Monday, October 31, 2011

brownie cookie dough sandwich-cookies

Happy Hallowe'en!

On a totally different, non-Hallowe'en related topic, I made cookies today. And get this.. they weren't pumpkin, or in the shape of a pumpkin, or orange. They're actually full of chocolate chip cookie dough, that I probably could have dyed orange but was getting tired of the whole pumpkin-festival look. So anyway, they're just like any other normal day's cookies. But better. Where am I going with this?

Oh yeah. Here.

First you bake these wonderfully decadent chocolate brownie-like cookies:

Brownie Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt (if your butter is salted, skip this)
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Prehead oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl or mixer, cream together butter, and both sugars. Add the vanilla, and the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the dry mix to the wet mix and beat well.
Using a spoon, scoop even amounts (about a teaspoon or two) of the dough onto a greased baking sheet. The dough is meant to be rolled into balls, but its usually too sticky to do - if you can do it, congrats! Bake for 8-10 minutes or until puffy and slightly cracked on top. Allow cookies to cool for 5-10 minutes on the pan before removing to cool completely. The cookies should flatten out quite a bit in the cooling process, so don't worry!

Now, make the Cookie Dough Filling:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered/icing sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (for authentic cookie-dough flavour)
1 jar (13 oz) Marshmallow Fluff
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

In a mixer, cream together butter, brown sugar and vanilla. Gradually add icing sugar and flour. The mixture will be very thick and slightly crumbly. Add in the jar of marshmallow creme. Mix well until fluffy and smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.

Once the cookies are completely cooled, spread on 2-3 tablespoons of the filling onto the bottom of one cookie, and using the bottom of another cookie sandwich the filling inbetween.

And there you have it! Makes about 15 cookie sandwiches. Mmmmm.


Saturday, October 22, 2011

and they lived happily ever after..

So this past weekend was one full of milestones.. it was my 5th anniversary with my wonderful boyfriend on Friday, and my beautiful sister got married on Saturday. It was a gorgeous wedding, and I had a ton of fun being one of her bridesmaids! I got to take a few pics at Colours of most of us girls getting our hair and makeup done, and a few at the reception when I had time. I wish I could have taken more!! But luckily my sister had the wonderful Kim Chorney taking pictures throughout the day.. she couldn't have chosen anyone better to photograph her wedding! It's hard to remember to stop and capture the moments when you're busy being a part of their special day. But here's what I did have time to capture.. Congratulations again Alicia & Ryan.. love you both!







Tuesday, October 11, 2011

kylie

So this here's my "little" cousin Kylie. She just had her sweet 16th birthday in September, and let me tell you this; she is such a little beauty. She was a breeze to shoot and has such a natural smile.. and I can't get enough of how her eyes would change colour from an aqua blue to a sea green from picture to picture! I truly enjoyed this fall session, and was happy that we could find some beautiful places to shoot. Thanks Kylie (and Brody for cooperating too!), I will take your pictures anyday!











Tuesday, October 4, 2011

caramel apples


So for my sister's upcoming wedding, I decided to do a trial run of some caramel apples that are going to be made. Needless to say, I was totally scared to even attempt this caramel and was seriously considering bailing the attempt midway. But don't be like me! Don't be scared, don't get impatient (like I did), and have fun with it. It's not as hard as it looks!

Yes, I didn't have sticks..
 and I was impatient with my caramel!


Caramel Apples
(adapted from pressed4time's recipe)

12 whole Apples
¼ cups Butter
1 cup White Syrup
14 ounces Eagle Brand Condensed Milk
2 cups White Granulated Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Wash and dry apples, insert sticks, and butter a cookie sheet before starting to cook. Also, on plates, spread out any toppings you might want to roll your caramel apples in (chopped peanuts, mini chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc).

Heat all ingredients except vanilla in a large heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir constantly to avoid burning the caramel! When caramel reaches the "soft ball stage" (235°F–240°F using a candy thermometer) remove from heat and add vanilla. You can also test the "soft ball stage" by spooning a small amount of the caramel into cold water. It should form a soft  ball that you can squish with your fingers. Now let the caramel cool a few minutes.
Using the stick inserted in the apples, dunk the apples in the hot caramel and twirl slowly away from the heat for a couple of minutes. It’s nice to have a helper or two at this point.
Roll the caramel apples in your toppings, and place on a buttered cookie sheet.


**Extra caramel from the bottom of the pan:
1. Can be scraped out with a spatula into a buttered plate or dish to be cut into individual pieces when cool.

2. Can be thinned in the pan with half-and-half and eaten warm, as a dip for apple wedges.

rylee & caiden

This was from a prom session I did back in June that I never got the chance to post on my blog. One of my first real shoots, I had a great time getting to see everyone all dressed up, but really enjoyed getting to photograph two kids that are so near and dear to me. I recently revisited this session while photoshopping some others, and redid some of the edits I had previously done. I think they look much better this time around! And it was really nice to look back on this session and remember how new and fun it was!