In My Kitchen

I always love to get a behind-the-scenes look at other people’s houses/apartments/lives, so I thought I’d share a few favorite things about the place where I spend 86% of my time… the kitchen!

(PS- The valence and matching placements were made by my super-talented mom. Check out her etsy shop here!)

So… what’s your favorite thing about YOUR kitchen?

Chewy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

A few weeks ago, I freaked out over these peppermint bark baking bits from Trader Joe’s (new vlog coming soon!!) and immediately invented a cookie recipe to shove them in. I’ve now made these cookies 18 (okay, 3) times in the past couple weeks and I can’t. get. enough. They taste like brownie batter with the slightest hint of peppermint and are dangerously addictive.

I made the mistake of bringing the entire first batch of cookies into work, leaving only one cookie for Mike to try, which officially makes me the meanest – I KNOW. So, the other night, we’re finishing up dinner and Mike has dropped roughly 1,000 hints about how much he would just looooove a chewy chocolate cookie and it’s toooo bad  all the cookies ended up in someone ELSE’S belly, and I decide to redeem myself by whipping up another batch. At this point it’s 9PM and my bedtime is rapidly approaching, so I’m trying to make these cookies AFAP (as fast as possible. invented for the sake of this story), speeding around the kitchen like a Tazmanian devil. While the butter and sugar are spinning around inside the mixing bowl getting fluffy, I fling open the cabinet to grab the flour like a whirling dervish – thereby knocking the metal lid of my flour canister INTO THE MIXER WHICH IS ON. HIGH.

COOKIE DOUGH EXPLOSION. MELANIE CRYING. THE SOUND OF METAL SCRAPING METAL (a sound one hopes to never hear whilst BAKING). HELP. HELP. HELP.

If you have ever wondered what a cookie crime scene might look like, just imagine this:

Dough splattered onto every surface of your kitchen. Cocoa powder (which is im.poss.i.ble. to clean) sprayed across the counters and floor. Flour in your hair, eyes, and life.

After screaming for five seconds I had the clarity of mind to TURN OFF the mixer before it died a sad and messy death. Somehow I managed to salvage the few scoops of dough left at the bottom of the bowl to bake up a couple cookies, and all was well in the MJM household.

The moral of the story? Make these delicious cookies, but don’t try to do it AFAP.

Chewy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

yield: about 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups peppermint bark baking bits (if you can’t find the bits, you could use a combo of chocolate chips and candy cane pieces)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add vanilla, then scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides to incorporate ingredients as needed.
2. In a separate bowl, add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir on low speed until combined. Add the baking bits; stir until incorporated.
3. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto a baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes – do not over bake, or the cookies will be crispy instead of chewy! Allow to cool on a wire rack.

My Essential Baking Tools {Vlog!}

You GUYS! You are so great. Thank you for all your funny/sweet/awesome comments! You totally inspired me to make another vlog, this time about my favesie baking tools.

Warning: I tried to edit (for about 40 seconds and then Mike turned on the election coverage and I got distracted) and I just couldn’t figure it out. So there is a totally annoying moment towards the end – I call myself out on it so it’s hard to miss – that I couldn’t get rid of. I also realize I’ve already told you that Mike passed the bar BUT he just found out he passed NY as well as MA (overachiever) and this is big life news so obvi I can’t stop talking about it. Please forgive me. Finally, according to my vlogs, I only wear stripes. Which is 90% true.

Here it is: my must-have baking tools!

That “other shape spatula that I’m talking about”.

Pastry cutter = dough blender  = pastry blender. Potayto Potahto Poteeto.

Three new additions

We have three cute additions to our already CUTE kitchen:

Flour and sugar jars!

And this cute little timer!

So happy.

Fact.

I am more likely to purchase kitchen-related items than clothes. 

Evidence: my recent trip to Anthropologie.

Surrounded by gorgeous dresses, earrings, and tops….

I went with bowls. 

But honestly – who can resist their kitchen section? 

They remind me of rainbow sherbet! Soooo in love.

Ricotta Pancakes with Berries

I had a *surprise* day off from work on Friday, so I did a little shopping. Rephrase: wandered around Crate&Barrel for an hour and emerged with two exciting purchases: a pancake spatula and a set of ramekins!! I obviously needed to try out the spatula asap so I made some fancy-shmancy ricotta pancakes on Saturday. The ramekins came in handy to show off the yummy berry sauce I made to put on top.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

1 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
pinch salt
3/4 cup milk (I used buttermilk)
3 eggs, divided
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Put the ricotta in a fine mesh strainer and let drain for 30 minutes

2. Whisk together dry ingredients

3. Combine ricotta, egg yolks, milk and vanilla in a seperate bowl

4. Beat egg whites until stiff

5. Combine wet and dry ingredients and gently fold in egg whites

6. Cook on a greased pan for 3-4 minutes on each side

I served mine with a berry sauce, which was simply frozen berries heated in the microwave with some sugar and vanilla.

Problem, solved!

I am happy to report that I have solved the problem I wrote about in my very first post, about the utensil holder that was just not working.

Problem:

Solution!

It’s actually a flower pot from Crate&Barrel, but could it BE any cuter??