baking

Dirty Chai and Macarons.

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

Happy December!

I can’t believe it’s nearly the end of the year. Christmas carols are playing, the tree is decorated, the turkey and ham are ordered and I’ve been reading Christmas Cookie recipes.

My experience with Christmas cookies has been mixed at best. There was one time when I baked them as a child- but forgot the sugar in the sugar cookie recipe, and wound up with cut out Christmas trees and stars that tasted like cardboard. As an adult, I find that cut out cookies are a lot of effort for very little reward. Sugar cookies aren’t amazing. Sugar cookies that a toddler or 5 year old has decorated are– worse. So when I think about baking cookies this Christmas, I can’t say that Sugar cookies are high on my agenda.

What is on the menu? Spicy cookies. Flavourful cookies. Cookies that make your mouth happy. Cookies like these Dirty Chai Earthquake Cookies. They have coffee and all the spices and flavours of a dirty chai latte- but rolled in two types of sugar and baked in the oven. AND they’re pretty good. What makes them Christmassy- the spices. They taste like a chai tea- and they have that gingery, cinnamony, clovey goodness that feels like Christmas.

I also made Soft Chocolate Chip cookies– just in case the Dirty Chai vibes were divisive. Chocolate chip cookies are always a crowd pleaser and these are are more soft and pillowy than crunchy. They weren’t quite what I was after… I was hoping they’d be closer to the OG Keebler Elf Soft Batch cookies that I used to eat bags of as a kid. I used to bring them back to Australia, and then suddenly they were gone. Discontinued in a cruel twist of fate. Their familiar and comforting red bag no longer on the supermarket shelves in the US, or anywhere on the internet. And the internet wasn’t happy. I wasn’t the only one that missed Soft Batch cookies. Articles were written. Blogs were posted. Apparently, Keebler has brought them back in a yellow package- but I’m sceptical. I will try this recipe for Mock Batch Cookies in the next few weeks just to see how close it is to my memories!

I also had the absolute pleasure of having my friend, Feliken, over today to make macarons. Ok, full disclosure. She made them and I watched. Macarons are not for the faint hearted. They’re not for the type of baker that forgets to put sugar in sugar cookies. In short, kids- do not try macarons at home. Or do, but it’s hard work. Feliken made it look super easy and they turned out really well. But they are a lot of work, a lot of steps, and they’re pretty fickle little things.

In short, I was in awe of her. The patience, the consistency, the level of detail, so many steps.

Ah-mazing. And they tasted soooooo good too. Am I inspired to try them on my own??? No. I’m a bigger fan of cookies that are simple and hard to get wrong. I mean any recipe with more than 4 steps, or more than 4 different action verbs and I’m lost. Dump everything in a bowl. Yes. Separate eggs, mix, add, whip, pipe, pop, wait, bake, cool, scrape, pipe, smush. I’m lost. Those poor little macarons wouldn’t stand a chance with me. But Feliken is a master at them! And it was great to see a master at work!

Just normal Chocolate Chip.

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

Last week I made Chocolate Chip Cookies. You know the ones. The boring, old favorites that have the recipe on the back of the bag of chocolate chips. Tollhouse chocolate chips if you grew up in the US, no idea what recipe is on the back of the Australian chocolate chip packages because I didn’t make those.

I made Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies (minus the nuts of course!) and they were lovely. Easy to make, and just like Mom used to make. Well, not my mother per se, but you know what I mean…

This week’s are called Cowboy Cookies. I wanted to make Halloween Cookies but 1, it’s next week, and 2, I don’t have Halloween Cookie Cutters– and even if I do happy to buy them, I’m not sure I’m going to spend the time actually decorate the cookies to make them look like pumpkins or ghosts or witches. Even though I techincally have the time, I’m not sure that I actually HAVE THE TIME to decorate cookies.

So, instead of Halloween, I’m going to focus on something FAR scarrier than Halloween for the next three weeks- the US Election.

Namely, the First Lady Bake Off or Presidential Cookie Poll. It took place from 1992-2016- after Hillary Clinton’s famous “I could have stayed home and baked cookies” comment and continued until Family Circle magazine went out of business in 2019.

So, I’m going to try a few recipes out–starting with Laura Bush’s Cowboy Cookies. There are a few others that might pop up in the next three weeks before Election Day so watch this space!

He Runs, I Cookie

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

So, I’m currently in the midst of figuring out my next career move. I absolutely loved my last job and now that it’s over, I have a lot of choices to make and a lot of paths to explore.

While I continue to figure it out, I’m baking.

This week’s cookies are Red Velvet Chocolate Crackle Cookies by Donna Hay. I LOVE Donna Hay. I had nearly every issues of her magazine and I LOVE her cookbooks. These cookies are yum! I brought them to a BBQ on Sunday, and they were a hit. So, I baked another batch today. As I mentioned last week, I’m building up a bit of a cookie fan club. One batch isn’t enough to last the week, and since I’m currently funemployed, I have time to bake cookies twice a week.

I also baked the world famous Neiman Marcus Cookies. If you haven’t heard of these cookies, there’s a whole urban myth/legend about a woman who paid $250 for the recipe because she liked the cookies so much.

I mean they were good- but not sure I could charge $250 for them.

Some people have told me I could into the baking business- I mean, it’s not going to happen but it’s a fun idea. I’d have to bake a LOT of cookies to be self-sustaining, so I don’t see it in the future– but I do kind of like the idea of calling them, “He Runs, I Cookie…”

Until next week!

C is for Cookie…

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment


“Today, me will live in the moment, unless it is unpleasant. In which case me will eat a cookie.”

 – Cookie Monster

So I’ve been on a cookie baking binge over the past few weeks- or maybe even months. Actually, I can trace it back to July.

My friend, Jinx (not her actual real name, but her real pole name) went to Europe and brought back THE best cookie I’ve ever tasted in my life. It’s from Van Stapele, a bakery in Amsterdam, that only does one thing. These cookies. And they’re life changing. They’re also, unfortunately, only in Amsterdam. So, I did what any normal obsessed person would do and googled the recipe.

Of course, being a world famous cookie house, it wasn’t online. But there were loads of copycats which gave me plenty of fodder for my re-creation attempts.

Now, a smart, conscientious blogger would have made careful notes about what she baked, how it turned out and where the recipe came from. But that’s not me so please don’t ask which recipe was the best. (From memory, it was these or these but don’t quote me.).

I trialled a couple of different recipes before moving on to OTHER cookies. Chocolate Chip, Compost, Playdate, Snoop Dogg’s PB Chocolate Chip Cookies (Thomas was NOT a fan), Oatmeal raisin (by request), Mexican icebox, Coconut Sugar (bland!) and then I found them.

After weeks of searching, I’ve found the perfect cookie.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies from the NY Times.

I’m obsessed. I’ve made one batch this week, and because they are amazing I have a second bath ready to bake for tomorrow. These cookies are amazing.

I have to make a second batch, because I’ve gotten into a bit of a pattern. The people in my life now expect that I’ll turn up places with cookies. Tuesday at the gym, Wednesday nights at Pole Class. All of this cookie trialling has led to a lot of cookies. Far more than three people can eat, so I share them. And they must be better than ok, beacuse now people look forward to them, request flavours and are generally, a bit disappointed when I run out of cookies and they don’t get one. So, I’m making two batches of these- and also starting a list (or at least trying to be better) to record my cookie exploits.

So, join me on my baking journey!

The best banana bread for the worst year…

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

So, 2020 is turning out to be a bit….well, let’s be honest it’s turning out to be a hard year to describe without swearing.  Not sure anyone, except makers of masks and pyjama pants would put it down as “the best year ever”.  To be fair, it started off with a lot of promise and optimism, but somewhere around March things took a dramatic turn for the worse.

However, there have been two upsides of 2020- (not including living in my pyjama pants and not wearing makeup)

1, I’ve been too worried about the entire world falling apart economically, socially, and virally (is that the right word?) to worry about turning 40 in 2 days.  It’s pretty hard to throw a pity party for turning 40 (or any party at all actually) when 2 billion people or more are locked in their houses and thousands of people are dying every day.

2,  I finally made Chrissy Teigan’s banana bread recipe.  And it is literally one of the best banana breads/cakes/baked items I’ve ever tasted.  The batter was so good I was eating it with a spoon.  I understand why twitter went nuts for this- it is delicious on so many different levels.  I have to say I’m not a banana bread person- I don’t normally make it, I don’t order it in cafes and if someone brings it in to work, I may or may not try it to be polite- because banana bread is a bit boring.  This has changed my tune.  This banana bread is next level, and exactly what my 2020, about to turn 40 self needed.  It definitely blurs the line between cake and banana bread, but the fact that it’s called Banana Bread in the recipe means I don’t feel guilty for eating it for breakfast.  Not that there’s anything wrong with Cake for Breakfast but this is Banana Bread which is a totally ok breakfast food.   Plus, it’s easy to make.  The hardest part was trying to save 6 ripe bananas from the banana eaters in my house.    It was so easy and so delicious, that it has saved 2020 from being the worst year ever.  Well- maybe not completely but discovering this little gem has certainly put a smile on our faces and something good in our bellies.

Thank you Chrissy for saving 2020.

Exciting Times….

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

There are exciting times in the He Runs, I Cook household in between watching Sesame Street and the everyday juggle of life, we’re actually doing some interesting things– sort of.

For starters, MiniMe is nearly 2. He’s only 22 months to be exact but I’ve finally reached the point of motherhood where I know longer know exactly how old my child is. The first few months, I could tell you that he was precisely 9 weeks, 4 days and 37 minutes, then it was 8 1/2 months, now we’re starting to round up to years. I’m sure if you asked my mother right now, she would say that I’m somewhere in my 30s- because to be honest, even I can’t remember my exact age sometimes.

 

So MiniMe has gone from being a baby to being a walking and talking human being with his own personality, preferences and priorities which is super cute and fun- until they clash with the preferences and priorities of others in his orbit. But we’re coping well- his favorite words are bus and car and he’s fascinated by anything that has wheels or an engine (especially buses and cars). He knows his colors, can count to two and is generally a pretty cool kid.

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The second exciting thing that’s happening is I’m combining my job (IT recruitment) with my passion (gender equality) and organizing and hosting an event at work called Women Leading IT. I’m super excited about it, my company is super excited about it and we’ve had a great response from the female IT community- with over 100 women registered. I’m really thrilled because it’s been a huge lesson for me in terms of speaking up and agitating and advocating for change at work. I kept opening my mouth and asking why we’re not doing more and voila- here we are doing more! And my we, I mean mostly me and my co-organizer, but it is being paid for and sponsored by our company so it is very exciting! You can read more about the event here.

As you can see, I’m MC-ing the event- also a new challenge for me, fingers crossed I don’t freeze and just stare at the audience for 5 minutes!

The third, and possibly most exciting thing that’s happening is that I’ve found the perfect muffin!

Yes, that’s right!  I told you it was exciting times.  They are apple and carrot gluten free and sugar free and actually quite delicious. They’re relatively healthy- although I added chocolate chips and raisins- so I don’t feel bad about feeding them to MiniMe for breakfast, snack and even after dinner- not three in the same day obviously—- well, not obviously but don’t judge me! I found them on the Cookie and Kate website- they call them superhero muffins. And they’re 100% right! Amazing! Great to grab and go in the morning to eat on the bus when we’re running late and they have hidden fruit and veggies in them which is great for a toddler that won’t eat a vegetable other than potato and pumpkin. They come from a cookbook called Run Fast.  Cook Fast.  Eat Slow.  It is written by an elite marathon runner, Shalane Flanagan,  which I ordered as soon as I tasted the muffin.  Healthy Treats for MiniMe and The Runner; a new cookbook for me- So, all in all, a win!

Like I said, exciting times in our house!