The Chocolate Chunk Cookie Disasters

I baked some cookies early this week and another batch a few minutes ago, and they were both disasters! I didn't bother taking pictures as I am too disappointed to take photos of them.

Disaster # 1

I used the recipe I got from the Ultimate Chocolate Treats course I did last year (read post here). I've used that recipe a few times before, but this is the first time it failed! It dropped and spread too much, and not as chewy as I expected. Plus the chocolates melted too much. I don't have any chocolate chips, so I used chocolate and chopped them to pieces.

The next day when I took one from the cookie jar and had my first bite, they turned out okay. Not chewy but definitely not hard. It's like rubbery, like eating nougat (in Tagalog, it's called makunat). That texture is okay with me because I like makunat. :D For example, I like Hershey's Whopper's more than Maltesers because some Whopper pieces are more tough/rubbery when you chew on them.

But still, this batch was still a disaster because they look too flat and not as soft as they should be!

Disaster # 2

Hubby and I ran out of sweets to eat, so a few hours ago I decided to bake some. This time I used the Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe I used last week.

Since I used this last week and they turned out okay, I tried this. I still used chocolate chunks as I was out of chips. Disaster strikes again! As soon as those cookies cooled a bit, they were stone hard! Terrible! I wanted to throw all of those cookies in the trash! Hubby just won't let me!

Next week I'll buy some chips and bake again!

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Chocolate Tiramisu - The First Attempt

We had a little get-together at home last Saturday to celebrate our birthday (my birthday and hubby's birthday is just 4 days apart :D).

I decided to make another dessert, other than the usual leche flan that our friends normally request. Since I still have no oven, I settled for something that needs no baking yet challenging. So I decided to make chocolate tiramisu.


I shopped for the ingredients a week before because my in-laws will be arriving that weekend, and I wouldn't have the time to shop for myself after they arrive. I got my ladyfingers, my chocolate, my cream, my mascarpone cheese. The only ingredient missing were the eggs, which I bought the day before I started making the tiramisu.

I started making the crème chocolat Thursday night, because it has to be chilled before I can layer it to the tiramisu. The crème chocolat was perfect, despite the fact that I only used Hershey's chocolate chips. :D Not too sweet and not too bitter. Left it in the fridge overnight to chill. Friday night I made the mascarpone cream (made of mascarpone cheese and the eggs). First look at the mascarpone cream and I knew it's not right. Didn't get stiff enough... too runny... huhuhu.

Since it's already there, I decided to continue with it and layer my tiramisu. I layered my ladyfingers dipped in strong coffee (didn't bother mixing any alcohol to it), then the crème chocolat, lastly my liquid mascarpone cream. Chilled it overnight, hoping for some miracle to happen and make the mascarpone cream perfect.

The next day, Saturday, I tried a spoonful of the tiramisu after eating lunch. As soon as I took out the spoon, the liquid mascarpone cream filled the hole I made. So sad with what happenned... I served it anyway. It tastes good... it just didn't look good.


Hubby told me to just try again. I still have a few ladyfingers, half of the mascarpone cheese and some chocolate chips. :D I'll try something different with the mascarpone cream next time. Wish me luck with my second attempt!

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I'm Out of Gas

The day we moved to our new apartment, first week of May 2008, was the day we got our first tank of LPG. We thought by the third month we'll be able to replace it already... but it's still not empty. Four months... five months... six months... We stopped counting the days. Until two days ago...

Two days ago, I was cooking some pork steak for dinner. If you know beef steak Tagalog, then just change the beef to pork, that's pork steak. :)

My ingredients are all ready for cooking. I've already marinated the pork in calamansi & soy sauce. So I started cooking the meat. I've semi-cooked one side of the meat already, so I'm just waiting for the other side to cook so I can put the sliced onion. A few minutes later when I checked my cooking, the sauce is not boiling... there was no heat! I checked the stove... no flame! Just when I was in the middle of my cooking! I called up the LPG supplier and they told me that they can't deliver that night and the earliest is the next morning. Waaa! How about my pork steak! :(

What did I do? I cooked our dinner in the microwave. Good thing we replaced our old and dilapidated microwave. Our new microwave has this Slow Cooking feature. So I just read the instructions on how to use the slow-cooking feature, placed my pork and the onion in a microwave-safe bowl, and slow-cooked it for 30 minutes (supposed to be more than an hour, but I changed it to 30 minutes since the meat's almost cooked anyway).

After 30 minutes... voila! Pork steak! hihihi :)

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I Burned Something

Yeah, I burned something by accident...
And this was when I was cooking pancakes!

A few days ago, I cooked pancakes for breakfast. On my last batch of pancakes, I adjusted the stove's flame so that the pancakes will cook faster. After cooking the last batch, I served the pancakes then went to the bedroom for a while to call my husband for breakfast. When I got back to the kitchen, it smelled like burnt plastic... then I saw the frying pan smoking and my plastic turner on the side. Waaaa panic!

I turned off the stove and immediately removed the turner on the side of the pan. Then I realized what I did: after cooking the pancakes, I placed the turner face-down on the pan's side... without turning off the flame! The turner's not the only thing that's damaged, some of the plastic got stuck as well on the frying pan's side.

Here's the turner with the frying pan....
I threw it away. Good thing this is my old turner! I have another one, which was still in the sink that time... hihi :) The frying pan's alright now. I was able to remove the stuck plastic on the side - I let the pan heat up on the stove again and waited for the plastic to melt a bit, then wiped the plastic away.

I've learned my lesson: before serving the food, check if the stove's turned off.

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