One word: CHOCOLATE!
Straight to the point, these are THE rich, chewy, crunchy in the outside, soft in the inside, chocolate cookies.
Cliché moment of the recipe: You won’t be able to eat just one!
What you’ll need (makes around 12 cookies):
125g Dark chocolate (Shoutout to the brand Jacques, since I’m using their cooking chocolate)
1 1/4 cup flour
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
8 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
9 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
Optional: 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips or 1 1/2 cup crushed nuts
Procedure:
Start by melting the chocolate using the bain-marie technique.
In a separate deep bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
In the same recipient where you melted the chocolate: Add the butter until melted, add the sugar, vanilla extract and egg. Mix well.
Add this creamy chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients and combine well.
If you’d like, feel free to add some chocolate chips in there or some crushed nuts, will make the cookies richer!
The ending result will be a dough that is not completely dry and hard, but a tiny bit moist.
You can either spoon the dough in a baking paper covered tray or try making the cookie shapes with your hand.
Bake for 20 minutes on a pre-heated oven to 160°C.
Let them cool down and ENJOY!!!
xoxo.
On a previous post I explained a traditional panamanian cooking technique using a “fogón”.
Now, I want to introduce you to one of the most popular and trademark dishes from my country: Sancocho de Gallina Dura (cooked in a fogón). Preparing this soup in a fogón makes a huge difference! The smoke coming out of the “bonfire” adds a lot to the taste, an effect you don’t get when cooked in a regular stove.
Sancocho is a very thick soup and its most predominant ingredients are free-range chicken and yam (ñame). I advice using free-range chicken, since its meat is a bit harder than traditional chicken and has a better consistency and taste for this soup. The other main ingredient is “ñame” (yam). This is a tuberculous root, very similar to “yuca” (cassava) and is what will make the soup thicker since it dissolves.
Another key ingredient for this soup is “culantro”: a fundamental herb in panamanian cuisine, easy to find in exotic and asian supermarkets, similar to cilantro and coriander but with a stronger taste. It looks like a thin, long, green leave.
So, less talking and on to the procedure:
1. Season the chicken.
First of all, we start by cleaning one whole free-range chicken and cutting it into smaller pieces. We’re gonna be seasoning it with small pieces of: culantro, onion, paprika, garlic, chives and parsley. We are also gonna be adding a seasoning mixture that my grandmother refers to as “Guiso”. I’ve posted a recipe for guiso, you can find it here. Mix well so all the chicken gets some flavor.
2. Cooking the chicken.
We place the seasoned chicken in a big, deep pot and now it can go on top of the fire. We gotta cook the chicken in its own moist, until it becomes a bit brown and the seasoning vegetables are soft.
3. Testing the “ñame” (yam).
As I explained before, ñame is a root, very similar to cassava. I’m gonna be using two big pieces of yam. For this soup we need the yam to be very sticky. This is a sign that it’s a soft yam. Soft yam makes a good, thick soup. Peel the yam and cut it into pieces.
4. Adding the water.
Once the chicken is cooked, we can start adding the water. Make sure that it’s enough water to cover the chicken and a bit more.
Now we gotta wait until the chicken is so soft that you can tear it with your hand. This can take around half hour, but make sure to control it yourself.
5. Adding the “ñame”.
Once the chicken is soft, we can add the ñame (yam) pieces. Now we only gotta wait until the yam is soft. You can cook the yam as long as you want, this will depend on how thick you want the soup to be. The longer the thicker, since the yam will dissolve more.
Taste the soup several times! Feel free to add some extra salt and pepper, according to your personal taste.
Since this recipe consists of several specific steps, I’ve prepared a video that explains more visually how everything should be looking like in each stage, watch the tutorial video here:
Serve immediately by itself or with some white rice.
It makes me very happy to share this recipe with you! I want to thank my grandmother, my mother and Tía Lucy for backing me up with their knowledge and experience, I had so much fun cooking with all of you!
If you guys have any further questions regarding this recipe, feel free to leave a comment or email me at vanessa@vanevalentine.com
Hope you guys like it and buen provecho…ojue!!!
xoxo.
My housemates are all vegetarians and very big fans of broccoli, so this was meant to happen at some point 
Quiche is a very simple recipe, there are several possible combinations and can be served as a meal at any time of the day.
It may seem basic, but I personally recommend this recipe, especially if you’re running out of ideas or need to prepare a nice meal and don’t have a lot of time. I’m giving this quiche a cheesy twist by adding some cottage cheese, makes the quiche very creamy in general.
Serve this quiche with some salad and you’re good to go! 
What you’ll need (9-inch):
Broccoli (one big piece)
Some mushrooms
1 big onion
4 garlic cloves
olive oil
Pie crust (pre-made or self-made)
5 eggs
1 cup of Cottage cheese
Salt and pepper
Procedure:
Start by cooking the broccoli in boiling water, only until broccoli becomes of a bright green color. Remove and wash with some cold water, this will keep the crunchy-ness in the broccoli.
Chop the mushrooms, onion and garlic into small pieces.
Heat up some oil in a pan and start by adding the garlic and onion. When the onion is a bit golden add the mushrooms and combine well. Last thing you’ll add is the broccoli (in small pieces), then season it with some salt and pepper and your favorite spices.
Cover a baking dish with the pie crust (this is easy to find in the supermarket or you can make it yourself for extra taste). Cover the bottom with the broccoli mixture we just cooked.
In a separate bowl, combine the 5 eggs with the cottage cheese and some salt and pepper.
Pour this egg mixture on top of the broccoli.
Quiche is ready to go in a pre-heated oven to 200°C for 40 minutes.
Serve inmediately while still warm and crunchy.
Buen provecho!!! xoxo.
