One of my most favourite memories is making chocolate chip cookies as a child.  I think I started making them at around age 5, and then it became "my job" to make cookies.  I always used to day dream that I was teaching a cooking class as I was making the cookies.  I would pretend that I was giving instruction as I went through the steps to make the cookies.  The most important step was always to taste the dough once it was all made, before you cook it, "to make sure everything was alright".  That was really just my excuse to eat raw cookie dough.  I LOVE IT!!!  I would almost rather eat raw cookie dough over cooked cookies!  But, alas, I was told I could no longer eat the raw dough because I might die.  No one wants that...  Thankfully, some other bakers, who love cookie dough as much as I do, have figured out a way to have your raw cookie dough and eat it too!  I decided to try out a few raw cookie dough recipes, and here are my results:

The first step in edible cookie dough is heat treating your flour, to kill any bacteria that might be living there.  Preheat your oven to 350 and spread your flour out on a baking sheet.  Bake for 5-10 mins.  That's it!  Super easy.

https://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2014/04/edible-cookie-dough-recipe-two.html

Ingredients
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon  milk
5 Tablespoons  flour (To eliminating any bacteria risks, by toasting your flour at 350 degrees F for just 5 minutes we kill off any harmful bacteria.)
2 Tablespoons chocolate chips

I found this recipe on the internet titled as "Cookie dough for two" so I figured I would give it a shot.  I was also going to try one titled "Cookie Dough for One" but the recipe was nearly identical, so I figured the portions was just a matter of opinion.

This recipe was fairly easy to make, but it involved you mashing your butter and sugar together with a fork (due to smaller portions), so you better be sure your butter is soft for this one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be2waiwxHcI

I love Cupcake Jemma.  She makes some amazing stuff and is super entertaining to watch.  She makes these incredible looking cookie dough cupcakes, so I just HAD to try her recipe.

120g soft unsalted butter
50g chocolate chips
95g caster sugar
45g demerara sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
100g plain flour
2 tbs plain yoghurt
pinch salt

Super simple to make!  Just pop everything in your mixer and let 'er rip!

The third recipe I tried was my own variation, based off of my chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I'm not even going to bother posting it here, because it honestly wasn't the best.  It came out a little grainy and the flavour wasn't where I wanted it to be.

Cookie Dough for Two on the left, Cupcake Jemma in the centre and my own recipe on the right.  My recipe turned out much like the Cookie Dough for Two, but the taste and texture wasn't as good.  Cupcake Jamme's dough came out the smoothest.  It reminded me of the cookie dough that you would find in a premium ice cream.  I think it probably works wonderfully in and on top of cupcakes and cake.  However, for just eating raw, the texture wasn't what I was looking for.

My favourite was the Cookie Dough for Two (or for one, if we're being real here).  The texture and the flavour were exactly what I was looking for in an edible cookie dough.  Adding the flour one tablespoon at a time let me control how moist or how dry I liked my dough.  Also, let's be perfectly honest - if someone wants a little cookie dough to eat, making a huge batch isn't ideal.  These portions were perfect for someone like me, who wants a little cookie dough here and there, but doesn't need the temptation of a freezer full.

It's not always about the cakes...sometimes it's about other things.  Yummy things.  Things like cookies and care packages.  Once a year, my family gets together for "Christmas in May".  My Dad, two brothers, sister-in-law and Auntie all have birthdays within a month of each other.  This makes it really easy on me to bake up a storm for them - and one of the things I love sending in a care package to my Auntie is cookies.  This year I decided to include some peanut butter cookies - topped with a caramelized peanut (a little trick I learned in the half-a-second I worked in a 4 star restaurant).  I also decided to include some cakes in a jar.  It's the only safe way I've found so far to ship cake.  Let me know if you want one!

It's so nice to know that awesome people still exist in this world.  My friend Janelle called me because she wanted to say Thank You to her team in the hospital.  She had been doing a placement in the psych ward (I think?) as part of her Master's degree in Social Work.  She wanted cookies with smiles and "big teeth" to hand out on her last day.  I thought it was an odd request at the time, but if you ever spend time with Jan, you would understand.  She has an amazing smile which she flashes and brightens the whole room up.  These cookies did the same thing for me.  Every time I looked at them on the wire rack, I couldn't help but giggle.  Everyone should have a smiley cookie to brighten their day!

This week I was asked to cater (and attend!) a party in honour of all of this year's Virgo birthdays.  In order to accommodate everyone's favourites, we decided to go with some desert trays as well as the Patron Tiramisu for the birthday cake.  On the tray were chocolate chip cookies (for Carlos), mini cupcakes (for Morena), XO Patron cafe infused mini cake balls (for Maria) and peanut butter poppers (for Stephane), and the other guests seemed to enjoy them too.  After the feedback from last week's Tiramisu trial, I decided not to hold back on the alcohol this time.  I added the Patron XO cafe not only to the espresso syrup, but also added a healthy amount to the marscapone filling.  Yum!

This weekend I attended yet another fabulous bridal shower for my little cousin - she is one loved girl (with good reason)!  I was asked to make three cakes for the shower, and in my haste to get out the door on Friday, I forgot to take a picture of what was probably the best one.  The first cake was a 'Coco Loco' - Devil's food chocolate cake layered with milk chocolate ganash and real chocolate buttercream, then covered with a rich semi-sweet chocolate ganash icing.  It tasted even better then it sounds, somehow.  Since this was a brunch shower (awesome!) I decided something a little lighter would be nice, so I tried a new recipe for a key-lime cheesecake.  Some thought it was a little too tart (wimps) and some thought it was just right.  The third was a vanilla cake with a layer of yummy mocha icing and a layer of French vanilla buettercream.  I covered it in pink fondant and prettied it up a bit with some stripes and flowers.

This week I got to try my hand at my first bottle-shaped cake.  I decided it would be a good idea to actually have the item I was trying to recreate on hand - for reference purposes of course- (it worked with the PS3 controller!) so I brought some Labatt Ice home with me.  Research included me studying the label intently as the contents somehow disappeared...  Next time I think more research is in order!  I also made some super cute Bumble Balls for a super cute couple's anniversary.