Lovin' From the Oven

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

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So my boyfriend, one of his friends, and I have officially started our dieting/exercising routine as of yesterday. It’s been one day without carbs and I’m already having withdrawals. Whoever thought that a day without carbs is a good thing?! We’re basically doing a low carb, high protein diet with at least 3 days of cardio a week. We also get one cheat day a week (which is like a cheat hour each day for me. Shhhh don’t tell my bf!). We went on a hike right by my house yesterday and it was so beautiful! 86 degree weather? Hellooooo spring! Too bad it’s supposed to rain tonight, though.

Mocha chocolate chip cookies. Coffee in cookies? Why not? It works so well in brownies. This recipe intrigued me because it didn’t dissolve the coffee before putting it into the batter like most recipes. I made these a while ago and took them into work. My coworkers loved them, but I thought they were just okay. Perhaps there was too much coffee in them? I would definitely tone down the instant coffee powder by a tablespoon next time. But hey, if you’re a huge coffee fan, then by all means go for it. I, on the other hand, can’t drink black coffee unless it has tons of condensed milk/sugar/milk/cream. That kinda defeats the whole purpose of coffee, eh? The texture was nice and chewy, so I would imagine they’d make a great chocolate chip recipe alone by omitting the coffee. These are just slightly adapted from the cookbook Baking With Julia.

  • 2 cups flour
  • 3 tablespoons instant coffee powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks butter, cut into chunks
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 pound chocolate chips or chunks

1. Whisk the flour, coffee, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

2. Beat the butter in a mixer until lightened. Add granulated sugar and beat for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and beat for another 30 seconds. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla and beat until blended.

3. Turn mixer speed down and add flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Add chocolate and mix until evenly blended in.

4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for several hours to overnight.

5. Preheat oven to 350. Drop a heaping tablespoon full of dough onto sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

6. Cool on racks. They’re best when warm!

Big Bear Foodie Post

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I’m back from Big Bear! It was a great week of relaxing, eating, and playing. The weather was perfect and I even had time to update my fashion blog. That’s a rare occurrence in itself! Anyways, since this is a food blog, let’s move on to the food. We got to Big Bear a little earlier than our check in time, so we yelped for a good place to grab lunch. We ended up at the Grizzly Manor Cafe, which didn’t disappoint. The cook and waiters were pleasant and even joked around with our huge group of 11. Getting out of a three hour car ride, I blanked and totally forgot to take any pictures of the place OR food! I know, I’m a terrible food blogger and I apologize. Just trust me when I say that the portions were HUGE and the food was delish.

The second day we were there, we headed into “The Village,” which is apparently the only place to go in Big Bear. All of their shops, food, and entertainment is located on this block. I particularly wanted to go here for the North Pole Candy & Fudge Company, but more on that later. First, we saw this and the boys went running for the door:

Ostrich, really?! The boys wanted to try the ostrich jerky, but they were out since it was their most popular one (or so we were told)
Jerky galore!

The jerky was delicious! Very moist, which is usually the number one problem is beef jerky.
Then I found a store which I absolutely fell in love with.. the Copper Q! It was a store that sold baking/cooking supplies, a cafe and bakery, AND a place where you can sit in on a cooking demonstration! Can I move in, please?
Just one look inside the store and I was in heaven.
I mean, seriously… how cute is the stuff they sell?
I got a coffee frappe there and almost walked out until I saw the bakery window. I didn’t even know they had baked goods! So of course, I had to pick up something:
This white chocolate macadamia nut cookie was quite possibly the best one I’ve ever had. The edges were crispy and the inside was chewy. It wasn’t overly sweet and there weren’t too many nuts… just pure bliss.
Now THIS is what I came here for… fudge and candy!
My boyfriend picked out a peanut butter cup that they made there.
Just look at that beautiful mess!
One of his friends got an orange cream truffle. He loved it too.
Andddd.. these are my goods. S’mores fudge and chocolate walnut fudge. The s’mores one was just mehhh, but the chocolate was so soft and melt-in-your-mouth kinda deal.
I also got a mini caramel apple. What the heck, how is this thing even mini?

I have to eat at least one caramel apple a week. They’re just SO good. I mean, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, right? I usually get them from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory since it’s so close and available. Compared to Rocky Mountain, this caramel apple had a TON more caramel. The caramel was chewier, more decadent, and probably tripled the amount of caramel from Rocky Mountain’s. Win! Can the North Pole Fudge & Ice Cream Co. move to my hometown already? Kthx.

I think these are my favorite posts— foodie posts. Hopefully I’ll be able to do more in the future despite everyone on the trip thinking I’m a crazy person for wanting to take pictures of everything. All the rest of the food that we ate on the trip was cooked/bbq’ed at the house we stayed in, so that’s why there’s not that much food porn to share. Maybe next time!

Copycat Momofuku Cornflake Marshmallow Cookies

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I just arrived today in Big Bear and the weather is beautiful! I love being away from the LA smog and out in this fresh outdoor scenery. It’s quite refreshing, really. Unfortunately, I had a terrible headache the entire evening and was stuck in bed dealing with it (good thing I had formspring questions to keep me entertained!). Perhaps it’s because I didn’t drink enough water. I really suck at doing that. I somehow always forget to drink water or when I do, it takes me hours to finish a glass. I’ll work on it.

Ever since my use of cereal in everything cookies, I’ve always been very open to the idea of using cornflakes in cookies. Lucky for me, I stumbled across this recipe on tastespotting or foodgawker and just had to give it a go. My second cereal cookie. Was it as good as the first? They’re good, but not as good as my first. Maybe I’m biased, but that’s just my opinion. I do admit I really like the idea of using marshmallows in cookies, though. Then again, these marshmallow cookies totally blew these out of the water. Hmmm… so much competition!

I SLIGHTLY adapted the recipe.. testing with the marshmallow method. For my first batch, I baked the cookies for a little bit before putting on the marshmallows (as listed in my slightly adapted recipe). For the second batch, I followed the original directions exactly and placed the marshmallows onto my cookie dough balls before baking them. What happened with the second batch was that the marshmallows all got pushed to the edges when baking and were practically falling off the cookie. I liked the first method much better, which resulted in the cookies pictured. I adapted the recipe from The Cookbook Chronicles, even though my cookies don’t look like hers.

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups AP flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 3/4 cup oatmeal
  • 1 1/4 cup lightly crushed cornflakes
  • 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
  • about 3/4 cup mini marshmallows
  1. In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and beat until combined.
  2. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and beat on low speed, just so the dry ingredients become incorporated. With a wooden spoon, mix in the oatmeal, crushed cornflakes, and chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  4. On a baking sheet, scoop up and roll the dough into golf ball-sized spheres. Give them room to spread!
  5. Bake for 4 minutes. Pull them out and quickly press 4 mini marshmallows into each cookie. Bake for an additional 6 minutes**. The cookies will still look soft in the middle when you take them out of the oven. Allow them to cool directly on the tray for a few minutes before moving them onto a platter.

**If the marshmallows aren’t the color you want them to be, you can always put them under the broiler for a couple of seconds to get that nice glow. Make sure to keep an eye on them!

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