Melissa Clark’s Cornmeal Waffles with Banana Bourbon Syrup

 I love love love breakfast. Eggs, pancakes, hash--breakfast in general, is just comprised of delicious food. Thanksgiving break at home was great because I could just wake up and make whatever I wanted for breakfast. The first morning home I made Melissa Clark’s Cornmeal Waffles with a maple, walnut bourbon syrup.  Melissa is so great. I am totally in love with her. If you don’t know who she is, here is the link to her videos. 

(shh. I’ve definitely watched every single one)

Melissa Clark’s Cornmeal Waffles with Banana Bourbon Syrup:

Winter Spaghetti with Marinara and Chorizo Meatballs

It’s frustrating to make pasta in the winter when bunches of fresh basil aren’t readily available. I crafted a delicious, hearty sauce with dried herbs to help satisfy your pasta cravings on cold, wintery nights. Parsnip (my fav!) and carrot in the sauce add some natural sweetness, which goes wonderfully with the almost nutty dried herb flavor. The meatballs that I paired with this sauce are very easy as well, just be warned that they take some time to cool in the fridge. If you can, I recommend using fresh herbs for the meatballs--they will add brightness to the dish, and lighten everything up.

Winter Spaghetti with Marinara and Chorizo Meatballs

Lavender Cinnamon Buttermilk Wheat Biscuits

It’s fall. Sigh. A lot of me hates the fact that it is cold outside, but I guess that the cold gives me an excuse to drink lots of tea and bake delicious things. I’m also going home soon and am so incredibly excited to finally have a kitchen and make things all day. My mom and I have discussed our extensive Thanksgiving feast menu and hopefully I’ll get to share some of our creations on here!

Apple Pastry Pockets & Pinwheels

Pumpkin Bread Muffins with Chocolate and Walnuts

 I’m finally writing my first post from the lovely confines of my dorm. Unfortunately being in college means crappy kitchen and no time, so I’ve barely been able to bake. Since the beginning of October though, everyone has been jumping on the pumpkin bandwagon and every blog post I read is about something pumpkin . I thought I’d join in and share these pumpkin bread muffins I made with some pumpkin puree that was left over in my fridge. The muffin’s turned out absolutely lovely, and  they’ll make a great breakfast for the rest of the week.

Pumpkin Bread Muffins with Chocolate and Walnuts

Classic Brownies

One of my favorite recipes for a perfect classic brownie comes from none other than Cook's Illustrated.  Tomorrow I am headed off to France to study abroad for a semester, so I decided my last baking endeavor before I leave would be this homey treat. I stumbled across this recipe when Sachi and I first became friends and have loved it ever since. It is truly the perfect brownie, not too cakey or too fudgy; it is just right! Feel free to add your favorite goodies to this recipe, such as peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, nuts, candies…..

Classic Brownies

Lavender-Honey Iced Latte

Way way back at the beginning of the summer, Sachi and I went to The Mud House in St. Louis. We sipped on our honey lavender latte’s and fell in love with the little café.  A while back I found this pin from Off Beat and Inspired and it looked lovely but I did not have any fresh lavender...so I put it on the long list of “Someday I’ll Make This.”  That someday finally turned into today after visiting my aunt and discovering that she had fresh lavender in her lush gardens! After making this, I realized how simple it is to make barista-worthy drinks at home. All you need is your own simple syrups flavored according to your current inspiration.

Lavender-Honey Iced Latte


Berry Burst Flower Cookies

I had a picture in my mind of cute, playful, flower shaped sugar cookies. But I didn’t want those rock hard sugar cookies with a million types of sprinkles, that lacked taste but had frosting carefully piped upon them. I wanted some delicious soft whimsical summer cookies. In my quest to find a basic sugar cookie to build upon, I first went to my favorite cooking site bon appetite. I was scrolling through recipes and wasn’t finding what I wanted. It wasn’t the recipes that were the problem; it was the absence of a story that went along with the cookies. I missed feeling the excitement and love from other blogger about the creations they had made. So I stumbled across a recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction and went with it. I made a few altercations to it and ended up with a delicious, easy, and fun sugar cookie.

Simple Vanilla Maple Granola

This is the first recipe that I have produced upon request, so a big thank you to Alison who requested it! I was more than happy to make this granola because it meant that I could use up all of the random assorted nuts and seeds that we have lying around the kitchen. The great thing about granola is that you really can put whatever you want in it to suite your own taste—nuts, seeds, coconut, chocolate—whatever your little heart desires!

I used olive oil in this recipe because I think it accentuates the nutty flavors. Pure Grade A maple syrup is my go to sweetener for granola because it is all natural, subtler than honey, and I just think it tastes better.

I wanted the flavor of the nuts and oats to shine on their own, so I didn’t use any spices. If you’d like, a teaspoon or two of cinnamon and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg would surely be delightful.

 I didn’t add any chocolate chips or dried fruit, but like I said, throw it in if you’d like!

A side note--after I made this granola, I was eating it up by the handful…oops. All I’m saying is that this recipe is so delicious and easy you cannot help but stuff your face. I can’t wait to have this on top of some yogurt tomorrow morning!

Simple Vanilla Maple Granola:

Berry Pavlova!

I can’t believe it is already August! I haven’t posted in a while, because I’ve been so busy. Sara and I just got back from Lollapalooza in Chicago and we pretty much had the best time of our lives. (Side note if you’re reading this go look up the song Bone Digger by Bear Hands—it has been on repeat for the past 72 hours.)  Anyway I baked for the first time in a while last night, and the result was a berry pavlova. I’ve never made a pavlova before, let alone ate one, but goodness me this probably is one of my favorite desserts. (It might have to do with my abnormal obsession over whipped cream, I don’t know.) But you should try it! This dessert is so easy and so delicious. I say use all the summer berries you can while they are still in season!

Berry Pavlova!

Recipe adapted from Summer Berry Layered Pavlova by Donal Skehan

Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes

My friend Shannon doesn’t like cupcakes. She thinks they are too sweet, too icing-y, and too hyped up. Really though, I bet you have at least one bakery where you live dedicated to selling only cupcakes--cupcakes, where the frosting is taller than the cake itself. And although I do love baked goods, I kind of agree that the cupcake obsession that is taking over TV shows and bakeries is a little much. Cupcakes are great, but there are so many other baked goods to be obsessed about. Anyway, just as I am sitting here bashing cupcakes, Sara came to my house the other day and said that all she was craving was a fluffy delicious cupcake. That got me thinking, and seeing as all of Sara’s cravings/food ideas inspire me, I had to make the perfect cupcake, to my standards. This meant a fluffy moist cake, with just enough frosting to make it slightly sweeter than it should be. As far as flavors, this cake was my initial inspiration for these cupcakes because it looks simple but elegant.

Homemade Rye Boule

Right now I’m reading the book French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. I’m not really looking to lose weight or anything; I’m just obsessed with food (obviously) and very intrigued by the obesity epidemic plaguing America. It’s astonishing and just plain sad how so many people struggle with their weight here in the United States. I can’t speak for everyone, but to me it seems that some just don’t realize what they are doing to themselves (my hypothesis come from working summer jobs in the food industry). It makes me so sad to see people gorging on processed sweets and candy, when food really is so much more.

I’m only about halfway through the book, but it has made me laugh and cry and think about my own interactions with food. The French way is quite simple: quality over quantity.

Lemon Macarons

HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY!!! Can we please all jump up and down for joy?! I am getting closer and closer to mastering the French Macaron. We are jumping for joy because tonight, in this very batch of lemon macarons, I figured out the exact time I need to bake these pesky little treats in my oven! Since day one, under-baking my macarons has been a SERIOUS PROBLEM. They always came out with the bottoms slightly stuck to the parchment. On my second tray, however, (I like to bake each tray one at a time)  I stopped my macs between the 20 and 21 minute mark and they were perfect! No opening the oven, and no checking on them until then, and woohoo they turned out great. My tip for mac makers out there would be to not hesitate to bake them for longer than the recipe calls for if they keep coming out under-baked. My recipe said they would take 18 minutes tops, but that time never worked for me. It will take a few batches to learn the habits of your oven, but I have faith in you, you will figure out how to make the perfect macarons!!

One more tidbit…the second tray ended up being a lot more beautiful because the macarons rested for longer…I would say at least 40 minutes…definitely doing that for next time!!

For these macarons, I used the basic french macaron recipe that I used for the Macarons with Blueberry Mascarpone Filling . I just added 1 Tablespoon of lemon zest and a small bit of yellow gel food coloring to the meringue before mixing in the powdered sugar/almond flour mixture.

I filled them with my 5 Yolk Lemon Curd , and yum yum yum, were these beauties delicious.

Peach Crumble Pie

Summer = pie season. Enough said. I know fall season is associated with pies, and no one can argue with a tasty pumpkin pie, but equally important are the tart cherry and peach pies that are at their finest in the heat of summer. A few weeks ago we made a small cherry pie (different from the one that Sara posted), but because it was so small we had leftover crust that I froze. Next on the list of summer pies was peach pie, so using the leftover crust I made a peach crumble pie. This is a great recipe if you have leftover pie crust, and don’t have enough for the top crust!

Remy's Ratatouille

I have always loved the Disney Pixar film Ratatouille.  For those who have seen the film, you can probably see why I love it so much. For those that haven’t, it’s about this tiny little rat with a keen sense of smell that has a secret dream of becoming a chef. When Remy is separated from his rat family at the beginning of the story, he finds himself at a famous restaurant in Paris. He ends up helping a young boy, Linguini, who has absolutely no idea how to cook, work his way to the spot as top chef at the restaurant. 

The part in the movie that always resonates with me is when Remy tries to get his rat brother Emile to taste the magic of food.

The French Laundry: Salad of Hericot Verts, Tomato Tartare, and Chive Oil

Sorry about neglecting to post in a while, but have I been in a baking/cooking storm lately. As a matter of fact, the sweet aroma of my lemon macaron shells baking is wafting through my house at this very moment.

The highlight of this current baking/cooking storm has to be this beautiful salad I made out of Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry cookbook.

Butternut Squash Carbonara

Another carbonara recipe for you to enjoy!!

Carbonara is always delicious and never a bad choice. This is a different take on Carbonara; it still has the creamy element to it, just a little less fat. Compared to a traditional Carbonara recipe this is much much healthier for you because the sauce consists of vegetables and chicken broth. This doesn’t exactly scream summertime but I find it very light and refreshing, with a homey feel to it. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Carbonara (Adapted from Bon Appétit)

Carbonara with Mushrooms and Basil

I had the most delicious lunch ever today. I used some leftover egg yolks from my macarons, and made this lovely carbonara. We had this absolutely gorgeous pasta…I mean look at it?! Isn't it marvelous…

This good quality pasta made this dish, so if you can get your hands on some, I recommend it.  I also went to the farmers market today and got some fresh cherry tomatoes and basil, which made two great additions.

Carbonara with Mushrooms and Basil:

Cilantro Hummus

If you all don't already know, I love fresh herbs. I swear they are the answer to all of life's problems. Just spice a boring dish up with some parsley, or some dill, and bam, food suddenly becomes exciting. 

Today we are going to do just that with some cilantro and hummus. Now I'm not saying regular homemade hummus is boring, I just felt like making mine a little green tonight. 

*If you're not a fan of cilantro, you could always do the same with parsley. 

Cilantro Hummus:

Macarons with Blueberry Mascarpone Filling

Hey everyone, guess what.

I did it.

I made really yummy macarons!!!!!!!

So the story starts back when I went to NYC a few weeks ago and had some macarons from Ladurée.

Ivan Ramen Yakisoba

This is exciting...the first main course savory dish for the blog! Although it seems like this is solely a baking blog, we really love cooking and want to include savory recipes too! 

Anyway, for Father's Day I got my dad the book Ivan Ramen by Ivan Orkin. This book details Ivan's life and journey of becoming a ramen chef, and because my dad is always trying to perfect his own ramen, I figured this would be the perfect gift. Not only does this autobiography/cookbook have Ivan's famous 35 page ramen recipe, but it also has other Japanese recipes. Tonight I was inspired flipping through the pages and decided to make his breakfast Yakisoba, for dinner. 

Cherry Bomb Pie

The short cherry season is passing and I just got the tail end of it. Last Saturday I went to the farmers market in search of fresh tart cherries to turn into a scrumptious pie. I found one vendor with only a few cartons left, so I snatched them up! One of my good friend's mother passed from cancer recently and what better thing to cheer her up than a homemade pie made just for her?  I got the recipe from the cover of the June Bon Appetit magazine. The crust is one of my favorite and easiest crusts I have ever tried. It stayed together very nicely but still had the flakey texture to it. 

5 Yolk Lemon Curd

I am taking on the task of making macarons. If I ever become happy with how they turn out, I will post the recipe and many many pictures. Because I have used 10 egg whites already throughout my endeavors, I had to find ways to use the yolks. I decided to make Sara's favorite: lemon curd. She already posted a wonderful recipe for lemon curd when she made her Rosemary Lemon Cake filling, but I decided to post this recipe because it only uses yolks.

Mr. B's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

We are headed back to the old school classic kid dessert: a wonderful soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie. This is still my twenty-year-old brother’s all time favorite dessert ever since I first made them. Growing up we would simply follow the cookie recipe on the back of the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip bag, but these are a huge step up from those cookies. I discovered these cookies from one of my good friend's father; he would always make them for Christmas and I would go coo-coo over them. So naturally once you fall in love with a baked good you will do anything to track down the recipe. It took some finagling but I finally got the recipe out of him and it was from Cook's Illustrated. (Which is a really awesome magazine and website, foolproof recipes!) The major differences I noticed from this recipe to more traditional recipes are that the butter is melted, the brown sugar to granulated sugar ratio is different, and instead of two eggs you have one plus an egg yolk. Once you have these cookies though I guarantee that you will never try another recipe. 

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Tartlets

Left over pie crust + fresh rhubarb from the garden = Strawberry Rhubarb Tartlets!

Decadent French Toast

So I made some Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread  the other day, and then decided the perfect way to eat it for breakfast was french toast. I probably had this for breakfast three days in a row--it was so delicious. The key to this french toast is letting it soak for a few minutes before putting it in the pan. Also because the bread was homemade, the insides get so soft and gooey when you turn it into french toast. So yummy! 

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

Dorie Greenspan is a lovely lady. Recently I've been making sooo many things from her book Baking From My Home To Yours. Everything turns out so lovely. Here is a recipe from the book for cinnamon swirl bread. Sadly I didn't get a good picture of the bread before we ate it all up. I do have a picture of the bread in french toast form though, if you would like to see. This bread is not too complex, and fun to roll. I'm just imagining all of the delicious possibilities you could roll up inside this bread, beyond cinnamon and raisins.

Summer Salsa

I love salsa. You can't beat fresh salsa in the summertime, or anytime, really. I don't buy salsa at the store anymore because with just a little more work, you can make something tastier and better for you at home.  The other thing about salsa is that you can serve it on just about anything--meats, eggs, salads, with chips etc. Below is my own favorite recipe for quick, delicious salsa. You can substitute, omit, or add ingredients from your fridge or to your own taste. (I have added notes under the ingredients with my suggestions.)

All Delicious Apple Pie

Who does not love apple pie? Yes that's right, literally no one. Especially apple pie à la Mode. You can't get better than that. The other night my sister and I were craving just that, so we decided to whip one up. This recipe happened to produce probably one of the best apple pies I've had in my life. The crust was wonderfully flaky and the consistency of the filling was marvelous…2o minutes out of the oven and it still held its shape when the hot pie was cut. 

The recipe below is slightly adapted from the recipe in the wonderful book Baking by Dorie Greenspan. 

Rosemary Lemon Cake with Mascarpone Honey Frosting

I stumbled across a picture on Pinterest of a gorgeous baked alaska decorated with sunflowers and thought “ Wow I have to make that.” After reading the recipe, however, there were a lot of flaws to my plan.

The Perfect Bagels (Peter Reinhart adaptation)

I am currently obsessed. with BAGELS. I have been dreaming about bagels since my first real New York City bagel last March. About 4 weeks ago, I tried to make my own through a simple, quick, online recipe. They ended up pretty good, but then a week later I went to NJ/NYC again, and what do you know, I had some more bagels. On the flight back home, I decided that I was sick of being stuck in the middle of Illinois without access to these fresh deliciously soft and chewy pillows of wonderfulness. My quest for the perfect bagel recipe began, and through a quick google search, Peter Reinhart’s famous recipe popped up. Seeing all of the amazing reviews, I knew I had to give it a try.

I now owe so much to this magical bagel man, because these bagels not only satisfy my intense craving, but they make me want to make and eat these bagels 24 hours a day for the rest of my life.

The recipe is below, with my notes and tweaks.

Blueberry Almond Tart

The other day, Sara and I went down to Nashville to see The 1975 in concert. Before the show we stopped in a used bookstore and I found The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child, published in 1968! Honestly, Julia Child is one of my cooking idols and I was just so excited to find this book.

A few days later, I took a free afternoon and decided to make a creation that I had been thinking about for months. I turned to my new Julia Child cookbook and one of my old favorites Baking At Home by the Culinary Institute of America for some basic recipes.