College Kid Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you know that feeling when it's late at night, you have an important paper due the next day, your skin is breaking out from stress, and you REALLY WANT A COOKIE?

... haha... I mean, hypothetically, I'm sure YOU would know that feeling. I mean, I wouldn't. I'm a princess. I am always poised. And my skin is perfect. So perfect. Mmhmm.

But I mean, I'm sure that if you were to hypothetically really want a delicious homemade cookie, and you had kind of limited ingredients, you would ask ME for an awesome-tastic recipe, amirite?

See, living in the dorms and not having a car makes it hard for me to go grocery shopping. Which means that I often don't have things like eggs. Or milk. Or butter. Or brown sugar... Which are things that I always thought were important for a delicious, chewy, chocolate chip cookies.

IT TURNS OUT I WAS WRONG!

College Kid Chocolate Chip Cookies

(makes 20 cookies)

2 Cups flour

1 Cup sugar

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 Cup chocolate chips OR 8 oz chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 Cup vegetable oil

1/4 Cup water

2 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp caramel sauce (ice cream topping such as Smuckers)

1 tbsp chocolate syrup (ice cream topping such as Smuckers)

*You can substitute the 2 tbsp caramel sauce and 1 tbsp chocolate syrup for 3 tbsp honey, or 2 tbsp molasses!*

*You can substitute 1 Cup white sugar for 1 Cup brown sugar, and exclude the caramel sauce and chocolate syrup completely.*

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl.

3. Add vegetable oil, water, vanilla, caramel sauce, and chocolate sauce to the mixture. Knead everything together using your hands until a sticky dough starts to form.

4.  Once dough is completely mixed (there should be no clumps or traces of dry ingredients remaining), add in the chocolate chips. Knead them in using your hands until the chips are evenly distributed in the dough.

5. Drop balls of dough (about 2 tablespoons each) onto a baking sheet, evenly spaced 2 inches apart.

6. Place baking sheet in oven and bake cookies for approximately 10 minutes.

When removing cookies from the oven, they should still look moist and gooey on top, but will be browned around the edges. Don't worry about them being under-baked (since they don't have eggs, there are no health risks!) They will continue to firm up and "cook" on the baking sheet as it cools.

So... these cookies are technically vegan! I'm kind of a dessert snob, and I feel that a lot of times in vegan baking, you can taste that "something" is missing. This is truly not the case with this recipe; they taste just as good as any version with eggs and butter. The water keeps the cookies moist, and the syrup gives the cookies a chewier texture, along with adding richness and that "brown sugar taste". None of my taste-testers were able to tell that these were vegan, and everyone went for seconds!

Look at this yumminess. LOOK AT IT. Do you want them? I bet you do. Go make them yourself, I promise that you'll love the cookies AND you'll impress everyone with your mad baking skillz.

Now, excuse me while I go stuff my face with more cookies. (Daintily of course... I AM Princess Cupcake after all!)

Magic 2 Ingredient Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate mousse is one of those desserts that is utterly delicious, but seems super duper classy at the same time. I feel like when you order chocolate cake at a restaurant, people judge you and think, "Gosh, don't you know how many calories are in that?!" But when you order chocolate mousse, people think, "Wow. My friend is obviously some kind of gourmet bourgeoise foodie-type." Or maybe this is all in my head and I'm a little bit cray-cray. WHATEVS.

Unfortunately, the one time that I ever tried making traditional chocolate mousse, I over-whipped the cream, failed to entirely melt chocolate mixture, and did something weird with the eggs. The end-result had a thoroughly unappetizing texture, complete with chunky bits of half-melted chocolate. My family ended up dumping the entire batch because no one would eat my chocolate mousse. It scarred me for LIFE. FOR LIIIIFE. I thought I was doomed to an existence without fanciness, since chocolate mousse was clearly out of my league.

LUCKILY, it turns out I was wrong!

Did you know that you can make chocolate mousse with just TWO ingredients?

Chocolate + water = mousse
Say WHAAAAT? I know you don't believe me right now, but check this gorgeousness out:

If you want to be super-fancy (and obviously you want to be super-fancy), you add in more things to enhance the flavor. AND you top your chocolate mousse with homemade whipped cream. If you've only experienced the stuff from a can, you are missing out.

Seriously though, this chocolate mousse recipe is magical. I didn't believe that you could whip together chocolate and water and somehow produce something this rich, smooth, and velvety, but it truly somehow works! Word of caution: if you're not someone who loves intense dark chocolate flavors, this recipe might not be for you. If you're a hard-core chocoholic, not only are we now officially BFFs, but you're gonna love this.

I first learned about this technique a couple years ago from Diamonds for Dessert - all of her recipes look so gorgeous and delicious! I also found Heston Blumenthal's video very informative and useful for visual cues:

Since you're only using a couple ingredients, it's extremely important that you use a high quality chocolate. I suggest using at least 70% dark chocolate; I like Ghiradelli's, Scharffenberger, and Lindt. I also like the Trader Joe's brand giant 2 pound chocolate bars. Additionally, it is very critical that you have the exact proportion of chocolate : liquid! That means if you want to put in 2 tablespoons of liquor, you have to take out 2 tablespoons of water.

Magic 2 Ingredient Chocolate Mousse:

(Makes approximately 6 servings)

9.35 oz dark chocolate (a little bit more than 1 1/8 Cups of dark chocolate chips)

1 Cup water

Optional: sugar (to taste)

Ice

One large bowl, and one smaller bowl that can easily fit inside.

Fill the large bowl about 1/4 of the way with ice, and check that the smaller bowl will fit snugly inside, with the ice surrounding it. Place both bowls in the freezer so they will be completely chilled.

In a medium saucepan, melt the chocolate and water together on medium heat. Whisk it occasionally so it will melt smoothly.  Once the chocolate mixture is completely melted, remove the bowls from the freezer. Pour the chocolate into the smaller bowl (without removing it from its ice bath) and begin whipping it with whisk. As you whisk, the mixture will begin to thicken and form the texture of lightly whipped cream (this step may take a while.) Continue whipping until you are able to scoop up some of the mixture with a whisk. Do not overwhip, or the mousse will have a grainy texture. If this happens, simply remelt your mixture over the stove and restart the whipping process.

When the mousse reaches the perfect consistency, pour it into individual serving containers. Top with a dollop of homemade whipped cream, and place it in the refrigerator. Your mousse will continue to firm up as it chills.

Suggested Add-ins/Flavorings for Chocolate Mousse:

Remember: if you add in any additional liquid, you must take out an equal amount of water!

- 1 shot of liquor (Ex: Baileys or Kahlua)
- 2 tsp of vanilla
- Use brewed tea instead of water (I think Jasmine-Green tea would be divine)
- 2 tsp lemon/orange zest
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ... whatever your heart desires!

Homemade Whipped Cream (for garnish):

1/2 Cup heavy whipping cream

3 tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Put the cream, sugar, and vanilla into a medium bowl. Use a whisk to whip it until it thickens and reaches the texture of whipped cream.

You really need to try this out, it's scrumptious and ridiculously easy. If you're wondering, YES, you can definitely speed up the whipping process of the chocolate mousse (and the whipped cream) by using a hand-held mixer. You just need to be extra cautious to make sure that you don't over-whip the mousse by mistake. Then again, if that happens, you can always remelt it and restart the process.

Enjoy! :)