OMG…..I love chocolate chip cookies and I LOVE brownies. I mean I L-O-V-E brownies. So imagine a combination of both. They are delicious. They are rich…decadent. Then I drizzled them with chocolate ganache. That’s it…nothing more I can say about these little brookies. They are fabulous….

1 box Brownie Mix (choose your favorite)
Your favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe
chocolate chips for melting

Prepare brownie batter as directed on the box. Set aside. Make your favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie dough recipe. I suppose you could even use a store bought chilled cookie dough. Personally, I don’t like them, but if it’s your thing, hey, why not!

Drop a plop of cookie dough into a muffin cup. Now, drop a plop of brownie batter in. Repeat process until cup is almost full. Bake at 350 for approx. 16 minutes or until you poke a toothpick in and it comes out with tiny brownie stickage. Stickage……my word for crumbs sticking to the pick.

Let rest on counter for at least an hour. Yes, you must wait!! Optional: Melt some chocolate chips, drizzle on top of Brookies.
ENJOY!

Do you like soybeans?? You may have had some edamame beans at a Japanese restaurant? They are usually steamed, still in the pods. One of my favorite things to snack on is Edamame hummus. Usually I call it edamame dip, since I HATE the word hummus. But you can call it whatever you want, but you just gotta make this stuff!! It is delicious. My friend Faith and I ordered some at a local restaurant this weekend. It went very well with our pina coladas! hahahah. I serve mine with some wonton chips but it is great with veggie sticks too……or pita chips. But I must warn you, it is addicting…seriously delicious, especially when it’s spicy with wasabi. YUM…..I gotta go eat some more…so I hope you will make it and let me know what you think!!!

Recipe:
1 bag frozen edamame beans, thawed
1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger (not powdered)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 green onions
salt
juice of 1 good size lime
chili paste or wasabi to taste

just throw everything in the food processor and pulse till you have a smooth consistency. add a bit of water if its too thick. ENJOY!

I love cookies. I love cake and brownies too, but I LOVE cookies……a good cookie. I have my favorites, but it depends on my mood. There is a cookie that I make only at Christmas that my daughter calls THE COOKIE. She LOVES them…her friends love them…..I love them. I guess that would be my favorite cookie. It is full of oats, chocolate chips, sour dried cherries, toffee bits…butter. M-m-m-m-m-m. I may have to make an after Christmas batch…just so you all can see a picture of them. See what I do for you all? Ok, Ok, I got off track. My other favorite cookie is a cookie that is called a Momofuku Compost Cookie. It makes me cry it is so good. Well, ok…it doesn’t really make me cry, but biting into one of these is an emotional experience! Hey, I take my cookies very seriously…..can you tell? This amazing cookie has everything in it. It is loaded with chocolate, pretzels, potato chips, marshmallows and oats. The oats make these cookies healthy, right? It is a chewy, gooey, sticky, crunchy mess. I have also made these with m&ms, coconut, cornflakes…just about everything! It is seriously a comfort kinda cookie. It will make you want to snuggle up with a blanket, a glass of milk and a good book.
I highly recommend that you make them immediately….like right NOW. Go on….get out the mixing bowl…don’t just sit there…you’ve read enough. I’m done.

 There are lots and lots of recipes for this kind of cookie. But this is my version.
• 1 stick COLD butter, chopped up
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tablespoon corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 large egg
• 1 heaping cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• ½ cup chocolate chips or m&ms
• 3/4 cup salty stuff (potato chips, pretzels)
• ¼ cup oats (I toast mine, you don’t have to)
In a mixer with a paddle, cream cold butter, both sugars and corn syrup on medium high until fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
Add egg and vanilla and stir to incorporate. Increase mixing speed to medium-high and run mixer for 10 full minutes. The sugar granules will dissolve, mixture will become pale white and double in size. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
By hand stir in flour mixture – don’t beat it. Stir in sweet and salty things. Using an ice cream scooper (¼ cup) scoop up dough and form rounds. Put shaped rounds on plate, cover with plastic wrap and chill for a few hours, at least 2. Otherwise, the dough is too soft.
Heat oven to 360. Put chilled cookie balls on parchment lined cookie sheet Bake 9-11 min (I baked mine for 11. While in oven, cookies will puff, crackle and spread. All ovens are different. Cool cookies completely on sheet pan.

ENJOY!

Since it’s been awhile since we have had cupcake Friday at work, I decided to take cuppies tomorrow. One of my coworkers requested a strawberry cream filled cupcake. Well, it is hard to find good strawberries in January. I can’t wait for summer fruit time! Anyway, I settled on frozen strawberries. My strawberry cream turned out a bit soft, but delicious. I filled a basic white cake cup with the cream, topped with a fluffy white whippy cream frosting and sprinkled with bits of strawberry. As I serve them, I add a little dollop of the strawberry cream on top. DELICIOUS. It felt good to bake. I haven’t been doing much baking lately. Although I did make a killer batch of creamy, chocolate fudge last week. I must promise myself to ONLY make that once a year during the holidays. It is dangerous stuff….it makes your butt bigger. Not a good thing….unless of course you were blessed with a tiny butt. I was not, sad to say. Maybe I will call this fudge Big Butt Fudge. Ok, back to the cupcakes…..I think later in the week, I will make some red velvet cuppies. I will post those too.

Now, on to my Japanese dinner….I made chicken tonkatsu. You may know it as Chicken Katsu, as it is called in Japanese restaurants. It’s chcken breast, cut into strips, or pounded flat, dipped in egg and then rolled in Panko, a Japanese breadcrumb. Panko is much better and crunchier than your average bread crumbs. The dipping sauce it is served with is Tonkatsu sauce……a slightly spicy, sweet, yummy sauce. I also made some kimchee. That is a Korean pickled cabbage and cucumber salad. It is marinated in salt, red pepper, lots of garlic, ginger and green onion. It is a great thing!! So many uses!!

I hope you enjoy the pics………..I will gladly give you the recipes if you would like!
 “

Hi all….gosh, where is the time going? Time is just zooming by. WOW!!
Well, every year since I was a child, my mother made our traditional Japanese new years soup. I mean, it was a MUST in our household. It is supposed to bring good luck and good health. Hmm-m-m-m-m-mm……….welllllllllll, I dunno bout that. However, one year, my ex said to me, “hey, how about we skip having that Japanese soup this year? Cuz I sure don’t see that it is working for us”. hahahahahahah, well I ignored him and continued to make it. I even encouraged my friends and coworkers to have a bit, promising them good luck and good health. After a few years, they too asked me to not force them to eat the soup since they saw no change in their luck or health. But I did have a couple of friends who to this day make the soup every year. hahahahahahha. Well, I decided to skip it one year, then I skipped it again another year. Not much changed. I mean nothing really terrible has happened, but I really haven’t seen the good luck the soup promises…..or the good health. But I must say, I didn’t make the soup the past 2 years and my health has not been as good as it used to be. I blame it on age, but maybe I need the Japanese soup after all. So, what the hell……..I made it. It surely couldn’t hurt, right?? It is loaded with chicken, napa cabbage, mushrooms, all cooked in a soy sauce based chicken broth…..it really is delicious. So, since I can’t force you all to eat some soup, just look at the picture, think positive thoughts and know that I am wishing you all great luck and good health this year. But if you really want soup, come on over. I made plenty!!!
Happy New Year everyone…….