Chocolate Chip Cookies!

The holiday season is in full swing and for many people it's a time to bake bake bake bake bake! Many ask us about our unique chocolate chip cookies; as a special holiday treat, we thought we would share how we make these delicious treats.

Just a note about our ingredients before we begin...we make a very large batch of cookie dough recipe, which yields us about 300 cookies. So to make things simple, we'll just list the ingredients we use without measurements. This is more to give you ideas and tips when making your own cookies! 

Feel free to follow us on Instagram where we have also placed some step by step pictures with some video as well!

 

Ingredients:

• Granulated Sugar
• Brown Sugar
• Sticks of Margarine
• Sticks of Unsalted Butter
•  Eggs
• Vanilla Extract
• All Purpose Flour
• Baking Soda
• Mini Dark Chocolate Chips

First...

Have a mixing bowl ready (we use a commercial mixer with a beater attachment) - a stand mixer works as well, or you can hand mix...if you're up to it!

Add your granulated sugar and brown sugar in the bowl (note: we used 4lbs of granulated sugar and 1lbs of brown sugar).

 

Then...

We added sticks of margarine, unsalted butter, eggs and vanilla extract!

 

After

We placed our bowl in our mixer and turned it on medium speed. This is what you get after all these ingredients are incorporated nicely. A yummy mushy buttery blend of awesomeness.

Add...

Some all-purpose flour and baking soda to your mixing bowl.

 Turn on your mixer and have the flour blend with your other ingredients...

After your mix resembles a dough...

Add some dark chocolate chips and turn on your mixer one last time to blend these in.

Once your chocolate chips are mixed in, this is what your dough will look like!

This dough is so good, it's even tempting just to eat it on it's own without baking! If you are into making your own ice cream, think how good it some home-made cookie dough ice cream would taste with this!


After our dough is done we let it rest in the refrigerator for a few minutes. This makes it easier for us to scoop the dough into baking sheets. We use whole baking sheets and get 35 cookies to a sheet.

Place your baking sheet in the oven at 350 F for about 10-15 minutes, until your cookies are golden brown.

Take them out of the oven and let your cookies rest! This is what they look like when they are finished!

What we love about these cookies is that, first, they are not too sweet or over chocolatey. Then they have a little crunch when you first bite into them followed by a chewy soft center. Super delicious! Enjoy!

Style Me Pretty Featured Wedding at the Adamson House in Malibu, CA

This lovely wedding was featured on Style Me Pretty not too long ago. We catered this wedding at the Adamson House back in September of last year and absolutely loved all of the special details that the bride and groom put together. 

Weddings are always reason for joy and celebration. This wedding was no different. From the moment we met the beautiful couple, we knew this would be a special wedding. 

What made working with this couple an enjoyable experience was their knack for good design, and a sharp vision of what they wanted. Very straight forward, they told us what style of dinner service they wanted, a family style dinner, and the floor plan they envisioned for their big day. Harvey was amazing and even sent over a visual design for the rental company to see!

From a caterer's standpoint, working at the Adamson House is no easy feat. It takes a lot of planning and collaboration from your rental company and the bride and groom, as well as an amazing team of people (servers, chefs and coordinators) to put everything together. For the bride who wants the freedom to customize and DIY their wedding, the Adamson House is the perfect beautiful beach venue. You are allowed to bring any vendors of your choice, no restrictions! Any bride and groom should be aware, however, that as a California State Park, there are rules and regulations that need to be respected. Also, this venue does not have a kitchen for your caterer to work out of. What is the solution? To build the kitchen. This will require you to rent a tent with lighting, prep tables, a commercial gas range stove or two (depending on your head count and menu) and simple protective floor covering  (per the Adamson House's regulations). The Adamson House provides a wonderful large area that is used for kitchen prep area where everything is set up and out of sight from your guests. Once all the details get taken care of however, the result is a beautiful and unforgettable wedding. 

For Harvey and Sophie, we provided a family style dinner service which included, a sit-down salad course - field greens with candied walnuts, dried cranberries, crumbled feta & raspberry vinaigrette, grilled salmon with orange ginger sauce, lemon chicken with light lemon caper sauce, bowtie pasta with eggplant, zucchini, and diced tomatoes, roasted acorn squash with slivered almonds, as well as fresh baked rolls & squaw bread with butter. We also stationed some fresh fruit and vegetable crudites & dip for guests to help themselves to. They also had tray-passed hors d'oevures during cocktail hour. We passed crab and gouda stuffed mushrooms, mini beef wellingtons, sweet & sour meatballs and split pea soup shots with grilled cheese skewer. As part of our services we also set up a pre-ceremony greeting beverage station with water and lemonade and coffee during the reception. Our team provided all the china, glassware and flatware and helped to arrange all of the place settings at the tables.

A great team of vendors worked together to make this wedding a fun and memorable day for the bride groom and their guests. We were happy to be a part of this special day - life is full of celebrations and we are lucky that in this line of work we get to share these incredible moments with our clients.

Enjoy the pictures captured by the talented Bethany and Whitney Dean of Glass Jar Photography. To see more pictures check out Style Me Pretty's original post.

Photography: Glass Jar Photography | Videography: Glass Jar Photography | Event Planning: Renee Lee - Table 8 | Florist: Ixora Floral Studio | Cake: Porto's Bakery | Catering: Henri's Exquisite Catering | Wedding Venue: Adamson House Rentals: A Rental Connection

4th Of July Dessert Inspiration - Mini Apple Turnovers

With 4th of July just around the corner, we thought we would share a little bite size dessert that is sure to have your family raving. The Apple Pie has long been a classic American favorite. In the middle of summer, a slice with vanilla ice cream on top is perfectly satisfying. However, when you are out on a picnic ready to watch fireworks, an Apple Pie might not be too practical. These bite size apple turnovers have all the familiar flavors everyone loves, are not too sweet and super easy to make.  

Here's a list of ingredients you will need:

• Puff Pastry Dough
• Flour
• Granny Smith Apples
• Brown Sugar
• Granulated Sugar
• Cinnamon
• Butter
• 1 Lemon
• Egg Wash

Peel and cut your granny smith apples into little cubes. Then squeeze about 1 table spoon of lemon juice into the apples. Add some brown sugar and cinnamon - to your liking. Toss your apples with the ingredients together so they are well incorporated. This is what we came up with afterwards.

After, have a pan or skillet on medium heat and melt about two tablespoons of butter. Then add the apple mixture and stir occasionally. You want your apples to get soft and you will notice that a glaze will start to form. This is from the sugar in the apples and the butter in the pan. You want your apples to get nice and soft and for this glaze to form. If you feel you need a little more butter or sugar, feel free to add it to the apples in the pan. After they are cooked and ready, this is what they should look like.

Once your apple mixture is done, remove it from the skillet and into a bowl, you can even place the bowl with the mixture in the fridge to have it cool down a little. This will make it easier to scoop into your puff pastry dough.

Then you will need some puff pastry dough. We make our own dough, but if you do not have the time for that, frozen puff pastry sheets from your grocery's frozen dessert section will be perfect! Make sure they are thawed out so you are able to work with the sheets of dough. Place some flour on your work table and then a piece of puff pastry sheet. You might want to roll out your dough a little bit so it's not too thick. Then cut your sheets into 3-4 inch circles with a biscuit cutter.

 Note: If you don't have a cookie or biscut cutter,  you can also use a glass or plastic cup to cut your circles. 

 

Grab a small scoop or spoon and place a generous table spoon or two into one half of the circles. We apologize for not having a picture of this step! Then after all of your circles have filling in them. Fold the circles in half and seal the turnovers with a fork.

After all your turnovers are sealed, brush some egg wash on them (we made ours with eggs & water). Then mix up some granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle your turnovers with this sugar-cinnamon mix.



Have your oven pre-heated at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place your baking sheet full of turnovers in the oven for about 15-20 minutes and/or until golden brown. After they are out of the oven, this is what they should look like!

Let them cool a little, then they will be ready to enjoy. They keep pretty well out of the fridge for about two days or so. You can make them the night before and pack them in a container and enjoy them the next day on your 4th of July fireworks picnic!

Summer Wedding Inspiration

Last year, we catered a beautiful Rustic/Vintage inspired wedding in Simi Valley, CA. Captured by Wild Whim Photography.  

Summer is here! In celebration of it, we thought it would be nice to reminisce and get inspired. Take a look at a wedding we catered last July in 100 degree weather… 

We love a gorgeous outdoor summer wedding.  Not only do you have the natural beauty of your venue to admire but your photographer will love the natural lighting to make every detail shine. 

The Tuscan Villa Estate is nestled in the Santa Susana Pass that takes you into Simi Valley. What makes this venue so special is that you can book this estate as long as you want and can accommodate up to 30 guests overnight. The bride and groom took full advantage of this and had a week long wedding celebration that included a rehearsal dinner and a farewell brunch.  

From the moment we met this adorable couple we knew this was going to be a fun wedding full of unique special touches. Their wedding day was one of the hottest days in Simi Valley, reaching up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit right before their ceremony was scheduled to start. As a vendor, we have to say this made setting up the 200 guest reception much more challenging – but that much more rewarding afterwards. We kept the tablescape simple, per the bride’s request, and only placed water goblets along with the silverware, which was rolled up in a napkin and tied off with twine. The bride’s centerpieces, which consisted of assorted vintage medicine bottles filled with colorful wildflowers, chalk numbers, and candles all placed on top of beautiful vintage crochet doilies really stood out and looked beautiful against the light grey table linens.  The reception was full of unique personal touches, from signage on vintage frames, burlap banners, a custom wedding hashtag for instagramers, and more.

We provided tray-passed hors d’eouvres during cocktail hour and a delicious buffet dinner that included a sit-down salad. [For brides and grooms considering a buffet dinner but still have reservations, you can do a hybrid buffet dinner and offer a sit-down salad course. This way, your guests get something to eat right after they sit down for the reception and then have the remainder of the dinner course on a buffet. Your guests will still feel special and this offers a sense of formality for the wedding reception.] Throughout the reception, guests kept themselves busy with a fun photo booth provided by The Tommy B.

Instead of a traditional wedding cake, the bride and groom cut into a small token cake and enjoyed a variety of delicious pastries and desserts. We provided freshly brewed coffee with Fresh Whipped Cream, Dark Chocolate Chips, Non Dairy Creamer, Sugar Cubes and Sugar Substitute.

We had so much fun working this wedding and enjoyed being a part of this couple's celebration of love!

Enjoy the beautiful pictures captured by Wild Whim Photography.

Venue: Tuscan Villa Estate

Wedding Coordinator: Amanda Marie Events

Photographer: Wild Whim Photography

Caterer: Henri's Exquisite Catering

Dessert: Carrara Pastries

Florals: Acton Creative Flowers 

Rentals: Tri Valley Rentals 

Photobooth: Tommy B Photobooth 

Wedding Gown: T.O. Bridal Collection

Invitations: Paper & Lace 

Menu:

Hors d'oevures

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Mini Grilled Vegetable Pizzas

Crab and Gouda Stuffed Mushrooms

Salad

Field Greens with Candied Walnuts, Dried Cranberries, Crumbled Feta and Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing

Buffet DInner

Chicken Picatta with Lemon Caper Sauce

Penne Pasta with SunDried Tomatoes, Garlic and Fresh Basil

Summer Grilled Vegetables with Tri-Colored Peppers

Fresh Baked Rolls + Squaw Bread and Butter

Vegetable Crudites and Dip

Fresh Fruit Cascade

Fresh Brewed Coffee with European Set-Up