Chocolate Chip Cookies Mk. 3

In my quest for the best chocolate chip cookie, I tried another recipe. I still think the pudding version wins compared to this one for flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp hot water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. 
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. 
4. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. 
5. Stir in flour, in small batches.
6. Fold in the chocolate chips.
7. Drop by large spoonfuls onto parchment paper covered cookie sheets.
8. Bake for about 10-13 minutes, or until edges are nicely browned.

Thoughts:
These were ok. I feel like there needs to be more salt. They also took a while to brown, 15 minutes or so, but then again, my oven is slow.

Next Time:

• 1 tsp of salt

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

This is pretty old school and pretty amazingly delicious. I've made it twice now and you can vary the amount of cherries on top to suit your needs. The cast iron skillet is also not a requirement, but I think it adds some charm. You can also use a package of cake mix if you're lazy. You can also slice your own pineapple. Basically, make this as complex as you want.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp innamon
• 1 (20 ounce) can sliced pineapple (save the juice)
• 12-ish maraschino cherries
Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pineapple juice from above and any extra pineapple

Directions

Prepping:

1. In a 12 inch cast iron skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Remove from heat and add in brown sugar evenly over skillet bottom.
3. Sprinkle cinnamon on brown sugar
4. Lay out pineapple rings in desired pattern. If you have extra rings, you can chop them and add them as well.
5. Add cherries as desired. (Inside rings, around rings, whatever)

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and baking soda.
3. Make a well in the center and add the eggs, vanilla, and pineapple and juice.
4. Mix well to blend. 
5. Pour cake evenly into skillet over the brown sugar and fruit.
6. Place into over and cook for 45-50minutes, checking frequently towards the end.
7. Cool for 10 minutes, then flip over onto a serving plate or cooling rack. Don't wait too long or stuff will start to stick.

Thoughts:
It came out seriously delicious. I'm going to definitely add this to my roster of cakes.

Next Time:

• Add more pineapple to the cake mix
• Use fresh pineapple
• Add more cinnamon.