Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let's start off with a classic.  

Don't you just want one?? or maybe two?? or six? (not that I've done that....)

I'm pretty certain I've been baking these babies since before birth.  I can't remember a time when I didn't love making these - fresh from the oven with a bowl of ice cream - doesn't get any better.  

I pretty much use any excuse to bake them - When I'm having a bad day, these are what I bake.  When someone else is having a bad day, how about a chocolate chip cookie? or a whole batch? And, by far, these cookies are the most requested from my friends and family - I even sent a package to my dad for father's day!  I just love how something so simple (cookie + chocolate) can make a day so much better!! 

Even though I've had ten plus years to finesse the recipe and try out different ones, I still return to the same one from the back of the Nestle Semisweet Chocolate Chips Package.  I only do two things differently from the package: 

1. Use 1 stick margarine and 1 stick butter - I think I started doing this because we ran out of butter, but I find it gives them the best texture! Still round (not flat) but still chewy!
2. Add wayy more chocolate chips than the bag says (and no nuts - it interrupts the chocolatey-ness).

All this chocolate-chip cookie talk has made me hungry! I think I might just go bake a batch. 

Love, B

My Wedding Cake

For my first blog post (yay!), I wanted to tell you about something that I didn't actually make (you'll get plenty of that later) - but was the most fantastic piece of edible art that I've ever seen and tasted - my wedding cake!  

Isn't it beautiful!!  It was made by Gregory Bingham from The Art of Cake. He was fantastic - meeting with us several times to make sure the design is what we wanted and envisioned, and he even gave us his design boards as a wedding gift!  

We couldn't choose just one flavor, so we alternated between (get ready to drool): Blueberry Cobbler Pound Cake with layers of fresh blueberries, lemon curd, and lemon meringue buttercream and a splash of limoncello (the best flavor by far) and Vanilla Butter Cake splashed with frangelico and layered with white chocolate ganache and white chocolate buttercream.  I think I had at least two pieces of each on our wedding night!!

And the best part is, we have leftovers that are now safely partitioned and wrapped in the freezer, just waiting for us to eat.