Holidays without cookies?! Nah!  Only double-chocolate will do!

I haven't blogged (serious & passionately) in like a million years!  I thought I wouldn't be able to log in to this old blog again.  I do have a new blog now that I'm doing professional photography, but I would definitely like to keep this for my food and other random wacky moments.  But if you're interested in my portrait photography, please visit http://shuttertripperphotography.wordpress.com/.  And you're very welcome to follow and "like" my photography page on Facebook as well: http://www.facebook.com/ShutterTripperPhotography. I regularly post updates on my photo shoots and I'll soon be starting some contests and other interesting activities. 

Anyway, back to the job on hand.  I have been working super hard to get my business established while working a 9 to 5 job and having other domestic responsibilities.  I didn't think a lot about setting up my business till I actually started.  Man, oh man, is it ever tough!  

But I have to be honest - I'm loving every moment of it as I shape it with my own pudgy hands, and give it the look and feel I can identify with.:)  

And my new website is now up and running and starting to look close to how I wanted it: www.shutter-tripper-photography.com. If you happen to visit, please let me know what you think. :)

Amongst all this madness over the past 3 months, I have been missing meals (mostly eating them, since I have to provide for a hungry teenager all the time), missing sleep, missing blogging, but most of all, I've been missing catching up with friends, but I have such a great bunch of those, I know they understand and are super supportive despite my recent lapses! I couldn't do it without their support and constant encouragement!  

Blogging used to be a great way for me to vent, rant, rave and ramble.  I had been bottling it all up.  And finally, after months and months of hibernation, I broke out my bakeware again, and fired up my oven, just so I could blog about my second greatest passion - cooking!  

What good are the holidays without some chocolate rush? So, here's killing two birds with one stone - baking some chocolatey treats, and blogging the recipe for all those who want to try it! They turned out delicious.  In hindsight, it would have been nicer if I'd added some chopped nuts. :-S

Double-Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk/dark chocolate chips

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375 deg F (190 deg C).
2. In a large bowl, beat butter and both the sugars till light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla until creamy.
4. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture slowly.
5. Add chocolate chips and mix. 
6. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. 
7. Bake 8 - 10 mins. or until lightly browned.  
8. Let cool slightly and remove to wire rack.  Cool completely before storing. 
9. Makes about 3 dozen large-ish cookies.

I would love to hear from all of you and although I don't promise to start blogging here as regularly as I would like to, I will definitely be passing by now and again.  

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a wonderfully happy, healthy and peaceful 2013!  

Peanut Butter & White Chocolate Chip Cookies with Orange Zest

This was my first attempt at making peanut butter cookies.  I adapted the recipe from here, but as always, tweaked the recipe quite a bit.  I made it into a peanut butter and white chocolate cookie with an orange twist.

The recipe was easy, but I found that I needed to add at least a cup of milk to the dough to get it to the right consistency.  The cookies turned out a little bit dense, but on storing them overnight, a lot of the moistness returned.  Anyone that likes peanut butter cookies would really enjoy these, but I think I might move on to different cookies the next time around.

You will need:
3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1/2 cup (105 grams) light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup (185 grams) peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
• 2 cups (260 grams) all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts or 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (optional)
• 1 teaspoon orange zest (optional)
• 1 cup cold milk (if required)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F  and place rack in the centre of the oven. 
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 2 - 3 minutes). You could use an electric mixer for this, but I used a hand mixer.
4. Beat in the peanut butter. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat to combine. 
5. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. 
6. Add to the peanut butter mixture and beat until incorporated. Fold in the chopped peanuts if using, if using, the white chocolate chips and the orange zest. (If the batter is too dry at this point, add milk a few teaspoons at a time. Alternately, if the batter is too soft, keep in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before forming into balls.)
7. Roll the batter into 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls. 
8. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheet, placing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Then, using the tines of the fork that has been dipped in white granulated sugar, make a crisscross pattern.
9. Bake the cookies for about 10 to12 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges. 
10. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Can be stored at room temperature, in an airtight container, for about a week. Freeze for longer storage.

Makes about 40 cookies.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Thanks to my son, now I have to bake my cupcakes and eat them too! :(  Not good, considering I shouldn't be consuming any more sugar than I already do.  I should have self control, you say?  Well, if you knew what kind of internal battles I fight every time I look at a sugary treat, you would know I'm trying really hard.

I got the idea of strawberry cupcakes because I found strawberries at unseasonably low prices at my neighbourhood grocery store.  And since I'd been promising to bake cupcakes for the past month, I thought I should just seize the opportunity and the berries and put them to good use.  

I recently indulged in some baking tools and this would be the best occasion to break out my neat little cupcake liners.  I love the pattern and thought they would be perfect for the pink delights. 

I'm not that great at piping, but thought I'd take the opportunity to just use the pastry tips the best I can.  Didn't turn out too bad in the end, did they?

Enjoy your cupcake with a glass of milk, or a cuppa tea or coffee! 

Here's the super-easy recipe!

The Cupcake

Self-rasing flour - 150 gms (5 oz)

Baking powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - a couple of pinches

Granulated sugar - 150 gms (5 oz)

Butter (room temperature) - 150 gms (5oz)

Eggs, beaten (room temperature) - 3 (medium)

Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Strawberry essence - 1tsp

The Low-Fat Cream Cheese Frosting

Light cream cheese (room temperature) - 125 gms 

Butter - 100 gms

Confectioner's/icing sugar - 8 0z

Strawberry essence - 1 tsp

A few strawberries and other decorations for the topping

Method

The cupcake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 deg C.
2. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners, or grease it and keep aside.
3. Put the butter in a bowl and beat with an electric beater for a minute or so.  
4. Add the sugar (preferably sifted), a bit at a time and beat until light and fluffy.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
5. Add the vanilla essence and then slowly add the eggs; continue beating for another minute or so.  You might find the mixture curdling a bit, but don't worry, it's normal.
6. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in another bowl.
7. Add the dry ingredients to the wet.  Start on a low speed and gradually increase the speed till the mixture is light and fluffy again.
8. Fill the cupcake pans halfway to the top with the batter.
9. Bake for about 18 - 23 mins.  You will need to check the cupcakes at the 18 min. mark so see if a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  If you see a few wet crumbs, leave them in for a couple of mins. and check again.  Baking them too long can make them chewy and dense.
10. Once the cupcakes are done, let stand for a couple of minutes and them remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

The frosting

1. In a bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese till fluffy.
2. Slowly add the sugar and strawberry essence.  
3. Add the cream, if using.
4. Beat on high for 3 - 4 mins. till light and fluffy. The mixture should form firm peaks.
5. If the mixture looks too runny, add more sugar; if it looks too thick, add a teaspoon full of cream at a time to bring it to piping consistency.
6. Use a piping bag to pipe the frosting on to completely cooled cupcakes, or use a knife to slather on the frosting. 
7. Top with fresh strawberries or other decorations.

Chef's tip: I prefer to keep it low in fat and sugar, but you are very welcome to use the full fat cream cheese and sweeten it to your taste as well.  The original recipe called for 2 cups of sugar, but I used only a cup (8oz).  Additionally, I omitted the cream.  If you use 2 cups of sugar, you will definitely need some cold whipping cream to thin the frosting down a bit and add some fluffiness.  Cream makes it lighter on the palette, but it's far from lighter on the system, if you know what I mean!

And by the way, keep a look out for my Chocolate Lava Cake recipe to come in the next couple of weeks, if not sooner. :)  

Day 244 - Stack of Crackers

Quick post with my 18 - 55 lens, f/5.6, 1/200s ISO 100, flash powered at 1/32, placed at 60 deg in front of subject to right of camera.

And with that, good night!  I'm definitely in need of sleep after getting barely any last night.

Day 80 - Snap-a-snack

I came back from work feeling all upbeat about another gorgeous day and wanted to go look for the ducklings I know I'd find on the pond.  But all of a sudden I felt exhausted and completely pooped!  So, I decided to give myself a sugary break with my fave home-made strawberry jam and a piece of toast.  And what better subject for a photo than my snack plate?

The light was extremely low in my dining room.  I used AV and that picked really slow shutters, ranging between 3.2 to 6s!  I played with the WB a little bit on the 3rd & last frames.  The 3rd one seems to have turned out a little bit better.