, I made it work ;) but I would not recommend it.
3. Divide your chocolatey dough into four equal pieces, wrap each in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
4. Once dough has chilled sufficiently to your standards, divide each piece into 16 little chunks. Roll them into 1 inch balls, and coat them with the granulated sugar. Next, treat them nice and roll them in a little powdered sugar. It is like a day at the Sugar Spa. place on a parchment lined baking sheet, and flatten them just a wee bit if you like... but not too much! Or they will not be the soft cookies of your dreams.
5. Bake in a 350 oven (or if your oven is like mine, 325 is best) until the surfaces begin to crack. The recipe indicates 14 minutes, but mine took less time, more like 10 minutes.

A note! The ever so wise Martha tells me (not personally, though I would like to think so) that it is important to roll the cookies in both sugars. When I first read that, I thought, TOO MUCH SUGAR. Then I realized, there is no such thing, and also, she tells us this because this way the powdered sugar stays on the outside of the cookie and does not soak in. Makes the finished cookie looking all pretty and white, and gives the outer shell a little bit of texture. Thanks Martha!

<3 Lari

Cheese Souffle

Cheese Souffle!

I am not the only one who became absolutely smitten when I saw the movie Julie and Julia. I am unashamedly part of the fan club 100%! This is why I came dashing in the door from work, to change into a more appropriate outfit (Julia Child Style), take a dorky photo of it, and immediately commence the 100th Birthday Celebration for a most inspiring French Chef.

It took me all day to figure out exactly what I wanted to make.
Mousse au chocolaté: YES I LOVE CHOCOLATE (duh)... oh but it won't be ready until tomorrow? NOPE I want to celebrate immediately.
Boeuf bourguignon: Classic, oh but that takes forever and a day. Mother will not approve.
French Onion Soup: Ohhhh Mother will SO approve, but this also takes a while to caramelize the onions yada yada

I am noticing that good French food takes time. Which apparently I don't have much of. A little thing called SHOPPING FOR AN IPHONE gets in the way... which I totally don't mind...

BUT... Luckily for me and my desire to want to celebrate immediately, there is a classic french dish that:

• I have never eaten but always wanted to
• I have never made but always wanted to
• I found a recipe by Julia Child for it on foodnetwork.com
• It MUST be served immediately.

HOORAY FOR CHEESE SOUFFLE!

All puffy and golden and glorious. A cheese pillow.

I found this recipe here, but it is originally from Julia Child's book: Julia's Kitchen Wisdom. And boy does she have some wisdom in the kitchen.

Julia Child's Cheese Souffle

Recipe not at all adapted because it is delicious as is from Julia's Kitchen Wisdom. Serves 4

• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp finely grated parmesan
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 cup hot milk
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• pinch nutmeg
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 4 egg yolks
• 5 egg whites
• 1 cup grated swiss cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Butter a 6-cup souffle or straight-sided baking dish with 11/2 tablespoons butter. Dust the interior of the dish with the Parmesan and knock out the excess.

In a large saucepan, melt the remaining butter over medium high heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the butter and flour foam and froth. Remove the pan from the heat and beat in the hot milk, then simmer over medium heat and stir slowly until thick, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the seasonings, then the egg yolks, 1 by 1.

Whip the egg whites to stiff, shining peaks, then whisk 1/4 of them into the sauce to lighten it. Delicately fold the remaining egg whites into the sauce, alternating with the grated Swiss cheese.

Turn the souffle mixture into the prepared dish and set in the oven. Reduce the heat to 375 degrees F and bake until the souffle has puffed 1 or 2-inches above the rim and has browned on top, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve immediately!

Right away!

Enjoy it without haste!

Serve with a light salad, the best french baguette you can find, and that $2 steal of a sign from a garage sale.

This was my first soufflé that I have ever eaten or made and it was a success! I like this whole soufflé thing. I am thinking the next one shall be a dessert soufflé... chocolate, anyone? I already have a recipe in mind... :)

And as she would always say...

BON APPETIT!

<3 Larissa

Happy Birthday Julia Child

Today is August 15th which means that today would have been Julia Child's 100th Birthday!

And I feel the need to celebrate it.

I won't lie, the majority of my knowledge of Julia Child comes from the movie: Julie and Julia. But DOOD! That movie was SOO GOOD. I just fell in love. I was so inspired the whole way through watching it, and I'm pretty sure I was smiling dorkishly for most of the movie.

I'm not sure yet how I plan on celebrating this lovely lady's legacy today, but I sure will be thinking a lot about her and all the inspiration I got from watching Julie and Julia.

The exciting thing: I am not positive... but I think that I may have in fact inherited one of her cookbooks from my great Aunt (!). So there will definitely be some rummaging through our storage boxes tonight. And cooking, obvs.

Happy Birthday Julia Child!
Cooking is awesome.

<3 Larissa

How do you think you will celebrate this momentous occasion??

5 Things of Awesome

It's Sunday! Not that it really matters for me because my weekend never seems to fall on an actual weekend. But for the majority of the world, another week has passed. 

Here's what I thought was awesome this week!

1) This photo of a pretty gal riding her bike, found via Pinterest. I love riding my little townie bike! I strive to look like this whilst riding.

2) These shoes are as sweet as Caramel Sauce. From ModCloth

3) THIS PHOTO. (Chocolate+RoastedCherry+SaltedAlmondIce Cream via Petite Kitchenesse) Must try soon... I am on a bit of a wanting-to-make-homemade-ice-cream kick.

4)  THE CUTEST CAMPER EVER. Oh I so want a little retro trailer... to sell cupcakes or pie from. Found via Pinterest

5) This adorable little painting on the side of a house, with blue windows. I would do this.

This week has been pretty sweet, hope the next one will be too!

What do you think is awesome this week?

<3 Lari

We Have a Winner!

STORY TIME!

Bubble tea and I have had a bumpy past, I will not lie. I wanted to be part of that crowd that loves bubble tea and when I was in about grade 10 I decided to see what all the hype was about!

I went to China Town (Which by the way is one of my favourite places to go in the city!) with a friend and we decided to give it a shot. I chose honeydew flavour. I was slightly saddened that the only way it got this flavour was from a mysterious green powder. I was also slightly weirded out by the pearls... but I knew that it was probably just something to get used to. Unfortunately, I could not finish my tea... it was not making me feel so grand! So at that I kind of put a cap on my bubble tea dreams and just made up my mind that it was not for me.

But people kept on drinking it, everywhere! All the time! And worse yet? They would rave about how much they love bubble tea. I must have had a bad first experience or something, I thought. So this summer when I went to Kim Anh Subs to grab dinner with my friend Hayley, we said Yes Please! to also getting bubble tea. And guess what? I totally liked it. I was thrilled that I gave it a second chance! This time I had a Pina Colada flavour (Because Pina Coladas are my weakness, it's true). Again, the flavouring was only thanks to some powdery substance, but this one tasted absolutely delish, and I fell in love with Bubble Tea! I rejoiced. But only too soon. To my despair, about 15 minutes later I had the worst stomach pains! What the heck, world? How can you have bubble tea and I cannot? It simply isn't fair. :(

Despite the painful memories, I enjoyed my second attempt (while I was sipping at least) so much that I knew I had to try again. I was getting desperate here people. But good news! Third time's the charm! The saying works. I finally had a positive bubble tea experience at Thai Thai where I fully enjoyed a Pineapple-Mango tea, sans stomach soreness. Thank you, bubble tea lords! I am now part of the in crowd!

And if you didn't think that was a happy enough ending... THERE'S BETTER NEWS!

Just today whilst visiting the China Town Street Festival, the Ma and I decided to share a bubble tea. We stopped at a place in the mall that seemed to be bustling with activity - often a good sign . The shop was called Pearl House and it specialized in only serving up Bubble Teas. Their menu board was PACKED with every flavour you could ever want in life! Ma and I were craving mango, so we chose a Mango-Peach combo. Here's where things really get exciting: As I peered over the counter, there were no bins filled with the mysterious powder in sight... Instead what I saw was, GASP, Fresh Fruit!! NO WAY. They make their bubble tea with REAL things! And oh boy, I could totally taste a delicious difference. Ma and I happily marched away, confident that we had stumbled upon a real gem.

Moral of the story is:

If at first you don't succeed... Try bubble tea again.

Aaand:

The Pearl House in the China Town Mall has The Best Bubble Tea. (In my fairly inexperienced opinion)

This one's going in the little black book of Foodie-Fun. (What? You don't have a journal you keep of food related things? Weird...)

Do you like bubble tea? If so, where do you go to get it? What's your flavour preference? 

<3 Lari

Olive Oil and Lime Vinaigrette

Fun Fact about Larissa: I am a salad lover! This is true. Naturally, I am also a lover of making homemade salad dressings. They are so easy, and they keep really well in your fridge. They taste better than store bought, as so many things do.

I could go on and on about how much I love salad! But I will try to refrain. I will say, however, that my love of salad can almost solely be credited to one of my high school art teachers, who always brought salad for lunch. I took inspiration from this, and now nearly everyday I bring salad for lunch! You might think, "Salad everyday? Boring!". But salad is SO versatile that it's almost impossible to get bored of it. I have learned over the years of salad making/eating that you can make a salad of pretty much ANYTHING. I usually just take whatever leftovers we have from dinner to make my salad for lunch the next day. Just add lettuce. Thank you, Miss Field, for keeping me happy, healthy, and never bored during the lunch hour!

This recipe is an Olive Oil and Lime Vinaigrette. It's a pretty simple one that can go well with many many salads. I recently made one with mixed greens + falafel + sliced radishes + sliced carrots + sliced celery + this vinaigrette and it was quite tasty.

Olive Oil and Lime Vinaigrette

Recipe very slightly adapted from My New Roots

• Juice of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• pinch cayenne pepper

Place all ingredients in a jar and shake it up! Dressing can be kept in a jar in the fridge for a few weeks. The olive oil may solidify from the cold, don't fear! Just let it sit at room temp to warm up a bit before serving again.

Go Canada! Bronze Medal Peach Shortcake

I love olympics!

I also love soccer!

I also love Canada!

And I also love this peach shortcake recipe!

I was so excited when the Canadian Women's Soccer team won bronze, that I did a fist pump into the air. The only problem is that I was running on my treadmill in my low-ceilinged-basement when it happened, and forgot how close to the ceiling I really was. I may have made a small dent... I probably looked like a maniac, laughing and crying with joy as small white plaster ceiling bits showered over me, all whilst still running on the treadmill.

 Their medal winning performance deserved a suitable dessert! It also helped that I had many peaches in my fridge begging to be turned into something glorious. And what a glorious dessert this was!

Butterscotch Assault.

I followed the recipe, and it was divine. The only change I made was to cut the biscuits into maple leaf shapes in celebration of Canada's epic win! I also did not peel the peaches for the peach slices... because I am lazy. Also the red looks pretty. Also, who would want to waste any part of a perfect peach? And the homemade butterscotch sauce just ties everything together wonderfully.

<3 Lari