The Covert Housewife

I came across Fuji Mama's Blog Site over the holidays whilst looking for a new Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.  I was so intruiged cause she made a side by side comparison of the differenct cookie recipes she experimented with. Apparently less butter makes for softer 'chewier' cookies! Who knew, right? So inspired by her experiment, I made some tweaks on the final recipe Fuji Mama ended up with by changing and addingsome of the chocolate and changing the flour.  Since I had some wheat flour, I decided to use that for the cookies (I was kinda worried that they were going to get rock hard but I crossed my fingers and it worked)! Click on the link to Fuji Mama's blog at the top of this post for the full review on the Nestle Toll House Cookie Recipe.    The original recipe is found below with my tweaks in pink font. @nestlefoodie’s Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe from Chris Garboski , adapted from the Original Nestle Toll House Chocol...

Before 2011 ended, my team (yes, work team) and I did a year-ender R&R.  Since each member of the team gets to pick his/her R&R of choice when his/her turn comes, we really couldn't say no when one of our team members decided to sign us up for a cooking/baking class.  Personally I thought it was apt since the NY was just around the corner and I could use new recipes and tips to jazz up my dessert menu. This post would probably be pretty short - no recipes, just photos.  Since we bought the recipe and my friend uses these for her business, I won't be posting the recipes for you guys.  Instead, I will just post photos of my finished goods which I made for my fam.  I'll also post details on how to order these cakes from my friend at the end of my entry. Mango Cake (not sure if it's called Mango Cobbler but that might be it)  This is my version of the cake - at this point it was getting ready to be transported to my dad's place.  The plati...

Here's my recipe for brownies that I customized from the recipe on the actual chocolate package.  The difference here is you will have to use Mini Chocolate Kisses instead of choco chips.  Since I can't find the original recipe, I'll just post the one that I made.  Again, if you want to try the original recipe, just buy a pack of Hershey's Mini Chocolate Kisses and read the recipe on the back of the package. Ingredients 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margaine , melted 1 cup brown   sugar 1 cup honey* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2  eggs An entire package  (10-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S MINI KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates       * You can substitute all honey if you don't want the brownies too sweet or just opt for 1 cup of honey and just take out the additional 1 cup of sugar. Directions Heat oven to 350°F...

Ok, I know I've been delinquent - I was supposed to post recipes and photos each week but I've been crazy busy I haven't been able to do any writing.  So despite the slight (ahem) delay, I'm posting my other creations. For now, I'll be talking about my Chicken Ala King. Okay, I'm not an expert cook but I like experimenting - and being the true Filipino that I am, I love to take an original and turn it into my own creation.  For this recipe, I used a recipe I found on a milk can label/flap and tweaked it a bit to come up with what you see above. Here's the original recipe courtesy of Alaska Milk ( http://milkkitchen.sme.net.ph/?p=70 ) Servings: 10-12 Ingredients 24 slices loaf bread ½ cup melted butter 2 tbsp butter or oil ½ cup onions 2 tbsp minced garlic 500 gms diced chicken ¼ cup flour ½ cube chicken cube 1/3 cup diced celery 1/3 cup diced red bell pepper 1/3 cup diced green bell pepper ¼ cup green peas 1 cup Alaska Evaporated Filled Milk ½ ...

For the next coming days, I will be posting photos and recipes of dishes I made during the holidays.  In the Philippines Christmas Eve dinner (Noche Buena) and New Year's Eve dinner (Media Noche) are big celebrations.  Families wait for the strike of midnight to celebrate Christmas/NY and eat until the wee hours of the morning.  Since I visit my dad for the holidays, I only make a few "key" dishes, mostly desserts.  Most of them I picked up from here and there and I customized and there are a couple that I made following the exact recipe. Let me start off with something that I didn't make but I purchased (just so I can move on to the ones I've made after).  These are Balut.  Don't worry, I won't show gory photos of the actual chic - just the egg :) Balut is basically duck embryo (and yes, it's the same one they eat on Fear Factor). I've only started eating balut in July of 2011 when my friends and I were in Boracay.  They said that the Balut...

Hi! It's New Year's Eve and I'm at home baking.  I already started cooking yesterday and will finish in a few hours.  Since I usually go home to my Dad's every Christmas and NY's, I only make a few dishes to take with me.  For this NY's, I have my Chicken Ala King, Brownies, Cookies and Red Velvet Cupcakes.  I'll post photos and recipes later :) Happy New Year!