I'm on YouTube

So I'm on YouTube, did I do something embarrassing hilarious, you might be wondering? Nope, I actually chose to make a video with a good friend. It is not my usual cup of tea to be on video, but I really did have a great time. In trying to make a quick how-to 5 min video, poor Cassandra ended up with 28 minutes of footage to edit. She did however do a fantastic job and I think I might have to do it again.

 I originally saw the how-to for this recipe on one of my favourite shows, Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals. I tried to find a recipe online with no luck :( but as you can see from the video I eventually figured it out for myself. We have had these once a week since the first attempt, my 3 year old loves finger food! We eat a salad (caesar or broccoli salad recipe to come soon) or rice on the side and I've also made them as snacks for a game night with good friends, the Hyatt's. They were a HUGE hit. I cannot wait for the Hyatt's pork to be ready later in the fall, I will be trying this recipe with their sausage for sure!

The sausage rolls are really what started my addiction to puff pastry, sounds fancy I know, but when you buy the pre-made sheets from the grocery store the possibilities really are endless!You can do savoury or sweet, it really is such a forgiving dough, you can stretch it and pull it and it always bakes up delicious and flaky. I will leave you with a few of my experiments to inspire you!

This apple tart was delicious, I used a whole sheet of pastry and spread about 4 apples thinly sliced that I had tossed in some sugar and spice (Nutmeg and cinnamon) I added a couple of knobs of butter and then just folded up the edges. Baked it @ 395 F for about 20 mins. It was delicious warm from the oven with ice cream.

 This was my latest experiment, I'm calling them apple danishes. This time I left the apple chunks a little thicker (they were a little too soft for my taste in the tart) and I cut my sheet of puff pastry into 6 and made individual danishes instead of one big tart. This time I tossed my apples in a concoction of a caramel and maple. So far the danishes are my family and friend's favourite but I'm not done experimenting!

ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE

Hi all,

Let me first introduce myself, my name is Jessica. I'm 27 and a stay at home mom to a beautiful 3 year old, I love her to bits, but I'm not ashamed to say being a mom is probably one of the biggest challenges I ever encountered. My hubby is my rock, always supporting and of course enjoys every bite if I'm creating in the kitchen! I LOVE to cook, and I am one of the few people in the world who actually enjoy watching the food network, I often get inspired from my favourite shows and try to re-create what I have seen. Sometimes it a delicious creation and other times it's barely edible. I will warn you I like to use real butter and bacon whenever possible, everything tastes better with bacon! I'm no chef and I will try to outline recipes for you but unless I'm baking recipes are more of a guide line for me, so bear with me :)

I take great pride in my baking, it's really where I got my start in the kitchen. As a child I spent my summers on my grandparents farm, my grandfather used to complain about all of the "experiments" my grandmother and I made but secretly I know he loved eating all the goodies. It was at my grandmother's side that I learned the importance of good quality ingredients. To end up with perfection you must start with perfection.

Cookies are a must in my grandmother's house (my grandfather must eat 3 with milk EVERY SINGLE NIGHT before bed), preferably homemade but store bought will do in a pinch. I always thought it was a bit strange that my grandmother almost always uses a different recipe for her cookies, its was never the same, but I now know its a love of new recipes for her. She always said she had never found one that was worth making a second time. Her thrill comes from trying new combinations, I however love to achieve PERFECTION. If I make a home made burger I want it to be the juiciest most flavorful burger you've ever had at someone else's home and the same goes for cookies. It took me trying a lot of different recipes before I found the ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE.

It was a dear friend from my capitol days that I have since lost touch with who told me the secret I'm about to share with you. Thank you Tammy B. you shared quite a few tricks with me but I will always remember you most for introducing me to Golden Crisco (I'm not sure about blogging rules for brand mentioning but there is NO substitute) If you want deliciously sweet, stay chewy even sitting on the counter for 2 days, chocolate chip cookies then you must use GOLDEN CRISCO and the folks at Crisco are so awesome they printed the recipe for the ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE right on the box :) I'm lazy so I cut and pasted the recipe right from the Crisco website. http://www.crisco.com/Recipes/Details.aspx?recipeID=2102 I'll put my tips below.

Going to warn you I am not a photographer, I use my trusty iPhone for all my shots, you might be wondering if you're cookies will get the orange glow from the Crisco. Sorry to burst your bubble but this is a shot the only remaining cookie from a batch I made the other day containing a tiny amount of orange paste colouring, in honour of Halloween, my three year old thought they were great :) 

Every Christmas I send my grandfather 2 containers of cookies one for his Christmas gift and the other is his birthday gift as he as born on boxing day (December 26) the first year I sent the Crisco cookies my grandmother (who remember has tried hundreds and hundreds of cookie recipes) gave me the ultimate compliment in her thank you note she told me in all her years she's never found a recipe worth repeating but I finally had and could I share?

ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE

Ingredients

• 3/4 stick Crisco® Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
• OR 3/4 cup Crisco® Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
• 1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 3/4 cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 (6 oz.) package semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)

PREPARATION DIRECTIONS:

1. HEAT oven to 375ºF.
2. COMBINE shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Beat in egg. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into shortening mixture until just blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
3. DROP by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet.
4. BAKE 8 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies, or 11 to 13 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet on a cooling rack. Remove cookies to rack to cool completely.


5. TIP
   * If nuts are omitted, add an additional 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate
   There's a couple things that I change in this recipe and that's the chocolate, in our house we like a mix of semi-sweet and milk chocolate. I don't use nuts so there's always a cup and a half of chocolate per batch in my cookies. Sometimes I chop chocolate bunnies/bars whatever I have laying around and throw that in too. Basic recipe in my house is usually 3/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips and 3/4 c milk chocolate chips, the combination is delicious. The recipe also calls for 1 and 1/4 firmly packed brown sugar, I don't like the cookies super sweet so I choose to hold back a little bit on the sugar and only lightly pack my measuring cup. I also choose sea salt in all my baking which adds a little bit saltier taste to my cookies but in a good way. Another tip don't skimp on the vanilla, it's an important ingredient buy the best you can afford or talk really nice to friends who go on vacations to Mexico or the Dominican and ask them to bring you back vanilla from their travels. I have a bottle in the cupboard from a friend who now lives in Mexico and it's delish!
    
   Partly because I'm lazy and partly because it makes a more forgiving cookie bottom I am a HUGE fan of parchment paper under pretty much anything going in the oven. I own fancy non-stick cookie sheets (thanks to my mommy last Christmas) and I still put parchment paper down on the cookie sheet when making these cookies. I have one of those fancy ice cream scoop like cookie spoons(mommy bought that for me too) which allows me to make nice even sized cookies, it just makes life easier but it's not necessary. Use two teaspoons, one to scoop and the other the scrape the scoops off the spoon onto the cookie sheet.
    
   Now this is the most important part if you want chewy cookies DO NOT OVER BAKE! Seriously people no longer than ten minutes and that's only if you've made huge cookies. When you pull them out they will look under cooked I assure you they are not! In my oven cookies can bake no more than 8 minutes. I pull them out of the oven and let them sit on the cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes, if you try to take them off at this point they will fall apart, but if you let them stay on the cookie sheet too long without parchment they will start to stick. (Most of my recipes won't be this finicky I promise but we're talking about the perfect cookie here) If this is your first time making this recipe I suggest letting a tray set and tasting before putting the next tray in, so that you can adjust your cooking time accordingly. If you listened to me and used parchment paper, it's as simple as lifting the edges and placing the whole thing on a tray to cool to get the cookies off the cookie sheet but do not let them completely cool on the cookie sheet, they will continue to cook for quite awhile and you'll lose the chewy cookie.
    
   I try to always have a package of Golden Crisco stashed away in my baking cupboard, you never know when the kids or the hubby will need a pick me up after a lousy day! At holiday time I've actually made HUGE batches and baked them over a couple of days, storing my raw dough in the fridge covered in plastic wrap in between, just make sure to leave the bowl on the counter for an hour before baking.
    
   A shopping tip : Watch for in store specials on baking items the week following a holiday. Often times store have stocked up on things like Crisco and pure pumpkin and other baking items specific for certain holiays. I just bought enough Crisco for my Christmas baking (hopefully enough) the week after Thanksgiving for less than half price :)