CONDENSED MILK COOKIES 🍪

I had a beaker of condensed milk sitting in my fridge due to an accident from one of the previous recipes I'd made. (I had poured out too much condensed milk before realising I didn't need it anymore.)

So I was pinteresting condensed milk recipes and there were some cakes and drinks and brownies etc. But the cookies really caught my eye and they looked relatively easy to make.

So I decided to give it a try!

Recipe

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

2 tablespoons sugar

200ml condensed milk

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250°C

2. Using a mixer, mix together the wet ingredients (butter and sugar)

3. Mix in the sweetened condensed milk.

4. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt)

5. Mix both wet and dry ingredients together

6. Add the chocolate chips to the batter and use a rubber spatula to fold them in.

7. Roll the resulting batter into small balls.

8. Place on a parchment paper lined sheet about 1 and a half inches apart, and flatten the dough balls slightly.

9. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes

I thought the cookies would expand so I made them into dense flattened circles. But in the end they didn't.. I later heard from my friend that normally cookies don't expand when baked so one must spread them out or risk the middle being uncooked.

A tip to take note next time!

The cookies turned out great! At first before they cooled, they were crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth. After they cooled, they became harder but still crumbly and sweet, which became their signature taste. I sneaked one to give to my friend and she said she enjoyed it ^^

Recipe inspired by: A Pretty Life in the Suburbs https://aprettylifeinthesuburbs.com/condensed-milk-chocolate-chip-cookies/#tasty-recipes-49614-jump-target

STRAWBERRY 🍓 BANANA 🍌 TORTILLA HACK

Sooo one day I was scrolling Pinterest and saw a hack where they put strawberry banana and NUTELLA on opposite ends of a tortilla quadrant and placed it in the toaster for a warm, gooey tortilla.

And like all the awesome recipes I come across, it's been living in my mind rent-free since then.

Initially, I wanted to try this for breakfast. But one day I had a light dinner and had some strawberries in the fridge that were about to go bad, and was hungry. So I decided to try this hack.

Since I had strawberries, banana, hazelnut spread, and peanut butter, I thought it apt to try.

I did some prior research and pinterest/googled the exact way to dress the tortilla and which part of the tortilla to cut in order to fold it the right way.

And then I just did it! 😊

It came out more delicious, chocolately and creamy than I expected. The peanut butter offered a nice kick from the soft banana and the chocolate was strong and creamy at the start.

I didn't have a toaster though, and I wasn't about to flip my tortilla on a pan and make all my bananas drop out so I settled for wholegrain, soft tortilla instead of toasted tortilla.

Maybe next time I'll toast it 😛

ARMY STEW (BUDAE JJIGAE)

Like I mentioned I had a recent craze for all things Korean (food-related, that is). Maybe make-up too..hmm there might be a trend here.. ANYWAYS, my next Korean-related food that I wanted to conquer was the budae jjigae, or the army stew, in English.

It was simple enough; toss all ingredients in a pot and add gochujang (Korean chili paste) and tada, we have a soup!

It WAS simple enough, in fact it turned out stunningly amazing.

Recipe

Ingredients:

Main

4 cups water

4-5 frozen hotdogs

200g luncheon meat

300g tofu

300g enoki mushrooms

250g king oyster mushrooms

250 shiitake mushrooms

50g Korean rice cakes

1 pack Korean instant ramen noodles

30g green onions

1 slice cheese

Sauce (from My Korean Kitchen)

2 tbsp Gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)

2 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp minced garlic

1/2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tbsp Gochujang (Korean chili paste)

Prep

Defrost hotdogs

Slice hotdogs, luncheon meat, and tofu into bite-sized pieces

Remove the soil from enoki mushrooms, wash it, and separate it into manageable portions

Wash king oyster mushrooms

Directions:

1. Assemble all ingredients (except for instant ramen noodles, rice cakes, green onion and cheese) in a pot. Add the sauce in the middle. Pour the stock from the corner of the pot. Close the lid and boil for about 8 minutes.

2. Add the instant ramen noodles and rice cakes on top of the pot and boil uncovered until the noodles are cooked (about 2 to 3 mins).

3. Add the cheese and let it melt for another 2-3 minutes. (esp if you like your noodles more cooked like me)

4. Slice and add the green onions.

5. Spoon into bowls.

6. Enjoy! :)

I was contemplating whether to get Korean rice cakes as I was already slightly over budget. But they turned out to be one of the best parts of this dish - so I recommend you not to skip it. Add the knife cut one and not the long ones usually used for tteokbokki, as these are normally more used for soups :)

I used ordinary english chili flakes instead of gochugaru, and it turned out fine :) the next time I go to a Korean mart, I'll prolly be buying gochugaru though <3

Recipe inspired by:

My Korean Kitchen https://mykoreankitchen.com/army-stew-budae-jjigae/