This recipe  from Catching Pennies is heaven sent. I also like the other recipes they have posted there although I think they have stopped blogging since the last post there was last December. Anyway here is the recipe for this deliciously huge chunky chocolate chip cookie:

Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 27-30 cookies (It was what I got when I used my 1/4 cups since I didn’t have an ice cream scoop.)

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups butter, melted
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chunks and chips

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
3. Combine your white and brown sugar in a large bowl before adding the melted butter. Mix it until its well blended.
4. Stir in your eggs, egg yolks and vanilla until its all blended together.
5. Add your dry ingredients and stir until well blended.
6. Add in your chocolate chunks and chips.
7. Then cover your dough with cling wrap and chill it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
8. Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls baking sheet.
9. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes just until the edges start browning.
10. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes for cookies to firm before transferring them to a cooling rack.

I use a mixture of chunks that I cut from the chocolate bars I buy and chocolate chips. It makes it easier for me to get an even chocolate on each cookie because I cut my chunks unevenly. I also used less chocolate compared to the original recipe because chocolate can be expensive here in my country. Since I bake quite a lot of recipes that call for unsalted butter (and its what I usually have on the fridge), I used unsalted butter on this. It isn’t too sweet for me (and Mom loves it) but if you have regular butter just use that if you don’t want it “sweeter”. I also crack my eggs on different bowls now because the other day, I got six bad eggs from the market. >.<

I don’t have access to all ingredients used in the recipes I find, so I try to find alternatives and substitute accordingly. Since Christmas is fast approaching, I am striving to increase my baking budget so that I can try more dessert recipes. Christmas is the most important holiday for our family so I would like to prepare different treats for everyone. My camera died a few weeks ago so I’m not too sure if I can get pictures of my baking experiments. My sister asked Canon how much the repair would cost and they said P16,000+.  We decided that it would be better to get a new camera instead. I’ve been wanting to get the Lumix LX3 and hopefully, I can get one before Christmas comes.

I was browsing through Amazon earlier and I couldn’t stop drooling on the pretty Kitchen Aid mixers. They cost around $400 – $500 here in the Philippines, so I haven’t been able to get one for myself. Unfortunately, the mixers from Amazon aren’t available for international shipping so I can’t enjoy the cheaper prices they offer. I was hoping to get one of their KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixers because the Empire Red has a listed price of $349 but is discounted to $269.99. Plus, it can go down up to $239.99 if you get a rebate. If only Kitchen Aid stand mixers sold for $269.99 (around P12,000+ in our local currency) here, I can easily save for one. If I can get around $300 before the promo ends, I’ll check how much shipping would cost if shipped through  POBox or JohnnyAir.

I decided to try making puto because I was craving for one. I didn’t have puto moulds, so I used a “lyanera”. I’m not sure if that is the correct way to spell it but its the mold usually used for leche flan. I cut it into six pieces after cooking because the lyanera was a bit big and it was kids who were going to eat the puto (aside from me).

Puto

3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups water
3 eggs
3 tbsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 3/4 cup (1 can) evaporated milk
1/2 cup melted butter
grated cheese (optional)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the eggs and into the dry mixture and mix thoroughly. Slowly add water, mixing until everything is well blended and has a pancake batter consistency. Stir in the melted butter with the batter.

You can then pour around 2/3 of batter on each puto mould or if you don’t have one, you can also use a lyanera like I did. Steam for around 10-15 minutes, I used a toothpick to see if my puto was cooked already since I had quite a bit of batter in my lyaneras.

If you want, you can add cheese to your puto before you take it out of the steamer. I didn’t have cheese when I made it and it still tasted good according to the kids around the village. Though there were two older people who said it needed more sugar but for me the puto was really sweet enough so I’m not going to add more sugar to it.

Sandwich Bread

2 cups all-purpose enriched unbleached flour
1 cup bread flour (or all-purpose flour, if you do not have bread flour)
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 cup sugar
1 cup warm milk
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 – 1/2 cup lukewarm water

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients. Mix and adjust water until all ingredients are incorporated and the dough is capable of forming a ball. Pour the dough onto a flat, floured surface and knead for approximately ten minutes.

Return the dough to an oiled bowl and let rise until doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes. Shape the loaf and then let rise again until the desired size is reached, approximately another hour.*

Bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes, until when tapping the bottom of loaf the bread springs back and makes a hollow sound.

I used what was available to me which was primera or first class flour that I bought from a local baking supplies shop. The bread didn’t come out that soft though it is supposed to be a bit soft because its a sandwich bread. However, Mom liked the result even though it didn’t come out soft. I’ll try making this bread again and try to change the flour to see if the primera was the culprit.

Thank you for dropping by and we hope to have you in our community when we are finally up and running.

Baking Corner Admin