You can never go wrong with bringing a basic chocolate chip cookie to party.  Everyone loves those babies and they get gobbled up in minutes.  But I’m always looking for new ways to spice up basic recipes and I may have met my match with these Toasted Coconut and Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies seen on Doughmesstic.  What takes these cookies to the next level are the:

1) browned butter (must must must brown the butter, don’t get lazy and think you don’t need to brown it)
2) coconut (takes me back to paradise)
3) sea salt (don’t think I can express enough in words how much I love a sweet and salty contrast)
4) chopped chocolate bars (I didn’t have Scharffen-Berger but wish I had. I’ve actually been on the Scharffen-Berger chocolate factory tour in San Francisco before, so fun and yummy!)

I made these over the holidays, hence I couldn’t bring them into work, sorry team, I’ll make another batch when I return at the end of March.    Me, Marvin and my parents finished these off in no time, they went with breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I promise you that these cookies (and you) will be the talk of any event if you make them, the more gourmet the chocolate, the more of a hit you’ll (err the cookies) will be.

Bonjour
Sandy à la Mode readers, I’m Shea from Bon Chic Bon Gastronomique. I’m so
excited to be able to guest post for Sandy while she’s enjoying her time as a new
mommy (or while she’s enjoying her last few weeks of pregnancy…depending on
just how cozy baby à la mode is)!

adapted from CupCakes and CrabLegs to include more Oreos

Ingredients:

1 package Oreo cookies (30 cookie pack)
2 – 11 ounce bags of white chocolate chips
20 mini -size candy canes (or 10 normal-sized candy canes)

Directions:

1. Crush candy canes in a food processor until the pieces are very fine.
2. Melt white chocolate (I use the glass bowl over pot of boiling water method).
3. Dip each Oreo in the white chocolate, then lay out on parchment paper.
4. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
5. Let them cool for about 30 minutes.

You may not end up being able to fully cover 30 Oreo cookies, but this also accounts for the fact that you may eat a few Oreos during the process.    These were a huge hit at the workplace and I imagine they’d be so at any Holiday Party!

P.S. If your name is Aik and you blog over at Friends & Family – then CONGRATS!  You won the Luce $30 credit giveaway!  Please email me at sandyalamode(at)gmail(dot)com and I’ll put you in touch with Ashley!

What foods are you planning on making for your Holiday Parties?

So I have a confession to make.  Sometimes when I’m in a blog post preparing frenzy, baking lots of stuff, taking lots of outfit pictures, etc. I get so backed up in content that I don’t have enough time to post then.  Case in point, this post here.  It’s a “The Dish” one if you couldn’t tell from the title, but I actually made these ONE YEAR AGO.  But then somehow November and December got away from me and then I figured it was too late to post about a pumpkin recipe, although I do not have a problem with pumpkin desserts being made year round, mind you.  SO anyways, I figured it was about time I post this… since recipes never really go bad, thank goodness!

Chocolate Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (adapted from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

For the Cookies
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the Filling
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup of chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Prepare cookies: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Place butter, shortening, and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in half the flour mixture, then the milk and vanilla. Mix in remaining flour mixture.

3. Drop about 2 teaspoons dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies spring back when lightly touched, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and let cool 10 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheets and transfer to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely.
4. Prepare filling: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together cream cheese, butter, and confectioners’ sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg; whip until smooth, scraping down the bowl as necessary.

5. Pipe or spoon about 2 teaspoons filling on the flat sides of half the cookies. Place 5-6 chocolate chips on top of filling. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping the flat sides down.

And there you have it!  A little time consuming, but so worth it.  These little mini bites are perfect for a Fall Holiday party or potluck!  Don’t worry, all the whoopie pies you see in this post had already been consumed (last year), it was only a matter of minutes at the office. 

Well, I just wanted to say once again how THANKFUL I am of this blog, my readers (you), and my sponsors.  I am so happy to always share with you all the daily happenings in my life and honored that so many of you care enough to read and leave comments about it!  Hope you all have a safe, wonderful Thanksgiving holiday filled with a ton of good food!  Our menu will consist of a young chicken (it’s just the 2.5 of us so we didn’t want to go all out w/ a turkey), cranberry dressing, creamy corn casserole, green beans, mashed sweet potatoes, and mini pumpkin pies! 

P.S. If you have a little one in your life… a daughter, son, niece, nephew, or have friend’s with kids, then don’t forget to enter The Rice Babies $20 credit giveaway!

P.P.S. Have you voted for me in the Soon Maternity Blogger’s Style Challenge yet? 

What’s on your Thanksgiving menu?

Recently, in my hunt for the perfect ways to use up my pumpkin, I found this amazingly simple and delicious recipe on Pressed Down, Shaken Together that uses pumpkin and crescent rolls.  Now I have to say that it’s been awhile since I’ve bought said crescent rolls (don’t know why) and since I always love to mix up what I eat I decided to give it a shot.  Boy was this delicious, seriously y’all, you’ve got to try it.  It’s flaky, sweet, tasty, flavorful and mmmm, just feels right with a glass of milk or some hot tea.  So get your ingredients ready and LET’S BAKE!

Pumpkin Pie Croissants (recipe from here)

Ingredients:

- 2 tubes of refrigerated crescent rolls
- 1/2 block of cream cheese
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice + 1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 3 tbsp. sugar + 4 tbsp. sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Roll each crescent roll out and cut each lengthwise by 2.

3. Mix together the cream cheese, canned pumpkin, 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, and 3 tbsp sugar.  Generously spread each crescent roll with a tablespoon of the mixture.  (Sorry if this picture isn’t too appetizing, I didn’t do such a good job of mixing up the cream cheese haha.)

4. Starting at the wider end, roll the crescent roll so the smaller end is on top.

5. Now mix together 1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice and 4 tbsp. sugar.  Roll each of the crescent rolls into the mixture so that it is evenly coated with the sweet goodness.

6. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

And now you can finally enjoy your creation!  We ended up giving some of these to our neighbor across the street as a thank you for giving us a bunch of free baby hangers!  But of course we kept some to ourselves too, duh.    I’d eat these as a dessert OR breakfast and are best eaten fresh out of the oven.  Cool thing about this is that next time you can make your own crescent roll filling, oh think of the possibilities… peanut butter, nutella, marshmallow fluff, jam… mmm yes.

Entries for this giveaway have been closed, thanks for entering!

Hey all!  I’m back again, but this time with a TASTY GIVEAWAY!  I had a similar giveaway last year and it was such a hit that I decided to bring it back.  Sweet Lydia’s shop is not just your regular old sweets shop, but her focus is sticky gooey heavenly marshmallows, with her most popular item being S’mores!  What more could you ask for?  If you are looking for the perfect holiday treat for your Thanksgiving or Christmas party or as a stocking stuffer or really to just indulge on yourself, look no further!

 I just HAD to create a photo collage with some of her treats.  Have I got your drooling yet?  That was my goal. 

{BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY #3 of 6}

Enter to win a box of Sweet Lydia’s Mixed Fall Box of Smores (that’s 3 Pumpkin Spice and 3 Apple Cirder Smores, YUM)!

To enter:

1. What is your favorite kind of birthday cake? (mandatory entry)

For additional entries, leave a separate comment for each action.
2. Visit Sweet Lydia’s and leave a comment with your favorite item!
3. Be a Google Friend Connect follower of this blog
4. Like Sweet Lydia’s on Facebook and write on the wall saying I sent ya
5. Follow @sandyalamode and @sweetlydias on Twitter
6. Blog, facebook, or tweet about this giveaway (make sure to include @sandyalamode and @sweetlydias in your tweet) and include the link (one entry each). 

Feel free to use this tweet:

Celebrate @sandyalamode’s birthday with 6 #GIVEAWAYS! Enter to win @sweetlydias fall smores! http://bit.ly/vc0Pzo

This giveaway is open to U.S. readers only and closes on Monday, November 7, 2011 at 12PM CST. Good luck!

Don’t want to wait?  Take 10% off your order with code “THANKS” at checkout!

Entries for this giveaway have been closed, thanks for entering!

While blog reading, I recently just found my new favorite fall cookie recipe!  In the past few things, I’ve been craving all things caramel… caramel macchiato, caramel apple pops, apples dipped in caramel, and of course any dessert with caramels would have been perfect!  So when I stumbled upon these Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies, I told myself it was a must for making.  I mean, the main flavors and ingredients, caramel and apple cider packets, are like the epitome of fall, don’t you think?  I sure do!  And let me tell you, when I brought these babies into work, people were taking seconds and thirds and fourths, no joke!  They were gone in no time, all 2 dozen that I brought in (I may have eaten the other 2 dozen, OK, maybe I gave some of those away as well).

Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies (by The Cooking Photographer)

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, nearly melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (7.4 ounce) box Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink Mix *Not sugar free*
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 (14 ounce) bag Kraft Caramels

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line rimless cookie sheets with parchment paper. It has to be parchment this time.

2. In a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, salt, and all 10 packets of apple cider mix until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract, then mix in the baking soda and baking powder. Add the flour and mix until just combined.

3. With a standard (size 50) cookie scoop, scoop the dough scrapping off the excess as you go up the bowl. Flatten the dough slightly in your hand and place a caramel in the center. Work the dough around the caramel sealing well. Place the cookies two inches apart on the sheets.

4. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. After baking, carefully slide the parchment with the cookies onto the counter. Let cool until they are no longer soft but still slightly warm. Twist gently to remove, and cool the rest of the way upside down on the parchment or on a cooling rack.

Makes 51 cookies (it may sound like a lot, but just make them all, they are THAT good).

*These cookies are best served over a warm cup of tea, coffee, hot chocolate or any warm drink to soften up the caramel insides.  Or I suggest nuking them in the microwave for about 15 seconds for a similar effect.*

My goal these days as I’m on travel restriction from work because of baby is to bring in a dessert every (or every other) Friday for my coworkers.  It totally makes for a homely, aromatic smelling kitchen every Thursday night at least, oh and wider hips too but that’s in preparation for baby. 

And oh yes, I do have a GIVEAWAY WINNER to announce today!  The winner of the $25 credit to Maple Boutique is Melissa from Simply, Melissa Ashley!  CONGRATS!  Please send me an email to claim your prize and I’ll get you in touch with Maple Boutique!!

What are some of your favorite fall desserts?

On our way back from California a few weeks ago, we came home with a full box of bread from the famous and most delicious 85C Bakery Cafe.  And since we finished that box, all I could think about is wanting more and more bread.  Unfortunately, where I live, we don’t have ANY Asian bakeries… or at least not any fresh one (I think any store that sells Asian breads has them shipped in).  I had this idea for a few days that I would open up an Asian bakery of my own.  For those of you who don’t know the difference between regular and Asian breads, I guess my best explanation for Asian breads would be that they are SUPER soft and fluffy, like melt in your mouth fluffy.  And they come in a variety of flavors and toppings, my faves being blueberry cream cheese, onion, cheese, taro, and really just any cream filled ones, mmmm!  So obviously to start on my bakery, I realized I had to try making some of these breads myself.  I researched all over the web and landed on Christine’s Recipes, namely her Japanese Style Bacon and Cheese bread which uses the Tangzhong Method of baking.  I’m going to spare you from all the recipe ingredients and directions since they are pretty long so please visit her blog post for it!  So here goes my first attempt at it…!

Made the Tangzhong dough the night before.

Combine all the bread ingredients together (used my KitchenAid stand mixer with bread hook on low for 20 minutes).  At this point the dough was still VERY sticky so I did add more flour to be able to form it into a ball.  Once ball is formed, put it in a greased bowl and let it sit for 40 minutes.

Separate the dough into 4 balls, cover and let sit another 15 minutes.

Roll out dough and fill with whatever you like (I used turkey bacon, cheddar cheese and green onions).

Roll it up… mine needs work, you’ll see why later.

Place the 4 rolled up sections of dough in pan and let sit for another round of 40 minute proofing and then brush the top with egg wash.

Fresh out of the oven, SMELLS SO GOOD!!!

3 hours later… and there you have it!!  See the holes in the second piece of bread, I think that’s due to my poor rolling skills, but now I know what I need to work on for next time!

Can’t wait to make this again and fill it with something different next time.  The 3 hour wait is seriously worth the FLUFFY SOFT texture that melts in your mouth and tastes SO MILKY AND GOOD~!  Or you could just come buy it from my bakery once it’s open… yea…

Have you made bread before?  Does anyone have recommendations on bread makers?

Let me introduce to you the easiest peasiest lemony squeeziest cookie known to human.  All you need is a box of lemon cake mix, some lemon extract (or lemon juice) and some other basic ingredients you probably already have!  These are so perfect for a summer going into fall BBQ, potluck, baby shower, or really… any party!  And these sure do satisfy any prego lady with a lemon craving. 

Easy Lemon Cookies (from Allrecipes)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon extract until well blended. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of confectioners’ sugar. Roll them around until they’re lightly covered. Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy

P.S.  Just wanted to announce the winner of the Yellow Plum Blossoms giveaway!  If your name is Heather and you blog at Pics, Pages, & Purls, CONGRATS!!!  Please send me an email at sandyalamode(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your prize!!   For those that didn’t win, you can still take 15% off your Yellow Plum Blossoms order with code “ALAMODE” for the whole month of September!

So, since I’m still on a bit of a lemon kick lately, what are your favorite lemon recipes (links appreciated!)?

Where I live, it’s about a 30 minute drive to the nearest Korean food restaurant.  Anything past a 20 minute drive is “far” in my book, after all, it only takes me 12 minutes to get to work and 15 minutes to get to the airport!  I know, I’m pretty spoiled with my commute, but I like it that way.  Anyhow, back to food, the other day I was just craving Korean BBQ so we made some bulgogi (marinated beef top sirloin) and decided to be a little healthier by using it in a rice dish with a bunch of veggies.  So there comes Bibimbap (such a cute name for food, huh?).  This dish has a great array of mix-ins and is best when served with Korean red pepper paste to give it some heat.  Mmmm boy.  I wish I could have some more right now!

Bibimbap (recipe taken from Maangchi)

Ingredients:

• Cooked rice
• a package of bean sprouts
• a bunch of spinach
• 2 small size of zucchinis
• 5-7 Shiitake mushrooms
• fern brakes (kosari) - i did not use
• 200 grams of ground beef (about half a pound) - i used bulgogi instead
• 1 small carrot
• eggs - i did not use
• soy sauce, hot pepper paste, garlic, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and vegetable oil

Recipe:
Arrange everything on a platter.

1. Cook rice. You can use a rice cooker or a stainless pot.
2. Next, you need to prepare a large platter to put all your ingredients on. Rinse your  bean sprouts 3 times and put them in a pot with a cup of water. Add 1 ts of salt and cook for 20 minutes. Drain water and mix it with 1 clove of minced garlic, sesame oil and a pinch of salt.
   Put it on the platter.
3. Put your spinach in a pot of boiling water and stir it for a minute. Then rinse it in cold water a few times and squeeze it lightly. Mix it with a pinch of salt, 1 ts of soy sauce, 1 clove of minced garlic and sesame oil. Put it on the platter
4. Cut 2 small size zucchinis into thin strips, sprinkle them with a pinch of salt, and then mix them together. A few minutes later, sauté them in a pan over high heat. When it’s cooked, it will look a little translucent. Put it on the platter.
5. You can buy soaked and cooked “kosari” at a Korean grocery store. Prepare about 2 or 3 cups of kosari for this 4 servings of bibimbap. Cut it into pieces 5-7 cm long and sauté in a heated pan with 1 ts of vegetable oil. Stir and add 1 tbs of soy sauce, 1/2 tbs of sugar, and cook them for 1-2 minutes. Add sesame oil. Put it on the platter.  (I did not have kosari on hand.)
6. Slice shitake mushrooms thinly and sauté with 1 ts of vegetable oil. Add 2 ts of soy sauce and 1 or 2 ts of sugar and stir it for 2 minutes. Add some sesame oil, and put it on the platter.
7. On a heated pan, put some oil and 200 grams of ground beef and stir it. Add 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tbs of soy sauce, 1/2  tbs of sugar, a little grounded black pepper, and sesame oil.  (We used homemade bulgogi meat!)
   Put it on the platter.
8. Cut a carrot into strips, sauté it for 30 seconds and put it on the platter.
9. Prepare eggs with sunny side up.   (I left this out.)
10. Put your rice In a big bowl, and attractively display all your vegetables and meat. Place the sunny side up egg on the center.
11. Serve it with sesame oil and hot pepper paste.
12. Lastly, mix it up and eat!

This was the PERFECT dish to practice my food photography with all the great textures and colors from the variety of foods.  Food photography is still a dream of mine.  Anyone know how I can get a freelance gig in it?  Did I make you drool? 

Don’t forget to enter the Pretty Things By Meg $40 shop credit giveaway!