Sweet Saturdays: Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This week has been a pretty good week for me. I met with the conductor of a local youth symphony (who also happens to be a professor at my college, that was a nice surprise!) Wednesday and then again today to discuss the symphony and if I could be a part of it. Turns out the symphony still has two concerts left for this season, both in June. The concerts are their Pop concerts where they are playing John Williams music! So today the conductor gave me the music for the theme from Schindler’s List and Jaws so I can look it over before rehearsal on Monday. I’m so thrilled for Monday, but also nervous, because I have don’t have any orchestra experience, and Monday is basically my audition for the symphony! But, on the plus side I get to sight read the piano part for Star Wars! The conductor was going to have it played on the keyboard because the score wants it to “synthesize” the harp, but I don’t care what I have to do, I am going to make it work on the harp because I’ll be damned if they do Star Wars and I can’t play in it!!!!!

Phew, alright. After all of that text I need a cookie. Would you like one? I sure hope so because these are delicious! I personally think there is nothing better than a fresh-from-the-oven, gooey chocolate chip cookie. When I was looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe to try, I really wanted one that would be soft, and super chewy, because that makes the best gooey cookie if you ask me! So when I stumbled upon this recipe in Martha Stewart’s “Cookies” cookbook, I knew this was one I wanted to try and share with you all.

My dad was more than happy to be my taste tester, and noted that although these are really good, they didn’t live up to the chocolate chip cookies that my mom used to make. Unfortunately, my mom changed recipes a lot and I’m not sure which one is the one my dad really liked, let alone where to even start looking!

But for now, this is definitely a keeper recipe! And funnily enough, these cookies actually reminded me a lot of the big chocolate chip cookies that Mrs. Fields sells. I haven’t decided whether that’s a good thing or not, because when I think of Mrs. Fields I think of a commercial cookie, not something that was homemade… but that being said, these cookies certainly fulfill their title!

I sure hope you all enjoy this recipe for seriously soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies!

<3 and harp strings,
Kate

P.S. I seriously need to NOT procrastinate on making the recipe for this post, because I should be posting this much earlier on Saturday so you all can enjoy it, not at almost midnight… *sigh* At least I have a goal for next week, right? >_>

Sweet Saturdays: Double Chocolate Brownies

Hey everyone! I know it’s really late on Saturday, and that it’s not even Saturday technically for some of you! But, as long as I get this post out sometime on Saturday, everything will be fine

My baking assistant, the lovely dog-dog!

I was really unsure as to what I wanted to bake for this post, which is why I didn’t actually get it baked until today… but that aside let’s talk about these delicious brownies I made! These were the very first homemade brownies I have made (as in, not from a box mix), and I am really proud of how they turned out! I may have overbaked them just a tad because when I put my cake tester in no crumbs were stuck to it, and the recipe said it should have a few, but I sampled a couple of them and they still tasted great!

These brownies I made to share with you all are from Martha Stewart’s “Cookies” cookbook. The only baked good I can recall trying by Martha Stewart are the Chocolate Crackles I used to make with my mom for Christmas, but I am really enjoying these brownies! They are dense but packed full of chocolate because of the semi-sweet chocolate and cocoa powder the recipe calls for. They are seriously the ultimate fudgy brownie, so if that’s your thing, then please give these a shot. You won’t be sorry!

<3 and harp strings,
Kate

Sweet Saturdays: Strawberry Mascarpone Tart

There is still a little over one week left to April, but already it feels like it’s mid-July here in SoCal. This whole week has been completely ridiculous with the heat! Last Friday it was chilly and stormy, and I sat in the family room snuggled up in a blanket with the fireplace on listening to the pouring rain, howling wind, and crack of thunder. Yesterday was COMPLETELY different though, and it’s amazing how the weather changed so dramatically in just one week. It was around 100° F out, and of course my van has NO air conditioning (it needs more fluid…. *cough*DAD*cough*), so it was miserable loading my harp in the van to go to chamber ensemble rehearsal, and then unloading it to get it in the classroom, and then doing it ALL OVER AGAIN after class had ended. My face was seriously melting off. No joke.

With weather like this, it really makes me start craving summer desserts involving lots of fruit, like this awesome Strawberry Mascarpone Tart I made last summer but forgot to share with you all because I am a LAME-O!!!! But me being lame aside (because we already knew that part ) I was hosting dinner for my dad and our close family friends for the 4th of July back before we moved later that summer. I got the recipe for the tart over at Simply Recipes, and it was a huge hit with everyone. The one alteration I ended up doing to the recipe was not using the Strawberry Balsamic Glaze because I ended up letting it settle before spreading it over the strawberries and the next thing I knew it had crystallized…. whoopsies! So I had to substitute some warmed strawberry jam, but it worked really well

If you are looking for a delicious summer desert, then this is one to add to your list!

<3 and harp strings,
Kate

Sweet Saturdays: Ultimate Vanilla Cupcakes

If it isn’t already really obvious, I’m just a little behind on my second Sweet Saturdays post.

By like… 2 months.

Wow…

*proceeds to hit head on desk*

Life has seriously gotten away from me lately, which I will explain about in an upcoming post about my birthday and the upcoming holidays.

But, finally, I am making time to sit down and write! I’ve missed it a lot, and it feels great to get back to it

I just hope I haven’t lost too many of you in the process… but, if I have maybe I can win some of you back today! *crosses fingers*

So, yesterday was exciting in a… mixture of sarcasm and not-sarcasm.

New phrase? Sure, I’ll roll with it.

Sweet Saturdays: Peach Cobbler

Ack! I am so excited! I finally have my computer back up so now I get to share with you all a new blog post (because it has been weeks… darn you move/school) and I get to start one of my goals, which is Sweet Saturdays!!

Before I get to the recipe, let me delve into a little (and by little I secretly mean a lot) of what’s been going on in my crazy-busy-hectic life as of late.

5 weeks ago I started 16 credits of classes at my local junior college. I am currently taking:

Music Fundamentals (Mus 101) -I have been in the world of music since I was 4 years old. So all of this stuff is really REALLY easy to me, but in some places my theory skills are lacking, so I would really like to make those places where I am lacking second nature for when I move onto Music Theory 1. That’s not to say that I couldn’t be in Music Theory 1 and succeed, because I totally could. It’s just that they quickly go over all of the things you learned in fundamentals in one week, then jump right into it. I was looking for an easier class to review my basics (and so I wouldn’t have to work so hard on this class so I could put more time into my other classes ).

Intro to Psychology (Psyc 101) -This class is… interesting. I absolutely love my professor, and she keeps the class pretty interesting (thankfully). We had our first exam in the class (that I happened to be until 3:45am that morning working on my cheat sheet that we’re allowed to have — 8 1/2″ x 11″, hand written, both sides — the tip of my pointer finger was flat for the whole next day because of how quickly/small I was writing to cram every possible thing I could need on that cheat sheet) and I did really well! I got a 96% on the exam, and my professor even used my essay as an example of what to do in order to get full credit!!! I was so happy

Physical Anthropology (Anth 101) – I am still a little worried about this class because it is one I definitely have to work a little harder in, but so far I have a 90% in the class, so that’s a good thing!! I do enjoy going to lectures though because it’s pretty interesting, plus I met someone in there who I know is going to be one of my best friends! She is so much like me it’s kind of scary (the most impressive is that her parents had her when they were in their 40s just like mine, so all of her siblings are considerably older too! I haven’t met anyone else in that situation before lol), and on this coming Friday she and I are going to Disneyland! Yay

Elementary Algebra (Math 090) -Another stupidly easy class for me I tested into Intermediate Algebra (Math 096), but there were 2 issues with that. 1)The computer system for my school said I “didn’t meet the prerequisites for that course” even though I tested into the damn class, and 2)The professor I wanted for math had his Math 096 class completely waitlisted, but I could still get into his Math 090 class, so… just like in Music Fundamentals, I’m using this class as a way to “review” everything before moving on to Intermediate Algebra, plus it is another really freaking easy class so I can focus my studies elsewhere.

Plus, my professor is HILARIOUS. Seriously. Not like, in a dorky math-joke kind of way. But in the actual, he is dorky and funny and you learn stuff about the real world at the same time kind of way. He ROCKS and makes me actually want to come to math. Which is weird. Because it’s math. Ew. But yay for my professor! lol

and History of World Civilization to 1500 – I am really liking this class! I had this professor last semester (before I had to withdraw from all of my classes because of mom passing ) and I loved him! For anyone reading this that went to high school with me and remembers Mr. Green, my professor seriously looks like he could be his twin, and talks the same way, cussing and all (minus the British accent). It’s really kind of weird, but I like it because Mr. Green was amazing. I am also lucking out in this class because we have SI (Supplemental Instruction) for it, so an hour before class starts, SI begins and is led by a student at the school who has taken the class before and aced it, and is familiar with the professor. We play learning games (like memory) and it’s really helping because with the move, we haven’t had the money to actually buy my history book… >_> lol We have our first exam on Tuesday, so hopefully I will get an A!

Alright, I know that took forever, but if you’re still with me, I’m almost ready for the Peach Cobbler, I promise!