Anne's Laboratory: Choco Oatmeal Bars

I've been attempting to perfect this recipe which I got from my mom several months ago but it was only yesterday when I have finally gotten exactly what I wanted. I've always been struggling finding the perfect temperature since I have been using an electric oven.

For this recipe here are the things that you will need:

3 cups oatmeal

2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour with 1/2 tsp salt and 1tsp baking soda

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 tsps vanilla

1 can condensed milk

1 1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup chopped nuts

Procedure:
1. Stir together the oatmeal, all-purpose flour, salt, and baking soda.

2. Cream butter in an electric mixer while slowly adding the sugar.

3. Beat in the eggs.

4. Add in the oatmeal and flour mixture to the butter. Mix well to form a dough.

5. Line pan with wax paper and place half of the dough in the pan.

6. Heat condensed milk in the double boiler.

7. Add in the cocoa.

8. Add in the nuts.

9. Line dough with 3/4 of the chocolate mixture.

10. Place the remaining dough into the pan, carefully lining it over the chocolate mixture.

11. Top dough with remaining chocolate mixture.

12. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit over 25-30 minutes.

Anne's Laboratory: Classic Fudge Brownies

I love brownies. These ultimately chocolatey dessert especially when topped with vanilla ice cream always makes my heart swell. I like brownies when they're soft and gooey, fudgilicious.

I've been trying to perfect how to make these delectable treats and perhaps I have finally found the way how. I used several recipes and combined them to something that made sense to me. Lol. (I pick and choose the ingredients which are readily available and substitute the rest that aren't.)

For this recipe, here are the things that you will need:

1 cup butter

1 cup cocoa

2 tsps vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour with 1/2 tsp salt 

2 1/2 cups sugar

5 eggs

1 cup nuts ( I chose cashew since a friend of mine got me these)

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Melt butter. Add in the cocoa and vanilla. Set aside.

3. Beat eggs and sugar. Add in the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix well.

4. Fold chocolate into the mixture.

5. Add nuts.

6. Place in a 9x9 greased pan. Top with nuts.

7. Bake for 10-15 minutes.

Anne's Laboratory: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

my first batch of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies!

I love chocolate chips in cookies but not really a fan of chocolate chip cookies due to their very floury feel on the mouth. I also love oatmeal cookies but I don't like raisins in them, thus I had this idea of making my very own version of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Also, oatmeal cookies makes me feel less guilty because of the rich fiber content oatmeal is known to have. Also, the chocolate chips in oatmeal makes it less grainy and more yummy!

Here's what you'll need:

1. 1 cup butter or margarine (it is said that margarine has lesser fat content than butter so I chose the latter)
2. 11/3 cup sugar
3. 2 large eggs
4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5. 3 cups oatmeal
6. 11/2 cup all-purpose flour
7. 1 teaspoon baking soda
8. 1 teaspoon salt
9. 1 cup chocolate chips

Tools:

1. Mixer
2. Mixing bowls
3. Measuring cups and spoons
4. Rubber spatula
5. Cookie sheet is preferred but a baking pan will do
6. Wax paper
7. Oven
8. Oven thermometer

Here's how to do it...

all-set and ready for the pan

Make sure your butter or margarine is soft enough for your mixer to handle. Don't melt the butter, it'll give your cookies the horrible and sloppy consistency. What I usually do is take the butter or margarine out of the fridge an hour before  I start baking.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, that is, 204.4 degrees Celsius.

Place the softened butter or margarine in a mixing bowl, add in the sugar. Using the mixer, beat the sugar and butter or margarine  until creamy. That'll take you about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Vanilla extract is really potent. Just a small amount and it'll make your mixture very aromatic.

Anyway, set aside this mixture and get another bowl. In the second bowl, combine the oats, flour, salt, and baking soda. Make sure you stir them evenly. Add this mixture to the earlier creamed mixture and beat until the mixture has been well mixed. Add in the chocolate chips and mix to distribute them evenly.

they need enough room to grow and flatten out

Line the cookie sheet with wax paper if you're using aluminium pans/ cookie sheets. Then drop a spoonful of the mixture into the pan. Make sure you give them enough room for it to spread or else you'll end up with a pan-sized cookie instead of having bite-sized pieces. When you're done placing the the mixture, spoonful each, into the pan, you're now ready to bake them.

If you prefer chewy cookies, bake them for 8-9 minutes. For  crispy cookies, bake them for 10-11 minutes.

Once they're done, take them out from the oven and leave them to cool for 1-2 minutes then take them out and place them in a wire rack to further cool them down.  Store in a tightly sealed container or serve them out to your family and friends an enjoy this really nice afternoon treat.

chewy cookie variant

Have a great day!

Anne's Laboratory: Rhum Ribs

I saw I pack of short ribs lying around at the fridge for almost a week now thus I though it might be nice to cook something up. I've always like eating ribs as I find the meat really succulent. Just the thought of it makes me hungry. I'm not really sure how but the thought of cooking up rum ribs just stuck to my thoughts in a repetitive rhythms... that is, I just can't stop thinking about it.

So where did I begin? I searched online for recipes of rum ribs but I found them to be really complicated. I also do not have grilling equipment making it impossible to cook up rum ribs as their recipes have shown. So what I did is checked out all the ribs recipes and came up with my own version of rum ribs.

Ingredients:

1kilo short ribs

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup chili sauce

1/4 cup dark rhum

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 can (439g) pineapple tidbits

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbsp cornstarch

dash of black pepper

Directions:

1. In large pot, boil ribs in low fire until tender.

2. Mix ketchup, soy sauce, chili sauce, sugar, garlic, black pepper, and dark rum. Warm mixture but do not let it boil.

3. Place juice from pineapple tidbits in a bowl. Add in cornstarch and dissolve.

4. Add juice and cornstarch mixture to sauce mixture. Keep on low fire until mixture thickens.

5. Place tendered ribs in a pan. Add in the pineapple tidbits. Cover with sauce mixture.

6. Bake in an oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.

She says....

This recipe reminds me of steak we had at Rack's. The sauce turned out to be really spicy hot. It you want a milder flavor, you can lessen the amount of chili sauce you add to the mixture. Happy cooking!

He says...

YUMMY! It is surprisingly similar in taste to my favorite steak house's specialty sauce. Only spicier. The sauce has a very full taste and not watered-down like most that are commercially available. Considering that the sauce itself was handmade by Anne. This is probably Anne's best cooking yet. Time will tell if and when she's gonna be able top this one on her next experiments.

The only problem I had with this dish is the use of Beef (it's the only meat available at that time). There are too much ligaments (the rubbery stuff) between the bones and the meat making it harder to separate the juice bits. Maybe pork would have been better..