Hug From Inside

Oh boy, my sophomore year is coming to a close and I can’t take it. I had such a blast this year, it’s ridiculous how good God is and how much He lovingly blessed me this year. And as an overflow of His love, I love others—particularly through baking. As usual, the end of the year means end of the year parties. Lots of laughter, sharing of memories, hugging, tears, and FOOD. Now I want to start with the inside out chocolate chip cookies, which I baked for my film class. They’re really just plain chocolate chip cookies, but I wanted to be that much more creative and stick the chocolate chips inside the cookie instead of outside. I basically rolled the cookie dough into a ball, used my finger to hollow out a hole, crammed chocolate chips into that hole, and then sealed it back up. I’ve used this chocolate chip cookie recipe a few times now and it’s always a hit. Also, I want to note, that my cookies are not puffy! This might sound weird, but my cookies have been puffy every single time I’ve baked. They expand or something and it’s with all different recipes too! So if you know the chemistry behind what that happens, please explain it to me.

Now this crazy colorful dessert you see below is something entirely new and original. The end of the year also means I need to get rid of a bunch of food. USC’s Campus Crusade for Christ had a planning retreat and I wanted to bake something, but also wanted to get rid of some ingredients (That’s right! Killin’ two birds with one stone). I had key lime pie filling, frozen strawberries, lemon zest, graham crackers, and vanilla pudding. Now the vanilla pudding actually wasn’t mine, but my friend’s and she want to get rid of it too. So I basically made a graham cracker crust, topped it with vanilla pudding, and then topped that with key lime pie filling and strawberry puree (with a hint of lemon in it). And VIOLA! It was actually not bad. Pie-like. I think some people were scared of eating it though (the bright colors might have thrown them off… it reminds me of fruit roll-ups!) so I still ended up having a bunch left over… and then I ate it for a couple of days. Healthy. But at least I got one fan! One of my friends ate at least five of them, so that was complimentary.

And I saved the best for last: cookie doughcheesecake bars. Oh baby. Let me tell you, I got hugs… HUGS… for these puppies. I never get hugs for my baking, let alone hugs from guys I practically didn’t know! This recipe was super highly ranked on Punckfork, so I had to try it out! Plus, it was made for Cru’s senior party and what a better way to say goodbye to some of my dearest friends than to give ‘em some bakin’ love? Now, I want to tie in the title of this blog! So one of my dear friends, Jesse, is graduating. BUT! He’s staying at USC for an extra semester to get his masters degree and so I refused to hug him goodbye. Nevertheless, he ate my bars and we joked how it was like a hug from inside. A stomach hug full of sweetness. So there. My title makes sense! I hope all my baking makes people feel like they’re hugged from inside. Oh, and I welcome all hugs for any of my baking and cooking fyi (and I accept gifts and money as well…).

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Oh! One last thing. I also made lemon bars from scratch and they were awesome, but I couldn’t get good pictures (forgot my camera and then my phone died). But I seriously recommend it to anyone. There was a lot of egg involved, so the smell of it wasn’t totally lemony, but still very tasty.