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Travel/Food

Recipe review: Brookies

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By: Austin Bailey-Zimmerman

Ingredients

Brownie Batter:

  • ½ cup unsalted butter melted
  • ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips or roughly chopped chocolate
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup packed light brown sugar
  • ⅓ cup cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour

Cookie Dough:

  • ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder

Instructions:

  1. Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper or grease it.
  2. Heat the oven to 350Fº.
  3. For the brownies, melt butter then stir in cocoa powder.
  4. Whisk in both sugar and the salt then add the eggs and vanilla and beat well (secret to glossy brownies is to beat the eggs and sugar very well.)
  5. Add the flour and mix until almost combined then fold in the chocolate chips
  6. Transfer the brownie batter to your prepared pan and spread into a thin layer then set aside.
  7. For the cookie dough, cream the butter, and sugars on high for 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy.
  8. Mix in the vanilla and egg.
  9. Add salt, baking soda and powder then mix until combined.
  10. Pour in the flour and mix until almost combined then fold in the chocolate chips.
  11. Drop spoonfuls onto the brownie batter. You don’t need full coverage, it will be nice to see the brownie batter peaking through after baking.
  12. Bake at 350Fº for 35-40 mins.
  13. Allow to cool before removing from the pan and cutting.
  14. Enjoy!

Review:

These brookies were absolutely amazing. The brownie was so rich and gooey, and the cookie was perfectly browned and sweet. The chocolate chips in both were melted and tied both of them together. There was the perfect ratio of cookie to brownie, so in every bite I got a little bit of both. I paired it with a cold cup of milk and it made my night.

The recipe was easy to follow, but took up a lot of time since you have to make two different mixtures. It was all very worth it though, and now I have lots to share.

The next day while I was hanging out with my friends, I shared the brookies with them and they tasted just as good cold or warmed up in the microwave. I also gave some to my brother and he said that they were great.

I got this recipe off of Preppy Kitchen (https://preppykitchen.com/brookies/#recipe) by John Kanell. The website was easy to navigate and the recipe was amazing. He did a great job with creating the perfect brookie recipe.

I had a great time making these, and the result was so worth the time spent! It was great to share with my friends and family. Try making these yourself! Enjoy!

Travel/Food

How to make tres leches

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By: Nereida Dominguez Remedios

Image by @joefoodie via Wikimedia Commons

According to the Loco Gringo food blog, in the 19th century, there was a recipe floating around Mexico for a bread cake that was soaked in wine and topped with custard. This is thought to be a spin of the Italian tiramisu or the English trifle, both alcohol soaked sponge cakes with heavy cream, cheese and sugar! All recipes were a great way to reconstitute leftover, stale cookies, cake or bread into a great dessert.

There are several different styles of tres leches such as, coffee, chocolate, piña colada, strawberry, and coconut. But many people enjoy and prefer regular tres leches.

Oftentimes there are tres leches that have fillings like strawberry, pineapple, cookies and cream, or peanuts and another filling could be peaches.

The things you will need to make the cake will be listed below:

  • cake mix of choice (I use Betty Crocker’s or make your own)
  • sweetened condensed milk (I use la Lechera)
  • evaporated milk (Carnation)
  • regular milk (of choice)
  • heavy whipping cream
  • sugar
  • vanilla extract 
  • measuring cups

The majority of time when I make tres leches I often use cake mix. I follow the instructions on the box then when I take out the cake I let it cool down for at least one hour.

Once it is cooled down I begin to poke holes all around the cake with a fork.

While it’s cooling down, you can make the milk mixture (tres leche) by pouring a can of condensed milk with a can of evaporated milk (both contain a cup and a half) and lastly you add one cup of regular milk (of your desire).

Once you have finished the milk mixture you may add it to the cake and let that sit in the fridge for one hour to a hour and a half.

Once the milk soaks into the cake you may start the whipping cream. You use a cup and a half of heavy whipping cream and one fourth of a cup of sugar and lastly a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Once all the ingredients are in a bowl you may begin to mix them into a thick consistency. After that, you may put it on the cake.

If you would like, you also can put cinnamon as a topping, or strawberries, then you will have a tres leches cake.

You may now enjoy! 

For more information, please visit:

Travel/Food

Salted Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Byt: Evie Beaumaster

The original recipe asks for:

  • 8 tablespoons/113 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
  • ½cup/120 milliliters tahini, well stirred
  • 1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons/150 grams all-purpose flour, or matzo cake meal
  • ½teaspoon baking soda
  • ½teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1¾cups/230 grams chocolate chips or chunks, bittersweet or semisweet
  • Flaky salt, like fleur de sel or Maldon

Makes 12 to 18 cookies

This recipe was so fun to make. It took a long time to make though, but it was so good! I really enjoyed the warm salty cookies that I got out of this recipe. I would totally make this recipe again.

To make these cookies you need to mix together the dough in an electric mixer. Then you need to refrigerate for at least 12 hours; this was the hardest part of the recipe and it is why the recipe took so long. The total baking time was about 15 minutes and it took a long time to bake all the batches of cookies. 

The baking and waiting time were a lot but overall the cookies were super good! This recipe was pretty easy to make, just throw all the ingredients into your electric mixer. The dishes used were also minimal because of this. The cookies came out of the oven warm and chewy with a bit of a salty taste that went great with the dark chocolate chips I used. Most people would say that they don’t like salty cookies but these are great! 

When I started making these I was worried that the tahini might be too strong for these cookies and it would be all that you could taste. But in the end, these cookies were perfect, the tahini added a slightly salty taste to the cookies and the flaky salt sprinkled on top just helped bring out the slight tahini flavor. I would say that people who might not like the taste of tahini as much would still love these cookies. For anyone who might not know what tahini is, it is like sesame paste and it tastes like a saltier version of peanut butter in my opinion. I like it plain as a substitute for peanut butter in some instances, but it is a bit runnier. I really enjoy the taste of tahini and it is great in these cookies.

The cookies came out of the oven chewy and warm and when I sprinkled them with some salt it was absolutely delicious. They are the best if you eat them right after you take them out of the oven and they are nice and warm. I will say I kept them in an airtight bag after I baked them and the next day they were stale so I would eat them the same day. You could also freeze or refrigerate them and heat them up later. I would totally recommend this recipe to help you take your chocolate chip cookies to the next level!

Link to original recipe! 

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018055-salted-tahini-chocolate-chip-cookies

Travel/Food

Recipe review: Dubai chocolate bar

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By: Austin Bailey-Zimmerman

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of Kataifi
  • 1 tbls butter
  • 1 cup of pistachio paste
  • 2 ½ cups of milk chocolate

*You can get Kataifi and pistachio paste online and at stores like Golden Nuts

*need a chocolate bar mold*

Instructions:

  1. Roughly chop up the kataifi dough.
  2. melt your butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-low heat, coating the pan.
  3. Add in the chopped kataifi threads and stir occasionally until they become golden brown (about 5-10 mins) and remove from the skillet.
  4. In a large bowl, mix the toasted kataifi with pistachio paste, then set aside.
  5. Melt the milk chocolate in a double boiler.
  6. Spread the melted chocolate on the inside of the chocolate bar mold until it covers the entire bottom.
  7. Freeze for 10 mins.
  8. Spoon the pistachio and kataifi mixture into the mold. Use a knife to flatten the filling and ensure it is spread to the sides of the mold.
  9. Gently add a top layer of milk chocolate to the mold.
  10. Freeze for another 10 mins or until the chocolate hardens.
  11. Enjoy!

Background:

The Dubai chocolate bar is a viral chocolate bar filled with Kataifi, which is tiny shredded crunchy dough, and pistachio cream. It is originally a dessert from Dubai, and is from Fix Dessert Chocolatier, where the catchphrase is “Can’t get Knafeh of it”. The chocolate bar has become a viral dessert in 2024 particularly on TikTok.

Review:

I absolutely loved this recipe. I have been seeing Dubai chocolate all over the internet and I have wanted to try it for so long. I found this great recipe and got a chocolate mold and decided to try it out for myself. My friend and I followed this very easy step-by-step recipe, and the result was amazing!

The chocolate bar was so sweet and the filling was the perfect mixture of crunchy and creamy. The pistachio and chocolate went together perfectly, the flavors balancing each other out. The bar was very big and I could easily split it with my friend.

I got this recipe from https://www.chocolatesandchai.com/dubai-chocolate-bar/ by Sarah Hamouda, and she did a great job making the recipe easy to follow and have great results every time!

I will definitely be making this again, and so should you! I hope you enjoy!

Travel/Food

Cinnamon Streusel Muffin Review

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 By: Alice Rapacz

Ingredients:

Muffin

  • 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup/8 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs (at room temperature)
  • ½ cup sour cream (at room temperature)
  • ¼ cup whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Cinnamon Streusel Topping

  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a 12 count muffin tin with cupcake liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. In a medium bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, combine together.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, about 2-3 minutes.
  4. Add in the 2 eggs, sour cream, milk, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until just combined.
  5. Add in the dry ingredients and use a spatula or spoon to combine just until there are no more dry flour patches remaining.
  6. Make the streusel topping by melting the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Next add the sugar to the melted butter and mix until combined. Then add the flour and cinnamon and mix together until you have clumps of the mixture.
  7. Put the batter into the muffin tin, making sure to fill the liners all the way to the top.
  8. Sprinkle each muffin with the streusel topping.
  9. Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425 degrees and immediately reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes.
  10. Once a toothpick can be inserted into the muffin and comes out clean, the muffins are done.
  11. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tin, then take them out and let them cool on a wire rack.
  12. Lastly, Enjoy!

Review:

I thought that this recipe from Chisel & Fork was really good. Typically for baking recipes, I like to use Sally’s Baking addiction, but this time I wanted to try something new. I found this recipe for Cinnamon Streusel Muffins and wanted to give it a try. I thought that the recipe was easy to follow and understand. I followed the directions step by step, first measuring out my dry ingredients, and in a separate bowl my wet. I used a stand mixer to combine the wet ingredients, and I found that the end result is not as smooth as I thought it would be. There were small chunks of sour cream in the mixture even though I had mixed it for more than enough time. I was a little surprised at first, but once I added the dry ingredients into the wet, it all came together really nicely.

Once I divided the muffin batter into the tin, I topped each muffin with the streusel. I added too much on the first muffins, so I had to divide and sprinkle them onto other muffins to make sure there was enough for each one. Once they were baked, they filled my house with a warm cinnamon smell.

When I tried the muffin warm for the first time, it had a perfect texture, light, and fluffy. The streusel on top added a perfect crunch, that wasn’t too crunchy, it just added the perfect texture. The muffin itself had a nice cinnamon flavor, but I thought that the addition of the streusel was needed for extra cinnamon flavor. Everyone in my family tried them and two days later all the muffins were gone. They are the perfect sweet treat or easy on the go breakfast. Overall, I would definitely recommend this recipe if you’re looking for a quick, easy and delicious muffin recipe.

Travel/Food

Recipe review: Rosa Pasta Sauce

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By: Austin Bailey-Zimmerman

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbls of olive oil
  • 1 onion (diced)
  • 6 cloves of minced garlic
  • 2 tsp of dried oregano
  • 24 oz. of your preferred tomato pasta sauce
  • ¾ cups of heavy cream
  • pepper and salt
  • 16 oz of penne pasta, cooked al dente
  • Optional: garlic bread

Instructions:

  1. Cook your pasta until al dente, drizzle with olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper (or to taste) and set aside.
  2. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat.
  3. Add diced onion along with a couple pinches of salt and pepper, and cook for 4 minutes (stir frequently).
  4. Add in the garlic and oregano and cook for 1 minute (stir frequently).
  5. Add preferred pasta sauce and stir till combined.
  6. Cook for 3-4 minutes (stirring frequently) until pasta sauce is heated all the way through.
  7. Remove the pan from heat and stir in heavy cream.
  8. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  9. Add pasta and toss to coat evenly.
  10. Optional: add garlic bread.
  11. Enjoy!

Review:

This recipe was absolutely delicious. I made it for my family for dinner, and they all loved it! We all went back for seconds because we enjoyed it so much.

The sauce is altogether so creamy and enjoyable to eat. The sauce also has a lot of flavor to it from the warm tomato flavor to the savory onion and sweet cream. I like how you can also make this recipe your own by using whatever base sauce you want and adding things to your specific taste.

I got this recipe from https://midwestfoodieblog.com/penne-rosa by Kylie. She has created this recipe to be so easy and affordable, and it doesn’t take a lot of time to have a full dinner for your family!

The sauce has the perfect ratio of flavor and paired with the noodles, it is an amazing, filling and healthy dinner!

Try this recipe out for a great dinner! I know I will for sure be making this again! Enjoy!

Travel/Food

Recipe baking review: Crumble Chocolate Chip Cookies

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By: Austin Bailey-Zimmerman

Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ cups of butter (3 sticks)
  • ¾ cup of granulated sugar
  • 1 ½ cups of packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  •  1 ½ tablespoons of vanilla extract
  • 4 ¼ cups of all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 2 cups of milk chocolate chunks (or 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of dark chocolate chunks)

Instructions:

  1. Gather together all of your ingredients.
  2. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
  3. Get a large bowl and cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar.
  4. Then you can add in the eggs and vanilla.
  5. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and soda, and salt until fully combined.
  6. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until combined.
  7. Stir the chocolate chunks into the dough.
  8. Take a ¼ cup and scoop out the balls of dough (or if you want them to be the regular crumble size, use a ⅓ cup) and lay them out on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
  9. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
  10. Take them out and let them cool.
  11. Enjoy!

Review:

If you have never tried Crumble before, it is a very high quality bakery with new flavors of cookies every week, but one thing stays the same, the original Chocolate Chunk Cookie. It is my personal favorite, and that is why I decided to find the perfect recipe to make because this recipe tastes exactly like a Crumble cookie.

I absolutely love the Crumble cookie flavors and types, but they are all so big and each cookie is 5 dollars, but with this recipe, you can make two dozen cookies at a much more reasonable size.

The cookie itself is the perfect balance of a crunchy browned outside, and the most delicious soft, gooey inside with chocolate chunks that melt in your mouth. Believe it or not the cookie isn’t too sweet, the salt balances out the flavor so as to not feel sick after. The cookies pair perfectly with a glass of cold milk before bed.

I got this recipe off of TikTok, but it is from the Crumble franchise. I had my friends and brother try the cookies, and they said they couldn’t tell the difference between the Crumble cookies or the homemade! They even went back for seconds as they were so good.

Try this recipe and see for yourself! I know I will be making this again!

Travel/Food

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookie review by: Sallys Baking Addiction

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By: Alice Rapacz

Ingredients:

  • 1 and ⅔ cups all purpose flour
  • ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • ¾ cup packed brown sugar
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ¾ teaspoons red food coloring (more if you want them brighter)
  • 1 cup white or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
  2. Using a hand held mixer or stand mixer, on medium speed cream together your butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and vanilla extract and combine on high speed.
  3. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and add in the milk and food coloring. Mix on low speed until combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix on low speed.
  4. Cover the dough and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days. If you chill the dough for longer than 2 hours allow the dough to sit out at room temperature for at least 15 min before rolling out the dough.
  5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
  6. Scoop and roll each cookie to about 1 ½ tablespoons. Arrange on the baking sheet 3 inches apart from each other and bake for 11-13 minutes.
  7. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to let them cool completely.
  8. Enjoy the cookies now and with any extra cover and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Review:

I thought this recipe from Sallys Baking Addiction was great and easy to follow. I started by getting all my ingredients measured out and ready to use, which made the process very smooth.

The dough came together really well. I was able to follow the instructions with ease and just combined all the ingredients together. One extra thing I did was when adding the dry ingredients to the wet, I did them in batches. This made it easy not to have the bowl overflow with all the ingredients when I turned on the mixer.

I let the dough chill for around 4 hours so when I went to roll it out, even after 15 minutes it was still very hard. I had to let it sit out for an additional 15 minutes before it became soft enough to roll into balls.

I baked my batches for 11 minutes because I like my cookies soft, that time seemed perfect. They came out of the oven with a soft interior and they had a slight crunch to the exterior.

Flavor wise I thought they tasted pretty good. The chocolate chips added a needed bit of chocolate flavor, because although there was cocoa powder in the cookie, I felt it wasn’t chocolatey enough on its own. Besides that, they were the perfect sweet treat for the night. I added white chocolate chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips, the two paired well with the cookie, and while warm and gooey they coated your tongue and they were very delicious.

This recipe, I have made before for my neighbors and let’s just say, I didn’t even get to eat one because they were gone that fast. Nonetheless, this is a great and easy recipe that is a crowd favorite and I think you should give it a try the next time you are craving something sweet.

Travel/Food

Pumpkin bread recipe review

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By: Norah Hoglund and Max Cahoon

Pumpkin bread is a great option for breakfast; it isn’t too hard to make and lasts throughout the week. This recipe is healthy and delicious. We tried out this recipe because we both love to bake things, we both love bread, and to see if it’s good enough to recommend to anyone. This recipe is from my mom, and we already know it tastes good because she makes it a lot.

Review

Taste

This bread has really good and savory flavors; you can taste the fresh pumpkin flavor and the hint of cinnamon in it from the first bite. The chocolate chips add a great texture, color, and taste to the bread allowing people who want it as a treat to enjoy it too.

The texture of the bread itself is crispy and flakey on the top but once you bite inside you feel the softness of the bread and the melted chocolate chips slice through your teeth like butter.

We know a lot of people that don’t enjoy the flavor of pumpkin but this recipe has a great pumpkin flavor mixed with all of its other ingredients which makes it even more delicious.

Also, for anyone worried about how unhealthy it may be and the calories, this recipe has 1 scoop of protein powder making it gym rat friendly and can help maximize your gains in the gym.

From the sweet but salty flavor and the crispy but soft texture, we rate this recipe a 9/10. Easily one of the best loafs of bread we have ever tried and highly recommend it to anyone that loves a sweet and salty treat or breakfast item.

Baking

This recipe is very forgiving and easy to make. It doesn’t matter what order you put the ingredients in, so you don’t have to worry about it. It takes less than 10 minutes to mix up, and you just have to let it bake for an hour. It is a very quick and easy recipe for the wintertime to have as a snack or breakfast or to have it anytime you want.

Some tips for this recipe would be if you like your bread soft all around we would recommend 55 minutes inside the oven, if you like a perfect in between we’d recommend 1 hour and 5 minutes, and if you like it very crispy we’d recommend 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Overall

This recipe is overall very very tasty and a really good recipe for pumpkin bread. It is easy to make and has healthy ingredients, especially as compared to some other recipes with a lot of sugar. We rate this recipe a 10/10.

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 stick butter, soft
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 C coconut sugar
  • 1/2 C almond flour
  • 1 + 3/4 C flour
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 scoop protein powder (we use Equip, unflavored)
  • 1-2 t pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon
  • 1/2 C chocolate chips, nuts, or raisins

Instructions

Blend all ingredients together, in any order. Stir in chocolate chips, nuts, and/or raisins. (We decided to use just chocolate chips; it’s completely up to you!)

Pour into a parchment-lined large loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour (see notes above about other baking times).

Test with a toothpick – may need 5 more minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Notes

This recipe also makes an EXCELLENT banana bread – just omit the pumpkin and add 3 soft, overripe bananas. We use 1 tsp vanilla instead of the pie spice, but many people like to keep the spice in – totally up to you!