The One With the Malted Milk and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't know about you, but I'm always on the lookout for secret ingredients. They make everything so much better.

But then they aren't secrets because I usually just tell people about them. But that's only because I can't resist because of the resulting goodness. You know?

This is how I feel about malted milk powder. I didn't know it was a thing you could make stuff with. I didn't even know where to find it in the grocery store. (Weirdly, it's by the hot chocolate mix, coffee, tea, that sort of thing. So now you know. And you won't have to confuse your friendly neighborhood grocer by requesting something they have probably never heard of.)

But now, malted milk is my new secret ingredient that gives cookies that je ne sais quoi deliciousness. Except that it probably isn't new to everyone. But it's new to me and I like it. A lot. That makes the following my new go-to cookie recipe. 

Malted Milk and Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup malted milk powder
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup (about 1 5 oz. box) chopped Whoppers candies (optional, add more
  chocolate chips if you skip these)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine flour, malted milk, cornstarch, and baking soda and sift together. In a separate bowl beat together the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg and beat thoroughly. Stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture, in four increments, stirring between each increment. Stir in chocolate chips and chopped Whoppers.

Place one-inch dough balls on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, two inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes and then cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack. 

The One With the Tiny Ballerinas

Before you're a parent you have all these ideas about how your children will be. "Oh, they'll be so cute and they'll look just like me and they'll always smell good and they'll never throw tantrums like that kid," etc.

And then you have kids and it's really just nothing like what you thought it would be like. It's so much more. It's more difficult. And more fun. And more complicated. And more wonderful. But don't let me ruin the surprise for you.

Anyway, back before I was a parent and I thought about my future (at the time fictitious) children, I thought, "Oh, I'll have a couple of little girls and they'll be ballerinas! And won't they be so adorable in their tiny tutus! And they're tiny little top knots!" Well, as it turns out, I was right about that one thing.

The One With Slimy

Here lies Slimy. 

A worm who dried up on his way to wetter pastures. 

We mourn his passing with heavy hearts and many tears.

RIP Slimy.

(Imagine that here you have a picture of a dead worm, which I didn't actually 

take because, well, ewww.)

The other day when we were coming home from preschool we found a worm on the sidewalk and the girls thought he was so cool and they talked to him for a while and named him Slimy and were generally enthralled until it was time to go in for lunch. I thought he would be fine there on the sidewalk so we left him there. But alas, it was a hot day and that little worm just dried right up before he made it to the grass. Being the scientist that I am, I mistakenly showed the dead worm to the girls thinking they would be intrigued and instead they were heartbroken. Ellie was moaning and sort of half-crying and saying, "Why isn't he moving? I love Slimy. Slomy was my best friend. I wanted to throw the ball at him. That was my dream!" and then, "Can we pray for Slimy? Dear God, please make Slimy like he was before."

That night at bed she was still lamenting the untimely passing of her slithering friend. And the next day, still torn up about that worm.

So today we go out to do some yard work. And in all of my excavating of our lawn, trying to get rid of the weeds that have grown everywhere, and the clover that has thoroughly lined only our section of the curb (sorry, neighbors!), I found a whole bunch of new worms for the girls to enjoy. And enjoy them they did. "Our best friends are back!" // "Oh look! It's Slimy! He's my favorite guy!"

And then there was this conversation:
Olivia: "Can we bring him into our house?"
Me: "No, worms like dirt much better than houses."
Olivia: "We can bring some dirt into our house."
Me: "Well, worms like to eat plants.  And there aren't any plants for them to eat inside. So they should stay outside in the dirt."

And then a few minutes later she brings over a shovel-full of dirt for her friend Slimy, so he can be happy. And when he wiggles out of the clump of dirt she threw on him, "Hey! He got out of his blanket! I need some more dirt!"

So you know. Now our sidewalk is littered with clumps of dirt. And the worms have been safely returned to their grass so they will survive the night. Because apparently, we love worms. Lots and lots of worms. And worms love us because we so rarely weed our yard or the curb around our sidewalk or do other things worms might not like. So I guess it's a win-win for us and our worm friends. And our neighbors are probably sad that our yard doesn't look as nice and trimmed as theirs do. But whatever. We have the worms on our side.

And here you have some pictures of Henry Bear playing in the dirt. He wasn't as in to the worms as everyone else was. But gosh, he's cute.

The One With the S'mores Pie

I don't know about you. But I'm a huge sucker for s'mores. And pies. Put the two together and you have pretty much made the best summer dessert possible. I'm making this for every barbecue and bonfire I go to these next few months. (So if you don't want to make it yourself, you can just invite me over.)

I've seen a couple recipes like a brownie s'mores pie that seemed like a good idea. But when I saw this one by Two Peas and Their Pod, I knew it would be delicious. (Plus, I like more graham cracker crust as opposed to less, and melted chocolate trumps brownies when you're making something s'moresy.) I've made it a few times and made some adaptations for extra goodness.

S'mores Pie
Makes one 9-inch pie

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) browned butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 16 squares, crushed)
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

• 5 ounces marshmallow creme
• 1 XL and 1 Giant Hershey's chocolate bar
• 1 cup mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small pan over medium heat, melt the butter and continue cooking until butter is amber in color and has a carmel smell to it. Be careful not to let the butter burn. Remove from heat, stir in brown sugar and set aside. 

In a medium bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, flour and baking soda. Sift together. Stir in butter and brown sugar and beat in the egg and vanilla. Divide the dough in half and press one half into the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate. Save the other half for the top. 

Spread the marshmallow creme along the bottom of the crust. Break the chocolate bars into their separate pieces and press into the marshmallow creme. You won't need all of the chocolate pieces, save a handful for the top. 

Sprinkle the marshmallows on top.  Complete the pie by crumbling the remaining dough on top of the chocolate pieces and press it down slightly to seal up the pie. There will be little gaps in the top, but that's okay. Chop the remaining chocolate into little bits and press them into the crust.

Bake for 20 minutes. Let stand at room temperature for 3 hours or so. (The longer you wait for this deliciousness to cool, solidify and meld together, the better it tastes.)

Steve thinks this is the best thing I've ever made. He has preemptively requested it for every birthday and special event from now until forever. It really is pretty delicious. I can't wait to be eating this while watching fireworks on the 4th of July. Perfection.

The One Where "Frozen" is Ruining My Life

So... night two of Olivia sleeping in her big girl bed. There I am, procrastinating about washing the dishes, sitting so peacefully on the couch (which has never been more comfortable than at this very moment), when I hear crying coming from the girls' room. And then a yowling Olivia emerges crying so loudly my eardrums are going to burst, and certainly Henry is going to be screaming in no time. I asked her what happened and she said, between sobs, "I bumped my chin on Anna's bed." Yes, Anna, as in the character from Frozen, who Ellie is apparently impersonating at the moment. I take her back to her bed and tell her she's not supposed to be getting out of bed or playing in her bed and she cries back, so very sincerely, and barely understandable through all the sobbing, "But we want to build a snowman."

Oh Frozen. First I loved you. Now that my children can't sleep at night because they're too busy reenacting every scene, you're falling down a few pedestals.

All my blankets are dirty from being drug around the house while they sing "Let It Go" on the top of their lungs. 

All my children have dents in their heads from pretending to slide down mountains and ice skate on our hardwood floors. 

There are certain pitches of sound I'll never be able to hear again because they've been blasted to death. 

My daughters refuse to wear coats outside (even when it is cold and raining) because Elsa doesn't have to wear a coat:

• M: Olivia, go get your coat on so we can leave.O: I'm Elsa. I don't need a coat because I have icy magic.M: But you don't have real icy magic so you'll be cold without a coat.O: I do have real icy magic.M: Okay. If you can build an ice palace right here, right now, you don't have to wear your coat. O: (swishes hands) Here's my ice castle!M: That's just pretend. There's no real ice castle so you have to wear your coat..O: But I have icy magic! (argument continues ad naseum...)

And no one sleeps in this house ever because, "The sky is awake, so I'm awake." (Even though the sky is not awake.)

And all the curtains that are supposed to be shut at night (to facilitate the sleeping no one is doing) are open so they can see the "aurori borealis!!" (They love the aurora borealis so much, Frozen aside, we may have to move to the Arctic Circle, so I guess that one is only partly Frozen's fault. But I'm sticking to my guns on the other matters.)

Frozen, you owe me a day at the spa. And some cookies. Stat. 

P.S. In case you thought I was a total Frozen hater, I give you this as evidence that Frozen has also been the foundation of some pretty cute moments in our family as well. 

The One Where Henry is One Year Old

Can you believe this little cutie is one year old now? 

I can't believe we made it! Just kidding. Kind of. There were some rough moments in there. But Henry is a little wonder and I'm so happy he's in our lives.

He's such a sweet little boy. He has three words: "mama," "dada" and "hi", which he especially likes to use when talking on the phone (anything small enough to be held up to his ear). And he gives me this look sometimes when his sisters are being crazy. It's like a wide-eyed, "can-you-believe-they're-doing-this" look that is pretty hilarious. I like to catch his gaze whenever they're around to see if he has anything to say about what they're doing. 

And he could walk if he would just let go. He pushes chairs or doll strollers or pretend shopping carts all over the house. And he'll just stand there on his own with no support. But he absolutely refuses to take his first steps on his own. He's a lot like his big sister, Ellie, in that way. He's been content to just crawl for six months now. But he's getting so heavy. I, for one, would really love it if he started to walk. Especially so we can enjoy the quickly-approaching summer. 

In general, he just loves life these days. He loves his batmobile. He loves being squeezed as tightly as possible. He loves grapes and bananas and anything edible, really. He loves when I sing Wheels on the Bus and he laughs so hard when I do the noises dramatically. He loves to go to the park and swing. And swing. And swing. He loves when I am holding him on our way to the park and I start to skip. He loves doing anything silly he can think of to try to get us to laugh. He loves to throw his head back and fake laugh. He loves to snuggle hard (so hard that my nose has been pretty assaulted by his intense snuggling). He loves to climb on anything and everything that he can reach. He loves wearing his grandpa's hat and being sung to by his Papa Dennis.

We took him to the beach for the first time this last month. At first he just sat on the sand and played with a stick. Then he discovered he could crawl on it and he was off like a shot. He loved the beach and hanging out every day with his sisters, grandma and grandpa.

He really loves the elements. He giggles with delight when it's raining and he gets wet. Or when the wind blows on his face. He gets really excited about every little thing.

And he would love to spend all day, every day playing in the bathroom! I'm always reminding his sisters to keep the door closed, because he can sense that it is open from 100 yards away and he'll come rushing toward that toilet in a full sprint. Why do babies love bathrooms so much?

We had a little birthday party for him a few days after his actual birthday and it was such fun. My family came from Idaho, so Henry got pretty spoiled with affection from almost all of his (many) grandparents, aunts and uncles. It was great to have so many family and friends come. (That, and when you invite my family to come, they not only make the 6 hour drive and stay the night, they also mow the lawn before the party and clean the house afterward. They're pretty awesome like that... love you guys!)

If only we had a bigger house I would have invited everyone we know. Because I love throwing parties. And because I love Henry. And so throwing parties for Henry is double the fun. 

My favorite part was watching him open presents. I don't know if it's just because he's seen his sisters do it so many times, but he seemed to really understand the whole process, and got very excited about his new toys. And now he likes to find them around the house and hug them with the biggest grin on his face. It's always fun to make your baby so happy. 

Well. We made it. One year of Henry's life. There were some long days. And some short days. And so many very good days. And I love him so much and am looking forward to this next year so much. The funny thing is that I'll write less on here about him this next year, but I actually look forward to it more.  I can't wait to hear what he has to say. I can't wait to take him on all our adventures this year. I can't wait to hear his laugh as often as possible and tackle him and tickle him and enjoy everything about my baby boy.

The One With the Perfect Birthday Party Cake (With Whipped Chocolate Buttercream Frosting)

Last weekend for Olivia's third birthday party I made this Perfect Birthday Party Cake. I've made a lot of delicious desserts in my day, but this one takes the cake. (Get it? Haha.)

Anyway, I found this recipe and tried it with my sister a few weeks ago for my birthday. And it was awesome. So I made a few improvements, and served it at Liv's birthday party. It was such a fun time! Steve's family got snowed in and couldn't make it, so we called up our friends at the last minute to come eat food and cake with us and I think it was the best birthday party yet! (Which either means we're really lame or our friends are really cool. I'm going to go ahead and hope it's the latter.) We even lost power due to the storm, but Liv and all her little friends just kept playing. And reading books by candlelight. And examining the globe collection. It was lovely.

Because Olivia loves Lightning McQueen so much, I wanted to give her a Lightning themed cake. So I found some race car cake toppers online and they were the perfect thing. Although she was a little sad when she saw the cake but couldn't eat it until her party. I told her she had to wait for her friends to come. So when her first guests arrived, she opened the door for them and then ran over to her cake and said, "My friends are here! Let's eat my cake!" When she finally got some, I don't think she was disappointed.

Perfect Birthday Party Cake
Makes one double-layer 9 inch cake

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 Tablespoon baking soda
• 1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup minus 2 Tablespoons milk
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup hot, strong coffee
• 1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Prepare two 9-inch cake pans with butter, flour and parchment paper.  Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium-size bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Sift together with a fork and set aside.

In a liquid measuring cup, pour in 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar. Add milk until you have reached the 3/4 cup mark. Set aside.

With a mixer, beat eggs. Add vinegar and milk, yogurt, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Beat until well combined. Add the dry ingredients in four increments, stirring well between each addition. Add the hot coffee and stir to combine. Add the mini chocolate chips and stir to distribute evenly throughout the batter. 

Wrap the sides of each cake pan in a strip of wet cloth (like a torn dishtowel or an old t-shirt.) (This added moisture will help keep your cake from rising so much in the center, so you won't have to worry about cutting off the rounded cake top.)  

Divide your batter between the two prepared cake pans and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake layer comes out clean. Let the layers cool completely in their pans before assembling your cake. 

Whipped Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

• 2 cups (4 cubes) butter, at room temperature
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup whipping cream (plus a little more, if necessary) 

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or by hand with an electric mixer), soften the butter on low speed. (Do not turn your mixer on too high or air will get into your frosting and create bubbles.) Once your butter is very maleable, add the powdered sugar and cocoa powder, one cup at a time, stirring slowly and thoroughly between each new addition. Add the vanilla and stir. Add the whipping cream and stir on medium for about ten minutes, until frosting is light and fluffy. The longer you go, the more whipped the cream will get, making the frosting that much more delicious.

If it seems that your frosting is too thick and won't be easily frosted with, add more whipping cream, a Tablespoon at a time, until you reach your desired consistency.

Assemble your cake with a layer of frosting in the middle, and chocolate sprinkles to top it off!

At the end of her party, I asked Olivia what her favorite part was and she said, "Eating cake." I think she and I are going to get along just fine.