my kitchen: peanut butter smores cookies & hello kitty version

Peanut butter smores cookies! With all the goodies lying around my kitchen and a cookie craving, I had to experiment.

I used salted chocolate caramels and marshmallows from Costco and threw in some Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal instead of graham crackers. Tossed in a few eggs and tablespoons of oil and sugar into a bowl with a bag of Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie mix from Carrefour (just follow the directions).

I tried making the cookies three ways- (1) stuffing the smores in the center for fat cookies, (2) stuffing the smores in the center and then stuffing in a Hello Kitty silicone mold, (3) chopping up the caramels and marshmallows and mixing them for regular sized cookies.

Experiment with half or quarter sized marshmallows and chocolates- or dice it up more finely to spread the love.

With detailed molds like this, I use a ball of dough to push into the grooves first and then fill up the rest.

I LOVE this Hello Kitty silicone mold! I'll have to do a post about all the different experiments I've tried with this mold- for Hello Kitty shaped ice cubes, biscuits with nutella, cornbread, chocolates, even pineapple cakes!

The Hello Kitty cookies turned out kind of like muffin cookies, with the dough spilling over the top, but when you flip them over you get a surprise. The bottom parts were softer and more cake-like.

It's best to let the cookies cool down considerably before trying to take it out. Otherwise, you'll get the picture below- this is what happened when I tried to take it out straight out of the oven. I can never wait and always have to sample first. I love it when its all gooey and hot and sticky.

Out of the three versions I made, I liked the chopped up version the best taste-wise... it tasted the most like smores with the marshmallows getting all toasty and salted chocolate caramels melting even further for a very chewy cookie.

I had to share so that I didn't end up eating them all myself. But I find it amusing that my Taiwanese friends offer up compliments like "It's really good, it's not too sweet" when I think the cookie is ridiculously sweet with three times the sugar of a normal cookie (marshmallows + chocolate + caramels). I think the peanut butter and salted caramel plays well with the smores and makes the flavors more layered and more palatable than regular chocolate chip or oatmeal chocolate chip. And as you guys know, it's tough to find a good chewy cookie in Taipei. If you're looking, try We Love Cookies or Subway. Have you found them anywhere else I should try?

my kitchen: hello kitty cornbread

When I was growing up, my mom and dad somehow did a good job instilling the holiday spirit in us, so much so that I have to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas even though sometimes it seems non-existent in Taipei. One thing I'll always remember is that they would put their own little Chinese touches, like stuffing the turkey with sticky rice instead of making stuffing, and it made the holiday that much more memorable.

So even though this year I had my turkey and fixings at a restaurant with friends, if I were making turkey and sides at home, I'd make it a little more fun by making these Hello Kitty cornbreads that I made earlier this year.

I bring my cornbread mix from LA (by the boxful) and picked up this Hello Kitty silicone mold earlier this year when I went on a mini spree at my local Sanrio. Best purchase ever!

Grease the mold beforehand with butter or oil, then fill the mold about half way full. After getting them gently out of the mold, you can brown them face up in the oven a little longer to get the contrast for the faces.

I've also tried biscuits and cake mix in this mold, but cornbread seems to have the best texture and firmness for seeing the Hello Kitty face. You could also use a larger Hello Kitty Cake Pan if you didn't want to keep making little cornbread cakes or can't find this silicone mold.

CLOSED/desserts/western: i recommend HELLO KITTY SWEETS

HELLO KITTY SWEETS
No. 90, Da An Road, Sec. 1
(02) 2711-1132

MRT: Zhong Xiao/FuXing

website: hellokittysweets.com.tw Chinese only

hours: Sun- Thurs 11:30 AM - 10 PM; Fri- Sat 11:30 AM - 11 PM

$-$$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs available, lots of booth seats

Visit reviewed: 4/7/2011

What would you expect from a restaurant called Hello Kitty Sweets? 

Two stories of ceiling to floor pink and pillowy pink walls and Hello Kitty lounge chairs? Check, check, check...

The outline and image of the mouthless cat everywhere you turn in the restaurant? No detail is too small to escape for Hello Kitty lovers to see and want (a Hello Kitty tissue box cover? where can I get one?! starts googling on iPhone) Check, check, check...

Rows of pink and chocolate Hello Kitty cakes, desserts and chocolates?  Check, check...

Check, check, check...

And there's more...

And all that eye candy is at the front of the store before we sit down and order. Besides the desserts that you can order from the counter, there is also a full menu of pastas, gratin rice, grilled meats, pizza and even a Hello Kitty hamburger and Hello Kitty bread bowls, as well as afternoon tea sets.

mmm or hmm?

The menu is only in Chinese and can be a bit confusing, but there is a picture for each dish and the waitress was helpful in explaining what is in each dish when we asked.  The price for each dish is for a set meal, which includes a drink, salad, soup, bread roll, choice of small appetizer along with your main dish.

I had put off checking out Hello Kitty Sweets because I heard that there were long waits and the food was not worth the prices, but on a weekday, I had no problem getting a reservation for a large table (made a few days in advance) and my low expectations for the food probably helped me keep a reality check. I definitely wouldn't come just for the food, it's more for the whole experience and I had a bunch of Hello Kitty fans in my group as I was hosting my cousin and her daughters. I was definitely surprised to see almost all the other tables were adults, some cameras in hand, and quite a few men too (perhaps dragged or bribed there?).

The starters in the set are forgettable- a small salad, a mysterious creamy soup- but the bread roll is the first Hello Kitty photo op.

The choice of appetizers included escargot and smoked salmon, but I opted for this liver pate.

The food came at a relatively steady pace and the main dishes were a good size. I snuck some of the fried appetizer plate (NT$380 ala carte) that my cousin's kids ordered which included onion rings, fried chicken, croquette and fries. Tasty.

I don't know why, but I asked for the egg on the meat sauce spaghetti (NT$400/set) to not be raw. It came out more fried than soft boiled like I've enjoyed at Bellini Pasta Pasta. If there's a next time, I'll have to try it as is so that I can stir it all together. The spaghetti had typical sweet, tomato flavor. But where's the Hello Kitty meatball or Hello Kitty cheese cutout? Lol.

Lots of pesto and shrimp (NT$400/set) in my cousin's dish. The kids loved it and finished it.

The Hello Kitty burger (NT$450/set)! I didn't try this, but I thought about ordering it. Would it be one of the more manly things on the menu? LOL.

Set drink (very sweet ice tea) and set dessert- a creme brulee Hello Kitty pudding. 

We didn't have to room to sample any of the cute cakes that I saw, but perhaps on another occasion. There's a NT$300 minimum per person fee to dine in, but if you just want to get some cakes to go, there's also a mini Hello Kitty Sweets at the nearby Fuxing Sogo selling cakes and desserts. But then you don't get to breathe the Hello Kitty Sweets atmosphere and cuteness. There's even some souvenir goodies available to purchase behind the counter, but I didn't realize it until I was browsing other blogs.

Did I mention even the bathroom is Kitty-fied? Is this too much, or the complete experience?

   

 

Hello Kitty lovers- how far would you/did you fly from to eat at Hello Kitty Sweets? I know for some of you this might be a "must" destination for your Taipei trip. For those of us lucky enough to have it in Taipei, it's worth a visit if you are a Hello Kitty lover (like me), or want to treat one to a meal.

my kitchen: hello kitty sugar cookies

Ever since I bought the trio of pink Hello Kitty baking supplies, I've been experimenting and every cookie, cake, biscuit and even cornbread has been kitty-fied.

This past weekend, I made sugar cookies from a Pillsbury Funfetti Cookie Mix that my sister got for me. I liked how the dough stayed relatively firm compared to the recipes that I've tried in the past in which the dough seemed to become soft and sticky very quickly and not stay firm enough to peel off the cut shapes. It helped to flour the surface generously and work quickly.

This cookie cutter is actually meant for toast so it's quite large and makes a cookie bigger than my palm. The cutter is in two pieces, so it helps to push firmly on the outline and not so hard on the inside one (with eyes ears and bowtie) otherwise the bowtie and right ear are perforated from the rest of the head. I've also seen cookie cutters that have the whole Hello Kitty body and has legs that you can use to "prop" up the cookie and make the Hello Kitty stand.

I decorated the cookies before baking them with Wilton Pink, Red and Blue Sparkle Gels. I found out that the gels don't dry and stay in place the way typical cookie icing, or royal icing, does. I found out the hard way when I decorated cookies and everything smeared during the transport. But it was an accident that I decorated my christmas cookies a few years ago before baking them and found out the gel hardened like a candied texture so that I could bag up the cookies for giving away.

Want to see my other Hello Kitty creations?