...And Cookies For All

Peanut Butter Brownie Cookies

2009-11-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

yes, they do look sort of like poo... but these are the most delicious poo-looking confections i've ever eaten, let alone made! i had been wanting to try them for a while after i first saw the recipe on the jif site. but wait, i hear you saying, isn't jif peanut butter? those look chocolatey delicious but i don't see any peanut butter...

or, for a clearer, professional picture:

haha, fooled you! the peanut butter is on the inside, my friends, in between the fudgey chocolate cookie and the fudgey chocolate frosting. i told you, delicious.

these are officially called "peanut butter brownie cookies," as they are made from a brownie mix. you can get the exact recipe and proportions from the linked recipe site. so then, let's get down to it:

for the cookie part, mix brownie mix, butter, cream cheese, and egg, then drop onto a cookie sheet. i HIGHLY recommend putting them on parchment, as they are very sticky little suckers.

or, on a cookie mat, like silpat. i recently bought a wilton silicone baking mat, pictured below (it's blue). but i'm not all that crazy about it. maybe i just haven't used it enough. in fact, i think i've only used it once.

next, mix the peanut butter (i prefer chunky, always) with powdered sugar and drop dollops onto the sticky brownie dough, like so:

bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees, and let cool thoroughly. this is what they'll look like post-baking:

they must be cool, because the next step is to cover them with canned fudge frosting (my frosting also had little chocolate chips in it)... i'm drooling just thinking about this.

the cookies were so tender and chewy... just like you'd imagine a brownie-cum-cookie would be.

now, i baked these and ate them over the course of a few days, so i didn't frost them all right away. i just put them in a container and frosted as needed. my roommate, however, did not know that you were supposed to frost them and ate them sans-frosting, and thought they were yummy as well.

but really, why would you ever skip frosting?

so these cookies were uber delicious. delectable. mouthwatering. tasty. you can read the thesaurus entries yourself.

however, because the dough was so sticky and a hassle to work with, and because you had to do three steps (cookie, peanut butter, frosting), i probably won't be making these again any time soon. but if you want to make them for me, i will gladly eat them.

Flour Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

2009-11-26T11:04:00.000-08:00

yes, i'm still alive! law school does tend to eat one's soul... er, i mean, time. i have managed to bake a few things in the past few months, but not to blog about them. so here's to catching up!

i made these flour-free peanut butter cookies, a variation on another recipe i'd tried before. the old recipe was just 1 cup of peanut butter, 1 cup of sugar, 1 egg. bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees. that's it. super easy, and pretty tasty too.

this time, i tried one that looked more like a regular cookie recipe, from allrecipes.com:

2 cups peanut butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

mix, drop onto cookie sheet, bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. still super easy.

these are good for those who want to cut out wheat products, but they're still not quite the same. the sugar doesn't dissolve very well in the peanut butter or something, and i don't think the baking soda adds any lift to these, so i'd just as soon leave it out.

but, as you can see, these cookies were not left alone. what can make mediocre cookies delicious? chocolate ganache! i am a huge fan of ganache.

i think this was one part cream to one part semi-sweet chocolate chips.
heat the cream slowly, i prefer on low power in the microwave in a pyrex measuring cup.
then pour over the chocolate and stir. ta-da! ganache!

Mod Podge Giveaway!

2009-09-20T15:50:00.001-07:00

one of my favorite blogs, modpodgerocks, is giving away a trial pack of mod podge... check her out and enter, and get inspired by her blog. i know i am!

p.s. i know i haven't posted in a while... i've been ridiculously busy with school, and my camera broke. i got a new camera but haven't had time to post about my baking adventures. hope i can post soon.

New Cookbook in Action

2009-08-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

i finally made some cookies from my new favorite cookbook, and they were delicious.

first up, sugared almond cookies. i made these at the request of my mother, who isn't such a big fan of chocolate but loves nuts and poppyseeds.

they're sort of a shortbread-y cookie, with almonds and poppy seeds. after making the dough, you form it into rolls in saran wrap and refrigerate it.

then you slice the dough, brush on some beaten egg, and sprinkle with sugar. the dough isn't that sweet, so the sugar is mandatory.

i ended up using a mixture of regular white sugar and sparkle sugar (which, of course, makes everything better).

perfect for tea and coffee!

next, crinkle top cookies. these are a nice, lightly chocolaty cookie, crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. just like i like 'em.

they've got extra leavening (in this case, baking soda), so they puff up quickly then collapse, hence the crinkliness. again, quite tasty, and you know i love me some chocolate!

Giveaway: Win $75 Gift from All Modern

2009-08-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite craft blogs is dollar store crafts, and now they're giving away a gift certificate to all modern! i'm so excited... i hope i win!

Cookie Filled Cupcakes

2009-08-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

they look like normal, unassuming cupcakes.
but they have a surprise inside them...

cookie dough!

these are so simple, and so decadent. just make your cupcakes as normal, but put a bit of frozen cookie dough in the batter before you bake them, like so:

you must freeze the cookie dough, at least 2 hours, or else the dough will bake and you'll have an odd crispy mess in the middle instead of a bit of cookie dough.

i'm not gonna lie, i used a chocolate cake mix for these and frozen break-n-bake cookie dough. i broke my own rule and used off-brand cake mix, and i paid the price for it. the cake part wasn't that great, sort of dry, but the cookie dough more than made up for it.

and i topped these with a ganache made with one part (1/2 cup) cream and two parts (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips. at first, i was thinking i should have used milk chocolate, but the semisweet was perfect. the cupcakes were quite sweet, so the semisweet ganache added a good contrast in sweetness and texture.

i was inspired by recipes on allrecipes.com and cakemixdoctor.com. this is an easy recipe that is easily adaptable, and the possibilities are endless! i had some more break-n-bake dough so i made more cupcakes with yellow cake mix (name brand this time) and ganache topping... so good. just imagine the flavor combinations with this cake, cookie, and frosting/topping combination!

Lemon Cupcakes

2009-08-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

mmm.... lemon cupcakes... cue the mouth-watering. i decided to make these as a thank you for somebody who let me swim in his pool while he was at work. i wanted something summery, a bit light, and not too decadent. these fit the bill! and boy, was it easy. how easy was it? well, i'll tell ya.

to make these cupcakes, you'll need:

1 box yellow (or white, i guess) cake mix, plus whatever it calls for on the box
1 box instant lemon pudding
lemon buttercream frosting (more on that later)

that's it! just add the lemon pudding mix to the cake mix and then prepare the cake as directed. i guess you could just use a lemon cake mix, but i think this method makes a better cupcake. they're a bit dense and extremely moist. and, i think the lemon flavor would be too overwhelming with a lemon cake mix when you combine it with the lemon buttercream frosting (i promise, it's coming).

the batter will be quite thick, but don't worry. it's fine. here's the batter in the cups. see how it isn't settling down:

and when they come out, they fall a little bit, so this recipe probably isn't good for a full sized cake.

but it's great for cupcakes- more frosting! i sort of 'spackled' the dips with frosting to make a flat (ok, slightly rounded) surface to pipe on.

here they are all piped up.

so, what did i frost these puppies with? quite possibly the crown jewel of this whole project: lemon buttercream frosting.

i took this simple buttercream frosting (that i've used before) and added lemon juice. at first, i just added it after the sugar, substituting 2 tbsp lemon juice for the 2 tbsp milk, but the frosting was a little dry. so i added the 2 tbsp milk as well, and it was perfect!
but a word of caution: lemon will curdle milk if they're added together, so make sure you mix in the milk or lemon juice completely before you add the other one, otherwise you might get some nasty results.

you could just use canned buttercream or white frosting, but really, this lemon buttercream frosting really makes these cupcakes shine. my mom said these are her favorite cupcakes of mine so far, largely due to the frosting. so, make the darn frosting!

so, here's some of the cupcake carnage.

it's so good!

New Cookbook!

2009-07-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

i just got the best bake sale ever cookbook at half price books! it has a ton of cookie recipes, but also has recipes for (according to the chapter headings) bars and brownies, breads and coffee cakes, cupcakes, rolls, and muffins, cakes, pies, and more. it even has tips on how to organize and run a successful bake sale.

i just flipped through the first few cookie recipes, and i wanted to make every single one of them. i can't wait to get crackin'!

International Goodies

2009-07-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

to celebrate my membership in the george washington international law review, i decided to make an international treat. i was thinking about some sort of ethnic cookie, but i really wanted to do something russian, and they're not big on cookies. then, i remembered something my host mom made for me all the time when i studied abroad: oladi!

"what the heck is oladi?" i hear you asking. well, it's in the pancake family. it's like a small, thick, lightly leavened blini, and a blini is like a crepe. oladi, like much russian cuisine, are an inexact science... more of an art, i suppose. you mess around with it, get the hang of it, and after a few failures, it just clicks and you get it. in fact, there's a russian saying, "the first blini is always a lump," (по-русски: "первый блин всегда комом") meaning practice makes perfect, or if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

so, away we go. ingredients (based on this recipe):

1 egg
2 cups (1 pint, or .5 liter) unflavored unsweetened kefir, available at a whole foods or wegman's type store; you can also use buttermilk or plain yogurt if you don't have kefir. you could even dilute some sour cream with milk... any sort of thick/fermented milk product will do.
4 tbsp sugar (or more if you want sweeter, more desserty oladi)
pinch of salt
10 tbsp flour, to start
1 tsp baking soda, plus some vinegar

in a medium to large bowl, whisk together the kefir, egg, sugar and salt, just until blended. don't use a mixer! a fork works well.

next, whisk in the flour. you want it to be the consistency of thin sour cream. if it's too thin, add more flour by the tablespoon, whisking after each addition. i think i ended up having like 15 tablespoons or something in my batter. but start with 10: you can always add an ingredient, but you can't take it out.

now, at this point the original recipe said put a teaspoon of soda into a tablespoon, fill the tablespoon with vinegar, and mix into the batter. but i think if you just pour the soda into the batter, and before you mix it in, pour on 2 teaspoons of vinegar, and then mix it in. you're just trying to get some leavening in there. other recipes call for yeast, but this is easier. especially since i usually don't keep yeast around.

here's what my final batter looked like:

to cook these bad boys up, heat 5-6 tablespoons in a heavy skillet (i used our cast iron one, i think), over medium heat. the amount of oil is approximate; you just need enough to cover the bottom of the skillet, because you'll be frying these.

once the oil is hot, use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to ladle the batter into the pan. you want them to be about 2-3 inches in diameter, and you can do a few at a time, like so:

(sorry for the bad lighting- i was concentrating on not burning them or getting splattered with hot oil. no time to check the flash.)

fry them for about 2 minutes, then flip and fry on the other side for two minutes. make sure you have enough oil in the pan after each batch. these guys soak up a lot of it, so you'll most likely need to add more to make sure the bottom of the pan is covered.

i guarantee you'll burn your first one, so just get it out of the way so you can go on to rock the oladi. see, here's what they're supposed to look like (from tasterussian.com):

and here's my first batch:

pretty bad, i know. (actually, the burnt-ness doesn't mar the taste too terribly bad. they're still edible, just not as good as they should be.)
but, here's how some the rest turned out (most had been gobbled up by this point):

and here's a close up of the one with jam on it:

pretty darn good. serve them with sour cream and jam (cherry preferably, but raspberry or strawberry is good too). we were out of sour cream, so we just put jam on them, like the one on top. you could also serve them with something savory if you wished, and they'd make a good side dish to eggs and bacon. as you can see, they're generally a breakfast thing, but are fabulous as a dessert too.

cheers, to international law review and international treats!

Black(berry) Bottom Cupcakes

2009-07-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

time for a delightful summertime desset- blackberry bottom cupcakes! i used livinglocurto's fresh blackberry cake recipe (she has a printable recipe there) and modified it a little and made cupcakes... and they were so delicious.

the texture of the cake was a little muffin-y, not as fine as regular cake, and not too terribly sweet, but the buttercream frosting definitely brought it into the cake realm. the cake has two tablespoons of lemon pudding mix in it, so that lightens and freshens the flavor up with just that hint of lemon, giving it another taste dimension.

my edits: i didn't have self-rising flour, but no problem. to make self-rising flour, you just add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt for each cup of all purpose flour. and, i'll even do the math for you- 4 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp salt and 3 c. all purpose flour for this recipe.
also, i used frozen blackberries instead of fresh, because i'm cheap, but i otherwise followed her recipe.

so, here we go. ingredients:

2 1/2 cups frozen blackberries (about 1-16 oz package), thawed and drained and blotted
1 pinch of cinnamon
2 1/4 cups sugar (split)
1 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs at room temperature
3 cups all purpose flour, mixed with 4 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lemon instant pudding mix (you can make pudding later with the rest of the mix and 1 3/4 c milk)
1 cup of milk

-defrost, drain, and blot the blackberries. sprinkle with 1/4 c. sugar and a pinch cinnamon. set aside.
-preheat oven to 350. line as many cupcake tins as you have with cupcake papers (this recipe makes about 42 cupcakes, so you'll do several batches).
-mix together flour, powder, salt, and pudding mix. set aside.
-beat butter with a mixer until fluffy, then add the 2 c. sugar and vanilla and beat well.
-add eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition.
-add dry ingredients about 1 cup at a time, alternating with milk, and beating after each addition of dry or milk.
-put about 2-4 berries in each cupcake paper, then cover with a scoop of batter, filling about 1/2 to 2/3 full, like this:

-bake about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. it's ok if it comes out with blackberry juice on it, just as long as it doesn't have cake batter on it. this is what they'll look like, hopefully.

the blackberries sort of leak through the papers and leave some juice in the pan, so you should wipe it out with a damp paper towel before moving onto the next batch. be careful when you're eating the final product as well, lest you have sticky blue fingers!

-let cool completely, preferably on a wire rack, then frost with buttercream frosting. the recipe i used is below, but i am certainly not one to judge you if you use a canned buttercream frosting. nobody will notice, especially since you put so much effort into the cake part!

so, if you're inclined to make your own buttercream frosting, here's a really simple recipe from allrecipes.com that makes for a really fabulous frosting.

-1/2 cup shortening
-1/2 cup butter, softened
-1 tsp vanilla (i added a little extra splash, because i like vanilla)
-4 cups powdered sugar (that's about 1 lb, so you can use just one box or half a 2 lb bag or something)
-2 tbsp milk

beat together the shortening and butter until smooth.
add the vanilla and beat until incorporated.
add the sugar, about one cup at a time, incorporating well after each addition.
after all the sugar is in, or with the last 1 cup addition, add the 2 tablespoons of milk.
that's it! spread it on or pipe it if you want to be extra fancy. it's fairly stiff, so it lends itself well to piping.

here's a piped batch, ready to be shared with co-workers.

needless to say, these made me an office baking legend.

Maple Peach Apple Crumble

2009-07-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

another adventure in crumble! also another adventure in, "what the heck am i going to make with these ingredients?"

i bought some peaches meaning to grill them, and then i decided that i didn't want to go through the hassle. so instead i chopped them up and put them into a pan and tossed them in a little cinnamon and sugar (a tablespoon or so). there weren't enough peaches to fill out the 8x8 pan, so i chopped up an apple to add to the mix, again tossing to coat with some sugar and cinnamon.

then, the glorious topping... i used a packet of maple brown sugar instant oatmeal, about 1/4 cup all purpose flour, probably about 1/2 cup brown sugar, about a half a stick of cold butter, with a pinch of salt and a dash of cinnamon. then, i cut it together with a pastry cutter (a fork would also work). i think i ended up adding some more butter and brown sugar, and a bit of flour, because i wanted a lot of crumble. like i've said before, that's the best part anyway.

i threw that sucker in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the topping was crispy and nothing (i.e. apples) was too firm when i stuck a fork in it. really, nothing in this needs to be cooked--you could just eat it raw and be a-ok--it just tastes better warm. so, if you don't cook it enough, it's really no big deal. or, if you take a bite and it's not cooked to your liking, just put it back in for ten minutes or so.

here's a side view, after it came out of the oven. it's pretty shallow, but you can sort of see that there's quite a bit more crumble than fruit, or at least equal parts.

fruity crumbles like this are a shoot from the hip, or fly by the seat of your pants, kind of dessert (you can pick your own idiom there). no real chemical reactions need to happen, like leavening in cakes, so you don't have to worry about proportions too much. nothing needs to be cooked, like eggs in cookies (although i eat raw cookie dough all the time), so you don't have to worry too much about bake times. and most of the flavors are in the fruit, so you don't need to really add anything. and, if you screw up, you can fix it along the way. you can always sprinkle on some more sugar or bake it a little longer.

in short, i'm a fan of making fruit crumbles. easy and delicious! here's the damage done after one evening- about half gone... because it was so tasty!

Gourmet (Looking) Blueberry Muffins

2009-07-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

my parents go to a small church with only the main worship service (no sunday school or anything), and it gets out pretty early, at around 10am. so we usually go to breakfast afterwards. well, one sunday, we went to mimi's cafe, and i ordered a meal that had a blueberry muffin with it. i was so full from everything else that i couldn't eat the muffin, but it looked so good that i wanted to save it for later... but my parents wanted it right then! when i protested, my mom said, "why don't we just make some blueberry muffins today?" i acquiesced, and she ate part of my muffin.

so, after we left the restaurant, we went to the grocery store and bought a blueberry muffin mix. i wanted to get some additional fresh blueberries to put in there, but instead we just got a mix that boasted having a can of real blueberries (betty crocker, i think), which was enough for me.

when we got home, i made the muffins. i followed the directions on the box and everything. but, you know me, i can't leave well enough alone when it comes to cake mixes. so i made a crumble topping and put a generous amount of that on the muffins, and also topped them with sparkle sugar!

the muffins baked up so nice and golden brown, and a little crunchy with the sugar and the crumble. oh man, were they good!

they looked so gourmet and special, and they tasted delicious! i was so impressed with those muffins, even more than i usually am.

so, here's the "recipe:"

make the muffin mix: this is pretty self-explanatory--get a mix and follow the directions. fill the muffin tin cups only about halfway, to leave room for the crumble, which is really the best part anyway.
make the crumble topping: crumble topping is an inexact process, but here's a good starting point: 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 packed brown sugar, 1/2 stick cold butter (you want a crumble, not a dough), and a splash of cinnamon (optional) and a pinch of salt (also optional). pulse in a food processor. or if you don't have one, like me, use a fork or a pastry cutter to sort of mash the butter and the sugar together. if you think it needs more sugar or butter, add it. you can also add some oatmeal instead of some of the flour, or in addition. like i said, crumble topping is quite imprecise. just do it until it tastes good.
spoon the crumble into the muffin cups. be liberal! like i said, the crumble topping is really the best part anyway.
sprinkle each muffin with a pinch or two of sparkle sugar.
bake as directed on the muffin mix, maybe a little longer to crisp up the crumble topping.
voy-ola! gourmet muffins that nobody will ever know came from a mix!

Patriotic Cupcakes

2009-07-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

(picture from the salty cod)

what's more patriotic and american than apple pie? the answer is simple: cupcakes.

cupcakes came about in the 1800's in america, making them another great american invention. the name comes both from the small proportions--the original ones were baked in earthenware cups and such--and from their proportions, measured in cups. the original cupcake recipe is 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, 4 eggs. and, this was a big switch from weighing ingredients to measuring them by volume, using the anglo-american 'cup' instead of the metric system. this switch made them easier for the everyman (well, everywoman really) to make, as did the cupcake's diminutive size, because big cakes often took a really long time to cook over a hearth and often burned, but those problems were reduced with cupcakes. (thanks to food timeline and cupcakes take the cake for the history!)

alright, enough with the history lesson, let's get to the baked goods! i made some patriotic cupcakes for the fourth of july (which i fully realize was a good two weeks ago). first, i made some delicious red velvet cake cupcakes (yes, from a mix), and piped on some (canned) cream cheese frosting, and topped with blue sugar for a patriotic flair--red cake, white frosting, and blue sugar!

then, i made some red, white, and blue cupcakes--the batter itself was red, white, and blue! i divided the white cake batter (again, mine's from a box) and dyed one part red and one part blue (BIG NEWS: i got wilton gel colors! so now my stuff will be nice and bright, not like the weak colors i had on my cupcake burgers). so, i saw this on chica and jo and knew i had to make them. only mine weren't as swirl-y as chica and jo's, but they still looked awesome. and the patriotic cupcake wrappers didn't hurt...

and i frosted mine with (canned) chocolate cream cheese frosting, because i have a penchant for chocolate. i wanted to pipe it on and make it look all spiffy... but after i piped a few, the frosting started melting and sliding off. so after i frantically yelled for my mom to come help me, i scraped all the frosting off and just spread it on with a butter knife. but they still needed a little something extra... so i put sparkle sugar on them, and that did it! i love sparkle sugar... that stuff makes anything better.

here are some of the cupcakes, ready to be transported to work. since i made two different kinds of cupcakes, i had a ton left over after our little independence day cookout, and my coworkers were glad for it!

P.S. why no red, white, and blue sprinkles, you ask? because i scoured every wal-mart, target, michael's, market street, tom thumb, kroger, and party city within a 20 minute drive of my house, and there were none to be had! i find that quite odd, but it's alright. my cupcakes turned out cute anyway, even if they would have been cuter with some darned sprinkles!

Interior Design Personality

2009-07-17T19:01:00.000-07:00

i know this is a blog about cookies (and sometimes crafts), but you should have a good place in which to enjoy your baked goods, right?
i took this quiz from the international school of colour and design (ht: how about orange) to find my interior design personality. i think it totally pinned me- "high street classic." sort of combining classic and modern.

here's my "style personality" pictures:

and here's my "magazine cover" picture:

so, what's your style personality? leave me a comment and let me know!

(Dark) Chocolate Cookies

2009-07-16T13:30:00.001-07:00

i made this recipe from one of my favorite blogs, living locurto (she's from texas, how can i not love her?). the recipe is on her site (that's right, i'm making you go to her site for it- don't be lazy, now).

basically, it's a dark chocolate cake mix with butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, chocolate chips, and nuts. for my version, i used devil's food cake mix because i couldn't find dark chocolate cake mix. it turned out well with the devil's food, although i did later find the dark chocolate mix at target, so i might have to try them again with the dark chocolate mix this time. and i put in semi-sweet chocolate chips, as directed, and used pecans for my nuts.

man, were they good! i was afraid that they would be a little cake-y, being from a cake mix and all, but they were nice and chewy, just like i like 'em. and, the original recipe calls for cream cheese, but i didn't use any and they were still delicious. the only thing i'd do differently next time, other than maybe use a dark chocolate cake mix, is add more nuts. the cookies were quite chocolate-y, and having more nuts would have balanced it out quite nicely.

now, these got all scarfed up before i could take a picture, so i'm posting a picture from living locurto's site. mine were a little flatter than hers, but essentially the same.

overall assessment: great recipe- easy with phenomenal results!

I Have Discovered Cupcakes

2009-07-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

yes, i have discovered the beauty of cupcakes. little individual servings of cake, wrapped up and ready to go. and portion control is sort of built in. you can eat one for a small-ish piece of cake, or two if you're craving a big ol' piece of cake.

they're easy to transport- put them in a box and you're ready to go (this one is great- super cheap and fits 12-14 cupcakes like a dream). and, you can make just about any cake recipe into cupcakes. i recently made this recipe into cupcakes (blog post coming soon), and they're a hit at my office. and, many more cake recipes are tempting me to more cupcake madness...

Candy Jewelry Box

2009-07-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

i was bummin' around on the wilton website, and found this:

it's a ring box, made out of red candy melts and fondant, with a truffle center... and you are supposed to stick a real ring in it to propose with.

how ridiculously clever is that? you could also probably do the same thing with cake, using bakerella's box of chocolates cake as inspiration. i would absolutely die if a guy proposed to me with something like that. well, i'd say yes first, then i'd die.

my mom said, "no guy is going to go through that much trouble to make that little thing."
my first response was, "for me they will!"

my second response was, "well, maybe he can get his sister to make it for him."

Musette Bracelet GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-07-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

Musette Bracelet GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

this bracelet is really cute. turquoise and copper. not quite my style, but i'm sure my mom or my best friend would absolutely love it!

Cupcake Burgers

2009-07-06T11:27:00.001-07:00

i was inspired by the always-fabulous bakerella to make cupcake burgers for father's day. they're so cute, fairly easy, and pretty darn delicious too! plus, i got some icing tips, one fat star and one plain fat tip, and couplers at wal-mart on clearance, so i could make them look pretty good too. here are my tips on my "pastry bags," aka ziploc bags with their corners cut off (i can only be so fancy).

so, down to the details.
supplies:

one box white cake mix
one box brownie mix
one can white frosting
food coloring
optional: sparkling sugar (a course sugar; i got mine at wal-mart in the baking aisle next to the other cake decors)

yup, it's that easy. but for pete's sake, buy name brand mixes- it's worth the extra quarter. i used a store brand for these, and they were very dry the next day. oh, i ate them, but i didn't like them. i ended up just eating the brownie part with the frosting on it because the cake was so dry. but, moving on...

simply make the cupcakes according to the package directions (using liners so the sides aren't too brown). and make the brownies according to the package directions too, but bake for about 15 minutes in a 13x9 pan (so they'll be thin enough).

when cool, cut the cupcakes in half along their equators (not their international datelines, of course). cut the brownies into circles (i used the lid of my non-stick spray as a brownie cutter) and place in between the cupcake "buns."

meanwhile, divide the frosting into however many different toppings you want (i had three), and dye accordingly. you can use whatever "toppings" you like, but mine ended up having cheese, ketchup, and lettuce. the cheese was supposed to be mustard, but it wasn't quite yellow enough. bakerella used fancy frosting dyes so hers were much brighter, whereas i only had regular food coloring on hand. but, no matter, still cute!

then, frost on the toppings. i used the plain frosting tip for the cheese (just in a circle) and the ketchup (sort of squiggled on, almost like a flower), like so:

and i used the star tip for the lettuce, squiggled on sort of in between the ketchup, so that it would show through when the top was put on, like so:

and here they are with their tops on:

so cute!
and to make them look like sesame seed buns, i brushed a little melted butter (butter makes everything better) on top and sprinkled with sparkling sugar, which tastes much better than the real sesame seeds that bakerella used.

and here's my dear ol' dad about to chomp down on one of these bad little boys!

Gorgeous Dress!

2009-07-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

this dress is so beautiful... classy, a little vintage... and it's free!

http://downandoutchic.blogspot.com/2009/07/giveaway-bb-dakota-dress.html

Lessons in Chocolate

2009-07-03T17:39:00.001-07:00

no, i don't mean a textbook made out of chocolate. (but how fun would that be?) when i made s'mores pops, i learned some valuable lessons about working with chocolate flavored candy coating, so i thought i'd share my trials and solutions here.

don't drink water while you're working with chocolate. i was drinking ice water because it was really hot in my kitchen (don't worry, i could stand the heat). i grabbed my water and was taking a drink, and then... a drop of water fell into the chocolate coating. the coating immediately seized up and got all grainy and thick. ew, gross. it was completely unusable.

but no fear, there is a solution. i hopped on the internet and found you could just mix in paramount crystals to fix the problem. well, that's another problem: paramount crystals are available almost exclusively online. then i read that you could put shortening in it, but i was fresh out of that too.

then, i discovered the solution: vegetable oil. just mix it in until the chocolate is smooth again. thank you Jesus! the chocolate will take longer to harden, but harden it will. awesome.

S'mores Pops

2009-07-03T08:41:00.001-07:00

i'm very proud of these because i came up with the idea all by myself. i feel so creative! it occurred to me after i went camping and still had some leftover marshmallows from real s'mores.

they don't look particularly delicious, but they really are. and so simple, too. basically, they are marshmallows on sticks, dipped in chocolate, and covered in graham cracker crumbs. so let's break it down.

1. i had these lollipop sticks that i bought on sale. they were a bit long, so i cut them roughly in half (just eyeballed it).

2. i stuck the sticks into the marshmallows. i stuck the unfinished cut end into the marshmallows to camouflage the rough ends.

TIP: the more stick in the marshmallow, the better. they get a little heavy with the chocolate on them, so they need support. put the sticks as far into the marshmallows you can without poking out the top and insert the stick through the longest part of the marshmallow, as shown below.

3. melt some chocolate flavored candy coating. i got mine from walmart. i also put in about half of a hershey's bar to make it more chocolate-y.

TIP: i put the bowl of chocolate on top of a heating pad to keep it from solidifying so fast. and, i covered the heating pad with some saran wrap to protect it from drips. you can sort of see it in the picture here.

4. dip the marshmallows on sticks into the chocolate. make sure to get chocolate all over it, even on a bit of the stick to help the marshmallows stay on the sticks.

TIP: after you dip them in the chocolate, you may need to scrape some of the chocolate off. "what? scrape off chocolate?" i hear you saying... but if you don't, they'll be too heavy and the graham cracker and chocolate will fall off.

5. dip, roll, and/or sprinkle the pops with graham cracker crumbs. i used the bottom of a glass to mash the graham crackers into crumbs. but, i hear you can also buy the crumbs in boxes if you like.

6. let the chocolate solidify, and they are ready to eat! i laid them down on wax paper because they were too top-heavy to stick in styrofoam or something. voila! let's take another look at them...

Is it an Apron or is it Lingerie?

2009-07-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

i don't know, and i don't care- i want one!

these retro inspired aprons from carolyn's kitchen are the cat's meow. i can use it for an apron now, and then as lingerie later, for some sexy cooking with the TBDH.* superdy duperdy cute, any way you slice it.
(ht: cakespy)

here are more of my faves:

*TBDH stands for "To Be Determined Husband," as in the husband that i don't have now but some day will. *sigh*

A Hot, Fresh Batch of Links

2009-06-30T07:02:00.001-07:00

um, these things are amazing. i wish i was this creative!

crafts:

mod-podge window quilt project (you could do this with any frame, really)
tissue paper flower ball party decoration (what an easy party decoration!)
yoga pants from a men's long sleeve tshirt (do i need yoga pants? i might...)
shrinky dink flowers and leaves (i smell a new pair of earrings for meredith very soon)
shrinky dink photo jewelry (i don't know if i'm artistic enough to pull off wearing something like this, but so cute!)

baked goods:

fourth of july cupcakes (the colors are easily customizable for any occasion)
blueberry cornmeal pancakes with orange maple butter (they sound more difficult than they really are- you can make the butter ahead of time, and even the dry stuff for the pancakes can be done ahead as a sort of mix)

Boojiboo Flirty Apron GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-06-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

Boojiboo Flirty Apron GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

how incredibly cute would i look baking cookies in these vintage-y aprons?!

Cookie Cake Pie

2009-06-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

no, that's not a list of items, it is one single, solitary, satanic item. it's like the turducken of desserts. i saw it on cakespy and immediately started salivating. cakespy, in case you were wondering, is an evil genius. with a blog. evil geniuses are coming into their own in the 21st century, i guess.

anywho, i made two of these suckers and neither one of them lasted long enough to be photographed. so i'll just put cakespy's photos.

looks good, right? oh but wait, there's more...

it's a pie shell with cookie dough in it, then cake batter, then frosted. oh, mah, gaw. cakespy made her own crust and dough, then used boxed cake and frosting. but i went all pre-fab and changed the flavors a bit too. it easily lends itself to such customization.

so, the first one i made, the cake didn't get cooked because my mom took it out too early. she didn't do the toothpick test, but said it just looked done... well, it wasn't, and the center was just warm batter. but of course, that didn't stop us from eating it. it just put me on notice that while the top may look fairly brown, it's not done and it won't burn, so stick to the toothpick test.

alright, down to the nitty gritty. you will need, for one (pre-fab) cookie cake pie:
-1 pie crust
-1 roll of chocolate chip cookie dough
-1 box of yellow cake mix
-1 can of chocolate frosting.

-preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
-defrost your pie crust, put it in a pie tin if it isn't in one already (the frozen crusts are by the fruit and cool whip and come in a pie tin, but the refrigerated ones are by the cookie dough in the grocery store and are just rolled).
-dock the crust (poke the bottom with a fork a few times), just to be safe.
-put the cookie dough in the bottom of the pie crust, about an inch thick. i found it best to break it up into little pieces (think grape or peanut m&m size) and drop them in the crust, and then gently sort of spread/push them together. be careful not to tear the crust. there will be dough left over (about 1/2 to 1/4 of the roll).
-mix up the cake mix according to the directions. pour it in the crust, over the dough. leave a little room for the cake to rise. you'll probably only use about half of it, so use the rest to make a single layer 8" cake, or something.
-bake until it passes the toothpick test (until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean). for me, that was about 40 to 50 minutes. i'd say start checking at about 30 minutes, then every 10 minutes thereafter. it might start looking a little burnt, but unless it's black it's not burnt.
-cool, then frost with about half of the frosting. more if you want (of course), but i used only half so i could use the rest for the 8" cake i had made with the rest of the batter.

YUMMY! some people say it's too sweet, but that doesn't stop them from eating it. but i would advise a tall glass of milk to wash it down.

Inspiration!

2009-06-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

from dollar store crafts...

thumb tacks, string, and clothes pins make a "quick and dirty" inspiration board anywhere! i am totally going to put these things all over the place. the back of my door, over my desk, on my closet doors... to inspire me to greatness!

The Crap-eteria

2009-06-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

i didn't bring my lunch to work today (scheduling mix-up), so i had to buy it somewhere. the courthouse where i'm interning has a cafeteria in it, so i figured i'd go scare something up there. the menu looked fine- burgers and sandwiches, and even grilled tilapia. it boasted a vegetable plate, so i decided that's what i'd get. i was thinking they'd have stuff like fried okra, some kind of steamed vegetables, a cheesy veggie casserole... standard cafeteria veggie fare.

boy, was i wrong. it was all carbs- rice, macaroni and cheese, fries... you get the picture. i got the three best options, which were grody spinach (the only non-white thing up there. was it steamed? fried? i dunno, but it was swimming in some sort of liquid), decent cabbage (although also swimming in a liquid), and run-of-the-mill mashed potatoes (surely instant). what a mistake. but by the time i got up there, i couldn't think of something else to get, and they were rushing me, so i just got those. luckily, the meal was somewhat filling so i didn't have to eat all of it, and i was also saved by some pretty good cornbread.

i also got a cookie, which was pretty good. but i'm pretty sure it's from costco, so i don't give the cafeteria much credit for that.

so, if i ever get stuck at work again without lunch, i'm going to go get something outside the courthouse. or stick with the burgers or chicken fingers at the cafeteria- it's really hard to screw those up.

but luckily, tomorrow and friday i'll be eating lunch at the belo mansion. sure, a little pricey (a buffet for $12), but it doesn't disappoint. salmon, steak, real vegetables, yummy desserts... totally worth it! tomorrow i'm going to some womens lawyer association lunch with the justice i'm interning for, and friday i'm going to a federalist society event about sonia sotomayor's nomination (which i thought was today, hence no lunch). fun, fun!

Carrot Cake Balls

2009-06-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

i decided to give the cake balls another go, this time with carrot cake (and cream cheese frosting, of course) because that's what was in the pantry. and i coated them in white chocolate. i did a much better dipping job this time than last. for one, i made the balls smaller, using the larger end of a melon baller instead of just guessing. they held together better when they were smaller. also, i kept the chocolate warm by putting the ceramic bowl on top of a heating pad. i put the heating pad in another bowl to distribute the heat better, and put saran wrap over the heating pad to protect it, and so my dad doesn't get chocolate on his back the next time he uses the heating pad.

also, my technique was just better, in dipping the ball and wiping off excess chocolate and scooting onto the wax paper. i guess it just takes practice. and i drizzled the balls with white chocolate, which helped to camouflage any imperfections.

also this time, though, i made two 8" round cakes instead of one 13x9" cake, using half a can of frosting for each cake. i admit, this was at the request of my mother. she liked the cake balls but thought they were a little too sweet (they are), and being somewhat wary of some of my culinary innovations and experiments, she preferred the tried-and-true regular cake over the cake ball invention.
but that doesn't mean that i just made a plain ol' cake. well, i sort of did. but i added a little embellishment, while i had the white chocolate out for the cake balls. criss-crosses on wax paper...

then stuck into the cake!

sorta looks like it's from a fancy bakery, don't it? sort of. let me make a point here- the criss-crosses are important. if you just do loops (so the lines are all parallel, essentially), they just fall apart. so, criss-cross, people!

here's a piece of cake and some cake balls, before headed over to the neighbor's house.

and, the inside of a cake ball, before meeting its delicious, impending doom in my mouth.

see those little orange bits? carrots, right? wrong. they are "carrot flavored bits," as proudly advertised on the cake box's front! they're carrot powder, sugar, and some other binding stuff. the cake still tasted good, it just didn't really taste like carrot cake. more like a plain spice cake, which was still good, as i said.

Marseilles Dress SHABBY APPLE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-06-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Marseilles Dress SHABBY APPLE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

i want one of these dresses. i've been looking for dresses like these for so long, and they are hard to find.

Vintage Earrings Tutorial and GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-06-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

Vintage Earrings Tutorial and GIVEAWAY!!!!

These earrings are sooo cute. Classy and sophisticated. If I don't win these, I'll have to make some of my own!

Mini Apple Pies Redux

2009-05-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

i had extra apple pie filling, and the mini apple pies were so good, and i made so few of them in the first batch, that i decided to make more! this time, i made a crumble topping, which is sooo yummy. also this time, i found the regular pie crusts (which are by the cookie dough and biscuits) instead of the frozen ones in the pie tins. they were bigger, so i could make more mini pies. yay!

other than that, second verse same as the first. pie crust circles, apples from a can, topping (lots of crumble on the bigger ones, mini lattices on the mini ones). baked and checked every ten minutes. voila!

i sort of shot from the hip with the crumble topping. i started with about a quarter cup white sugar and half a cup flour and a few tablespoons butter... then my mom told me you make crumble topping with brown, not white, sugar. oops. so i threw some of that in there too. i think it ended up being like a cup of sugars and a half a cup of flour and a stick of butter. so, of course, i ended up with too much crumble topping. i really piled it on the regular-muffin-sized ones, and still had some left over... also had some leftover apples... and pie crust scraps... what to do?

apple crumble cobbler something-or-other!

an inside peek into the apple crumble cobbler something-or-other:

ok, so i realize it doesn't look that great, but it tasted like, oh man. it was amazing. in a glass pan, i put in the rest of the canned apples, and some fresh ones with some cinnamon and sugar, and put the pie crust scraps on top, and the rest of the crumble (and some cinnamon on top). bake at 350 for like 20 minutes (the check-every-ten-minutes method). it was so good. sort of like a crumbled up pie.

here's all three apple creations together: mini apple pies, micro apple pies, and apple something-or-other:

and, all three with, what else, whipped cream. talk about yummy.

Mini Apple Pies

2009-05-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

i was inspired by not martha (via bakerella) to make mini apple pies a few weeks back... i know, i'm a lazy blogger. so, i made them in two sizes, in a regular muffin tin and in a mini muffin tin. and, because i'm also a lazy baker, i used all pre-made ingredients- a can of apple pie filling and frozen pie crust. i couldn't find the regular pre-made pie crust, so i had to get the kind that's already in the pie tin. i let the crust thaw, then laid it out on a cutting board and cut circles out of it, like so...

you can see the little crimps where it was in the pie tin. for the regular muffin size, i used a big ol' can of broth (probably like five inches across), and the cap of my cooking spray for the mini muffin size (about two inches across).

for the regular muffin size, i cut a little wedge out of the crust to make it fit better in the muffin tin. it probably could have stood a little more cut out, but it still helped.

next, just put it in the muffin tin, like so...

then i filled it with canned apple pie filling. as i was doing that, i thought how silly that was because apple pie filling is the easiest thing to do yourself- just cut up apples and sprinkle them with cinnamon and sugar. but, i already had bought two cans of the stuff, so i figured i'd use it. i did have to cut the apple wedges into smaller pieces, though- just sliced them up in the can.

for the tops, i tried to be fancy and make a lattice top. but, i didn't re-roll out the dough (i told you, i'm lazy), so i just used scraps.

here's the unbaked regular muffin tin pies:

and here's the unbaked mini muffin tin pies:

i also didn't use an egg wash to join the lattices to the pie dough cups, nor did i egg wash the tops. all that to say that mine didn't turn out as adorably as bakerella's. but they were still pretty darn adorable (what mini-food isn't?) and were pretty darn delicious.

instructions:
-preheat oven to 375 degrees. grease muffin tins.
-thaw pie dough, cut circles out of it.
-line muffin tins with dough circles, fill with apple pie filling (canned or your own cut apples sprinkled lightly with cinnamon and sugar).
-use scraps to make lattices, put lattices on pie cups and pinch edges of lattice to pie cup.
-bake for about 20 minutes (i checked mine every ten minutes), covering them with foil for the last ten minutes, until golden brown.

overall assessment: delicious and precious! will be making again in the future.

I've Been Wordled

2009-05-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

alright, i admit i wordled myself. so, here it is. the word cloud for my young blog, with the bigger words being the ones used more often. it's so cute! :)

i'll have to do it again at a later date and compare, to see how my blog has changed.

I Hope My Sweets Never Come Alive...

2009-05-23T20:55:00.001-07:00

...but if they do, i hope they crash parties, sing opera, and make life beautiful.

ht: cake wrecks (another blog fave)

Is It Iced Coffee Weather?

2009-05-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite blogs (how about orange) recently posted a link to an admittedly novel website, which poses the question, is it iced coffee weather? and then answers it based on your zip code. well, i'll answer the question for you, no zip code necessary. so, here goes:

q: is it iced coffee weather?
a: i don't care. i'll drink iced coffee whenever i damn well please, thank you very much.

i feel about iced coffee the way i do about wine and shoes, and a number of other food and fashion items (yes, including cookies). i'll enjoy them when i feel like it, when i think it's appropriate, not because somebody says so. i'll drink red wine with fish, or wear patent leather in the winter, or even drink iced coffee when it's cold outside. why? because i feel like it, and i have enough style and taste to do what i want and still be awesome.

so there. take that.

Oreo Truffle Cupcake Bites

2009-05-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

one of my very good friends from high school recently graduated from rice university in houston. so, i wanted to bake/make something for him. well, i went to michael's, and went a little crazy. in most people's eyes, i made reasonable purchases, but i could hear my mom saying, "meredith! you don't need all of that stuff!" so, what did i get? some squeeze bottles, and a candy cup mold, and some blue candy melts (rice's colors are blue and white). i guess, all things considered, not that overboard.

anywho, i combined two bakerella inventions to make one awesome gift. i made oreo truffles in the shape of cupcake bites. yummy!

ok, down to the practicalities.
first, i crunched up some oreos. i smushed them in a plastic bag, then used a coffee grinder for any big bits that were left. then i mixed them with softened cream cheese. i only used about 1/3 of the cookies (one row from the package's tray) and about 1/3 of the cream cheese.

second, i melted some blue candy melts in one of the squeeze bottles and squeezed (or squoze?) some of the melted blue into the candy molds. then i put a ball of the oreo mixture into each candy mold well. i used the larger end of a melon baller for this- it worked perfectly.

third, i melted some white candy coating (almond bark from wal-mart) in another squeeze bottle. bakerella dipped her cupcake tops in the 2nd color, but i just squeezed/poured it on top. it overflowed a little, but then they looked like little muffins/cupcakes when they came out. and topped off with some blue sugar for flair.

here's the finished product! they tasted great, and looked fabulous!

Birthday Cake Balls

2009-05-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

when i couldn't sleep during finals, one of the things i was obsessing about was cake balls and cake pops, and their various incarnations, from bakerella. so, i decided to make some cake balls for my mom for her birthday on may 9 (i know, i'm just now getting around to posting... i'm just lazy. don't really have another excuse). inspired by these cake pops, i decided to make some that had little B medallions on them (my mom's name is beverly). so, i made the B's first- just printed out some script-y B's in reverse, then taped some wax paper on top. then i melted some chocolate and vanilla candy bark (bought at my trusty wal-mart) and used a ziploc bag to pipe out the B design and a free-hand flower around it, then filled in with the opposite color. they turned out so cute! as my mom pointed out, they sort of look like barbie B's. here's a picture of some of them just spread out on a plate (the pics are a little yellow b/c i didn't use a flash, and i didn't feel like photoshopping them to correct the color. but you get the idea- black and white).

so then, i baked a cake. just a mix from a box, and i crumbled the baked cake and mixed it with a can of white frosting. it tasted great, only problem was i used funfetti cake mix... which wasn't so fun. i thought it would be cute with the sprinkles, but after i mixed it up with the frosting, the sprinkles just sort of dissolved and made the cake balls look like oatmeal or something. i thought i had a picture of that rumbling around somewhere, but i can't find it.
oh well, it still tasted good, and it was covered in chocolate so you couldn't even see it until you bit into it, and by that time you were like, dang this tastes so good i don't care what it looks like!

so then, i dipped the balls in chocolate... yum. i'm not very good at dipping things, so they turned out sort of messy. i think i might have made the balls too big, which contributed to the poor dipping (too big to handle, and fish out of the chocolate). not as pretty as bakerella's, but they still tasted goo-ood. and i stuck the little medallions on top, and that took your eyes off of the dipping goofs. here's the finished product:

some of them, you might be able to tell, i dipped in chocolate first and put them on wax paper to dry, then dipped the bottom in white and put them in the little paper cups. that turned out ok- less messy than the whole-chocolate method, but the tops ended up being flat. which was actually ok, because then i had a good platform for the little medallions. i just used a little melted candy coating to stick them on.

you can see the messiness a little closer here.

and here's the cake balls, with a sneak peak for next time... oreo cupcake bites for payton's graduation!

UPDATE: i found the pic of the bitten funfetti cake ball. so, here it is. it actually looks better in the picture than it did in real life. but, like i said, it still tasted good!

Clean-Out-The-Cupboard Cookies II

2009-05-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

i had such great success with the first clean-out-the-cupboard cookies that i decided to try to clean out my cupboards some more by making some more cookies. so i made peanut butter oatmeal cookies... which sound like they might be pretty good. well, let's just say they weren't my best work. they were certainly edible, and were pretty good for breakfast (c'mon, they've got oatmeal, and peanut butter for protein! right?), and were ok if you just really needed some cookies, but they just weren't that good.

here's my recipe, based loosely on this one. this original oatmeal cookie recipe is really, really good... but not so much with the peanut butter.

1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. peanut butter (crunchy)
2 c. dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. uncooked oatmeal
-cream fats and sugar, mix in rest of wet ingredients. in separate bowl, mix dry ingredients except oatmeal, and add to wet ingredients in about 3 installments (so it doesn't splatter everywhere). then, mix in oatmeal. roll into balls, press slightly and bake about 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

no pictures this time. the cookies weren't worth it.

Clean-Out-The-Cupboard Cookies

2009-05-12T18:54:00.001-07:00

so, as i was getting to move into my apartment, i was trying to eat all of my food. i didn't want to move it all, but i also was leaving in may for the summer so wouldn't be able to eat it. so, i made some cookies with whatever i had on hand! the recipe was based on a classic, but of course it was different because i was using whatever i had in my cupboard.

Clean-Out-The-Cupboard Cookies
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. white chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped pecans
-cream butter and sugar, add rest of wet ingredients. in separate bowl, mix dry ingredients then add to wet in about three installments. roll into balls, drop onto cookie sheet, bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

these were really good! the brown sugar made it chewy, and the white chocolate chips gave them that extra little sweetness. and the nuts... oh, the nuts... pecans make everything better. i would have preferred more chocolate and nuts in the cookies, but that's all i had in my cupboard (sort of the point of these cookies).

a tip from experience: don't bake the refrigerated dough- let it come to room temperature first. otherwise, it doesn't bake all the way and burns on the bottom... oops.

Irish Cream Sugar Cookies

2009-05-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

so, i made the homemade irish cream for the party. but i still had some extra ingredients (like the half-and-half) that i didn't have anything else to do with, so i made some more irish cream, this time with the instant coffee instead of brewed coffee. i recommend the brewed coffee, because the granules didn't really dissolve. anywho, nearing the end of the semester i still had a bunch of the irish cream left over and didn't have anything to do with it... so i made cookies with it! here's the original recipe, but here are my edits:

1 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1 egg yolk

1 egg

1 c. irish cream

4 c. all purpose flour (i used about half whole wheat and half unbleached white)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp baking powder

-cream butter and sugars, add dry ingredients. refrigerate, then roll into balls. then, and here comes the fancy part, roll in sugar and put on the cookie sheet. then make indentions in the balls (i used the back of my teaspoon measuring spoon) and put a few drops of irish cream in the divet. just a little- if you put too much, it'll spill and burn on your cookie sheet!

i tried to find a way to make them sweeter and more irish-cream-y. i rolled them in white sugar, i rolled them in brown sugar, i rolled them in irish cream and then in sugar, i topped them with brown sugar. the brown sugar and the irish cream caramelized and burned in like 6 minutes. good thing i had put foil on my pan first!

anywho, i decided rolling them in sugar and putting the little bit of extra cream on it makes the cookies sweeter and a little more irish-cream-ier. still, they're not that sweet and not that irish-cream-y. but they were pretty good, and good enough to give away to my professors at the end of the semester. but i probably won't make them again. too much work for too little payoff, since they didn't taste much like irish cream.

and, here's pictures!

Homemade Irish Cream

2009-05-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

i went to a st. patrick's day party a while back (incidentally, on st. patrick's day), and i wanted to bring some irish cream. problem is, i'm poor, and bailey's is expensive. apparently there's some generic brands, but they didn't sell those at the liquor store by where i lived in dc. so, i made some! it was super good, even though i used the cheapest whiskey i could find ($8 for 750ml). i figure, when you mix it, the mixers cover up most of the taste. i used an online recipe, but with these edits:

1 c. fat-free half-and-half (i don't know how they do that, but they do)

1-14oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/3 c. whiskey

2 tbsp strongly brewed coffee (made mine in french press)

2 tbsp chocolate syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

-stir vigorously, chill, serve!

i made mini irish car bombs with this (mini because i can't drink a whole guinness at once, let alone with a shot of bailey's too), but it didn't curdle like irish car bombs usually do. i think because it didn't have the fat of the heavy cream in it like regular irish cream does. but it was goo-ood!

Not all cupcakes are created equal.

2009-05-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

i was in houston for my friend's graduation from college this weekend. my mom came with me, ostensibly for a mother/daughter weekend, but i think really because she didn't want me to drive the five hours to houston by myself (turns out, she didn't let me drive at all). anywho, it was her birthday on saturday and mother's day on sunday, so i thought we would go to a gourmet cupcake place in houston to celebrate. we went to crave cupcakes, which was in the ritzy part of town by the galleria (of course- where else would a cupcakery be?). based on my prior gourmet cupcake experience, i was excited and had high hopes.

we got a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting and a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. they were a little bigger than normal cupcakes, and a little pricer than the ones at hello cupcake in dupont ($3.25 versus $3.00), but they were not nearly as good. the cake was pretty good- a little denser than usual cake, but not like pound cake. however, the frosting was a little on the gritty side. i mean, it wasn't terrible, it just wasn't as smooth as the frosting at hello cupcake. when i "chewed" the frosting, i could feel a little sugary grit.

overall assessment: not that crazy about crave cupcakes, and can't wait to get cupcakes from hello cupcake again.

Festival of Beers: Staropramen and Spaten

2009-04-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

i didn't drink both of these on one night, but they were very similar so i decided to put them in the same post. staropramen premium lager is a czech pale lager from prague. it was a satisfying pale beer, light and crisp. nothing particularly special, but certainly better than a bud or a coors. would have been very good with a sausage or something.

spaten premium lager was much the same. this one's from munich in bavaria, but it was also a good solid pale beer with a crisp taste. would have also been good with some standard central european fare, like sausage and potatoes. this one seemed a little smoother, though. perhaps not as bitter on the end.

i'm not much of a beer connoisseur, so i couldn't really tell much difference between these two. they were both good, standard pale beers.

overall assessment: i liked both of them, and am likely to purchase them in the future, but perhaps spaten over staropramen.

Festival of Beers: La Rossa

2009-04-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

"la rossa" is an italian beer brewed by birra moretti. it was very malted- the website says it's made with all malted barley. it reminded be a little of baltika 4. but baltika 4 is much less malty and more yeasty/bready (more like kvass), and also probably more enjoyable because of fond memories of my study abroad in russia. but i did not enjoy la rossa. it was cloyingly sweet, almost rotten. and it didn't have the satisfying yeast-ness or bread-ness of baltika 4. i guess i'm just not a fan of malted barley, because i couldn't even finish all of it and dumped it out.

overall assessment: la rossa is definitely not for me. maybe if you really like malted barley you'll enjoy it, but you won't find it in my fridge any time soon.

Festival of Beers: Kirin Ichiban

2009-04-26T19:29:00.001-07:00

tonight's beer is kirin ichiban special premium reserve, a japanese beer. i think this might be the first japanese beer i've ever had. at first, i didn't care much for it. it was just a normal pale beer, with a little bit of a burnt/bitter finish, like many beers (which is why i'm not usually a big beer fan).

but as i kept drinking it, it grew on me. it got smoother, and i started tasting a sort of fruity, sweet, wheat-y taste. i couldn't nail it, but it was pretty good.

overall assessment: it's ok. i don't think i would buy it again, but i would drink it at a party if it was offered.

wait, scratch that. i just tried to take a swig of the beer, and found out it was all gone. and that made me sad. so i just might buy this beer again.

Festival of Beers: Stockyard Oatmeal Stout

2009-04-26T19:08:00.001-07:00

so, apparently i start craving alcohol made out of grains during finals. last semester, it was scotch. (my dad and i stopped at a liquor store on the way home from the airport for christmas and got some scotch) apparently this semester, it's beer. so i got a pick-your-own-six-pack at trader joe's, with six different new beers. so i decided to chronicle my journey.
i've also been having trouble sleeping, so a beer and a blog at night will hopefully help till finals are over.

so, contestant number one: stockyard oatmeal stout. i'm usually not a fan of heavy/dark beers. and i read the label that said it had flavors of coffee and chocolate. chocolate? in beer? what? but i tried it anyway. and i LOVED it. i'm going to have to buy some more. it totally did taste like chocolate and coffee, which was weird, but good. it's not a chocolate flavored beer, just that's the flavor that comes out (like how wine tastes like oak, etc). it's smooth and a little thick. the chocolate-ness is like dark chocolate, so it's not too sweet. and it's got the richness of coffee (the label didn't lie), so it's not 'sweet.' and it lacked much of the burnt-ness that i find a lot of dark beers have.

it's a very substantial beer, so it's not a "girly" beer by any stretch. i'm not the girly type, anyway. but it's a good woman's beer. the kind of woman who is classy and sophisticated, who looks hot in a little black dress and some red lipstick, who knows how to handle herself and who you sure better not cross. so, it's the beer for me. :)

overall assessment: great beer. highly recommended. i will definitely buy it again.

Trivia and Free Rice

2009-04-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

i just found this site, and i'm totally addicted. it's called "free rice." all you do is play the trivia game and for every right answer, they donate 10 grains of rice to the UN world food program. i'm such a trivia junkie, and this keeps me sharp and teaches me new words, etc. i'm so addicted, i can't stop. which i guess is good, because it creates more ad revenues for the site, and therefore donates more rice. it's a win-win situation. huzzah for marketing and capitalism!

Well, hello, cupcake...

2009-04-24T11:47:00.001-07:00

while cookies are my go-to confection, i generally love all dessert items. especially when they're made by somebody else. so yesterday after i finished my property exam, i decided to treat myself to a gourmet cupcake from hello cupcake. i'd been looking forward to trying one of their confections for a while and i finally did it yesterday. i poured some milk in my nalgene bottle and headed on over.

i was afraid that it might not live up to my expectations, which were pretty high, or that $3 might be too much for a cupcake, but i was WRONG! oh, it was so good. i got the"black and white," which is chocolate cake with white chocolate icing. oh man, the cake was so moist with just the right amount of airiness (not too dense, not too fluffy), and the top was a little crunchy like the sugar had caramelized on it, just like a good muffin top. and the frosting was so smooth (i couldn't detect a single sugar crystal) but not too thick so that it gets stuck in your throat.

it was uh-may-zing. it might be one for meredith's food hall of fame, which currently only has one other member- a steak that i had at charlie palmer's in dallas last summer at the end of my internship (my mouth is literally watering just remembering that steak). we'll see if i'm still dreaming about this cupcake after a few months. at any rate, i'm going back next week when my dad comes to visit.

SNL loves cookies

2009-04-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

i understand the compulsion.

Why Cookies?

2009-04-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

i love cookies. they're amazing. they can be simple or elegant, sturdy or delicate, heavy or light. you can make them for kids or grown ups, for birthdays or weddings. and you don't need sophisticated or specialized equipment for them. sure, there are things that help, like an electric mixer or a cookie scoop, but those are totally optional. i've made plenty of delicious cookies without them.

i started my love affair with cookies in high school. first was the gateway tollhouse cookie... it all starts with a tollhouse. then i branched out to sugar, and peanut butter, and... oh, the places you'll go. i also started baking cookies for my teachers. i was blessed with awesome teachers in high school, so i did it as a thank you, but i'm sure it didn't hurt the grading process, either.

i continued my romance with cookies in college. i didn't have the tools i used to, but as long as i had a spoon, a bowl, and a cookie sheet, i was good to go. cookies were a good way to get to know people (people will always stick around if you give them a cookie), and a good way to say thank you, and a good gift whenever you need one for cheap but with lots of feeling (which was always a need for a poor student).

now i'm in law school, and cookies are a firm part of me now. i give them to my professors as a thank you at the end of the semester, and they're always shocked. i give them as thank you's for recommendations and everyday gifts of happiness. there's nothing that a cookie won't fix, really. so, i've decided to share my cookie love, and what knowledge i gain along the way, with the world. cookies are a part of me. and now the law is becoming a part of me, too. so i'll share them both. with liberty and cookies for all!