Holiday Cake Crumb Confetti Cookies.
posted on December 12, 2012 by
Even though this holiday season is flying by and has been more stressful than usual, I always try to find time to bake. And after participating in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap last year (see my Barcelona Cookies recipe), I was really looking forward to doing it again. There is nothing better than getting cookies in the mail!
Like last year, the hardest part was deciding what to bake! My bestie over at A Good Hostess bought me the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook for my birthday and I’ve been itching to try one of the recipes. And since I’m a Funfetti addict, I knew I had to try their cake crumb confetti cookies. The “holiday” part comes from trading the rainbow sprinkles for red, green and white! The recipe was really easy, and the cake crumb is made first and then incorporated into the cookie dough, so it can be used in other recipes or can just be eaten on its own. (There’s nothing wrong with that!)
Thanks so much to Love and Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen for organizing two years in a row! And a big thanks to the lovely ladies who sent me some amazing cookies: Lauren from Making Life Sweet and her delicious maple almond brown butter glazed cookies (like all my fave things in one cookie), Emily from Cookie District and her beautifully decorated sugar cookies (almost too pretty to eat, but I ate them all!), and Katie from Sweetness Hunter and her Peppermint White Chocolate cookies that used crushed up Candy Cane Kisses! Yum!!
Here is my recipe for Holiday Cake Crumb Confetti Cookies! Enjoy!
Simple & Skinny Eclair Cake.
posted on November 09, 2012 by
One trait I did not get from my mother is her cooking ability. I can cook, but I just don’t enjoy it. Instead I bake. And my mom would say that she can bake, but doesn’t really enjoy it. That being said, she does have a few recipes that I absolutely love, and since she’s not really into baking, they are always pretty easy. But that doesn’t mean their not tasty, and this one is no exception.
The great thing about her Eclair Cake recipe is that since it uses mostly packaged foods (Jell-O, Cool Whip and graham crackers), it’s easy to make “skinny.” I used low-fat grahams, sugar-free/fat-free JELL-O pudding, and Cool Whip Free. It tastes just as good as the higher calorie alternative, but has less way less guilt. I don’t know why, but I think of this a summer dessert. Maybe because we always have it at cookouts. But a few substitutions would make it fabulous for the holidays. You could trade the milk for eggnog, the grahams for gingerbread cookies, and either add peppermint extract or crushed up candy canes for the frosting. I’m totally making this next.
The original recipe calls to make this in a 13×9 dish. But because I have portion control with this dessert, I decided to try it as single servings. I used 4oz Ball jars and I used a biscuit cutter to cut my graham crackers into circles. I just dipped the edge in water and it worked like a charm! But…it didn’t help with my portion control. I guess it doesn’t really matter if they’re “skinny” if you can eat six in one sitting, right?
Homemade candy corn.
posted on October 30, 2012 by
As you may have guessed from yesterdays post, I LOVE candy corn. I know it’s just sugar, sugar and more sugar in the form of corn syrup, but I love it. So much so that I wanted to make my own. A few things to note. One, the dough for this candy seems to be very temperamental and does not do well in humidity. Since we’re in the midst of a hurricane, it’s very humid here so the dough never really hardened as well as it should have. But that’s what the freezer is for! Two, some things are just easier to buy at the store. This is one of them. It took me four tries to get the dough right, and what worked for me might not work for you. But that being said, three, this homemade version is yummy and buttery and could easily be adapted to any flavor or shape, making it good for any holiday.
So even though this was a bit of a pain, since I did end up with successful candy corn, I’m going to share the recipe. Enjoy!
Spiced pumpkin mini muffins.
posted on October 22, 2012 by
About a month ago I was on Pinterest (my husband calls me a Pinaholic) browsing through the wonderfully picturesque food recipes when I stumbled across a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Mini Donuts from baking bloggers Blue Eyed Bakers. They looked and sounded delicious! I HAD to make them. After searching for a mini donut pan, I settled for a mini muffin pan (assuming that I would get more use out of it). I followed the recipe exactly, taking the different baking times for muffins versus donuts into consideration. They came out of the pan perfectly after 13 minutes and they looked amazing! The hubby waited not-so-patiently for them to cool enough to swallow (chewing for him is overrated).
Finally we were able to taste this long-awaited recipe and…I was tremendously disappointed. They didn’t taste quite like I expected I guess. They had been baked perfectly and were moist…but not nearly pumpkiny enough! I wanted it to taste like a harvest-scented candle in my mouth! So even though this blog post was long overdue (sorry Ash), I decided to tweak the recipe to make it all I could hope for…like a pumpkin pie muffin. So please enjoy my creation!
Pumpkin Spice Syrup.
posted on October 01, 2012 by
Like I’ve said before (and I know I sound like a broken record, but whatever), two of my fave things about Fall are boots and Pumpkin Spice Latte’s. I haven’t actually taken my boots out of hibernation yet, but now that it’s October (what?!), it’s probably time. I do, however, seem to be spending my entire salary on Pumpkin Spice Latte’s. I try to resist, but they are just so damn good addicting. My car just drives itself right to Starbucks. Weird.
But now I need to think about trading my PSL fund for a Christmas fund …only 84 days left! So this is an economical recipe decision. And it’s been a while since I’ve baked, so I’m easing myself back into it with this very simple, very delicious, very versatile recipe.
There are a lot of pumpkin spice syrup recipes in the blogosphere. Mine’s not that much different, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth sharing! The syrup is incredibly easy to make, and you probably already have most of the ingredients. Plus, it can be used on anything. I’m using it to make a latte, but I imagine it would be amazing on pancakes or oatmeal. Or in ice cream or yogurt. Or in a martini. Or straight out of the jar (with some whipped cream, of course). So, yeah, pretty much anything.
Flourless chocolate almond cake.
posted on June 12, 2012 by
I’ve been majorly slacking with the baking lately. There just aren’t enough hours in the day, you know? But when your husbands coworker asks if we’re having marital problems because I haven’t sent him to work with any treats lately, then I guess it’s time to get back in the kitchen! And since Jake’s coworker’s favorite baked good is flourless chocolate cake, that’s what I made. With a typical me twist: almond.
I haven’t made this cake in a while. I used to have an amazing family recipe that was written on a post-it. I had it memorized, but somewhere over the years, the physical (and mental) recipe got lost. And it was GOOD. And EASY. So I haven’t made one since, hoping that the recipe would one day come back to be. But it hasn’t, so I started with what I remember being the closest thing – a recipe from Williams-Sonoma. I also used a mixture of Mast Brothers chocolate, a local company based out of the Bronx. Mainly because I couldn’t resist their pretty packaging…not that you taste the packaging in the cake, but quality chocolate definitely makes it better!
{ Bake & Bitch: Part 1 } Almond Biscotti.
posted on April 19, 2012 by
{ Our usual blog swap with the ladies at A Good Hostess will be taking on a new spin from time to time. If there’s one good thing about the time Lena and I spend together, it’s all the bitching that gets done. But bitching, while incredibly therapeutic, isn’t that productive. So while we bitch, we will bake. }
M: So I suppose it’s safe to assume a good hostess should be able to prepare a homemade dessert and not serve chocolate bars as I have been known to do. Ash was nice enough to walk me through a super easy recipe. I, of course, only helped by providing one ingredient: the alcohol. Typical. I may have stood to the side lines for our first try and let you run the show. I have a feeling next time my baking coach is going to be rougher on me.
Ash: I thought this exercise would be a bit more hands on and not as much of a spectator sport. But that’s ok. The goal was to show you that baking something from scratch is not that difficult. And we started with something that looks harder than it is: biscotti. The thing about baking is that you just need to follow instructions.
Kiss me. I made Irish cupcakes.
posted on March 19, 2012 by
I’m not Irish. Not even on St. Patty’s Day. Maybe it’s because I’ve never developed a taste for Guinness. (Although Baileys is a totally different story.) But Guinness in my cupcakes? That I like. And by like I mean love. I made these Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Baileys Buttercream Frosting for the first time last year and I have to say, they were pretty amazing. And even though they would be good to eat year round, I waited an entire year before making them again. And in that year built up super high expectations. But I’m happy to report that these are still my favorite cupcakes. Ever. And I eat a lot of cupcakes.
As usual, I’ve totally slacked and meant to post this recipe last week. But like I said, they would be good year round! Even though the name makes them sound dense and rich, they are actually light and moist (sorry, I hate that word, but it’s true) and you can totally eat half a dozen without feeling gross. (Which I may or may not know from experience…)
Essentials for achieving domestic-baking-goddess status.
posted on March 17, 2012 by
As mentioned in our previous post, we are continuing our blog swapping series with the ladies over at A Good Hostess. The blog is run by two sisters who share their ideas for a stylish home and living the good life in minimal square-footage. They teach you that classy and sassy are not mutually exclusive, and that a good hostess always knows when to use the f-word.
{ Below is a preview of my post }
While Lena is over at my blog discussing her obsession with baking mixes, I’m over here judging her. OK, not really. I love her, but I’m on a mission to teach her to bake. From scratch. Starting with my fave baking essentials. Of course, these could be used with baking mixes, but you really only need a bowl and spatula for most of them. Sorry, did that sound judgemental? Look, I’m not dissing baking mixes. Trust me, NO ONE likes Funfetti more than I do! But, I do take pride in making something from scratch, and for the most part, it’s really not that difficult. Unless it’s macarons.
I’m pretty sure I own every baking utensil or gadget ever made, and it was hard to narrow them down, but these are the things I can’t live without:
1. My beloved Kitchen Aid
I know these aren’t cheap, but they are totally worth the investment. Seriously, this thing is magical. And it looks pretty on my counter. Although I still wish I had opted for a more fun color (umm, pink). But I guess red is a classic. I love mine so much I would actually get it tattooed on my body. (Ok, just temporarily.)
Continue reading to see the rest of the list.
Ms. Mixalot.
posted on March 16, 2012 by
{ Blog Swapping Series, Part 4: The blog swapping with our besties over at A Good Hostess continues. They will be bringing you their obsessions and we’ll be discussing our hostessing skills. Check out my post, where I discuss the essentials for achieving domestic-baking-goddess status. All you will need is a tiara! }
Let me take a moment to be a bit cocky. I’m one mean cook. I make chicken parm, lasagna, lamb kebabs, shrimp diablo, and roasted pork tenderloin that are to die for. Ash would also tell you that I make one killer mixed green salad. Here comes the “but” though…but I can’t bake anything other than scones to save my life.
As a certifiable chocoholic, it’s particularly unfortunate that I can’t make brownies. My saving grace has become Baked NYC brownie mixes. After discovering their delicious decadence at their Brooklyn bakery, I found Williams-Sonoma sold their mixes. Further investigation of the WS food section led me to find Sprinkles cupcake mixes and Momofuku cookie mixes.
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