CHEWY M&M COOKIE BARS

Hello everyone! I am still alive and kicking and I have a lot of things to share with you! The most important thing is that my little blog is not so little anymore. It turned 7 years old on October 8th and I even managed to remember it inspite of all the craziness I've got myself into. When I saw the posters in our school about the ACF Hot Foods Team, I really didn't know what it was all about other than that it was a food competition. I am game for any food competitions as long as the judges know what they are doing. I know it's not about winning all the time but if you have to lose just because the judges don't know a thing about what they are judging,it sucks BIG time! Anyway,so when I saw the posters, I wanted to give it a try...obviously!

They had 3 rounds of selection and I passed them all! So, I am officially a part of the ACF Hot Foods Team representing Le Cordon Blue, Minneapolis- St. Paul!! It also means that I need to stay back after school on weekdays to practice for the competition which is sometime in March. It's a 2 day competition and it's INTENSE! You have no idea how excited I am to be a part of this team because it will definately benefit me in many ways,not just having that cool title on my resume but also on my knife skills,timing and discipline in the kitchen. One thing I've realised after joining school is that there are so many little things that you can never learn if you don't get trained professionally. Afterall, I really care about the little things in life...we all do,right?

The next thing is that I am on the President's list for securing a 4.0 GPA for the last quarter in school. We had a celebration where we were given certificates and a small badge which can be pinned onto our uniforms! Then there's this Open Baking Lab that I go to every Wednesday to learn more about baking,ofcourse! All these have been keeping me super busy that I had zero time to come here and tell you all about what we've been doing otherwise in school. We had to come up with our own Original Bread Formula for our practicals and I baked a Chipotle Onion & Walnut Bread which came out really really well ! I am almost done with my Breads & Viennoiserie  class and we will be starting a new term next week.

Okay, about these cookie bars now. We are having a Halloween party in our building for the little ones and I baked these for the party.Ian is dressing up as the Ninja turtle Leonardo. He looks so cute in it! I will try and post a photograph when I get a chance. I found this recipe on Cooks Illustrated.

CHEWY M&M COOKIE BARS
Makes 24  bars

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
12 tablespoons unsalted butter,melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups M&M's

Method:
Preheat the oven to 325F and line a 9X13 inch baking tin with a parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper.

In a bowl,whisk together flour,salt and baking powder.Set aside.
In another bowl,beat the melted butter and sugars for 1 minute. Add the vanilla,the egg and egg yolk and beat till combined,30 seconds or so. Add the flour mixture and gently mix until just combined. Stir in 1 cup of M&M's. It will be a slightly thick and sticky dough. Spread it into the prepared pan and press it out evenly. Sprinkle the remaining M&M's over it and pat it in gently.Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let it cool completely and then cut them into bars. Store it in an airtight container.

This could be one of the few posts where I didn't talk much about the food! Weird,huh?
When Ian came home from his Montessori,he was really excited to see these bars and ate one right away. He really is a cookie monster.By the way, he has totally become an Appa's boy now. He even told me that Appa baked these cookies when I asked him who baked them! That monkey is always with Jobin and it's really nice to see how that bond is building up more and more as the days go by.

If you don't know what to do with all those candies after Halloween trick or treating,just chop and add them into this recipe and create something new! These are some really good fudgy cookie bars,I have a feeling that you will love these!

 

HOMEMADE MAYONNAISE (in under a minute!)

This method of making a mayonnaise can be like a revelation to the people who have been having a hard time making it at home.It can be tricky if you don't trickle in the oil while whisking the eggs at the same time when you make them the old fashioned way. I don't use a lot of mayo in our meals so I rarely have any on hand when I actually need them. This method is so easy that I just whip up a batch in no time at all! Once you try this method you will be hooked!

All you need for a mayo are pantry staples like eggs,oil,lime juice,some mustard and herbs of your choice,if you wish to add them later. I usually leave mine plain and then dress it up according to what I am making with them. Summer is the season when I use a lot of mayo. Sandwiches,burgers,taco's etc are made repeatedly and the mayo bottle gets over just like that!

I still remember standing next to Valsamma aunty,watching her make mayonnaise at my Uncle's home in Bangalore when I was little. It was like a magic show where she started with something liquid which turned into this thick, luscious,creamy yellow pudding like thing in the end! She used her fingers instead of a whisk to make it.I still remember that slightly cold Bangalore morning just like yesterday! Some memories just don't fade,right?

So the next time you are out of mayonnaise,don't reach out for that jar at the supermarket. Make your own. It's the best! The flavour is so good and you will notice that it's not as acidic as the storebought ones. It is exactly why homemade things are better! There are exceptions for sure but I always prefer homemade to storebought.This recipe is from Finla, a very close food blogger friend whom I've known for the last 7 years!

HOMEMADE MAYONNAISE
Makes about 1 cup


Ingredients:
1 large whole egg
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon whole grain mustard (or anykind that you have)
Salt and Pepper

Method: Place all the ingredients into the bowl of your immersion /stick blender and pulse it moving the stick up and down. Your mayonnaise will be ready in less than a minute! Adjust seasonings if needed.

Store it in a clear jar with a lid for a week in the refrigerator.

This is the good stuff and not the bottled ones. Try it on a toast right away and you will see why I am trying to sell you this one!
 

LE CORDON BLEU UPDATES - 3

The past two weeks have been crazy busy here. So much stuff was happening at school and at home. Today, I am alone at home without Ian. It's Ian's first day away from home at a Montessori. He was so excited to go to school,play and eat snacks! Amma is here with us for a few more days and after that,our home will be very quiet during the day. As of today,all 3 of us are back to school. Jobin's school starts 2 days from now.He will be travelling quite extensively this year. 2015 is very eventful for us. I am so glad that Amma is here with us now. If you scroll down, you will see a few photographs that we took over the weekend for our Onam celebrations.

At school,we baked tons of Croissants,Puff Pastry treats,Brioche buns etc. The past two weeks were so delicious! Those chocolate eclairs were really to die for. I am still dreaming about them. I really have to start watching what I eat these days since the goodies we are taught at school is not that figure friendly! I also volunteered for Minnesota Cooks at the State Fair and got a chance to rub elbows with a lot of successful Chefs from the Twin Cities.

What we learnt for the past 2 weeks:
Challah Bread
Challah Bread rolls
Brioche sliders with Remoulade sauce
Cream Swans
Chocolate Eclairs
Paris - Breast
Profiteroles
Mushroom & Goat Gourges with Red Bell Pepper Coulis
Puff Pastry
Palmiers
Savoury Galette
Pithivier
Shrimps Newberg
Classic Croissants
Pain au Chocolat
Bear Claw
Different types of Danishes

Thank you all for hanging in there and reading the updates. I promise you,there will be a recipe coming up very soon! Amma has been spoiling us with all the cooking so there's nothing that I can show you of mine. Things will change very soon once Amma leaves ;-)

LE CORDON BLEU UPDATES -2

This past week was awesome! We've been making a lot of fun things in school and the best part is that we can take them ALL home! That also means I bring home crazy load of goodies which we can never finish. That also means I wrote a lot of post it notes and stuck them on our neighbours doors saying,'If you would like to have a slice of freshly baked brownie,knock on our door!'. The responses were amazing!

I usually bring these goodies in a huge cardboard box and who ever looks at me strangely seeing me carry SO much food all piled up in a box, I just offer them a couple of biscotti's or a brownie and that look immediately breaks into a wide grin as they help themselves to a treat or even two! That means, I've been generously giving away food to the people I meet in our garage,our elevators,our corridor,our office and even our lobby!
I wake up every day with a smile on my face because it's something I really look forward to.Going to school. Apart from having a lot of fun with ingredients,I am learning SO much that I wouldn't have if it weren't for LCB. The Chef''s are well experienced and are so thorough in what they know. They teach you the science/reasoning behind why we do a certain thing in a particular way.It lets us think and make us realize why some recipes work better than most others. So for all the fun reasons, I am sharing with you a video that my friend Sara took. I hope you like it!

Things we made last week:
Macadamia & Pecan Chocolate Fudge Brownies
Pistachio & Orange Biscotti's
Chocolate Tart
Fresh Fruit Tart
Lemon Tartlets
Creme Brulee
Creme Caramel
Brioche Buns
Sliders
Thousand Island Dressing
Remoulade Sauce
Garlic Aioli
Cinnamon Rolls
Chocolate Snails
Doughnuts

LE CORDON BLEU UPDATES!

It's been 7 weeks since I've started living my dream... even if that means I need to wake up at 5.30 am every weekday! Which also means that my body has set a natural alarm clock that I wake up at 5.30 am on weekends too.Yes, my days start super early and I leave home by 6.20 am. I got so used to sleeping in late every morning for the last 5 plus years. Now, I am usually up earlier than my alarm clock just to make sure that my alarm goes off at the right time! Seriously,I love what I am doing right now.Even if it's chaotic. Oh by the way, the stuff that you just saw above was a Linzer Tart ( with ground hazelnuts in the base) and Strassburger Cookies (with a hint of cardamom).

School is wonderful. The first six weeks were for sanitation and foundations.Which simply means,we were taught how to handle every single thing so that no one falls sick or dies of a foodborne illness from the food we make or sell. It was one of the best sessions. Now, from 7th week onwards,we have started our Introduction to Baking and Patisserie classes.It's pure FUN! The first day was good and slow,the second day was total total chaos (like in the FN's Chopped kitchen). Third day onwards,things started to get better. We got more organised as a team. Oh yeah, we work in teams.Team work is everything,right? Each one of us gets our own stuff,mixers etc but we work as a team of two,helping each other with mise en place etc. It's a lot of fun! We baked so many cookies,muffins and quick breads,pies and quiche last week. It was so GOOD! The quiche that I baked was my personal favourite. We could do our own filling and I decided to do a Curried Chicken Quiche.It was awesome! Did you know that we could bring all the goodies home? Yes,we can and Amma and I were literally fighting over that Quiche. It was so good!

Things we made last week:
Pate Sucree
Linzer Tart
Strassburger Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Blueberry Muffins
Cornbread
Pate Brisee
Curried Chicken Quice
Old Fashioned Apple Pie
Blueberry Pie
Chocolate Chip and Candied Orange Scones
Biscuits & Sausage Gravy

HAPPIEST THIRD BIRTHDAY,IAN!

We officially have a THREE year old in our house now! When he turned two,people warned us about 'terrible two's'. I must say we were really lucky as this guy was not a handful,instead,a pleasure to be with. He has grown in size and can read alphabets and numbers without our help. Infact, he started to read alphabets and number when he was around 20 months,even before his second birthday. The best part of it all is that he learnt it all by himself! One day,when we were walking in our corridor,he pointed me toward the exit door and read out each letter by himself. I don't have to explain how shocked I must have been! Same was the case with numbers.

Appan and Amma were here for his birthday,for the very first time! It was special. I baked a chocolate cake that he had been requesting for his birthday since January for the big day. I covered it with a decadent milk chocolate frosting. He is crazy about construction vehicles now,so it was a construction site kind of a cake for him. He loved it!

For his party,I made a George pig cake from the cartoon Peppa Pig. For that, I made a vanilla pound cake with vanilla buttercream. We don't do fondant for our personal cakes.It's butter all the way!

This year,he has learnt to run a lot faster,throw and catch ball really well as well as to jump up high and land with perfect balance. His current favourite shows are Mickey Mouse, Peppa Pig, Blaze,Pocoyo,Thomas and Friends,Masha and the Bear and Tayo the Little Bus. The party update took me the longest as I was almost drowning in school assignments and tests. Yes, even we have tests and assignments :-) So without much further talk,here are the details!

Saturday Brunch Menu

Fresh Peach Sangria

Carrot Lemon Cooler

Pastry Onions

Egg Salad Croissanwich

Cucumber Cups

Veggie Pizza

Balsamic Onion Fritata

Mushroom & Spinach Quiche

Mousakka

As much as I would love to be a regular here,things are not moving in its favour. Amma has been cooking all our meals and once in a while,I join her and we have so much fun together in the kitchen!I am being pampered and I am not complaining at all!