Today, I'm going to be sharing my Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. Seriously guys, I cannot have enough of these cookies, and neither can my fiance. We pretty much eat the batch as it's on the cooling rack. To help portion ourselves though, a lot of this dough gets frozen in pre-made cookie dough balls until we're ready to have a treat! This recipe creates about 2 dozen or so cookies, depending on the size of your cookies. And without further ado, here is my Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe!

Ingredients:

Directions:

And there you have it! The great thing about this recipe is that it is so versatile.You can substitute anything for the chocolate chips, such as Toblerone or chopped up candy bars, or even change it to a sugar cookie by replacing the brown sugar with granulated white sugar. 

Link your favourite cookie dough recipe below, I'd love to try some more! :) 

Tsujiri hit Toronto not too long ago with their Dundas location, serving matcha based desserts and drinks. But their fairly new North York location manages to serve up savoury matcha dishes as well. To be honest, I was never really interested in Tsujiri. Don't get me wrong - I love a good matcha latte, but there was just something about matcha noodles that sounded so unappealing to me. But we ended up giving Tsujiri a shot because most restaurants in the area were closed and we didn't feel like having a hot bowl of ramen because the weather itself was pretty warm. 

I got the Sapporo style Miso Tsuke Soba along with an Iced Matcha Latte.

The matcha flavoured soba is served cold on a plate with the broth on the side - the idea is to dip the noodles into the broth rather than eating the noodles straight from the broth. I found this to be quite an interesting way to eat noodles, and it's pretty genius cause it works for both hot and cold weather. Upon first bite, you can really taste the matcha in the noodles adding a little bit of bitterness and sweetness to the noodles. After a a couple bites though, it becomes a secondary lingering taste to the perfectly balanced salty broth. I do wish we were given spoons for the broth though because it was so delicious - plus it's pretty hard to get all the toppings, such as corn,out of the broth without a spoon.

The iced matcha latte was delicious and probably the best iced matcha latte I've ever had. I believe there was two to choose from and I got the sweeter of the two, but it was just sweet enough to balance out the slight bitterness of the matcha and kind of reminded me of brown sugar.

Maybe it was fate, or maybe it was a happy accident - but nonetheless, my friend and I enjoyed the food a lot more than we were expecting to and we'll definitely be coming back for more!

What's the most unique matcha dish you've ever had?

Chocolats Favoris is a Montreal based chocolate shop that has slowly crossed it's Quebec borders, opening a several shops in Ontario and one in British Columbia. Their Vaughan located opened up last year, which is currently the one of two locations in the GTA, and I couldn't wait to head over and visit!

Like their name states, Chocolats Favoris specializes in chocolate, containing a plethora of chocolates and fondues. The fondues are so easy to make and are to die for - simply heat the can in a water bath until the chocolate is melted! These can also be purchased at select grocery stores, so you don't have to visit a Chocolats Favoris store for one of these bad boys, but the selection may be more limited. Each location also has an ice cream counter where you can get interesting dipped soft serve cones, sundaes, and milkshakes! For the dipped soft serve cones, there are a handful of  combinations to choose from, starring each of the flavoured dips that they have, or you could make your own. 

This was my second time being at Chocolats Favoris, and based on both experiences I would advise on choosing a dark chocolate base instead of a milk or white chocolate base, and getting a cone rather than a cup. It sounds silly to give advice on a dipped cone, but Chocolats Favoris takes it to another level. The chocolate dip surrounding the ice cream is THICC, literally. Because the chocolate layer is so thick, a fairly sweet milk or white chocolate can taste overly sweet when combined with toppings and vanilla soft serve. However, I'm the type of girl who can't handle cake and ice cream together, so if you've got a giant sweet tooth, go for it, cause you do you, booboo. Also, when the thick layer of chocolate dip hardens, it's actually quite difficult to bite into it without making a mess, rendering a spoon useless - which is where the cone over cup comes into play. 

All in all, I can never say no to ice cream, and Chocolats Favoris is no different. Their chocolates and fondues are also really yummy, making them a great addition to gifts or gift baskets.

What's your favourite thing to dip in chocolate fondue? 

Mine are apple slices! They hold well so they don't require fondue forks, and provide just the right amount of sweetness to compliment the chocolate.

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Let me just start off by saying that I'm not a fan of pancakes, let alone blueberry pancakes. I'm very picky with cooked fruit and would rather go with chocolate chip pancakes if I had to, BUT I really did enjoy these blueberry pancakes. They're moist, dense, and fluffy at the same time, making them quite filling despite the seemingly small serving size. The blueberry compote that tops it off is to die for, and because there's blueberry compote, whipped cream, and a generous drizzle of syrup, these pancakes are perfect as served and do not require additional sweetness. So far, these truly are my favourite blueberry pancakes and I would definitely come back for these.

To balanced out the sweet with some savoury, we got the Big B'lunch Skillet, with spicy pulled pork, roasted onions, potatoes, black beans, two sunny side up eggs, and piri piri salsa. Following the delicious blueberry pancakes, this dish can be a bit underwhelming. I expected the skillet to be much larger based on the name, but it's diameter was about the length of my hand. The food itself was good, but I found that it was mostly potatoes and onions. It didn't quite meet our expectations nor did it satisfy our savoury tooth, so I think the next time we visit, we'll just stick to the blueberry pancakes.

Where's your favourite brunch place in the GTA?

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Winterlicious is a great time to try out some restaurants within a price budget. For $18, my friend and I checked out the Momofuku Noodle Bar. We got to sit right on the island of the kitchen and watch the cooks prepare out food. Most of the ingredients were prepped before open so only assembly was needed – a great method for getting food out fast especially considering how busy it was.

I am a huge fan of Korean food, but one dish that hasn't quite won my heart yet is bibimbap. Bibimbap is literally translated to "mixed rice", and is usually served in a hot stone bowl with various veggies, a sunny side egg and gochujang (a Korean hot sauce). Enter Bi Bim Bap, a restaurant that adds a twist to this Korean staple. Bi Bim Bap provides various Korean dishes and allows diners to choose what goes on their bibimbap (egg, beef, chicken, spicy chicken, tofu or mushroom) as well as the rice (white or brown). 

Every meal comes starts off with a small plate of kimchi, pickled daikon and carrots as well as a bowl of miso soup. To start, I always get the Kim Chi Fries: julienned fries topped with kimchi, Korean BBQ sauce, sesame mayo and green onions.
Next up is my favourite: the Beef Bibimbap, which comes withradish, spinach, bean sprouts, carrots, cucumber, burdock, cabbage, zucchini,  dried seaweed, sesame seeds topped with thin marinated slices of beef. I always add soy garlic sauce and a bit of original gochujang to my bowl for a little sweet heat, before mixing it up. The hot stone bowl keeps everything piping and helps to cook and bring everything together. I like to press the contents onto the sides of the bowl to keep it hot and to crisp up the rice.
The meal then ends with a refreshing cold cinnamon drink which is topped with a single pine nut. This drink is like heaven because it cools down the tongue - whether it be from the heat, the spice, or both!
If you live in Toronto, I definitely recommend checking this place out - it's definitely one of my go-to places for a hearty meal. Bon appetit!

 I used the Original mustard as the base and added raspberries, basil, maple syrup and lemon juice. It was definitely interesting and would be better as a salad dressing.

As for the rest of the Taste of Toronto Event, I would say that it's definitely pricey. It was my first time so I didn't quite know what to expect. The general admission tickets are $20 and every booth and restaurant has menus which you can order food and/or drinks from. The event takes Crowns instead of money, which have an activation fee of $1, and can be reloaded throughout the day at the Crown banks inside the event. There were many more booths than restaurants, mainly breweries and vineyards. Listed below are the food menus which start at 6 Crowns ($6).

First up is Kupfert and Kim, a vegan quick-service restaurant with 6 locaions across Toronto.

Oxaca

 First Canadian Place 

 Attendees got to choose a sample of their two best sellers: Oxaca and First Canadian Place. Oxaca is basically a vegan burrito bowl, so I decided to choose something different and got First Canadian Place. I've never tried tempeh before and I'm not yet sold, but the rest of the dish was delish! I now understand the hype with Kupfert and Kim because they make a pretty darn good vegan meal! 

 Attendees got to try their homemade dishes: Falafel, Rice Pudding, and Hummus & Babaganuj. I really enjoyed all three dishes and it's hard to pick a favourite, but I really liked the rice pudding because I believe it's either vegan or gluten free (I'm forget which one).

 Fabarnak is located on Church Street and also offers catering.

Not pictures is Foodoora who is the Delivery Partner of Veggielicious, delivering meals on bikes to help save the environment. If you haven't tried to order from Foodora yet, use the coupon code: CANEVVB5Cs to get $10 off your first order (until 07/31/2016).

Honestly, I don't think vegetarian/vegan life is for me because I really don't like vegetables, but I really liked everything I tried here. I also don't think I've consciously tried vegetarian or vegan food, but after this experience I'm definitely more open to it. I love that Toronto is such a diverse city that has so many dietary options available for those who are vegetarian/vegan.

Are you a vegetarian or vegan? Have any vegetarian or vegan restaurant suggestions within the GTA?

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