Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

The quest for soft and chewy cookies is a long one...full of trial and error, but lots of fun & excitement when you hit jackpot. Here's a recipe I'm gonna share that was adapted from allrecipes.com's "Award winning chocolate chip cookies" (that aren't award winning until you add the one extra step) hehehe

Ingredients:

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour + 1 tablespoon
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix (Feel free to switch in flavors)
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I like the WholeFoods chips!)
  

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
   
2. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.
   
4. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended.
   
5. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.
   
6. Cover dough and refrigerate for up to 45 minutes. (We get impatient and skip to 20 minutes)
   
7. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
8. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown. DO NOT OVERBAKE!!!!!
9. Take out and let cool for about 5 minutes before digging in. :)
   

THE secret to soft and chewy cookies lies in how much moisture is in the dough AFTER you bake it. If you like your cookies softer, you gotta make sure you do the following:
1) Add an extra tablespoon or two of flour
2) Refrigerate your dough!

The scientific explanation behind this is just so you can have moisture sealed INSIDE the cookie (aka it's a little under-done compared to the outside).

ENJOY!!!

Traditional, Homey Century Egg & Soft Tofu

For people who have never heard of a Century, aka hundred/thousand-year-old egg, this recipe might sound a little..."shady", but for those who love the egg, certain dishes just wouldn't be complete without it.

Introducing the egg himself. Simply a preserved duck egg (or sometimes chicken or quail egg). NOT a century old, NOT black because it's been a couch potato for too long, but because it was buried in a mixture of salt, clay, ash, lime, and rice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg) for a few weeks or even months.

Century Egg & Shredded Pork Congee
My favorite Cantonese comfort food - all it is is just rice, pork, and egg boiled in a pot until the mixture gets thick and flavorful.

The result is a flavorful black egg, sometimes with a runny yolk (which my mom loves, though it grosses me out) that takes a couple tries before first-timers fall in love with it.

THE Century Egg & Soft Tofu Dish

Takes 5 minutes to make!

Ingredients:

• 1 box of soft tofu, cubed
• 2 Century Eggs, chopped into a size you desire
• Sesame oil (1 tsp)
• Oyster sauce (2 tbs)
• Sweet Soy Sauce (1 tbs)
• Japanese furukake (sprinkled on top) *optional
• Spring Onions (chopped) *optional
  

Method:

1. Simply cube the tofu in dish
2. Place diced egg on top
3. drizzle all the sauces in any order you desire on top
4. garnish with furukake
5. ENJOY!!!
   

My favorite thing about this dish is that you can switch up the quantity of sauce you put in, you can even use dumpling sauce in it (which is delicious) and it will still turn out amazing.

ANY real Chinese person will think you're the real deal if you truly appreciate this dish.