Kitchen Love an affair to enjoy!

I love gadgets of any type.  If they make cooking easier I want it!  For many years I only use a hand held electric beater. 

I desired a stand mixer.  I left little hints.  Well okay HUGE hints I wanted a stand mixer.  My eyes desired a Kitchen Aide Stand Mixer.  They looked like they could handle anything I desired to mix up.

I heard they are work horses of the mixers.  I grew jealous of those who own a stand mixer.

It seemed my guy's ears where full of wax when my hints became a daily adventure into the virtues of stand mixers.

My birthday came and went.  Christmas came and went.  Still no Kitchen Aide Mixer. 

Then one day out of the blue my mother called.  Now Mom retired at 65...but did not like being a home body so went back to work in the retail field for the last 15 years.  She loves working - what can I say.  

Anyhow the retail store that is a national chain was closing the store that she had worked part time at for the last 15 years.  All stock had to go.  The prices where unbelievable on many items.

My mother  bless her heart got me my dream machine!  Thank you so very much MOM!!  It arrived in June.  Carried by hand from St. Louis to Alaska by my younger sister on her first visit to Alaska.

OMG I now understand why they are the best!

My little beauty:

I have been enjoying my baking all the more!  Whip cream is a breeze!  My cake batters are amazing.  And I have joy in my heart!

Monster Attacks ~ Slain in Kitchen

What to do when the monster attacks?

Bake!

I tried to do productive things today...all failed or without much success - being an A personality this was Not Acceptable!

So I turned to my trusty oven and pantry filled with all sorts of treasures.

Bam....Bam in no time at all ~

Mouth Watering Cookies!

We have White Chocolate chip cookies

Then Chocolate White Mocha White Chip cookies

And Coconut White Chocolate Chip cookies.

 

 

My recipe bakes up 3 dozen cookies so I just divided the basic mix into 3 bowls and added either cocoa or coconut flakes.

Covered in Chocolate is working on her "Wild & Crazy Alaskan Baking Recipes" cookbook otherwise this would be a wonderful recipe to share but not today! 

Drooling Not Allowed or is it?

My sweetie pie was going with a friend down to Girdwood and Portage Glacier to visit some friends who work at both places and spend the afternoon out of my hair. What a better way to celebrate than a day alone to do things I like SO:

Instead of sewing I decided ~ Today was a baking day for home and family members who sometimes get special desserts because I love testing out new things!

Father in law who lives in Mill Valley was going to be treated to cookies and muffins; totally new recipes I wanted to test out.

After gathering up all basic supplies for the different recipes, I got my cookbook out and read once again over each recipe I wanted to experiment with for my tasty treats.

I choose a Pecan Cookie Bar, plus Raspberry Muffins, and Carrot Cilantro Muffins. All items I had not made before and was excited to try out!

Starting with the Pecan Cookie Bars, I followed the recipe and my mouth watered as they baked. When the time was up they look heavenly! The aroma was driving me crazy it filled the house with vanilla and that wonderful smell only cookies give a home! Since they even look like Pecan Pie I was thrilled – One of my favorite pies and rarely get since the mister is not a fan of pecan pie LOL.

I then proceeded to the muffins. Both recipes had the same basics and cooking time so I thought I would whip up the basic dough then divide and add the different main ingredients of carrots/cilantro and the raspberries for the other.

I quickly measured everything out for the dry ingredients. Using the blender to grade the carrots, I hand chopped the fresh cilantro. I mixed the two into one bowl and set aside. Measured the raspberries and set aside.

Adding the eggs and buttermilk to the dry ingredients I was happy with the texture and it even looked yummy. So I divided the dough in half and mixed each half with my different additives.

Baking for the desired time since I was making king size muffins I had to experiment with actual time…recipe called for 20 minutes for normal size muffins; it ended being an additional ten minutes for the king size.

Oh my ~ the kitchen is filled with aroma’s that are so delightful I wish you could all sit at the counter and take deep breaths in of fresh baked goodies!

I put butter on the Carrot Cilantro muffin OMG yummie!  The Raspberry muffin needed nothing!  It was sweet from the fruit.

Now I just have to decide if drooling is permitted

Spiders, Ghosts, Frankenstein and plain Cookies and Cupcakes

Fall is here.  October happens to be a favorite month for many.

It ends in one of the most scariest days ~
Halloween!

I admit I am a huge fan of Halloween.  Dressing up as someone/thing else, getting a bag full of candy from going door to door, going to parties and just being wild and crazy.  But the best part is all the wonderful creations one can bake up and I don't just mean food!


My sister who lives in Chesterfield, Missouri goes all out decorating her home for Halloween.  She has 3 grandchildren under age 11 ~ Kath is a hit throughout the neighborhood.  Spiders, eerie music, elaborate craved pumpkins (both from grandkids and 'Chef Michael' - my #1nephew), witches hung from the garage overhang, scarecrows lining the front yard, plus a ton more I don't have time to list ~ Well your getting the picture!  It's scary!  And kids love it!


I happen to live in an older neighborhood here in Anchorage, Alaska - we also usually have SNOW for Halloween so it's even more exciting to see how the costumes go over the parka's and snow boots!

Thus living in an older section of town most of the kids are now in the final years of high school or most have gone on to college where I'm sure the Halloween parties have more than just pumpkins glowing on the tables.  We seldom get Trick or Treaters.  But I always have a bowl of mixed candy bars for the handful that decide to visit.

My mind goes more to what I could bake for Halloween and other holidays that soon will be following.

I have been thinking about purchasing a certain cookbook with all sorts of recipes for little cupcakes that are decorated into spiders, pumpkins, Frankenstein and so forth. I still may go back and get that book...right now I did up some simple favorites of mine.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies 

filled 

with 

orange cream frosting.

Cookies, Chocolate, and Living the Good Life

My mother taught me the how to cook, my father taught me joy of eating what I cooked, then my grandmother taught me to love cooking. As a beginner cook I always thought cookies were the best thing to bake. Cakes you just baked once. Cookie baking lasted all day long. It was an afternoon delight filling the house with wonderful smells and aroma's. Neighbors would drop by to have a cup of coffee and taste the latest batch of cookies. With the new cookbook I purchased last week, I tried a new recipe withlots of my own twists to it. I'm naming the cookie after my father. Has many of his favorites.

"Myles to Go"

It's a mocha chocolate chunk candied cherry almond nut cookie. A dozen of these cookies will be available for ordering at my shop at Etsy. http://www.CoveredinChocolate.etsy.com

Sidetracked

Oh my I can't believe I have not posted for almost a month! Yipes...that's what happens when you get sidetracked with new computer, new programs, and new venue for selling some of my other products. I want to thank everyone who are "followers" of my blog and I love having comments left for me! Thank you Thank you! As many of you know I send my sweeties father many of my trial items to taste out for me. LOL he has become a food junkie I confess I turned this man into a food junkie. He was a normal man who had few wants in life. Now he calls every week and mentions how much he liked this or that item I sent to him. Had to send more marshmallows to him and more candy bars to him. He sounded desperate when he said he was out. LOL This past week I made Orange/Banana Marshmallows. I liked them and thought Dad would also. Sure enough he called this weekend and Loved them. With summer just about on us...some of my chocolate items will be leaving my online shops. Too hot to mail and with the economy as it is not many going for the exotic in baked goods. I am also closing my store at Lollishops. Its a great venue but not working out as I had hoped. Tis a shame. I've meet some really great folks who also sell there. So now you will only find CoveredinChocolate at Esty for the time being. Tomorrow I'll be playing in the kitchen with some cookie recipes Wooooohoooooooo....I haven't had a chance to play lately with cookies and looking forward to measuring, baking, and TASTING!!! Can you say "CHOCOLATE" some will be in chip form, some will be in covered form, and some will be chocolate through and through! Watch for updates on the new cookies!

Oh I'm dancing for pure joy! I'm toooo excited - I can hardly type. My shop is the featured shop at Lollishops.com! Yes me little ole baker girl of gourmet homemade sweets and treats. OMG Front page. Okay my shop is: http://www.lollishops.com/coveredinchocolate If you get lost just click on my shops banner and it will take you right back to my shops yummie treats. Go on over take a look...order up something for the family or just for yourself. Put in message to me "Featured seller March 5 - 7" and I'll double your order as my celebration gift to you and ship your treats right off to you"

Fur Rondy and Iditarod

The next two weeks are Fur Rondy which is a winter festival here in Anchorage ending with the kickoff of the world famous dog sled race the "Iditarod". If your in Anchorage for Fur Rondy...watch out I'll be visiting lots of the different activities myself, taking pictures & giving out freebies of my candies! Although these are mini bites of White chocolate Oreo cookies candies Yes two in a box to be giving out plus I'll be giving out Dark Chocolate Truffles, chocolate lollipops and also will be handing out the "Blonde Bombshell cookie". Totally awesome way for folks to get a taste of my gourmet desserts! Plus what a fun way to advertise my online shops! Low cost- high impact and I get to have fun too! I'm be the one with a huge bag of treats handing out small white boxes with truffles or bites in them, & clear bags with cookies. I be the one wearing a red jacket, black gloves, and black hat and plaid scarf! So come on over to Fur Rondy and all the activities and Make sure you get your freebie of a delightful gourmet dessert!

Cookie CONTEST- Cookie CONTEST - Cookie CONTEST

Name the Cookie! January 30th - February 8th Visit either of my shoppes: http://www.coveredinchocolate.etsy.com http://lollishops.com/CoveredinChocolate Read over the description of the “Unnamed Cookie” Then enter a comment on either of my blogs What YOU would name this cookie! Remember have fun, keep it “PG”, be creative, and this cookie is in the classification of monster size cookies so keep that in your mind as you type the winning name! On February 10th I will announce the winner! The lucky winner will win a box of Six (6) monster cookies sent with my thanks for naming the ‘unnamed cookie’. The winning cookie name will be selected by votes through Lollishops Merchant Group. Good Luck and get those names in now!

Does Size Matter?

Does a small dainty cookie appeal to you or does that monster chocolate chunk with M&M's make your mouth water up? As an online business I find decribing a cookie rather hard. Displaying a cookie so a person understands that it's bigger than a normal size cookie - okay whats normal size you ask? Recipes have certain standards. Normal size cookies are to me about 1 1/2" to 3" inches. This would cover say a Swedish Tea Cake (round) to a chocolate chip cookie (flat) Standard drop by teaspoon on to cookie sheet. Big size cookies to me go 2 1/2" to 4". Standard drop by tablespoon/two tablespoons onto cookie sheet. Then monster size cookies anything over 4". Most of my monster cookies are about 5"-6" inches. Standard drop by ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup onto cookie sheet. Then each size will also vary a tad in cooking time. Bar cookies also have different sizes. Just about any baked good can come in all shapes and sizes. This is a new cookie in my monster size that will be added to my shoppes later today: AND This cookie also needs a name! Tomorrow my post will be a contest to name this cookie. Stay tune for details posted tomorrow!

Amaretto Silk Orgasm Cookies

Visit me at either of my Gourmet Shoppes! http://www.CoveredinChocolate.etsy.com http://www.lollishops.com/CoveredinChocolate I'll be adding these cookies to my shop later today! OMG never in my life have I enjoyed baking a cookie more! My preferred nut is Pecan, but almonds grounded to tiny tiny gains add a whole new meaning to nuts in cookies. Then a big splash of Amaretto Liqueur (did I say big ... I mean huge) When you order your "Amaretto Silk Orgasm Cookies" mention my blog with blogspot or indiepublic in the message line and I will send along Two Chocolate Moose Lollipops as my gift to you!