Author: thecookiefilesblog

Guava snack cake

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How are you all doing?
Today we are bringing you guys a guava cake. Not filled with guava, but actually MADE with guava.

Let’s do this.

You’re gonna need:
-Stand mixer + bowl
-Microwave
-Oven
-9x9x1.5 (or taller) baking pan
-1 extra bowl

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature.
-1 cup granulated sugar
-1/2 cup guava paste
-1/2 cup sour cream
-1/4 tsp baking soda
-1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
-3 large eggs

Instructions:
-Pre-heat the oven to 325°F.
-Line your baking pan with foil or grease it and dust it with flour. We use foil here.
-In a bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Set aside.
-In the mixer, beat the butter with the sugar until creamy.
-In the meantime, start melting your guava. You’ll have to do this FAST because guava paste goes back to its consistency within a minute or maybe even less. Grab a bowl, put enough guava paste to be either 1/2 cup or more (you do not want to do this process twice, so better to have more than necessary than less here), melt it in the microwave for 30 seconds, and stir a bit, another 30 seconds, stir, and maybe you’ll have to do this once or twice more. You’re looking for a “lava”, bubbly guava paste. As soon as you get this done, measure it to get exactly 1/2 a cup, and add this to your mixer, which is STILL ON, CREAMING THE BUTTER. Beat this for a minute or so, then continue.
(alright, the danger is over now, let’s calm down now, breathe, and follow the rest of the recipe)
-Add in the eggs, one by one, beating for a bit after each addition. Add in the sour cream. Keep beating.
-Add in the flour, gradually, beating only enough to combine everything. Don’t forget to scrape the sides.
-Pour your batter into the prepared pan, and bake it until it passes the toothpick test. It’s on the 38-minute mark for us but remember: each oven is different, so keep an eye on it.

That’s it! This cake is absolutely delicious by itself, but feel free to have it with some coffee 😉

See you guys soon!

Oh, by the way, we have an Instagram page now!

Delícias de Portugal – Portuguese Bakery Review

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We went on a little trip this week. On our way to St. Augustine we stopped at a store called Delícias de Portugal, located in Palm Coast. Actually, it’s two stores, and they are like a block away from each other. The second one has the exact same name, but followed by a “II”, so we assume it’s from the same owners. On the first one we got the Portuguese rice cake, an almond tart, and “pata de veado” – a dessert that is basically a roll cake with bavarian cream. Oh, we also got some coffee, which was really good.

Here’s proof of our visit:

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And our thoughts:
Rice cake:
Blondie: I’ve never had a rice cake before and I’m happy that I’ve had it.  It’s simpler and closer to home than what I expected. To me, it tasted kinda like a plain muffin. 7/10
Danish: I found this pleasant as well. Not too sweet, not too bland. 7/10

Almond tart:
Blondie: Tiny tart with almond filling. Yummy. 8/10
Danish: I have a special place for almond pastries, in my mouth. 9/10

Pata de veado:
Blondie: I’ve had one before at a grocery store, but boy, this one is a lot better. It’s super moist, and the filling is delicious. 9/10
Danish: This one was my favorite of the day, the texture and flavor was great. 10/10

Then, we went to the second store, which had some different snacks available. From this one, we picked the orange tart, custard tart, and the milk tart.

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Orange tart:
Blondie: Okay, I did not like this one. Honestly, it tasted like there was something wrong with it. 2/10
Danish: I seem to be overly sensitive to things that have a sulphury eggy taste, which is all I could taste in this. 0/10

Custard tart:
Blondie: It was a good tart, but not the best one I’ve ever had. 7/10
Danish: The flavor of the custard was not eggy like the orange one (hooray!). It was good, but as Blondie said not as good as ones we’ve had elsewhere. 7/10

Milk tart:
Blondie: This dessert is new to me, but I really like it. It’s like a little muffin, but only made of baked cream. 9/10
Danish: This one was enjoyable as well, though texture was a bit odd to me. 8/10

Overall, the stores are nice, the service is nice, and most of the desserts are good (with the exception of the orange tart). We haven’t had any savory treats this time, but we definitely will in the future.

That’s it for today! See you guys soon!

The agents went to Crumbl again

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Hey guys!
Agent Blondie here. We went to Crumbl yesterday, and we’d like to share our thoughts about the cookies we got this week.

Cinnamon Frybread:
Blondie: Okay, this one is just amazing. It’s soft on the inside, and if there was a cookie that tasted like comfort, this would be it. 10/10
Danish: This is my favorite cookie from Crumbl so far. Soft buttery cinnamon goodness. 10/10

Molten Lava:
Blondie: It’s a good chocolate cookie, and it is indeed very gooey on the inside. If you like very dark chocolate, go for it. 8/10
Danish: I like this cookie the most of any of the chocolate cookies we’ve had from Crumbl. It’s best when it’s warm and fresh. 9/10

Lemonade:
Bondie: So, I really like the frosting, but the cookie is just okay. I’m always disappointed when the supposed flavor only comes in the frosting with a ‘basic’ vanilla cookie. By the way, this cookie is served cold, but I’d tell you to wait until it reaches room temperature. 5/10
Danish: All the flavor is in they frosting, I’m left wishing there was more flavor to the cookie as well. 5/10

Classic Pink Sugar:
Blondie: Even though this one is always on the menu, this was the first time we ordered it. I’m not a huge fan of sugar cookies, but this one is as good as it can get, I guess? Also, wait until it gets to room temperature. 5/10
Danish: The description of this cookie says that it uses real almond flavor in the frosting, which peaked my interest. Unfortunately the almond flavor is very very subtle, making it a very plain tasting cookie. 4/10

Alright, that’s it for today.
See you guys soon!

Easy pizza dough

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How are you guys doing today?

This recipe is super easy and if you use the dry yeast (Instant) that we use here, this dough can be completely ready to be baked in less than an hour.You’re gonna need:
-Stand mixer
-Oven

Ingredients:
-3/4 cup warm water (heat it up on the stovetop to the point warm to touch, but not hot)
-1 Tbsp sugar
-1/2 Tbsp instant dry yeast
-1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp granulated garlic

Instructions:
1. In the mixing bowl, combine the warm water, sugar and yeast. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes, covered with a towel. In a separate bowl, combine the salt, garlic powder and flour.
2. After those 5 to 10 minutes, using the hook attachment, add the dry mix to the yeast mix, little by little.
3. Let the dough raise for 15 minutes or until it doubles its size (this really depends on your yeast, the temperature of your kitchen and the temperature of the water you’re using). Prepare the dough for its use (eg. roll it out) and let it rest for another 5 to 10 minutes before baking.

If you are baking pizzas, our suggestion of oven temperature is 400ºF.

That’s it for today 🙂

See you guys soon!

Biscoff cookies with cream cheese chocolate chips

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How are you guys doing today?
Do you like cookie butter? We sure do.
Don’t know what cookie butter is? Have you been living under a rock? Go to the store right away and get some. Actually, grab some Biscoff ice cream bars while you’re at it. Danish thinks that the milk chocolate one is better, my favorite is the white chocolate one. Either way, both are delicious. Anyways, going back to our cookies…

You’re gonna need:
-Oven
-Stand mixer
-Baking sheets
-Food processor
-Cookie scoop (2 Tbsp)
-Fridge (we’re gonna refrigerate these cookies overnight, so plan ahead!)

Ingredients for the cookies:
-1/2 cup Biscoff cookie butter (seriously, choose the Biscoff brand, don’t go skimping on this one)
-1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
-1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-1 large egg
-1 tsp cookie butter extract (if you can’t find it, you can replace it with vanilla extract, but obviously it won’t be the same)
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1 cup + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
-2 Tbsp cornstarch
-1/2 cup finally ground Biscoff crumbs
-1/2 cup quick cooking oats
-3/4 cup cream cheese chocolate chips (if you can’t find these, you can replace them with white chocolate chips)

Instructions for the cookies:
-In the food processor, grind the biscoff cookies until very fine.
-In a bowl, combine flour, salt, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, and the biscoff crumbs. Set aside.
-In the mixer bowl, beat butter, cookie butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and the cookie butter extract until creamy.
-Add in the egg and beat it for another couple of minutes. Slowly add in the dry ingredients, beating just enough to combine everything. Don’t forget to scrape the sides and finish combining everything with the spatula. Add in the chips and stir everything until very well combined with the spatula.
-With the cookie scoop (2 Tbsp size), scoop out the dough and roll it into balls with your hands. Store the little balls in a plastic container with a lid on and let them sit for at least about 24h in the refrigerator.
-Pre-heat your oven to 340ºF. Line your baking sheet with foil. Set your cookies on the baking sheet with at least a 2 inch gap between them.
-Bake your cookies for about 15 minutes.

There! That’s it 🙂
See you guys soon!

Churro Kit Kats

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How are you guys doing? 

Blondie here.

Since the announcement of this new Kit Kat flavor, we’ve been looking for it. I think it’s been about two weeks of looking everywhere and finding absolutely nothing. However, on our last trip to Walmart, we finally found it.
And we almost didn’t.
Agent Danish and I were going through all those last-minute check line shelves and we were possibly on the 10th one when I said “it’s not here yet, let’s give up”. Danish started to wonder if this new Kit Kat was even real. Then I took one step farther, and guess what. There it was. Our churro Kit Kat, right there, waiting for us. Funny thing, though: during this whole thing, these two weeks hunting for this new flavor, we found many Skor bars everywhere. A little bit over a month ago, we went on a hunt for it, and it took a while to find it. Now we find it everywhere. By the way, you should try the Skor candy bar. One of my favorites!

Going back to the topic: the churro Kit Kat.
Our ratings and comments:

Blondie: Not bad at all. The churro flavor is there. Simple, yet, delicious. 9/10
Danish: Sometimes churro flavored snacks don’t really nail the dough flavor of a churro and end up just tasting like a mystery cinnamon sugar confection. This Kit Kat did a good job though and I love churros. 9/10

So, that’s it for today!
See you guys soon!

Savory Cream Puffs – Bacon, ham, and cheese

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Hello!

Agents Blondie and Danish here! How are you guys doing?
Today we have a recipe for savory cream puffs.
You’re gonna need:
-Stove top
-Stand mixer with paddle attachment
-Big sauce pan
-Oven
-Pastry bags, couplers, and Wilton’s piping tips #32 and #230
Ingredients for the dough:
-1/2 cup whole milk
-1/2 cup water
-70g unsalted butter, room temperature
-1 packet chicken ramen seasoning (we used maruchan)
-165g of all-purpose flour
-3 large eggs
-35g finely chopped (cooked) ham – avoid the “sweet types”, like the brown sugar type
-35g finely chopped bacon (also already cooked)
-1 Tbsp dried parsley
Instructions for the dough:
-Pre-heat the oven to 370ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
-Using medium heat on the stove top in a large saucepan big bring to a boil the milk, water, butter, and chicken seasoning packet . As soon as it starts boiling add the flour to the saucepan. Cook it until it doesn’t stick to the pan anymore and gets to the consistency of play-dough. Transfer the dough to the mixing bowl and let the dough cool down until it’s just warm, 5 to 10 minutes.
-With the paddle attachment, beat in the eggs one by one. Make sure to scrape the sides before finishing beating. You should beat this for 3 or 4 minutes.
-With a spatula, stir in the bacon, ham, and parsley.
-With the pastry bag, make little “ice cream swirls” of approximately 1 1/2 inch wide each on the parchment paper. If you don’t have the #32 tip, use any other piping tip that is “star shaped” (the ones with little “teeth”). This is an important detail that will help you know when your cream puff is done baking.
-Bake your cream puffs until they are light brown in the little creases made by the piping tip. Since this really depends on the size of your cream puffs, it’s important that you pay attention to the process. Ours were done in 18 minutes. Let them cool down before adding the filling. If you make them about the same size we did, you are going to have from 30 to 40 little cream puffs.
Ingredients for the filling:
-3/4 cup spreadable cream cheese, at room temperature (do not use the “block” cream cheese, it’s too hard for this)
-1/2 cup powdered Parmesan
-1 tsp garlic powder
Instructions for the filling:
-With a spoon, combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Using a piping bag with the #230 tip (or any other somewhat big, round tip), stuff the cream puffs with it – we usually fill them from the bottom. That’s it!

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That’s it for today, guys!

Gideon’s Bakehouse – an honest review

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The agents finally got to visit Gideon’s Bakehouse in Orlando. Blondie has been wanting to go there for what it seems to be an eternity. She was finally going to get their famous cookies.

Pulling up on the parking lot, the first red flag: hipster place. Let’s proceed with caution. Got into the building, and there it was. A small square, with a wooden counter. The decoration was, in fact, pretty. Old style “shoppe”. Okay. Let’s get to business. Let’s try these cookies, the agents thought.

6 dollars for each cookie. Okay, pricey, but let’s try this. They bought the original chocolate chip and the banana bread. Here they are:

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Our thoughts about each of them:

Chocolate chip cookies:
Blondie: It’s a good chocolate chip cookie if you like cakey/doughy cookies. However, I do not like the coarse salt that they sprinkled on top of it. It does not completely ruin the cookie, but I’ll give it less points for that 6/10
Danish: Very doughy/cakey cookie. The taste and texture reminded me of the cookies they served in the cafeteria in middle school which were very popular with many kids, just not with me. I’m also not a fan of coarse salt on cookies, the saltiness lingers in your mouth much longer than the rest of the flavor of the cookie. 5/10

Banana bread:
Blondie: Again, a tall, cakey cookie. All of them are. I like the taste of it, and this one doesn’t have salt on top to ruin (almost) everything. 8/10 — by the way, I am not considering the outrageous price here.
Danish: I enjoyed the taste of this, but honestly I would rather have a piece of actual banana bread. 7/10

So, the verdict is: are they good? Yes. Are they super good, crazy different for it to be worth 6 bucks each? No. They are tall and loaded with chocolate, but 6 dollars is still way too much for these cookies.
Either way, trying a new cookie is always fun. Looking forward to new adventures!

Pecan Meltaways

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How are you guys doing today?
Have you ever heard of meltaway cookies? Also known as Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cookies, snowball cookies…. and god knows how many other names this cookie has. Anyways, meltaway is the name we call it here, and we think it fits well because they do melt in your mouth.

You’re gonna need:
-Stand mixer
-Food processor (in case your pecans are not chopped)
-Oven
-1 Tbsp cookie scoop

Ingredients:
-1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
-1/2 cup powdered sugar
-1 tsp pecan extract
-2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
-1/4 tsp salt
-3/4 cup (about 3 oz) finely chopped pecans
-Some extra powdered sugar, to roll the cookies in. We suggest you have at least 1 cup for this step.

Instructions:
-Pre-heat the oven to 340ºF. Line two baking sheets with foil. Set them aside.
-In a bowl, combine flour and salt. Set aside.
-In the mixer bowl beat butter, the pecan extract, and sugar for about two minutes. Don’t forget to scrape the sides.
-With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry mix. Beat it only enough to get the dough well combined.
-Turn off the mixer and with a silicone spatula, add in the chopped pecans. Stir well, making sure that it’s all throughout the dough.
-With the cookie scoop, make balls of dough and set them on top of the foil. These cookies will not spread a lot, so you only need an inch of a gap between them (mostly so the heat gets in between the cookies).
-Bake your cookies until it’s just a little brown on the bottom. Ours took 22 minutes to bake, but it really depends on the size of your cookie and your oven, so keep an eye on cookies.
-Let your cookies cool down for about 5 minutes before you do this next step. Otherwise, you will burn your fingers. Put your extra powdered sugar in a bowl. Roll your cookies in the sugar and set them aside so they can finish cooling down to room temperature. Store your cookies at room temperature.

Alright, that’s it! Until next time!

Pre-summer finds

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The agents were out and about, looking for new stuff to try. They went to a nearby Target store and found nothing but colorful towels, flamingos on everything and milk chocolate for s’mores (by the way, click here for our s’mores cookie recipe). Leaving empty-handed and somewhat disappointed, they realized that summer isn’t the best time to look for new candy. There’s nothing interesting going on.
Maybe because people are dieting to show off in their swimming suits?
Maybe candy isn’t refreshing enough for the terrible summer heat?
Maybe companies don’t like putting new candy out during the summer because they could melt more easily?
There’s no way of knowing.
Heading back home and unexpectedly stopping at a Dollar General, they found interesting things to try: Orange Cream M&Ms and Twinkies!

Here are their reviews:

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Orange Vanilla Cream M&Ms:
Blondie: M&Ms rarely disappoint. I can taste the “orange vanilla crème” very well. Not my favorite, but definitely good. 8/10
Danish: They nailed the flavor pretty well with this one, I’m not the biggest fan of orange cream though. 7/10

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Orange Crème Pop Twinkies:
Blondie: Sorry, I do not like this one. I don’t like the filling. It’s not inedible, but I don’t plan on buying it ever again. 3/10
Danish: It’s pretty forgettable, imagine a regular twinkie with the artificial orange flavor from a creamsicle mixed into the filling. No strange surprises later either, I’m looking at you moonberry Twinkies.  6/10

Alright, that’s it! See you guys soon!