Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies w/ Walnuts & Sea Salt Caramel Chips

The other day Jarryd came home from work saying that his co-workers thought it'd been too long since they've had my baking (they all make my cookies disappear in a flash). So the next day (on my day off) I decided to bake my favourite cookies in the world: oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with walnuts. Being that I'm enrolled in Food Photography School, photographing everything I bake is an absolute must--gotta get that practice in!

So, I recently posted one of these cookie photos to Instagram and asked if any of y'all would want the recipe. I got a bunch of enthusiastic "Yes's!" from you guys in the comments and several requests outside of that as well! Thank you all so much! I almost DIDN'T ask because of my fears almost getting the best of me...what if no one wanted the recipe? What if people roll their eyes because there's nothing specifically complex or extravagant about these cookies? What if my comment section ended up being just the humiliating sound of crickets chirping? But ultimately, I'm so glad I swept those fears aside and decided to go with my gut because now I get to do what I love: share my tried and true recipes with you guys!

I'm not someone who is constantly sharing recipes on her blog--YET, because I only want to share the best. Quality over quantity, right? I've been baking these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for YEARS and I can sincerely testify that these babies are delicious.
Now, if you're on a diet...you've come to the wrong place. Although, I'd love to convince you to have a little cheat day and bake these cookies! So just keep scrolling down and I'll let the chocolate chips and butter lure you in. 😉

If you're looking for a simple and quick recipe, with easy-to-find everyday ingredients (most of these ingredients are probably sitting in your fridge and pantry right now!), you've come to the right place.

If you love cookies with alot of different textures, the chewiness that the oats bring, the crunch from the walnuts, and the crispy edges from the caramelized sugars...then you've DEFINITELY come to the right place.

Strawberry Shortcake Bars

The initial weeks after my big wedding cake extravaganza (on April 1st), I was all baked-out. Actually, I wouldn't even go that far. I was just exhausted. I was tired of being on my feet all day at work and then all evening after work. I was tired of spending my precious, much-needed weekends cooped up in the kitchen causing me to be too tired to see friends or visit family. I needed one of those weekends where I had no obligations, no reason to set an alarm in the morning, and no one to answer to (Jarryd being an exception, of course).

Easter weekend was on its way and showing up at the family gathering without a dessert in-hand would just be unacceptable. (Yes, I'm the "designated dessert bringer" and I'm totally OK with that!) I needed something easy, super quick to put together, and just stress-free...

Heart-Shaped Strawberry Hand Pies.

Hello, friends!! I feel like it's been forever since I've done a lengthy and detailed blog post dedicated to all things buttery, sweet, and delicious. With Valentines Day just around the corner (this upcoming Tuesday!) I thought it'd be best to do some heart-themed baking BEFORE the big day rather than after. I remember last year I did my big foodie-blogger debut of beautiful chocolate-covered strawberries almost a week AFTER Valentines Day had already passed. Oops. And despite it being about the time when everyone's already soooo over the heart's and XO's, that blog post received fabulous feedback among friends and family and encouraged me to keep pursuing my love for baking. So here I am, one year later with strawberry heart-shaped hand pies busting my belt under my belt.

Truthfully I wanted to get started on Valentines themed baking in mid January, but with that month being so...difficult, the heart-shaped-everythings had to wait. To explain, I was sick and feeling under the weather for about 3 weeks, and then Jarryd's grandmother passed away at the end of January. It was a month of sickness, hospital visits, tears, and grief. So, baking didn't even stand a chance. Although I did bake two different large batches of cookies for the funeral so that was good for my baking-spirits. In conclusion it was a very hard month, but also good at the same time. All I can say is that you don't grow through the easy times, it's the rough gut-wrenching seasons that make you stronger. 💕

Lemon Raspberry Muffins With Streusel Topping

We are now six days into the exciting and hopeful year of 2017 and I can confidently say that it already has not gone according to plan. Truthfully I didn't have much of a plan, but I at least envisioned myself being a healthy person full of energy and productivity.

It all started with New Years Eve weekend, where I was sick as a dog...with a COLD. It was honestly the worst and weirdest cold I have ever had. I say worst because it actually had me bed/couch-ridden, a cold has never done that to me before. I even had to call in sick to work (after a three day weekend yet!) it was so bad; and I say weirdest because I woke up Saturday morning feeling completely deaf. Both of my ears were plugged and my nose too; not to mention my head was aching like crazy. This is Maryland climate I tell you! When I lived in Canada my colds consisted of a dry hacking cough that's constantly itching. In Maryland my colds are all in my nose and ears. This type of cold has definitely been a first for me.

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes With Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I know, I know, it's December! It's that glorious time of year when the only baked goods that you see at parties, gatherings, read about on blogs, and scroll through on Instagram consist of either gingerbread, peppermint flavour, or Christmas tree-shaped sugar cookies. But here I am, in the beginning of December, baking LEMON BLUEBERRY cupcakes. It all just screams a hot summer pool party in July, right?!

I'll admit, ever since I was on Pinterest and stumbled upon Ashley's Lemon Blueberry Cupcake recipe at Baker By Nature, I haven't been able to shake the urge to bake these! I honestly just couldn't wait 'till Summer to bake these; I had to bake them now! So...let's just pretend it's Summer for the next how-ever-many-minutes-it-takes-for-you-to-read-this-post Ok? Ok.

And I don't believe I've even tasted a lemon blueberry dessert before, which is crazy--but the thought of the combination of those two flavours, along with a sweet cream cheese frosting is incredibly enticing. I love lemons, I love blueberries, and I love cream cheese. So why not give it a try?!
Also, I haven't baked cupcakes in over a month, which is WAY too long to go without cupcakes in my books! (Here, here!)

So last Saturday morning, (at like 6 am because I have the inability to sleep in nowadays😩 ) I zested and juiced some lemons, I mixed together the cake batter, scooped it into cupcake liners, slid them into the oven to bake, and then whipped together the cream cheese frosting. (Oh and all of this was done whilst listening to Christmas music AND having my Christmas Balsam candle lit. Gahhh! How magical.) And the whole process was a snap! A total breeze.

The most time consuming stage of all of this was piping the frosting, garnishing the cupcakes with blueberries and lemon zest, and of course styling and photographing them! (Which is obviously optional because one could easily just scrape the frosting on with a knife and snap a quick photo of it with their phone!) But I love food photography so I couldn't NOT take photos of these beauties!

But the best part was the result. You guys!! These cupcakes were amazing! 😍 They tasted absolutely incredible. They had the perfect amount of lemony flavour, they were moist, the blueberries added a whole new dimension of texture and sweet taste, and THE LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING was to die for. There's something truly exquisite about the marriage of cake and frosting; it's seriously a match made in heaven. (This is why cupcakes are better than muffins, right?!)

What do you guys think of my new piping design? I actually really love this and am thinking of making it my "signature" cupcake look! It's so frilly, ruffly, and pretty looking!

I even got significant praise from all of my taste-testers! They got the thumbs up from the husband, which is always important, right ladies? And also the thumbs up from my in-laws--aka my father-in-law the serious foodie. (I wish I could have shared them with all of you!!) Although I feel like I can hardly take any credit since this recipe wasn't created by me. It was all Baker By Nature's. I literally made this recipe exactly how it was written except...I halved the amount of lemon extract. But that's it!

Thank you to Ashley from Baker By Nature for sharing this incredible recipe with the world, and for the cupcake piping/design/garnish inspiration! I'm in love with how these cupcakes turned out both taste wise and looks wise! 💖

Personally, I think the best way to eat these is when the frosting is softened to room temperature, with extra fresh blueberries on the plate, and a cup of hot coffee. The photo above was literally my breakfast last weekend! Cake for breakfast!

Now, if I've inspired you to have a little "summer in December" (I don't blame you for not wanting to bake these, as baking Christmasy desserts of peppermint and gingerbread are just way too good to pass up), or if you want to give this recipe a try in the warmer months/when blueberries are actually in-season, you can find the Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe HERE!!

Thanks for reading, friends! Happy baking! (Or eating!) And Happy Christmas! 

Farmer Sausage Corn Chowder Recipe

Hi friends! Last week I posted the above photo to both my Instagram and Facebook and got quite alot of requests for the recipe! Therefore, due to popular demand I have decided to post the recipe for "Farmer Sausage Corn Chowder" here on the blog! It's a pretty cool feeling when I post a photo of something I've cooked/baked and then receive such positive feedback about it! Granted, y'all haven't actually tasted this recipe yet, but still, a compliment on my food styling/photography skills is just as flattering! 💕 Sooo...I should probably hold my breath until you actually try the soup, right?

The original recipe for this chowder came from the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog; the below recipe is not exact to its original as I've made a few tweaks here and there. For example, often when a recipe calls for water I like to replace it with chicken broth to add more depth in flavour. I also added a can of cream-style corn in here to help achieve a certain thickness. Oh and the original recipe has instructions on how to do the cheese sauce in the microwave, but Jarryd and I do not have a microwave, which is why I provided the stovetop instructions!

Helpful Tip: if you use this recipe exactly, make sure you're using a large pot. I almost doubled the recipe because I love having leftovers around, but thankfully I didn't because it would have been OVERFLOWING. (It makes sense, right? Mennonites need large recipes in order to feed all the children!) 😉

Farmer Sausage Corn Chowder Recipe
(Original recipe derived from Mennonite Girls Can Cook)

3 Cups of Farmer Sausage or Kielbasa or Smoked Ham, chopped
1 Large Onion, diced
3 Stalks Celery, diced
5-6 Cups of Chicken Broth (or just water)
2 Bell Peppers, diced
3 Carrots, sliced
5 Medium Potatoes, peeled and large diced
1 (14 oz) Can Cream Style Corn
1-2 Cups Frozen or Fresh Corn Kernels
1 tsp Salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp Black Pepper (or to taste)

1. Saute sausage with a little bit of oil over medium-high heat in a LARGE soup pot.
2. Once sausage is cooked, add the onions and celery to the pot and heat until softened.
3. Pour in the chicken broth (or water) to the pot.
4. Add the bell peppers, carrots, potatoes, and all the corn to the pot.
5. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low and simmer for a minimum of 20 minutes (or until all veggies are tender)
6. While it's simmering, work on the cheese sauce (below).

Cheese Sauce
1/4 cup Butter
1/4 Cup Flour (if a Gluten-Free recipe is desired, omit the flour and pour 1-2 cups of GF instant mashed potatoes into the soup. )
2 Cups Milk
2 Cups Grated Cheese, (Cheddar or Mexican Blend)

1. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.
2. Whisk in flour to create a roux and keep whisking for a few minutes. (This is important as you want the flour to cook and lose its' raw flavour.)
3. Pour in milk and whisk until smooth and combined.
4. Add cheese and whisk to melt.
5. Pour cheese sauce into the soup, stir, and serve!

This is totally optional, but chopped-up bacon and shredded cheese is a fantastic garnish for this creamy soup. Just sayin'. Also, I never seem to have fresh parsley on hand, so if you're wondering about the green garnish, it's chopped up celery leaves.

To my Gluten-Free friends: you can totally make this recipe GF by omitting the flour (no need to make a roux then!) and pour 1-2 cups of GF instant mashed potatoes into the soup to thicken it!

Posting recipes is kind of a new thing for me, so please be gracious in my amateur approach here. And if you happen to make this soup, you gotta let me know! I'd love to hear how it turned out or didn't turn out. 😜💕 Thanks for stopping by, friends!!

Hello Dolly Bars

Yesterday we decided to spontaneously invite Jarryd's parents over for supper! (The apartment was clean, so why not?) :P We have been dying to watch The Crown series on Netflix, and we knew that it would be a type of show that my in-laws would like, so we thought we'd make a whole evening of it! (I think that anyone who fancies Downton Abbey would certainly like The Crown). I mean, I was HOOKED already on the first episode--and it may or may not have been Hans Zimmer's astounding score that did me over. (Fun fact about me: I have a serious love for film score composers such as Hans Zimmer, John Williams, and James Horner to name just a few).

ANYWAY...with our dinner menu already all planned out, we hopped on over to the grocery store to pick up some steaks, sweet potatoes, and asparagus (did you know that the plural form of asparagus is actually just asparagus? Surprisingly, I didn't). Unfortunately we had the meal all figured out but had nothing for dessert! Not having dessert isn't the end of the world or anything, but I hate having guests over and not having any dessert or post-dinner sweets to offer them. I feel like it's so not me to not have sweets around.

It's always a little intimidating cooking/baking for my father-in-law because he's such a foodie and an incredible cook. But it's so nice to have people in my life who are not afraid to give me an honest opinion on my creations. And because they've tried so much of my baking already, I wanted to offer them a recipe that was tried-and-true, one that they'd never had from me before, and ESPECIALLY one that I could realistically and effortlessly whip together in a short amount of time. Standing there in the fresh meat aisle of the grocery store it suddenly came to me--Hello Dolly Bars!

I have made these bars a handful of times and they're always incredibly satisfying! My in-laws had never even heard of them before, so I wouldn't be surprised if you hadn't either. They're sweet, rich, and decadent bars made of the most amazing layers, starting with:

a buttery graham crust

semi-sweet chocolate chips

crunchy chopped pecans

sweet and chewy coconut flakes

and then poured over these layers is a can of sweetened condensed milk. *insert heart eyes here*

SO FAST. (10 minutes prepping, 30 minutes baking)

SO EASY. (The most "laborious" thing I had to do was grind the graham crackers in the food processor because I didn't buy the already-made graham crumbs, and melt butter on the stove!) Oh, and even better, they only require six ingredients!

AND SO DELICIOUS. (Anything made with sweetened condensed milk is going to taste AH-MAZING right?!)

Therefore, it was the perfect dessert to make for a spur-of-the-moment dinner party! And thankfully, these bars were a hit! Even the two non-coconut lovers loved them!

So, if you're looking for a dessert recipe that's simple, quick, freezes well, and has an amazing array of textures and incredible mouthfeel, this is the one for you!

HELLO DOLLY BARS RECIPE (Yields 12 bars)

(Recipe from Serious Eats)

1 cup of butter/2 sticks (I used salted butter)

3 cups graham cracker crumbs (14 oz box)

2 cups dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups chopped pecans

3 cups sweetened shredded or flaked coconut

1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk

1. Adjust oven rack to middle middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Melt the butter and then combine melted butter with graham crumbs in a bowl until thoroughly combined.

3. Press mixture into an even layer on bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish.

4. Top crust with chocolate chips, then pecans, then coconut, and then drizzle with sweetened condensed milk.

5. Bake in oven for about 30 minutes (or until coconut is a beautiful golden toasted brown). Remove from oven and let cool completely. To cut easily, let sit in refrigerator for 1 hour, and then cut and serve. (Best served chilled!)

Thanks for reading, guys! And seriously, let me know if you make this or if you've tried them before. I'd love to know what you think! Oh, and the steak, roasted sweet potato, and parmesan asparagus dinner tasted pretty good too. ;) OH and we managed to watch three episodes of The Crown before deciding to be smart, responsible adults and call it a night. I can't wait to get together and watch more!!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies--Perfected!

You guys--I kid you not, I have finally perfected these cookies!

"Baby, this is honestly the best you've ever made these cookies! They are PERFECT!" <---The exact words from my husbands mouth. (It's every wife's dream to be complimented by her husband on her cooking and baking, right ladies?!) After hearing those words I was insanely happy! :)

So yes, once again on an open Tuesday evening I decided to make my all-time favourite cookie recipe: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies.
I make these little darlings at least once every 2 months (sometimes even once a month!), with the recipe doubled too. That's a whole 'lotta oatmeal!

These cookies were a huge part of my childhood, which probably explains my never-ending love for them. My Mom along with my two sisters and I would make these pretty frequently (sometimes together, other times separately). We always doubled the recipe, and always made them in a HUGE yellow bowl and mixed it all together with a big wooden spoon!

Those were obviously the days before everyone had a shiny Kitchenaid stand-mixer on their countertops. I, by the way, still do not have my Kitchenaid standmixer--but now that we have another full-time income, I see one arriving in the near future! (YAY!!) I just need to decide on the right colour that perfectly says "hello, and welcome to Jenny's kitchen). :)

Anyway, I find that these cookies are great for any occasion. For example, I like to eat them for breakfast or snack on during my commute to and from work. They're also great to pack into Jarryd's lunches to give him little delicious boosts of energy throughout the day.
Rather than just being cookies solely made up of sugar, these cookies have substance from the oatmeal and the--optional--nuts! Do you know what I mean?

And I already know what my avid blog followers are thinking right now, "Oh please! You already blogged about these cookies...". I know I did! I just haven't yet documented the process before quite like I did this time--as in, I took a TON of photos! (I was in a bit of an artsy foodie mood!)

Speaking of taking photos, everyday I am falling more and more in love with my Canon DSLR camera, mostly because this camera makes my cooking and baking look 10x better than my iPhone ever did. (If only I would have had this camera with me at culinary school, sigh!) Perhaps it makes my food look better than it actually tastes in real life? (Hmm...something to think about...)

With that said, are you ready to take off on this Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie baking adventure with me? Here we goooooo! :)

 A very good/GREAT thing to do when you're about to execute a recipe is to set up your Mise En Place (also known as gathering your ingredients and "putting them into place"). Check out that scrumptious mountain of butter!

 To create the perfect Mise En Place, you need bowls of all sizes. Normally when I'm doubling or even tripling a recipe I like to use my medium to large sized stainless steel bowls. But with this cookie recipe, I decided NOT double it and keep it as it is. These little glass bowls from DollarTree are PERFECT for smaller-sized recipes! (By the way, I spent a grand total of $2.00 for all 7 of these bowls! I highly recommend you do the same!)

Oatmeal, brown sugar, MINI chocolate chips (I used my sister's advice and used the mini this time--I will definitely continue to keep using the mini ones!), butter, eggs, butter, walnuts, extra vanilla, white sugar, extra salt, oh and more butter!

Just a close up of all the delicious goodness.

This super cute measuring spoon set was a Christmas present from my sister a few years ago. I think after she found out I wanted to start attending Culinary school she showed her support by buying my these. I LOVE them! They're made of (not from) china, and they look too pretty to use, but the secrets out-I actually DO use them!

Mixin' all the Mise en Place together as if it never truly existed... ;)

The signature cookie dough has been created!

A little macro-love for my macro-lovers out there. Mmm!

Can you tell I love those measuring spoons yet? Also, I bought a brand new baking sheet, which you can see in the photo above. I am SO glad I bought it because my old two baking sheets were just the worst. About a minute after going in the oven, they would instantly warp, and they were covered in black stuff that I just could not scrub off! They were just incredibly flimsy and not good quality at all. This new baking sheet on the other hand, is sturdy as can be, and baked the cookies so evenly! (Surprisingly it was only $8.00!)

I already said this in my previous Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie blog post, but this cookie scoop is one of the best kitchen gadgets I've ever purchased. For. Real. It makes the scooping of cookie dough WAY less messy...more like not messy at all. And you're left with the most perfect and uniform sized/shape cookie dough balls. I can't even say it enough how much I love having a cookie scoop.

A close up of the dough--you can see the walnuts and chocolate so clearly. ;)
And after a short 14 minutes in the oven...

Voooooila!

This is making me hungry.

The kitchen looks clean in the photo, but believe me, all the mess was on the kitchen island. ;)

After taking them out of the oven, you never think that they're actually done baking because they don't quite look it. But the trick is to let them set on the sheet, on the counter for 5 minutes after you take them out. THEN move them onto a cooling rack.

Here is my cooling rack. :)

Friends, we have reached the end of our cookie baking adventure! It was fun, wasn't it? :) I hope I inspired you to make some of your own cookies--and if not, I hope I at least inspired you to eat some cookies. And if not that, I hope I at least inspired you to eat, eat something, anything!! Because food is the best!
OH! And I almost forgot--you can find the recipe HERE on AllRecipes.com. To be honest, I don't follow the recipe exactly as I have my own secret variation of course. ;)

I seriously encourage you to make some of these cookies! They're SO delicious and so easy to make. (I'm pretty sure even Jarryd could make these on his own, yes, even Jarryd!) If you do end up making them, let me know how they turned out! I would love to hear about it! <3

Chocolate Covered Strawberries.

Valentines Day fell on a Sunday this year, so I OF COURSE had to spend ten hours of that day at work. {I wasn't surprised, to say the least.} Before finding out my work schedule for that day, I had BIG plans to watch chick flicks with Jarryd, sip red wine, make chocolate covered strawberries and also eat my weight in chocolate covered strawberries.

Thankfully, the day of love wasn't a total loss as Jarryd and I got to spend the morning at our new-ish church and it was amazing. They started a new series about my favourite topic in the whole world: LOVE!! Do you ever think to yourself: I sure wish I had heard this sermon when I was a teenager? Me too! Oh well, the beautiful thing about love is that it's never too late to love the right way.

ANYWAY, back to the whole reason for this blog post --> {Chocolate Covered Strawberries}!
The whole thought of making chocolate covered strawberries just wouldn't escape my mind--I HAD to do it!

I think the reason I wanted to make them so badly was because I have a really positive memory associated with them. When I was really young {I wanna say seven years old} I went on my very first cruise with my family. I absolutely loathed the fancy gourmet meals/desserts that the dining room served at dinner. They were too...different, too fancy, and too foreign for my young little tastebuds! {I want to kick my 7 year old self right now.}
There was this one night when it was time for dessert and I didn't want anything on the menu. Now, if you have ever been on a cruise you'll know that the staff is absolutely amazing; they are the friendliest people you'll ever meet! Our wonderful waitress sees me in distress and ends up bringing out a GORGEOUS plate of chocolate covered strawberries with whipped cream! These strawberries were HUGE. {As I write that sentence I'm just wondering if they huge because I was just really small...? Oh well.} It was the best dessert a little girl could have ever dreamed of! That is definitely a memory I hope to take with me to the nursing home one day. ;)

So, Jarryd and I took off the to the nearest grocery store and bought the necessary {and delicious} supplies. Seriously, if you're looking for an inexpensive, quick, and easy dessert to conquer, this is the one!

STEP ONE: 

Wash the strawberries! I love how they look after a good, cold rinse; they're so pretty and shiny.

STEP TWO: 

 Lay them out to dry on the cutest kitchen towel you own. ;)

 Strawberries galore! They're all unique in their different shapes and sizes, perfect in their imperfections.

They're definitely not in the most perfect of shape, a bunch of them are bruised here and there, but they still tasted heavenly!

STEP THREE: 

Create a bain-marie and melt your chocolate! A bain-marie is essentially filling a pot with a little bit of water, boiling it {then turning it down to a simmer}, and then placing a bowl on top of the pot making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. The steam created from the hot water bath releases a perfect uniform heat, ensuring that the chocolate melts gently and slowly, and will not burn. {Burnt chocolate is just awful!}

 In the bowl I have Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips {I felt like it was a good idea to splurge on some brand-name chocolate chips for this special occasion} along with a tablespoon of shortening. Personally I'm not a huge fan of shortening, but it gives the chocolate a silky smooth texture which makes it perfect for dipping. {I don't think a tablespoon is gonna kill me...right?}

 It's melted!

I really couldn't resist taking another photo of this chocolate. It just looks extra beautiful when it's this shiny!

 How is THIS for a homemade bain-marie, hey?! I ran out of stainless steel bowls that would fit on top of this pot so I had to put my problem-solving skills to the test. I think I did okay. Plus the bowl/mug is freakin' cute!

 The second bain-marie is for my bowl of melted white chocolate. Mmmm! White chocolate tastes amazing with strawberries.

 Melting in progress!

STEP FOUR: 

 Gather your toppings and pour into bowls! I chose mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, and thinly sliced almonds. I also had a little dish of sprinkles but no photo.

STEP FIVE: 

Stab your strawberries with toothpicks. Is there a more dainty and delicate way to phrase this?

 They've been "toothpicked".

 Have I taken my obsession for food photography a little too far do you think?

 These strawberries are just dyyyiiiing to be dipped in a warm chocolate bath. {Aren't we all, though?} :D

Side note: of course I did this in my slippers. I can't wear my slippers in the kitchen at work, but in MY kitchen the wearing-of-slippers-rule is strongly enforced. ;)

STEP SIX: 

Take hold of the strawberry by it's toothpick, and dip it down into the melted chocolate and twirl it as you bring it up. Place it on your laid out parchment paper {or zip lock bags in my case...I was being creative again...}. If you want to leave it as a literal chocolate covered strawberry {just slightly boring}, then you're done! OR if you want it to be an elegant and fancy chocolate covered strawberry, this is where you need to move quickly!

Take a small ziplock bag, fill it with a chocolate opposite of the one the strawberry was just dipped in {in my case, I filled it with white chocolate}, with the help of your trusty scissors, snip the tiniest of openings into one of the bottom corners. {It's a makeshift pastry bag!} Draw horizontal lines on the strawberry, then with a toothpick QUICKLY make vertical lines in the chocolate going either up or down on the strawberry. I should have taken photos of each step, but alas, I got too caught up in the moment. I was having too much fun!

 This above, was my very first strawberry! Not the worst, right?!

And this, was my second. How does someone go from "OK" to "Horrendous" in one consecutive shot? Isn't practice supposed to make perfect? Anyway, the photo above is an example of why I emphasize a fast pace when designing with a toothpick. The chocolate hardens faster than you think, and it becomes too hard to meld into each other. {Sad, I know.}

But when I FINALLY got the hang of it and perfectly executed the design I was totally screaming and jumping up and down for joy. It was a great moment in my life.

The chocolate covered strawberry aftermath! After indulging in an activity involving melted chocolate it was awesome to see that the kitchen wasn't even that dirty! {Win!!}

If there are three tips I can leave with you, they would be:

1) Always make sure the chocolate stays warm after it's melted. ESPECIALLY when you put chocolate into the ziplock bags, once it's cooled your attempt at the smooth lookin' design is toast.

2) As said before, with the toothpick design, move quick.

3) Make sure every little thing is prepped and in its proper place and condition before you start melting the chocolate. In culinary terms this is called "Mise En Place"--everything put in its proper place. I do this everyday with any cooking/baking activity in both my kitchen at home and the kitchen at work. It makes the execution go incredibly smooth!

STEP SEVEN: 

Take photos of your beautiful creations because they'll be gone in no time! <3

 As you can see, you can make a pretty vast combination of designs with such limited toppings. Let's remember, all I had were two different toppings and two different types of chocolate and all these strawberries are different from one another!

 I am being so bad and keep picking out all of the imperfections and mistakes I made in the designs. They definitely aren't the most perfect looking chocolate covered strawberries, but I had SO much fun making them, and they look SO delicious.

Obviously I only put the best looking ones on this plate. ;)

 I must eat you...now. :D

 I am drooling over here.

I am in love with this strawberry. And I don't think I can eat it either; it's just too dang cute! I think it's my favourite.

These three I like to call my chocolate covered "duds".

The bunchy-looking one on the left: As stated before, I didn't move the toothpick quick enough so the chocolate hardened.

The sprinkled one: The second I dipped it in the sprinkles I regretted it. Maybe it's just me, but sprinkles just look all wrong.

The marbled one on the right: With this one I remember my brain totally blanking. I was going to do the toothpick design, but changed my mind halfway through...but didn't even know what I was changing my mind to! So I was like "oh what the hey, I'll just swirl you real good and you'll look just that, real good"! Heh...or not.

STEP EIGHT: 

EAT THEM ALL!

Jokes. :)

Eat at your very own pace.

Also, I totally forgot to buy ingredients for whipped cream, which would have tasted AH-MAZING with these!

If by some rare chance you have leftovers, place on a tray and stick it in your refrigerator {preferably close to the front for easy-access midnight snacking}. Also, they taste the best after they've been chilled.

Making chocolate covered strawberries is definitely something I'd love to do again! It's easy, very inexpensive, and delicious {it's also not a very heavy dessert, which is great!}. I honestly had so much fun making these little creations. It's very rare that I get lost in a task/activity that I do, but I totally did with this. I completely lost track of time; for a split second I forgot both my name and the current year. :P

If only this was my 9-5 job...

I love you little guys. Let's do this again sometime <3 :)

Sooo what do you think?! Please comment below, because I'd love to hear your input and ideas! Thanks so much for reading!! :)