Angry Chocolate Chip Cookies

For some weird reason, tonight's baking date turned into a night of angry baking...

 

It all started on a cool December evening after Celine arrived at Paul’s house - maybe it was because it’s been a crazy work week, or maybe because Paul didn’t go grocery shopping, or maybe because it’s kind of cold outside, or maybe it’s because... it was just an angry night.

 

Looking through at least a dozen recipes on the couch and then running to the cupboards to see what Paul had in stock - we decided on cookies; chocolate chip cookies from a pin on pinterest. (We both LOVE pinterest - the ultimate time waster; lets pin random stuff that we’ll never make regardless of how easy a DIY job it ”says” it is!)

 

DoubleTree by Hilton, Chocolate Chips Cookies: DELICIOUS!! (http://www.somethingswanky.com/doubletree-hotel-chocolate-chip-cookies/)

 

The recipe says that it makes 20 cookies, so naturally we doubled it. Not the smartest idea, since Paul’s oven is apartment-sized; which translates to only one cookie sheet at a time. This recipe has cinnamon in it - Paul’s reaction: “really? That’s weird! Lets just not put that in” to which Celine responded with “shutup, it’s going in!” Angry night, much.

 

So after mixing in everything but the dry ingredients, Celine decided to re-read the recipe: chill over night... WHAT? (it was actually a much more colourful response that went something like this:

 

Paul: “Chill over night... really?”

Celine: ”*&$% that *&$%”

Paul: “&$*%(@”

Celine: “Who cares, put them in the oven”

 

Yup, it’s been that kind of night!

 

Cinnamon everywhere, countless blobs of cookie dough on the floor, and all the sugar hardened into a block (thanks, humidifier!); we finally got the first batch in the oven. We baked our cookies for 12 minutes instead of the recommended 15 minutes listed in the recipe.  Paul’s oven may be small, but she’s mighty. We chose not to add walnuts because, really, who likes walnuts in chocolate chip cookies? NO ONE! And if you do, you’re not our friend (unless you are currently our friend and in that case, we forgive you!)

 

The cookies turned out amazing; Celine rates a 4.5 and Paul ranks them a 5 - so good! We followed the directions and scooped about 1/4 cup per cookie - so these are MONSTER COOKIES. And of course Celine and I had to taste test the first batch: four cookies later, we’re so full, but just want to keep eating them!

 

So, why did the night continue to be angry with such delicious cookies around? Well, Celine found out that Paul and his other half went to a expensive steak house (not the KEG) and ordered their steaks medium  and medium-well. According to Celine, “Who does that?” and “you two should be ashamed of yourselves” and “I deserve to go there; not you! You don’t eat steak right!”

 

Then the conversation turned into the fun game of "Lets buy this house”. Celine was not overly  thrilled when she found out that her other half had neglected to update her that a house on her dream-street just went for sale.  And conversation went like this:

 

Celine: "I can’t believe he didn’t tell me!”

Paul: “Did you really dream about that house?”(b/c she did actually have a dream about the house)

Celine: “Not the point. Love the house” - then MLS came out and Paul started commenting:

 

Paul: “the kitchen’s ugly, the bedroom’s ugly, but it has an arch doorway”

Celine: “It’s on my dream street!”

Paul: “It’s pretty ugly"

Celine: “Shut up”

 

Long story short:  angry night - amazing cookies.

 

Paul/Celine - “Now why can’t I lose weight?”

Back on the Maple

So... it's been a couple of years since we've last posted... and we're thankful to our faithful three followers for waiting so patiently for our next blog post. We've experienced some life changes, some new adventures, some new "hellos" and some sad "goodbyes"; but the one thing that remains the same: is our friendship and our love for all things maple and butter.

We've thought things through since our last post and decided that the pseudonyms "Mr. Crumbs" and "Ms. Butters" aren't really working for us anymore. They don't let you know more than that one really likes bread and the other really likes butter. So, it's time for a change and since so much has happened over the last two years, we thought we'd start with introductions of who we really are.

Céline, a.k.a. "Ms. Butters" has a major addiction to anything sweet, but is choosey with only indulging in homemade VS. store bought. (Unless it's a nice bakery, or a really good chocolate shop, or really cheap Halloween candy, or... she just may have a sweet tooth!). Céline is also the proud mama of healthy little girl with her mama's sweet tooth (we were both really worried during Céline's pregnancy - she couldn't stomach anything sweet! Phew, glad that's over with!).

Paul, a.k.a. "Mr. Crumbs" is definitely a lover of anything bready: bread, muffins, cookies, bread! He has no problem eating store bought or homemade; anything goes.

With that over with, we can get to the important stuff: the food! As many of you (or three of you) know, Céline and I love the LCBO's food and drink magazines. And apparently Maple flavoured things, as most of the recipes we test out tend to have maple somewhere in them. And since it's the end of November our thoughts went to Christmas baking. Which, to us means COOKIES!!!

To restart our renewed blog, we're doing a double-whammy post and are testing two recipes: Peppermint Spritz Sticks and Double-Double Maple Walnut Cookies (which we then realized once we starting mixing, that we were out of walnuts... pecans it is!). 

Peppermint Spritz Sticks:

We were really hopeful for these. They were really cute and super easy to make. How can anything be bad when it looks so professional, being piped onto parchment paper with the fancy tips. Well, we were wrong. They're taste like a cookie that freshens your breath as you chew. Maybe we added too much peppermint extract, or maybe they just aren't our type of cookie. Céline was out of vegetable shortening and we improvised with lard - keeping it old school. But we're pretty sure that that wouldn't make them any better. The one thing that we like was that they weren't too sweet and this recipe could be easily modified. Paul thinks that instead of using peppermint extract; use vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom could make them a little better.

Out of five, we'd give this recipe a two. Sorry Food & Drink, recipe fail. But our second recipe, Double-Double Maple Walnut (or Pecan) Cookies turned out MUCH better.

Double-Double Maple Walnut Cookies:

We mixed these up first, as they had to chill in the fridge for an hour. Or, if you're Céline, the freezer for 20 minutes.  It does use quite a bit of maple syrup and at point one of us quoted "I'm dripping maple syrup".  We must admit, these are pretty tasty and look pretty too.  Perfect for a cookie exchange!  I give this recipe a solid 4 stars but that might be because I love the maple icing so much.  Paul also give the recipe 4 stars.   Good job redeeming yourself Food and Drink.