Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

Finally, I got around to making these cookies that I saw on Tuesdays With Dorie... The Chocolate Malted Whopper Drop Cookies!

The recipe can be found right here at Confession Of A Tangerine Tart!

I used ingredients that I had...
I bought these Reese's Peanut Butter Whoppers with the intention of making these cookies like 2 months ago!


I first mixed the dry ingredients:


And then the wet ingredients... I love the smell of butter and sugar!


Added the dry ingredients to the wet...


Mixy, mixy... (Instead of chocolate, I added peanut butter chips and butterscotch chips because that's all I had)


Bake, bake, bake for 11 minutes...And voila!



YUMMMMMMMMM!!!!

Despite the rather mixed reviews about this cookie, I loved them! I could tell the cookies were gonna be brownie-fudgey like because of the thickness of the cookie dough. The whoppers added this exciting Butterfinger-like crispy chewyness! The butterscotch and peanut butter were a perfect match as well :-)

This is what snow days are for!

Tonight, tonight...

What am I going to have for dinner tonight? I can't tell what I'm craving!

Happy Birthday My Love!

Happy Birthday Ed! He's officially 24 years old, well yesterday was his real birthday, but the blog post comes today so whatever...

So, the celebration started Friday was the Sloppy Joes. And yesterday, we had his family over to my apartment (for the first time ever!) for brunch! I was so excited because:
a. I love making brunchy type foods but don't get to make them often.
b. It was my first time to "host" a gathering!

Being the neurotic, anxious, control freak that I am, I stressed myself out to the extreme even though I was so excited to host this brunch! I wanted the menu, the food, and the house to be perrrrrfect! Fortunately, thanks to my HP, everything did work out perfectly :-)

Brunch is serrrved:

1. Leftover Weight Watchers rolls and the best bagels in Westchester, Scarsdale Bagels


2. Crispy Quinoa and Potato Hash Browns


3. Mini Frittatas with Ham and Cheddar


4. Crispy Pigs! A.K.A- BACON!


5. Whole Wheat Challah French Toast- Who knew whole wheat challah bread existed?!


6. Stewed Apples-Just boiled some apples in water, honey, cinnamon stick, and nutmeg and thickened it up at the end with cornstarch... Great side for the french toast!


The whole table set up: We also had a delicious fruit salad, and for beverages, we had milk and orange juice!

After brunch, I let Ed open his gift...

The Ipod Touch! Isn't he gorgeous?!

And of course, later that day, we had dessert. A special dessert for a guy (whose been doing amazing!) in Weight Watchers!

Lulu's Banana Cake with Chocolate Chips and Peanut Butter Buttercream, Chocolate Chip Cookie, and of course a tall glass of milk!

Happy Birthday Baby! And also...

Happy 22 Months to us! Yes, we count months... get over it!

I Made Them Extra Schloppy! Slow Cooker Round 2!

SLOPPY JOESSSSSS! Gotta love 'em! It reminds me of when I was 5.

Tonight's version was healthy and Weight Watchers friendly! This is Ellie Krieger's recipe so it was healthy to begin with, but to make it extra healthy (and SCHLOPPY!) I got some Weight Watchers sandwich rolls.



Here were some substitutions that I made:
1. Ed doesn't do onions, so I chopped up some zucchini.
2. Instead of Worcestershire sauce, I used a Japanese style "tonkatsu sauce".
3. Ed doesn't do garlic either (he's getting better though), so I only used like 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic.
4. Instead of ground beef, I only had ground chicken so I used that.
5. Made it in a slow cooker! MADE IT SO EASY!!



They were great! A little dry in my opinion (not very SCHLOPPY!) but the flavor was great! The beans gave it such a nice texture!


My serving, with of course a side of roasted pumpkin (unfortunately, I'm still eating the Buttercup Squash and not the Kabocha :-P)

This was Ed's "Night-Before-His-Official-Birthday" dinner! It's his birthday tomorrow (he's turning 24!) and I am planning a nice, big, delicious brunch for him and his family... it's their first time coming to my apartment so I got butterflies in my tummy!

But expect a big post of delicious food tomorrow!

Tricky Squash!

I've been tricked!

So... basically, I need to have roasted Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) squash with every meal that I eat at home. It's like a craving that I've had since maybe September?? I make sure to have a Kabocha to roast so I don't run out. Apparently, I wasn't prepared today. I didn't have any! And to make it even worse, I didn't have time today to go to Daido (the best, freshest, biggest Japanese supermarket in Westchester!) in White plains to pick it up, and Fuji-Mart (Kind of like a smaller version of Daido) is closed on Mondays!! I refuse to get my Kabocha from Nijiya Market in Hartsdale, because their Kabocha is dry and not as sweet (maybe because it's organic??)...
This is what my beloved Kabocha looks like...


Anyways, after my second to last commitment of the day, I finally decided I really didn't have time to rush to Daido so I just stopped in at Stop & Shop just to pick up some bananas and salad. And then, just out of curiosity to see whether the American markets had discovered the remarkableness of Kabocha, I took a peek at the squash section.... and BAM!
I saw this!


It looks too much like Kabocha!!! And I looked for a sticker to see what the name was... "Buttercup Squash" Hmmmmm.... maybe that was the English name for Kabocha!! So I inspected the size, weight, color, and texture of this so-called "buttercup squash" and decided it was a Kabocha! I mean it was identical!


Fast-forward a few hours to dinner time. I was excited to try my roasted "Buttercup Squash"... As I put it in my mouth, I immediately knew this was NOT Kabocha. And I knew exactly what it was... it wasn't smooth like kabocha, it was more dry and gave my mouth that "eating peanut butter" dry feeling. It was nice and creamy unlike the more fibrous Butternut Squash, but maybe a little too dry. Kabocha has that perfect creamy/moist-ness that I love! Also, it wasn't nearly as sweet as Kabocha! I love roasting pumpkins with garlic, salt, and pepper because it's such a nice contrast to the sweetness... unfortunately, this roasted Buttercup Squash tasted just like a not-so-sweet Sweet Potato fry.

I probably sound so crazy talking about all this squash, but I miss my Kabocha :-(

I need more food in my life!!!

I've been reaaalllllly busy! It's mostly school but I've also been having a lot of fun! Unfortunately, when I have a lot of school-work, I don't go out to eat nearly as much and I don't do much baking :-(

But I saved these pictures for an emergency post like today's!

THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS!!
I had turkey everyday for like 5 days after Thanksgiving... I'm so sick of it. Here were the variations... unfortunately, turkey will always be turkey :-P


Leftover challah bread from the bread pudding, stuffing, turkey, and swiss cheese broiled! And the side of peas. This was for Ed <3


Salad topped with turkey and roasted onions and sesame dressing.


Leftover sides... I enjoyed these the most!


Oh and I forgot! A few days later, I made this:

Shirataki Noodles with the leftover Peas and Proscuitto, Mushrooms, Onions, and Pesto

DONE WITH THANKSGIVINGGGGG!!!

Momofuku Milk Bar

After seeing pictures on The Wandering Eater's blog, I knew I had to check this place out A.S.A.P.! And for me to make a trip into the city for a bakery means I really want it! I mean, I have Lulu's down the block... and I really doubt anything will beat Lulu's.

So, the Momofuku Milk Bar opened only like a few weeks ago, and it is actually like attached to the Momofuku Ssam Bar. I've only been to the Momofuku Noodle Bar but I've heard a lot of good things about the other places, and I like the whole inventiveness of the Momofuku chains.

Anyways, back to Saturday, me and Ed headed into the city for the Jim Gaffigan show. JIm Gaffigan is maybe one of my favorite comedians in the world... probably because he talks about food all the time haha! HOOOOOOOOOT POCKETS! So, I thought, why not go early to stop in at the new bakery!?



When I got there around 5:45PM, there was no line really. I was just so indecisive about what to get!! Everything sounded so amazing. I actually went in, expecting to order the Chocolate Chip Cake... but they didn't have it!!! So after like 20 minutes of staring at every piece of cake/cookie in there, I decided on the Banana Cake, Cornflake-Marshmallow-Chocolate Chip cookie, and the Compost Cookie...



The Banana Cake. Wow... Huge, smells delicious, overwhelming with a bajillion layers! It's a Banana Cake with Banana Cream,Hazelnut Crunch, topped with Gianduja Fudge.
h.e.a.v.e.n.= hazelnut crunch. The whole combination was just really great.... however, Momofuku ain't got nothin' on Lulu's cakes in terms texture! This cake was moist but could afford to be a little more moist, but the prominent banana (not just sweet) flavor was awesome!



The Cornflake-Marshmallow-Chocolate Chip cookie. Again... Huge! But I fell in love with this cookie just by looking at it. The edges are super thin and crispy. The middle is thick and chewy. The cornflake gives a nice chew to the cookie and so does the marshmallow. This is a really fun cookie, but the flavor of the dough was not my favorite!


The Compost Cookie. I asked the girl at the counter what was in it. And she replied "Everything! It's the cookie lover's dream!" So I was instantly bought! I forgot what she said was in it but here's what I recall: Chocolate chips, coffee, PB chips/Butterscotch chips, cornflake/graham cracker... I think that was it. The coffee flavor was really good but as I said to Ed, it's definitely a party in itself. There's so much going on! I would much prefer a simple, classic, chocolate chip cookie!

Ed loved his C-M-CC cookie, and I loved my banana cake, so we'll definitely return but I'm going back to try the other cakes!

Oh and P.S.- they have their famed Pork Buns and other savory, meal type items!

Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar
207 2nd Ave (13th St. entrance)
New York, NY 10003