Fatimary Bakelete

We all need a classic, hassle-free chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I am here to give you just that. Yes, there are many recipes out there claiming to be the "ultimate" chocolate chip cookie, which usually come with a few extra steps. Some require chilling the dough in the fridge for 24 hours, while others have exotic ingredients that are impossible to find. This is a basic, to-the-point recipe that tastes just as delicious. I have made these cookies over and over and over and they turn out amazing every single time.

In the cookie world, there are two types of people: soft and chewy cookie lovers and the thin and crispy cookie ones. These textures are entirely dependent on the proportions of butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. I will upload a recipe of a crispier type of cookie soon, for those who prefer that over the chewy kind. However, this recipe will yield about 3 dozen soft cookies that have the perfect amount of sweetness.

The process is simple, first beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until they are creamed together. Make sure they are incorporated properly. Next add the vanilla, salt, eggs, and almond extract. Then, whisk together the flour and baking soda in a separate bowl before adding it to the butter mixture. This is to make sure that the baking soda reaches all of the batter. Ditch the electric mixer and bring out your wooden spoon (if you're willing to get messy, ditch the wooden spoon as well and get in there with your bare hands, just make sure you clean them properly first).

Mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture until a dough-like consistency is reached. Now add in the desired amount of chocolate chips (the more the better obviously). Shape, roll, and drop balls of the cookie dough onto a baking tray, even sneak some into your mouth because who doesn't love raw cookie dough? Feel free to stick some more chocolate chips on top for the aesthetics. And then we bake!

Tips for Getting Perfectly Soft and Delicious Cookies

Psst! Wanna know the secret ingredients to the best chocolate cake ever? It's none other than buttermilk and coffee! Wait wait... just hear me out. Buttermilk gives the cake more body and makes it deliciously moist, while coffee deepens the flavor of the chocolate and gives it a rich, dark color (I promise you, you won't even taste coffee in the cake!)

As you will see in my future posts, I use this recipe for fondant cakes, buttercream cakes, cupcakes, and even cake pops! The recipe is so easy because you just have to mix everything together into one bowl and bake. Each bite is heavenly, and I literally cannot stop making it.

I was introduced to this recipe in my early baking days. My mother brought home Hershey's Cocoa Powder from the store one fine sunny day. It came with a tiny recipe card with instructions of how to make Black Magic Cake. That was one of the few things that initially triggered my love for baking. I used never give a second look to recipes I saw in magazines or the internet, but for some reason I thought "It's written by Hershey's, it must be good", and the curiosity led me to creating this chocolate lover's dream of a cake!

But what if I don't have buttermilk?

Not to worry! Just add one teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into the measuring cup and fill up the rest with milk to the 1 cup mark. Leave it to sit for a few minutes until the milk curdles up. It's really that simple!

Here are some of my creations using this recipe from last summer. See, it's not everyday I get to bake now that I'm off to college, so when I finally get a chance, I go all out and make sure to fulfill each and every craving at least twice.

Black Magic Cake 

Cook time: 30-40 minutes                    Prep time: 15-20 minutes                    Serves: 6-7

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This mouth-watering waffle recipe is the perfect balance of crispy on the outside but light and fluffy on the inside. To get that fluffy texture, we need to whip up tons of air inside it, and for that we will be working with eggs, particularly egg whites. Whipped egg whites gently incorporated into waffles makes the world of a difference in texture! This recipe also involves a lot of baking powder as our leavening agent. Egg whites + baking powder = extra fluffy waffles! I love to top mine with chocolate syrup and a scoop of my favorite homemade Oreo ice cream. Ah, it's the perfect breakfast!

The other ingredients you'll need are all-purpose flour, salt, sugar, melted butter, milk, and vanilla.

First, you will whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Next, you will separate the egg whites from the eggs and plop the yolks into the dry mixture. Be very careful with this process. If you get even a tiny amount of yolks into the egg whites, they won't whip up to stiff peaks.

The easiest way for me is to break the egg in half, and carefully toss the yolk into each half of the shell until all the whites drip down into my bowl. Some people like to use an empty water bottle to suck up the egg yolks from the egg, but after many failed attempts at that, I decided to stick to my way of doing it.

Now with the egg whites, you want to beat them until they are super fluffy. You'll know you've beaten them enough when you can flip the bowl upside down and the whites won't fall out.


Now into the dry mixture goes milk and melted butter. Mix it all up until combined.

Add in your whipped egg whites and gently fold into the batter with a spatula. Do not over-mix. You don't want to deflate the egg whites. Don't worry about the lumps in the batter. It is actually preferable to have small lumps!

Now heat up the waffle iron and ladle the mixture in. My waffles tend to stick to the waffle iron so I grease it with some butter before pouring in my batter.

Note: Make sure your iron is properly preheated. Cook your waffles until they are golden brown. Although my waffle iron has a green light to indicate when it's done, it usually takes them longer than that. Keep checking every few minutes to make sure they are nicely cooked through.
This recipe will make about 8 rectangular waffles. Top with maple syrup, fresh fruit, powdered sugar, ice cream, the choices are endless!

You can store your batter in the fridge for up to 5 days. Just be sure to bring it as close to room temperature as you can before cooking.

Classic Waffle Recipe 

Prep time: 20 minutes                    Cook time: 15-20 minutes                    Yields: 8 waffles

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When I came home from college for the summer, I took up the challenge of making birthday cakes for all my family members' birthdays. I have never had trouble with baking sweets, but I was intimidated by the idea of cakes and cake decorating. My hands weren't steady, my frosting was runny, and layering cakes was a whole different headache. I would spend hours and hours and still end up with a sloppy, dripping mess. It was truly a nightmare, and after many failures, I gave up on birthday cakes altogether.

But this summer, I mustered up my courage and took this as an opportunity to learn. My little's sister's birthday was the first, August 12. After days of searching and looking at images of cakes ideas, I stumbled upon a rosette cake and instantly fell in love. The rosette cake looked beautiful, elegant, but also quite easy to pull off.



I watched countless Youtube tutorials, articles, and Pinterest images to make sure I don't mess up. I may have cheated a little and used a boxed vanilla cake mix (I will be uploading my very own vanilla cake recipe soon). Homemade cakes are always preferable, but I was already super anxious about messing up that I just saved myself the hassle.

Tips to make boxed vanilla cake mix taste better:

- When adding eggs, add two extra egg yolks
- Use melted butter instead of vegetable oil for a richer flavor
- Use milk instead of water.

I made two 8 inch cakes and layered them. Try to go for a taller cake when making a rosette design; it looks epic, trust me.

For frosting, most people prefer buttercream, but my family isn't fond of it (they find it overly sweet), so I whipped up some heavy whipping cream and colored it with blue powdered food coloring. To stabilize the cream so that it holds its shape longer, I added some gelatin. Here are other ways you can stabilize your whipped cream.

Things I learned while making a rosette cake: 

How to pipe perfect rosettes: 

What are some of your cake decorating tips? Let me know in the comments below! I could learn a lot :)

Fluffy Pancakes from Scratch 

Ready in: 15-20 minutes                    Serves: 4 

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