'The Mother' Of All Cookie Recipes

'The Mother,' Lily, and her cookies!

Earlier this year, I started watching the show, How I Met Your Mother. Yeah I know, I'm late to the game. But hey, now I watch the reruns all the time, and I feel like I've been watching it forever! I seriously fell in love with the show.

Anyways, Monday was the first episode of the final season. (Cue the awws.) I know. Just when I get into the show, the last season starts. Despite that though, we finally see the 'Mother' play out in the show and interact with all the characters. She first interacts with Lily, and they have a moment where the 'Mother' shares her home made cookies. Those cookies are called "Sumbitches." Literally, that is what they both call them in the show. What an awesome name, right? It's a sweet combination of peanut butter, chocolate, and caramel. I'm going to share the recipe that I found, so you can bake "Sumbitches" at home! Haha.

They are so good!

"Sumbitches" Cookie Recipe

1/2  cup butter, softened
1/2  cup sugar
1/2  cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2  cup creamy peanut butter
1  large egg
1/2  tsp vanilla extract
1  cup all-purpose flour
1/2  tsp baking soda
1/4  tsp salt
18  bite size chocolate-covered caramel candy bars

- BEAT butter, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter until blended. Then add egg and vanilla extract. Beat until blended.
- STIR together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
- ADD to the butter mixture and beat till blended.
- COVER and chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
- PREHEAT oven at 350 F. Shape a 2 tbsp of dough around each piece of candy bar. Then place on baking pan about 2 inches apart.
- BAKE for 13 to 14 minutes or until lightly brown.

There you go! Now, go and make them! They really are 'The Mother' of cookies.

~ C

P.S. We will finally find out how Ted and the 'Mother' meet! Yay!

Super Easy Ice Cream Cake Recipe!

It's officially SUMMER! Which means here comes the heat wave, and what better way to cool off from the summer heat than to eat some ice cream cake! You could say that every summer birthday involves ice cream cakes. It's such a perfect way to incorporate cake and ice cream. It's like a two for one deal!

I came across this easy recipe in a magazine awhile ago, and it has become one of my favorite recipes to use, especially during summer time. The secret to this recipe are ice cream sandwiches. Cool, right? Check out the recipe below!

* Makes about 12 servings.

1/2 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed

1 tub (8 oz) Cool Whip Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

1 pkg. (3.9 oz) Jell-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

8 Oreo cookies, chopped (about 1 cup)

12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches

In a medium bowl, pour fudge topping and whisk in 1 cup of Cool Whip. Add in dry pudding mix; stir for 2 min. Then mix in chopped cookies.

Arrange 4 ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on 24-inch-long sheet of foil. Top with have of the Cool Whip mixture. Repeat layers. Top the remaining sandwiches. Frost top and sides with remaining Cool Whip. Bring up foil sides; double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.

Freeze 4 hours or until firm.

How simple is that? There are also ways to change this recipe into what ever you like! For example, you could use any type of ice cream sandwiches, as long as they are rectangle, and the filling can be anything you like. Just take into consideration if the filling will taste good frozen. Other ways I have changed this recipe is to use Cool Whip Frosting. Its definitely a good substitute for the filling and to frost the cake. You could even coat the outside of the cake with sprinkles, oreos crumbs, etc! There are so many ways you can mold this recipe into you own. Get creative! Share your ideas with me by commenting below.

Happy Summer!

~ C

Tutorial: Metallic Striped Nails!

I am always on a lookout for new nail designs. So when I find something new and different that I haven't done before, I get pretty excited about it. I mean if you are nail art obsessed, like me, you will definitely love this!

One day I was on Amazon.com just browsing the site, and I came across these nail tape strips (that you see on the bottom left picture) in a pack of 10 assorted colors for $1.02! Yup! $1.02 for 10 nail tapes! Not to mention, it was free shipping! Which basically just sealed the deal for me. Its such a great bargain! The only downside is that it does take a while to get to you, since it ships from Hong Kong. However, it's still a perfect way to make your nails a little more interesting, and they are pretty easy to put on. Here is the link, if you would like to buy them!

These nail strips (left picture) come in 10 colors: silver, gold, laser gold,
green, blue, red, purple, rose, white, and laser purple. 

Here is a step-by-step:

- Paint a basecoat on your nail. It helps even out the ridges on your nails to make a smooth finish. (I used Ulta Basecoat Nail Lacquer.)

- Next, paint the color that you want your nail to be. (I used Essie Mint Candy Apple)

- Let your nail dry for a good 15 to 20 minutes after your two coats of polish. 

- Pick the color of strip you want to use on your nail. (I used the silver strip tape.)

- Cut out about an inch of the strip using scissors or a nail cutter.

- Place the strip where you want it on your nail leaving a bit of the strip hanging on each side.

- Using your nail cutter get close to the edge of the nail and cut out the excess strip. (I found that using a nail cutter makes it easier to get close to the edge rather than using scissors.)

- After you placed the however number of strips that you want on that nail, paint on a clear coat. (I used Ulta X-dry Nail Lacquer.)

You can place these strips horizontal, vertical, and/or diagonal on your nails! There are many ways you can use these. Let your creativity show and have fun with it!

~ C

Just Your Classic Mouthwatering Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Did you know that an average person eats about 35,000 cookies in their lifetime? Thats a lot of cookies. I'm sure most of them are chocolate chip too. I mean who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies? They are the most commonly consumed cookie in America, maybe even the world, and why wouldn't they be? They are so delicious and perfect for anytime, anywhere!

Also, did you know that they were invented by accident? Best accident ever! Without that one accident by baker, Ruth Wakefield, we would have missed out on a chocolate adventure!

There are so many recipes out there, and I found this one recipe online a long time ago. It is the only one I use to make these luscious cookies. I'm going to share the recipe so you can make these amazingly delicious cookies at home!

Here is a picture of my cookies. And yes, they actually do
turn out looking and tasting delicious!

Recipe:

*Makes about 24 cookies (depending on their size)

1 cup butter (softened)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons hot water

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Cream together the butter, white and brown sugar until it's smooth. Then beat the eggs one at a time, and stir in the vanilla. 
• Dissolve baking soda in hot water and add to batter along with salt.
• Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts.
• Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
• Bake for about 10 minutes, or until edges are nicely browned.

Looks simple, right? It really is! And they turn out great. 

If you haven't found that perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe yet, then try this one! You will fall in love with it. Let me know how they turn out!

~ C

Let Your Nails Speak for Themselves!

Nail art is so popular right now. You see them in magazines, on celebrities, many blogs, Pinterest, etc. Its a great way to show off your nails and be unique. It helps spruce up your nails from being dull to looking fabulous!

If you follow me on Instagram (@chandni112), many of the pictures you will see are my nails. I always do my own nails. It's something I fell in love with last year, and ever since then, I always look forward to doing different designs every time. The ideas either come to me or I see them on Pinterest, other blogs, etc. I am pretty ambidextrous when it comes to doing my own nails. Since many people are not, my suggestion is to just do an accent nail or two for each hand, that way you can just focus on those nails only. Accent nails are so "in" right now! Check out some of my designs below.

 

Look for posts in the future of tutorials on how to do some of these nail art designs! They are so much fun to do and perfect for a girls' night in/sleepovers!

~ C

Easy & Delicious Ghirardelli Brownie Cookies

If you ask my friends, they will tell you that the only brownie mix I use is Ghirardelli. I just love the way the brownies come out all rich, moist, and chewy. They have many different brownie mixes, and my favorites are dark chocolate and double chocolate. A few days ago, I decided to use the mix differently and out came brownie cookies!

If you have never had brownie cookies, you are missing out! They are basically a cookie-brownie hybrid and let me tell you, it tastes amazing! It's kind of like a two-for-one deal, which also makes them great for on the go.

Recipe:

1 packet of Ghirardelli brownie mix
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of flour
1/3 cup oil
1 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, nuts, etc. (optional)

Mix the flour into the brownie mix. Mix in the eggs and oil, and then any add-ons until combined. [Note that some packets might already have chocolate chips, nuts, etc. in the mix.]

The dough should feel like cookie dough. If it's not quite there yet, try adding another tablespoon of flour. Place each dollop of dough about 2 inches apart on the pan. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-11 minutes. Depending on the size of the cookies, it might need to be in the oven a few more minutes (cookies larger than 2"). Let the cookies rest on the pan for about 2 minutes, and then place on cooling rack.

One recipe makes about 25 to 30 cookies (depending on the size).

Enjoy! Comment below to let me know how they turn out!

Which is your favorite brownie mix?

~ C

Hello There!

Welcome to my blog! I finally got some time to start a blog and I am super excited! My friends have been trying to get me to make one for awhile now. So I guess I finally caved in!

This blog is all about eating fresh and feeling pretty with posts about easy recipes and beauty tips. So if you want to be a presh (yes, I made that word up), this blog is for you!

~ C