Easy Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Charlene Harreveld 06/26/2020 Comments Off

Easy Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies ~

Hi Friends! Over on my Instagram account, I promised that I would post the recipe for the fabulously delicious sea salt chocolate chip cookies that my daughter Erica and I have made a few times. I cannot take full credit for the recipe. It’s based off a post on modernhoney.com which is based off the Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe from Levain Bakery. I’ve never been to Levain Bakery, so I can’t tell you if the taste is the same. All I know is that I left out the walnuts and added sea salt to my version and the cookies are fantastic. (Scroll down if you want to skip the story and go right to the recipe.)

I stumbled upon the recipe during quarantine, when I luckily had a plethora of baking supplies on-hand. The cookies are so delicious and they are the size of cheeseburgers. Seriously. One cannot consume an entire sea salt chocolate chip cookie alone in one sitting. As I said, the original recipe doesn’t call for sea salt, but as soon as I took the very first bite, I KNEW that adding a little bit would send the deliciousness of the cookies off the charts. I was right.

MOST IMPORTANT TIP:

Before you begin, the most important part to remember is that you MUST use cold butter. It’s so tempting to melt the butter because melted butter makes the mixing part so much easier. However, in order for the recipe to work, you have to use cold butter right out of the fridge. DO NOT even let the butter get to room temperature. It has to be cold. Perhaps if I would have paid more attention in chemistry class I could explain why cold butter works differently than melted butter, but that is a post for a different day and you all know by now that I’m not a cook.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup COLD butter, cut up into tiny cubes
1 cup brown sugar (I don’t pack it down)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips
Shaker of sea salt (optional)

STEPS:

This is the perfect recipe to make with your kids or grand kids. Erica mixes the wet ingredients while I’m putting together the dry ingredients, then we meet together for the mixing of the two and for forming the cheeseburger. Oh, wait! I mean the cookies.

WET INGREDIENTS:

add the butter, brown sugar, and regular sugar and mix until well-blended
beat in two eggs one at a time

Yes, that is a HAND MIXER. I got it as a gift for my wedding shower over 33 years ago! I don’t cook or bake enough to justify a fancy stand mixer. I actually bought one on clearance at Target and it sat in my garage unopened for a few years. I finally gave it to Adrienne when she moved into her first apartment. But then COVID hit, and now I don’t know how I’ve survived this long without a stand mixer. Hello? Santa?

DRY INGREDIENTS:

in a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt
whisk together so the ingredients evenly distribute throughout the flour
add the dry ingredients a little at a time to the wet ingredients and stir together with a spatula
stir in the chocolate chips

NEXT STEPS:

The recipe makes eight (8) cookies, so the best thing to do is to divide the mix in half and set one half aside
With half of the mix, form four (4) cheeseburger-patty-sized cookies
Place on cookie sheet
Bake at 410 degrees for 10-12 minutes until light golden brown
Sprinkle with sea salt (optional)
Repeat with the other half of the mix for a total of eight cookies

Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Delicious Cookies the Size of Cheeseburgers

1 cup cold butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips
shaker of sea salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 410 degrees

2. In one large mixing bowl, use a mixer to mix together the cold butter, brown sugar, and sugar

3. Mix in one egg at a time

4. In a second large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt

5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing with spatula until combined

6. Stir in the chocolate chips

7. Divide the mix into two parts; set one part aside

8. Make four large patties with 1/2 the mix (cheeseburger-size)

9. Place on ungreased cookie sheet

10. Bake 10-12 minutes until light golden brown

11. Sprinkle with sea salt (optional)

12. Repeat with remaining half of mix

cheeseburger cookies, easy cookie recipe, easy dessert to bring to a party, jumbo cookies, sea salt chocolate chip cookies, sea salt cookies

I found a really cool hand mixer which might be a great replacement for the one I have. Take a look! This is an affiliate link, which means if you click on the link and make a purchase, you don’t pay any extra, and I might earn about 25 cents in about six months. Yea, Capitalism. 😉

How to Organize Baking Supplies

Charlene Harreveld 05/05/2020 1 Comment

How to Organize Baking Supplies

If you guys have been following my stories on my Instagram account, you’ll know that once quarantine hit, an alien invaded my body and I began incessantly baking bread and cooking meals. What?? I know, it’s shocking.

As soon as I amassed all of the required baking ingredients like flour, sugar, bread flour, wheat flour, baking soda, and on and on … I realized very quickly that I needed to figure out a way to store and organize all of the baking supplies so they would be easily accessible. These are supplies that most kitchens already have, and I did have most of them; however, we have found ourselves in uncharted territory. so you had better believe that when the store says there is a limit of two for an item, I buy two. Hence the need to organize it all.

Our kitchen remodel came to a screeching halt when everything else did, so I’ve been a little limited on storage. Luckily, I came up with a great and very affordable way to organize baking supplies so they contribute to the decor and are very easy to get to.

How to Organize Baking Supplies

It’s pretty easy to organize baking supplies. You just buy glass jars, pour the ingredients into the jars, label the jars, and display the jars. That’s it. Seriously. Why leave all of those beautiful things in their bags, stuffed inside the kitchen cabinets, when you can display them like the continental breakfast station at a Marriott hotel?

Luckily, our neighbors were getting rid of the this cool table and it fits perfectly along the wall in our breakfast nook. It’s soooo heavy and Neily Bear made me paranoid that it would damage our new vinyl floors with its weight. I was so afraid to put stuff on it, but he assured me that it would be okay since we put little plastic casters under the legs.

I purchased a 25 lb bag of bread flour at Sam’s club, and man, that’s a lot of flour. I also ground some of our food storage wheat and one number 10 can of wheat berries filled four regular-sized Mason jars with some wheat berries left over. That’s a lot of white powder to store.

I put the extra jars in this fun basket that fits perfectly underneath the table. I had the three-tiered plate stand in the garage for several years. It was just sitting out there in its box. I think my parents gave it to us – they received it as a free gift for some kind of purchase they made. The plastic fruit really makes it look like the Marriott breakfast bar, no?

I put fake lemons in the lemonade jar to add some color. Of course every baking supply situation has to have the obligatory jar of chocolate chips. (Honestly, the Wal Mart “Market Pantry” brand of chips is way better than the Nestle brand.)

I’m obsessed with the jumbo-sized Ball jars! The lids pull off/push on. That’s a jar of walnuts in the front.

Several of my bread recipes call for “powdered whey,” hence the jars of dry milk. Those are wheat berries in the front. I grind them with my electric wheat grinder to make wheat flour. (That’s the proof that an alien has invaded my body.)

I made this sign several years ago. I was about to donate it to Goodwill, until, as I said, everything came to a screeching halt. I’m glad it’s still hanging. Adds a nice touch to my organized baking supplies, don’t you think?

If you feel inspired to organize your baking supplies, I linked similar items to the ones I used on my Amazon store page. (I’m an Amazon affiliate, so if you purchase via my links, you don’t pay anything extra. It just means that Jeff Bezos gets richer and he pays me 23 cents per item your purchase.)

The end. Now off to bake something.

Baking Supply Organization Stuff

Random Things I’ve Ordered During Quarantine and Why

Charlene Harreveld 04/17/2020 Comments Off

Random Things I’ve Ordered During Quarantine and Why

You guys! It’s been around a month now that we’ve been hunkered down at Casa Harreveld and I know it’s the same for all of you, too. Do you only venture out for food and the occasional breath of fresh air, too?

If you’ve been following along on my Instagram, you know that I have forgotten all things fashion and have completely (and temporarily) started cooking and baking. Mainly baking, because who am I kidding? Sugar is way better than protein, right?

Since I haven’t left the nest to make little purchases, I’ve been using Amazon and a few other stores to fill our needs (and wants.) I’ve compiled a list of the random things I’ve ordered along with a little description about why I needed (or wanted) each item. Take a look and let me know in the comments the random things you’ve ordered, too!

Some notes about the items in the slideshow:

I finally ordered bar stools and dining room chairs. I’ve never made a large purchase like this online before without seeing the items in-person first, but here we are.
Isn’t the kitchen sink organizer adorable?? Can’t wait to use it to hold all of the random items that seem to gather around the kitchen sink.
Williams Sonoma towels are the best. They last for years.

I’m debating about the lemon napkin ring holders. My idea is to have the kitchen bar always set with cute place settings, but I’m not sure yet. I definitely want a lemon theme in the kitchen, so I’ll probably end up getting them. Thoughts?

Some Notes About the Amazon List:

I ordered cheesecloth because I wanted to sprout our wheat berries. However, after reading the directions online on “how to sprout wheat berries,” it’s too darn complicated. You have to rinse and drain and rinse and drain, and then do it again and again and it’s just easier to buy sprouts, which, by the way, we never eat.

This isn’t hair dye. I would never disrespect my hair stylist Kim by coloring my own hair. It would be like cheating. (Unless, of course, she gives me permission.) This product is great for the grays that show through on your hair part and around your face. I might just embrace my gray hair, though, and use this as an opportunity to transition to a fully gray haired woman. (Gray haired models work ALL THE TIME. When there IS work, that is.)

If you sleep with someone who snores, you’ll understand. Buy the eight-pack, because guaranteed that when you REALLY need them you won’t be able to find them. Or you’ll lose one.

I needed a new battery for my BlendSmart Beauty Brush. It’s fabulous and allows your foundation to go on so evenly!! It requires a 3v 123A battery so you don’t have to worry about carrying around a cord and charger. It’s perfect for travel…one day.

The Litter Genie is a Diaper Genie for cats and it’s great for multi-cat households. You just scoop up the doo and do something with it. I’m not sure, because this is Erica’s job and Neil told her to order more refills.

Cosmetics for a Cause donated 100 bags of makeup to local healthcare workers on the frontline. These organza bags are easy to fill with makeup and they are the perfect price point for the organization’s budget. They are great to have on-hand for gift bags. You can wrap the item in tissue paper, stick it in the bag, and add a tag or insert a greeting card.

My mom’s lifeline has been her tablet. Naturally, it got some kind of weird bug. Neil added a memory card to try to solve the problem. It didn’t work, but I’m sure we’ll use this one day for something else.

I needed more envelopes to mail card orders for eWillow.com Geeting Cards. It’s always a happy day when I have to order more shipping bags. 🙂

We needed a mop for our vinyl floors, so we ordered this steam mop and extra cleaning pads. Buy the extra washable pads – I never knew how filthy a floor gets in one day.

I put a night light in our laundry room so the cats can see their food bowls in the dark, because how do we really know that cats can see in the dark?

Who else told themselves that they would use this time to totally organize their closets? This lasted about two days. Now I have two boxes half-full of hangers. But they are great quality and nice to look at, so there’s that. And one day, hopefully soon, I’ll get back to fashioning and I’ll be happy I have them.

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What random items have your ordered? Tell me in the comments!! I want to know!

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affiliate links

Holiday Party Outfits

Charlene Harreveld 12/11/2019 Comments Off

Holiday Party Outfits

Friends! I found your holiday party outfits for you! I shopped online at ONE STORE so it will be easy for you to just add it all to one shopping cart. You’ll get FREE SHIPPING, too, if your order totals $50 or more. (Of course it will!)

Let’s get shopping!

I love, love, love the emerald green pick. Combine it with the black purse, black shoes, and gorgeous earrings and you will definitely be the start of all of your holiday parties!

Be sure to follow me on the LiketoKnow.it app so you can easily shop all of these looks and more! You can also shop by clicking on any of the images below. Have fun!

(I don’t know why the pictures are so tiny. Ugh! It’s better to shop them on the LiketoKnow.it app. Blogs are so 2008.)
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3850795″]

DIY Glass Jar Christmas Centerpiece Tutorial Video

Charlene Harreveld 12/09/2019 Comments Off

DIY Glass Jar Christmas Centerpiece Tutorial Video

Hi Friends! I’m taking a little break from all things fashion to get back to one of my other true loves: making stuff!

Here is a short video tutorial on how you can easily make these beautiful glass jar Christmas centerpieces. The video shows all of the supplies you need and how quick and easy it is to create these stunning decorations.

They make cute gifts, too! Fill them with goodies and pass them out to your friends and neighbors. If the opening of the jar is wide enough, you might even be able to slip a gift card inside for an added surprise!!