Super Bowl

So I know the Super Bowl is done with for the year...sad ending for us fans here in SF...but I thought I share my little treat I made this year:

red velvet whoopie pies in the shape of footballs with gold (ok, it's more yellow) frosting!

 The whoopie pie recipe came from one of my favorite blogs and they're the perfect 49er dessert.

I didn't feel as guilty eating them because I ran a 5k plus some extra miles this morning.  A great way to start a day of eating and drinking.

Ok, so I don't think I burned all the calories that I consumed but it's hard to turn away the tasty food we had at our party!  Props to Brie for the nachos and Ashley for the cute cookies!

Hello Cupcake!

Cupcakes are the it thing.  Yes, some people think other desserts are getting more popular and maybe the cupcake is slipping away, but no.  Just no.  Cupcakes are where it's at.  And as much as I LOVE to bake my own cupcakes (probably because I LOVE to eat them) I also enjoy checking out bakeries and their yummy cakes.  Fortunately SF has an abundance of cupcakeries (word?)  Some are good, some a bad and some are AMAZING!  Since I do consider myself a pretty good baker (sorry if that makes me sound full of myself) I hate to go out and buy something that I could totally make myself and better.

Here is a sampling of ones I've tried so far.  (note: I've made a Google doc for myself of places I need to try in the city.  This is seriously, spread sheet worthy business!)

First up is Cupkates.  And before I go any further I must say: I wish my name was Kate so I could use this cool nickname.  They only sell their cupcakes out of their truck so you gotta catch 'em wherever they are.  I first had them at Off The Grid which is a giant convergence of food trucks in a big parking lot.  SF does one near me on Friday nights and it's definitely something I need to take advantage of more often.  There will be more on food trucks later because are truly the it thing right now!  Back to the cupcake: I had a delicious churro cupcake and I really wish I'd take a picture of it...next time!

Next up is Sift.  Now this place is a new find and boy am I glad I found it!  They have many awesome flavors there (and I've tried a lot of them) but one of the top ones is All for the Cookie - choco cake with cookies and cream frosting.  We tried this one a few months back because it was Chocolate Cupcake Day.  Awesome day.

Kara's is a very well known cupcake bakery here in the bay area.  Not only are the cupcakes tasty but they are so pretty too (something that I am sometimes lacking at as a home cook.)  Of course my favorite is red velvet.  I just love the bright red color and cream cheese frosting.  Mmmmmm

This next one is a tried and true love of my sister's and mine: Susie Cakes!  This place is pretty close to the two apartments we've lived in together in SF but even if it's not on the way we somehow seem to find a way to walk or drive past it and then HAVE to buy something!  Her fav is the red velvet cake and my fav is the red velvet cupcake (although they once had a blueberry pancake cupcake the knocked my socks off!  sadly it was seasonal and I'm just waiting for it to come back.)  Susie Cakes makes RED velvet cake - notice that color!  I love their cupcakes because they hollow out a lil of the cake and put extra frosting in there - genius!

This is just a short list of ones that I have pictures of.  I need to remember not to gobble down my cupcake before properly documenting it!

Oh and here's a few bonus from my trip to Boston.  Kickass Cupcakes.  I think the name says it all.  I read about them on a blog and when I went to go visit my bestie I knew I had to make the stop (especially because it was about 4 blocks away form here apartment.  Fate, I tell you.)  I got 4: cookie dough, s'mores, red velvet and the Green Monstah.  A few notes: while their red velvet was tasty it wasn't very red.  At all.  A lil disappointing but I still finished it.  And their Green Monstah one is a tribute to Boston and the outfield fence at Fenway.  It was beer flavored and actually very tasty!

Blondie

Food holidays are great! A perfect excuse to celebrate food.  I.love.it. That’s why I like checking out this calendar. And today just happens to be Blondie Brownie day!!! 

Now I wasn’t sure about a brownie with so little chocolate in it but trust, these are tasty. Still not sure what the difference is between a blondie and a cookie bar but that’s a mystery for another day because we have some blondies to bake!  I thought this recipe looked tasty (and the blog is written by a Crump as well...totally coincidence.)

Sorry for the lack of pics but I moved into a small, not super useable kitchen so I decided to bake with my sissy on my trip to see her in sunny So Cal.

How could a recipe be bad when it start off with this? Answer: it can’t!

Funny story: when we went to the liquor store to buy this teeny tiny nip of bourbon (we only needed 2 tablespoons) the guy at the register asks us if we have any big plans for tonight. Sir, we have approximately 4 tablespoons of bourbon…we are not throwing a wild and crazy party.

Another funny store: my sister's Trader Joe’s does wine tasting every day!  Wine, for free, in Trader Joes, with cheese!!! What?! Ah-mazzzzing.  I was jealous.

And now that this is turning into a post about my lovely weekend (it seriously was, it was mid-70s in So Cal…I MISS THAT!) here are some more pictures:

Grilled Cheeeeeese

Biking along Newport Beach

SUNNNNNNY weather in Laguna

Meeting the newest member of the fam, precious Nora

Breakfast at a LA legend (it’s NEVER closed, ever), The Pantry

 

And hanging out with these cool kiddos 

Cooking Light

I am more of a baker than a cook. I've decided it's probably because I love sweets and in baking there are exact measurements that must be followed to a science for things to work out. I like order and precision. What can I say, I'm an oldest child.

So this recipe is a lil different for me but I want to work on my cooking skills and have them include something other than creative (or not) grilled cheese. Also I subscribe to Cooking Light magazine and it's a shame for me to only look at the gorgeous photos every month and not do something with them. So I will now make at least one Cooking Light recipe per month!

Onto the recipe. Here's what it's supposed to look like:

Now I picked this recipe for a few reasons: a) I like beer so cooking with beer must be tasty too, b) I had all the ingredients on hand and c) well it just looked good and simple.

I served it with fresh green beans from the farmer's market (bless you California and your loads of local produce) and orzo (because it's cute and I've never made it before. Yes cute was part of my thought process.)

All in all I thought it was a delicious recipe and the roomies even agreed!

Oh and here's the recipe: http://m.myrecipes.com/details/searchR.rbml?id=50400000122903.xml&bcat=search&cat=Search%20Resultt

It only happens every four years...OLYMPICS!

I still remember the summer of '96 and being glued to the TV watching the Magnificent Seven wow the world as they won gold in gymnastics.  That is still probably my favorite Olympic moment.    Awww, those were good times.

Well we just moved to a new place and ambitiously decided to throw an open house party on the same night as the Olympic opening ceremonies (get it, London is opening up the Olympics to the world and we are opening up our new apartment to, well a slighter smaller crowd, our friends.  And of course what would a party be without baked goods (especially because with our new roomie with have not one but TWO Kitchen Aid mixers!)?

So here is our dessert buffet:

We were trying to think of a clever way to display the Olympic colors and theme.  Here's the deal:

Blue = Blueberry Boy Bait (with some extra blue coloring on top)

Yellow = Lemon Bars (a family recipe)

Black = Triple Chocolate Cookies (with macadamia nut Hershey kisses because they are just oh so yummy!)

Green = Funfetti Cupcakes (ALWAYS a good idea) with green cream cheese frosting

Red = Red Velvet Whoopie Pies because I can't not make whoopie pies with cream cheese frosting.

I hope you find some fun ideas to throw your own Olympics party!

Party Cake!

June 4th is a big day in my family.  It's my parent's anniversary and my twin sister's birthday and nothing for me.  But that's ok because that means I get to plan a celebration and bake so that's alright with me. :)

This year we did a family get together at our apartment in the city.  Unfortunately only one twin was there as Alli is in Denver but she was there is spirit.  As much as we missed Allison this meant that I could make a dessert just for Jeannie.  Well growing up Jeannie LOVED colors so when I saw this rainbow cake a few months ago I pinned it and knew I had to make it for her birthday.

You start off with a basic white cake and then split the batter into six containers and dye each one.  I did the colors of the rainbow but I suppose you could do any color combo.

The finished product is below.  My colors didn't spread out as much as I wanted but I think I just have to shake the pans a little bit more or spread the batter more with a scraper.

But it still looks good and more importantly it was delicious!

Ta Da!  And I frosted it with a tasty tasty frosting.  And even decorated.

Happy anniversabirthary!!!

Happy 25th birthday little sister!!!

And yay for a great family dinner.  Thanks to bay area cousins for coming to celebrate!

Blueberry-Buttermilk Scones

Every Thursday I work from home.  I love it.  I can work in my pajamas, sleep in a little bit and bake!  I usually try and bake something every Thursday but sometimes it's tough to decide what to bake so I need to look for inspiration.  This Thursday we went to breakfast and the place had an open kitchen and I saw someone using a pastry blender to make something yummy so I decided I needed to make scones.

But before I get to the recipe let me talk about my breakfast.  First of all, we went to Mama's on Washington Square.  It's a very popular and place.  Case in point: we got there at 8:15 am and still had to wait for 30 minutes.  But it was worth the wait.  I had delicious chocolate cinnamon french toast with fresh fruit.  My socks?  Rocked right off!

But now onto the recipe.  I usually make muffins or something on the healthier side but sometimes you just want a baked good in the morning that has a little more butter in it (not Paula Deen style but more than nothing) so these scones fit the bill.

I used this recipe from one of my favorite blogs.

First you mix all of the dry ingredients together:

Then you take cold butter and cut it into small pieces:

Now using a pastry blender and cut the butter into the dry ingredients like this until it resembles a crumb like substance.

Kinda like this:

Now you add the blueberries.  So it makes it a lil healthier.  Woo woo antioxidants!

Mix in the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.  You'll knead it out next and pat it into a circle.  Some of the blueberries will pop as you knead but that cool.  I was afraid that my scones would turn a little purple but they don't.

After this you'll cute the scones into 12 pieces.  I like to make them into triangles but you can do whatever shape.

I then sprinkle them with sanding sugar.  Basically bigger pieces of sugar.  You are supposed to first brush the scones with a beaten egg.  Unfortunately I only had one egg on hand and I had to use it in the scones.  I know, I know a baker only having one egg on hand is kinda like me not having flour in my cupboards (but not worry I have 5 types of flour in my kitchen and I don't think that's overkill :)

Now bake 'em!

They came out nice and golden brown.  And of course I had to eat one right out of the oven when they're nice and hot.  Perfect with a cup of tea and all my work on a rainy SF Thursday.