White Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies

White Chocolate... Just saying it makes me want some of these cookies. The combination of score bits and white chocolate make for a killer cookie if you ask me.

I had gotten a big chunk of white chocolate for Easter a while ago an it has just been resting on my desk for the past week or two, so i decided to do something with it. It was probably a good idea because these cookies tasted pretty good and they didn't last very long. 

Yields: 5 dozen
Prep time: 10 minutes 
Bake time: 8 minutes

Ingredients 

• ⅔ cup melted butter
• 2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 2⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• White chocolate, chopped (about 80 grams)
• Score bits (about 80 grams)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F and line two sheets with parchment paper.

2. Beat melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, hot water and vanilla until very smooth (2-3 minutes).

3. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add all the dry ingredients to the butter, sugar, eggs, water and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate and score bits and roll 1 inch balls of dough with 12 cookies per sheet.

4. Bake for 8-9 minutes. 

Fancy Ice Cream Toppers

Whenever I would see these things on top of desserts I thought they were so elegant but somewhat intimidating. Well I recently attempted these fancy chocolate toppers and they were surprisingly easy. 

Oh boy! I haven't had ice cream in a while, I kind of forgot about it believe it or not. Since I have been making all of these desserts lately I haven't really been eating it that much. Tonight I enjoyed a scoop of mint chip (my favourite) while studying for exams (not my favourite.) I am actually pretty proud of how these came out. You can make just about anything, hearts, squiggles, zigzags or anything your heart desires.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 tsp of canola or vegetable oil 
• A scoop of your favourite ice cream

Directions

1. Combine the chocolate chips and oil in a microwave safe bowl

microwave for 3 sets of 20 second intervals. Stirring in between intervals.

3. Set up a sheet of wax paper on a plate and use a spoon or spatula to drizzle patterns on the paper. You may not get it at first but practice makes perfect.

4. Store in the fridge for at least 15 minutes before serving on top ice cream. When they are ready serve, scoop ice cream in a bowl and gently peel off the chocolate and place it on top the ice cream. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Tapioca

This pudding is an old favourite of mine. I really love this dessert. Tapioca isn't everybody's cup of tea but I love it to bits. Every time I make some it disappears in 10 seconds flat. I sometimes add a raspberry reduction on top to even out the sweet flavour of tapioca with the tart taste of raspberries. If you are looking to get creative, serve them in martini glasses.

I'll give you all an update on the status of my cookbook that I have been working on. As many of you may know, this blog started out as a project for a tech glass. But I enjoyed it so much that I decided to continue the blog. I finished the cookbook and submitted it for marking last week. I hope I do well because I have really been working hard these past few months. 

Yields: 4 servings

Prep time: 5 minutes

Total time: 42 minutes

Ingrediens 

1/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp Minute Tapioca (I use Club House)

1/4 tsp salt

3 cups milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large saucepan whisk together the sugar, tapioca, salt milk and egg. Let stand for 5 minutes.

2. Bring to a boil on medium heat, whisk occasionally until it come to a full boil. This will take about 17 minutes.

3. Let cool for 20 minutes, whisk twice in that time. Pudding will thicken as it cools. Serve warm or chilled, store leftovers in the fridge.

Note: Looking to spice up this recipe? Try this Raspberry Reduction to top everything off.

Recipe adapted from Club House Minute Tapioca package

Smarties vs M&M's

Both of these candies are really delicious but when you make them with cookies is there one that is better to use? Well I was curious to which one works best when baking. 

 

At first I had made these Smartie cookies, and they were really good. But just recently I tried the same recipe but with M&M's. So here's the verdict... Don't get me wrong! I love M&M's, I personally think that they taste better and they also have better colours, but when they were baked they weren't as good as the smarties where. They tasted kind of funny, but the smarties tasted even better then they did on their own!  So next time you can't decide which one to use, now you know.