triple chocolate oreo chunk cookies.

Today, I decided to deviate from the usual.

I stopped myself from baking another cake or cupcake. Which was really hard since I wanted to try this recipe so bad.

So restrain myself, I did. And then I realized I also wanted to try a new cookie recipe I found the other day.

What do you say about the combination of cocoa powder, semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped white chocolate and crushed Oreo cookies? I say, “I die!”

The moment I laid my eyes on the mouth-watering photos, I couldn’t resist baking them.

And what a good time it was since I had all the ingredients in my kitchen. Throw caution to the wind and bake, yes. That’s what you do when you see something as delicious as this. If I can eat it off my monitor, I would. Heh.

 

I only realized now that thetext I placed on the photos are so incorrect. It should've been CHUNK insteadof CRUNCH. All the while I was wondering why I couldn't find the"crunch" in these cookies. I had it all wrong. Bwahaha.

 

I found the screenshot of the recipe photo via Lori yesterday. The next minute, I found myself searching Google for the recipe. Thank God for technology, within seconds I found the recipe on Michelle's site.

Side note: Lori is hosting a giveaway of Cookie Cravings, the e-cookbook where this recipe is

Triple Chocolate Oreo Chunk Cookies
Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker
Original from Two Peas and their Pod

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped white chocolate
1 cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped Oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. 

In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.Set aside. 

With a mixer, cream butter and sugars together until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time. Next, add in vanilla extract. Mix until blended.

Slowly add flour mixture to sugar mixture and mix until flour disappears. Stir in chocolate chunks and Oreos.

Scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. I use a small scooper, around 1-inch in size since I am not a fan of big cookies. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Don't over bake. 

Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Move to a cooling rack and cool completely.

** I halved the recipe and got around 25-30 medium-sized cookies.

cupcake project | 13: banana caramel cupcake

{Hello! I'm back! So so sorry for being MIA in the last couple of weeks -- I had to much to do, so little time. Tss.}


I had overripe bananas in my fridge again. Sigh, when will I ever learn not to stock up too much on perishable items?

That isn’t a problem for me though, as I am perpetually itching to bake something. That was exactly my dilemma over the weekend. I wanted to bake but didn’t know what to bake. I am also low on funds as this month has been terribly busy and slightly costly. It was one of my college best friends’ wedding the other week, you see. And being “stage” friends and it being the first wedding in our bunch, we wanted everything to be memorable. More on that in a future post, which will hopefully be written within the next few weeks. If you’re curious about the wedding preps and whatnots, you can check out her “wedsite” here. You can also check out their fabulous photos at MyPhotato’s Facebook page.

So, as I was saying... I wanted to bake over the weekend. Oh, not to forget, I made my first real and successful Italian Meringue Buttercream AND homemade caramel, too! I can just die, I feel so fulfilled, really. Meringue buttercreams used to be the death of me. I’m proud to say, “Not anymore!”

Hmm, bananas + caramel + real buttercream. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Of course, there can be no better combination than banana and caramel! Okay, Nutella comes close, too. And chocolate.

I decided to make banana caramel cupcakes with caramel buttercream. Ahh, cupcake heaven.

I wanted to make these, but it called for 6 eggs. I didn’t want to use all my eggs since I still have other cakes to bake this week. Maybe next time. I settled for some other recipe instead, and I couldn’t be happier with the result – moist and with just the right amount of sweetness, although I wish it was fluffier than dense.

I will only be posting the cupcake recipe – I am too lazy, I know. 

Caramel sauce recipe can be found here. For the Italian Meringue Buttercream, I used Butteryum’s recipe. I promise I’ll post my own versions within the week. {pressure}

Banana Caramel Cupcake
Adapted from Bakers Royale and Annie’s Eats

For the Cupcakes:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 – 1/2 cup mashed bananas
1/3 – 1/2 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup buttermilk

For the Caramel Buttercream
1 cup Italian Meringue Buttercream
3-4 tbsp caramel sauce, plus more for drizzling 

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 6-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 

In a mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Add mashed bananas and mix until incorporated.

Add in flour mixture alternating with the buttermilk and mix just until combined. Don’t overmix. 

Scoop batter up to 3/4 full (I filled mine up to 2/3, but it didn’t rise as much). Bake for 15-18 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Let cupcakes cool in cupcake pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring to wire rack.

For the Caramel Buttercream: 

Mix Italian Meringue Buttercream and caramel sauce together. 

Assembly: 

Once cupcakes are cool, core cupcakes using an apple corer or a paring knife. Fill cupcakes with 1 tsp caramel buttercream. Replace tops on cupcake..Frost cupcakes as desired. I used Ateco tip # 855 – my current favorite. Drizzle with caramel sauce.

Devour! 

TGIF: Take Every Chance, Drop Every Fear.

Thank God it’s Friday! I can feel the weekend air hovering above me, but I’m still stuck in the office while everybody’s out partying. On a regular day, I would’ve been out of the office and tucked in bed while watching my favorite TV shows. But this week is a bit different; I had to move my schedules around so I can attend meetings. It’ll probably be like that until further notice. Hohum. I’m missing my 9-6 schedule.

Anyway, the weekend is almost here and I don’t want to spoil it by moping around. I haven’t baked a cupcake today, but I received a sweet surprise in the form of a meme from one of my favorite bloggers, Krissy of Krissyfied!

- Post these rules

- Post 11 random things about yourself

- Answer the questions that the tagger set for you in their post

- Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer

Random Things About Myself (I know I just posted 7 Random Things, I’ll try to wrack my brain for more random things.)

1. I used to be a call center trainer before I moved to Quality Assurance. I can still remember my first day of training in one of the call centers in Quezon City. I thought being a trainer was cool and awesome and I wanted to be one ever since. My journey to fulfilling that dream has been long and bumpy, I got rejected more than I care to know, but I have always taken that as a challenge. When I finally became a trainer in my previous company, the joy was just overflowing. Two years into the job, I got laid off along with other co-trainers. I accepted a different position and now I am one of the QA Specialists in my company. I still want to be a trainer and I intend to make that dream a reality before the year ends. 

2. I would know where and when we met just by the name you’ll call me. Most of my high school and college friends call me Bags. For most acquaintances and friends, I go by the name Barbie. My eTelecare teammates called me Juliane. My co-trainers in Transcom call me Barbiekels, Barbiebelles, and Barbiekins. 

3. I’m a kid stuck in the 90’s/early 2000’s. Most of the songs in my player are from those years. I think it’s one of the best years in the history of music – foreign and local scene. 

4. When I was a kid, my Mom often joked about how I eat too much rice. She’d always refer to my eating habit as that of construction workers, no offense intended. I always ate with a mountain of rice and a few pieces of viand. 

5. My favorite fruit is green mango. I can eat it everyday and not get tired. During summer, we get one or two big baskets of fresh harvest and that’d be the best days of my teenage life. I love to dip it in bagoong made by my Dad or a mix of soy sauce and vinegar. Oh my, just thinking about it makes my mouth water! 

6. Some three or four years ago, I used to be a heavy drinker. Every afternoon after work, my workmates and I troop to the nearest chill place and drink until 12 midnight. That explains my beer belly. :)) 

7. I was once a college groupie. My friends and I always made it a point to go to at least one UP Fair night. We’d look forward to all the bands play and stay until the wee hours of the morning, even if our class the next day was at 7 AM. 

8. Visiting UP gives me a different kind of high. It’s like coming home and being welcomed by a big, warm and fuzzy hug. UP Diliman has been my home for almost 5 years and will always be a part of me even if I already live in a different city. 

9. I can live on chicken and shrimp everyday, even if they give me the worst allergies. 

10. Once a year, I get struck by a weird ailment called post-nasal drip and laryngo-pharyngeal reflux. I get sick during the summer months (like now) and would not go away until summer is almost over. I really don’t know what causes it, must be the weather, but I’ve been getting sick for the same reason for three years now. There are rare times it happens on non-summer months, but it never fails during summer. 

11. I have declared the Orion as my own constellation. When we were younger, my cousins and I would sit atop their old van and look at the sky and marvel at the stars above us. Since we lived islands away from each other, we promised to each other that whenever we missed each other, we’ll just look at the sky and spot the Orion, and we’ll know everything would be alright.

Answered questions of the tagger:

1. What do you like most about me?
I like your happy disposition. You always seem so happy even if things don’t go your way. I know bad times happen and I’ve always admired your positive outlook in life. 

2. What do you like least about me?
I have yet to know! 

3. What is your favorite childhood memory?
I have always looked forward to going home to my Lolo and Lola’s house and spend the whole summer with my cousins. We’d play hide-and-seek, patintero, and tumbang preso with the rest of the kids in the neighborhood. 

4. What is your favorite Disney movie and why?
Aladdin! It shows us that love doesn’t choose a person’s wealth or place in society. If you’re meant for each other, all other things would fall into place regardless of all the challenges ahead of you. 

5. What is your favorite thing about summer?
The beach getaways and the fruits of the season! 

6. Who is your favorite superhero?
Batman, Daredevil and Spiderman. They were “normal” people. They didn’t have superpowers, they just worked within their means to help those in need. 

7. If you were a boy for a day, what's the first thing you would do?
Try to pee standing up. I am really curious how guys do it! 

8. Do you think heaven exists? What is your idea of heaven?
Yes. Heaven is when everyone is at peace and no longer holds grudges against one another. Heaven is a happy place free from hatred, greed, wants and needs. 

9. What is your favorite body part?
My eyes and lips. I can’t say they’re expressive, but of all my body parts, I think they’ll be left unchanged whether I become thin or chubby. 

10. What is your biggest regret?
Not taking the course I wanted in college. Don’t get me wrong, I love Speech Comm, but I believe it lacked the courses that we wanted. In the United States, Speech Communication is one big umbrella with a lot of branches and course offerings. Only UP Diliman offers the course, and sadly, it isn’t as complete as we would want it to be. 

11. Not to sound morbid or anything, but what would you like your epitaph to read?
My epitaph at the office during Halloween reads: “She didn’t retire, she surrendered!”

New set of questions:

1. What is your ultimate pick-me-upper?
2. Are you living your dream career? If not, what is it?
3. Fill in the blank: When I grow up, I want to be __________________.
4. If I were to bake you a cake, what kind would it be?
5. What is your birthday wish for this year?
6. What is your favorite song of all time?
7. How do you handle stress?
8. If you were to have a superpower for a day, what would it be?
9. If you were given a chance to move to a different country, where would you go?
10. What is your dream vacation?
11. What is your favorite milk tea/coffee drink?

 
Wow, that was long and fun! :) Now I’m tagging Czar, Sassja, Ate Dea, Vera and Chi!

    Source

Happy Weekend, loves!

cupcake project | 12: banana cupcake with nutella cream cheese frosting.

If there’s one fruit that’s a constant in my pantry, that would be bananas.

Whenever I go to the market, I always make it a point to grab half a cluster of bananas. I love pairing it with my morning cereal. It’s also a great source of energy, especially if there’s nothing else to munch on.

I have recently gone back to my “cereals-for-breakfast” routine and once again, I have bananas aplenty. If there’s one thing I don’t like about the fruit, that would be that they can easily turn brown. Probably due to too much oxygen? Or something. I really dunno. If that happens, I transfer them to the fridge or freezer and let them sit there for a few days. I love over-ripe bananas for baking.

Today, I had one banana sitting in my chiller waiting to be baked. It just had the right softness and sogginess. What to do with it, though?

Since I was pressed for time, I Google-d “banana cupcakes.” I knoooow, I can’t believe I still don’t have a go-to banana cake recipe. Well, I think I do, I just don’t know where I placed it. I have the best chocolate banana cake recipe, but I wanted to stay away from chocolate today, so, search I did.

I got a few good responses and settled for the one I saw on Food.com since it said “best ever banana cake.” I am a sucker for recipes with that kind of description. LOL.

Banana Cupcakes with Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting
Slightly Adapted from Food.com 

1-2 large ripe bananas , mashed
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/8  teaspoon salt
6 tbsp butter , softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk 

Preheat oven to 275°. 

Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. 

In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside. 

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. 

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 

Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in vanilla. 

Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. 

Stir in banana mixture. 

Scoop batter into prepared muffin tin and bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

* Recipe recommended to freeze cake for 45 minutes immediately after baking - it makes the cake moist. I didn't do this since I brought them to work after frosting. 

Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting
1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup nutella
3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted 

In a mixer bowl, cream butter, cream cheese and nutella until smooth. 

Gradually add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high until frosting is smooth. 

Pipe on cooled cupcakes. I scooped the frosting using a 2oz. ice cream scooper and then spread it with a spatula.

Makes 12-14 cupcakes.