Peanut Blossoms

It’s Thursday.
Am I the only one who has trouble waking up on Thursdays? It’s so close to the weekend but it still feels so far away. Thursdays are days for extra cups of coffee and baking in the afternoon. And, you know, cleaning the house. But baking is always more important than cleaning. Right?
Do me (and yourself) a favor, and make this classic today. It’ll get you through the day. And tomorrow. And it’ll make your weekend a whole lot better.

Makes 48 cookies.

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup peanut butter
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1½ cups AP flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 48 Hershey’s Kisses
• extra granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350℉.
Cream together butter and peanut butter. You can use either creamy or chunky peanut butter, but I love the texture that the chunky peanut butter gives to the cookies. Add sugars and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add in egg, vanilla, and milk. Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt and fold into butter/sugar mixture.
Scoop dough into one-inch balls and roll in granulated sugar. Bake about 10 minutes until lightly browned. Once removed from the oven, immediately press a Hershey’s Kiss into each cookie.

PS. Do me a favor and check out my Etsy. New stuff coming soon!

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Swirl Bread

I’m back!

Good news, we finally have our own house! No more roommates for us. The bad news is that between work and moving and taking care of the new house, I have felt so overwhelmed. While we used to spend our weekends going out for lunch and driving down the coast, our weekends now consist of painting and cleaning up the yard and fixing little things that really bother my OCD (there’s a chip on the side of the sink that I swear is going to be the death of me).
I feel like we finally have things under control again, so of course I wanted to bake something rad for my boyfriend as a big thank you for doing all the manly things around the house and, let’s be honest, the things that I just don’t want to do. This bread was the perfect choice.

Recipe by Take a Mega Bite
Makes one loaf.

• 1 packet regular active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 3 cups AP flour
• ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 tbsp. cocoa powder
• ¼ cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add sugar, salt, egg, oil, and 1½ cups flour. Beat for two minutes, scraping the bowl frequently. Transfer half of the batter to a separate bowl. Add peanut butter to one bowl and cocoa powder to the other. Add ¾ cup flour to each bowl and stir vigorously, then add the chocolate chips to the cocoa dough.
On a floured surface, knead each dough for 5-10 minutes until smooth and springy. Spray two medium bowls with cooking spray and place a dough in each one. Cover and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size, about 60-75 minutes (dough is ready if an impression remains when poked).
Grease a loaf pan. Pat peanut butter dough into a 9 x 7 rectangle, then stretch cocoa dough into the same size and place on top. Roll up from the long-side and pinch to seal. Transfer to greased loaf pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about one hour. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375℉.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until bread is deep golden brown and sounds hollow when flicked.

LIFE LATELY:

moving day! // dinner and dessert in the making // new addition to the house

Just for the time being.

I’m so sorry, everyone.

I’ve been terrible at updating this blog.

Here’s the thing. I’m trying really hard to start my own business right now. And I’ve been so wrapped up in the planning and design aspects that I’ve been too distracted to concentrate on other projects.
I’m going to get back to blogging as soon as possible. But for the time being, enjoy this list of my favorite recipes currently floating around the internet.

1. Joy the Baker made this amazing Lasagna Grilled Cheese. Is there anything better than tomatoes and cheese and carbs?

2. Joy also made these Ritz Cracker Ice Cream Sandwiches. Sweet and salty is always my favorite.

3. Jessica from How Sweet Eats made this Pineapple Cashew Fried Rice. Fried rice is one of my weaknesses. Pineapples are one of my other weaknesses. Swoon.

4. Heather from Sprinkles Bakes made this Fried Ice Cream Cake. I remember eating fried ice cream as a kid and unfortunately haven’t had it since. But I’ve been craving fried ice cream for years now.

5. Katie from Chocolate Covered Katie made this Healthy Cookie Dough Ice Cream a while back, but I just made it for the first time. And I made it vegan. And then I ate it all because it was so delicious. No shame. It’s healthy, right?

6. Megan from Take a Mega Bite made a Black & White Cookie Cake that I am so excited to try. I have a not-so-secret love for black and white cookies.

7. Kristy from Sweet Treats & More made these Copycat Gourdough’s ODB Donut Holes. Holy. Yum.

8. Tracy from Shutterbean made the Momofuku Cornflake Marshmallow Cookies. These cookies are the greatest concept in the whole world. Momofuku is definitely on my bucket list.

 

I’ll be back soon. I promise. Love you guys!

Peach Cobbler

Help.
Our fruit trees are overflowing. Especially the peach tree.
Like, to the point where I can’t even bake enough things to keep up with the amount of fruit we have.

That’s half.
And all this fruit is from one peach tree.
The family consensus for the first fruit dessert was a classic peach cobbler. Served warm with vanilla ice cream, of course.

Makes one 8″x8″ cobbler.

• 6 cups peach segments
• ¼ cup sugar
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2¼ cups AP flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• heavy pinch of salt
• ½ cup butter, cold and cubed
• scant ½ cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tbsp. sugar

To peel peaches: bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop several peaches into the boiling water and let boil for 45-60 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, fish peaches out of boiling water and drop into a large bowl of ice water. Let the peaches sit in the ice water for several minutes. The skin on the peaches should peel off very easily.

Preheat oven to 425℉.
Peel all the peaches, then cut into segments and remove pits. Mix peach segments with the orange zest and ¼ cup sugar. Use the 1 tbsp. of butter to completely butter the bottom and sides of an 8″x8″ baking dish. Pour peaches into the butter baking dish.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the cubed butter and massage butter into dough until dough resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk and beaten egg and fold gently to combine. Drop chunks of dough on top of peaches. Sprinkle dough with the 2 tbsp. sugar. Bake cobbler until dough is golden brown and peaches are bubbling, about 25-30 minutes.

Bakery Inspiration III

All images courtesy of Pinterest.

Kale Pesto with Roasted Tomatoes

Well, it’s that time.
It’s finally time to start packing for my vacation to Mexico. Unfortunately, my attention span is so short that I keep getting distracted by watching the first season of Breaking Bad, and my cat makes things difficult because she keeps crawling in my suitcase and getting cat hair on all my clean clothes. And I’m so indecisive that I keep packing outfits and then promptly removing them because I can’t decide what I am going to want to wear once I get there.
My boyfriend literally just throws some shirts and shorts into a suitcase and calls it a day. Why can’t it be that simple for us girls?

And because I’m leaving in a few days, it’s time to start really eating healthy. Or at least attempt. There is a pastry shop within walking distance of our hotel, so I might as well try to stuff in some vegetables before I leave and completely lose all self control.
I’ve been obsessed with open-faced sandwiches lately. And this sandwich is a really easy, healthy, delicious lunch. It fills you up without making you feel stuffed. And if you’re not a fan of the whole open-faced thing, just double the amount of bread in the recipe below and layer it like a normal sandwich. Easy peasy.

Serves four.

• 4 slices of whole wheat bread, toasted
• 1 large bunch of kale, stems removed
• 1 garlic clove
• ½ cup walnuts
• 1 lemon
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese
• ¼ tsp. black pepper
• heavy pinch of salt
• ⅛-¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 small roma tomatoes

Preheat oven to 400℉.
Slice tomatoes into thick slices and place in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes.
Bring a pot of heavily-salted water to a boil. Drop kale into water and let boil for 3-5 minutes. Drain kale and allow to dry completely. Add walnuts and garlic to a blender and blend until crumbly. Add the kale, juice from the lemon, salt, pepper, and the parmesan cheese to the blender and blend until completely smooth. While blender is running, drizzle in olive oil and continue to blend until smooth.
Spread a thick layer of kale pesto onto slices of toasted bread. Top with the slices of roasted tomatoes and a heavy pinch of black pepper.

Knockoff Cronuts

Cronut. Possibly the strangest name for a pastry I have ever heard. But Dominique Ansel is a genius for creating this wonderful thing.
A cronut is a donut made of flaky croissant dough. The dough is layered over and over to create the buttery flakes, and then it is cut to shape and fried until crispy. The process is not easy, but it is so worth it. Ansel says that a batch of cronuts takes three days to make in his bakery, and they sell out almost immediately every morning.

As soon as I heard about the cronut, I knew I had to attempt it. And let me tell you, eating a cronut hot off of the fryer is a wonderful feeling. Yes, these are knockoff cronuts. The only real cronut is found in New York at Ansel’s bakery. But if you’re feeling brave, give it a try. I promise it is worth it.

I made these cronuts with a laminated danish dough that was already folded and ready to go in the bakery. We make danishes and croissants on a very, very large scale. So I want to share another way to go about this process. Jessica from How Sweet Eats provides a very basic approach for home bakers. Her croissant tutorial can be found here, but I will type out the directions in this post as well.

Makes about 15.

• 1½ cups warm whole milk (about 105℉)
• ¼ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. plus ½ tsp. active dry yeast
• 3¾-4½ cups AP flour
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1½ cups cold butter

“To make dough, combine milk, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer attached with a dough hook, and let sit until foamy – about 5-10 minutes. If it doesn’t foam, start over. Once foamy, add 3¾ cups flour and the salt, and mix on low speed until dough comes together and is soft, about 7 minutes. Transfer dough to your workspace and knead by hand for a minute or 2, using more flour to make it silky and not sticky. Form dough into a 1½ inch thick rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for one hour.
Once dough has chilled, set butter sticks next to each other with their sides touching. Pound it down with a rolling pin to soften it a bit, then set it between two towels or two sheets of plastic wrap. I found this to be the most challenging part. Using the rolling pin, continue to press down on it with the rolling pin and roll. I also used my hands to press it down and form it into 8 x 5 inch rectangle. Once done, wrap in plastic wrap and chill while rolling dough.
Remove dough from plastic wrap and sit on a lightly floured surface. Using your hands, stretch the dough (especially the corners) into the 16 x 10 inch rectangle. I was wary of this but it actually works pretty easily – just be sure to measure! Place dough with a short end near you. Set butter slab in the middle of the dough, then fold the ends up like a letter: top half down and bottom half up. Turn dough again so the short side is facing you, and use the rolling pin to press down equally on the dough to help flatten it. Roll dough into a 15 x 10 inch rectangle, rolling out to the ends but not actually over the ends. Again, fold the dough like a letter: top have down and bottom half up, and stretch so the corners are square. This should form a 10 x 5 inch rectangle (roughly). Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for one hour.
Repeat step 3 THREE more times, for a total of four folds, chilling the dough for one hour after each fold. After the fourth and final fold, wrap dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill for 8-12 hours, no longer.”

Now for the donut part of the cronut. Roll your dough to about two or three inches thick. You want it to be pretty thick! Use a round biscuit cutter to cut out donuts from dough. Use a smaller round biscuit cutter to cut out the donut hole in the middle of each cronut. Place cronuts onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover with a towel, and set in a warm place to rise for 1-2 hours.
Once the cronuts are slightly bigger and puffy, fill a large saucepot  or dutch oven with plenty of vegetable oil. Heat the oil over medium heat until the oil reaches 375℉. Carefully drop the cronuts into the oil and let fry until deep golden brown. Mine took only a few minutes, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove cronuts from oil and set on paper towel to drain excess oil. Cronuts can be decorated however you want! I rolled mine in cinnamon sugar and drizzled with a simple glaze, but the possibilities are endless.

I’m so sorry for the long directions. But it is seriously worth it.

Creamy Vegan Asparagus Soup

You guys. The Del Mar Fair is here.
I can’t be the only San Diegan excited about it.

There’s something about walking through the crowded halls of overpriced gadgets and house improvements, and buying things that you know you don’t really need. And you don’t even mind walking out in the 95℉ heat and shoving your way through the crowds of people. And you really don’t mind waiting in line for thirty minutes to get a warm cinnamon roll. Or a caramel apple tower. Or anything deep-fried. Or the spicy corn on the cob! And there are supposedly gourmet grilled cheeses being featured this year. I am all about that.
I need to stop talking about the food, because I am already drooling.

Throughout the years, my family has bought a lot of crap from the fair. Some of it didn’t even work once we got it home. But the best purchase we ever made is our Vitamix blender. No lie, this is the greatest invention ever. We have had this blender for years and it still works as well as it did the day we bought it.
I use this blender constantly to make smoothies and ice cream, but it is also great for making soups and sauces. The best thing about the Vitamix is that the liquid warms as it blends, which is wonderful when making fresh soup for dinner.

Serves four.

• 2 lbs. asparagus
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ of a medium onion, sliced
• 1½-2 cups vegetable broth
• ¼ cup walnuts
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• large pinch of salt
• large pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 450℉.
Trim both ends of asparagus. Spread out on a parchment-lined sheet pan and sprinkle with the sliced onion and minced garlic. Roast for 8-10 minutes (depending on size of asparagus). Rotate sheet pan and roast an additional 6-8 minutes. Add walnuts, ½ cup of vegetable broth, and seasonings to a blender. Blend on high until smooth. Add half of asparagus to blender and blend until smooth. Add 1 cup broth and blend. Add remaining asparagus, minced garlic, and onion to blender and blend well. If soup is too thick, you can add an additional ½ cup of vegetable broth. Blend for 5-7 minutes until soup is fully smooth and piping hot (If your blender doesn’t warm the soup as it blends, just pour the soup into a sauce pot and warm on the stove over medium heat).

 

Please tell me I’m not alone in being so excited about the county fair.

Cinnamon Roll Scones

I like healthy food.
And I reeeally like healthy food that tastes like junk food.

The problem is that I want dessert every day. In fact, I want dessert for every meal.
The problem is that my hips and thighs don’t like that.

So in order to get the best of both worlds, I like to find foods that taste indulgent and still add some nutrition. This is the perfect example. The base of these scones is whole wheat flour and oatmeal, and cinnamon is a super food. Yes, there is butter and sugar and glaze, but hey! I choose to look at the glass half-full.

Recipe by Recipe Girl.
Makes 12 biscuits.

• 2 cups AP flour (I used whole wheat flour)
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 8 tbsp. butter, cold and cubed
• ¾ cup milk, cold
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 oz. cream cheese
• ½ cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 2-3 tsp. milk

Preheat oven to 425℉.
Combine flour, oats, ¼ cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk, egg, and vanilla to dry mixture and fold together until dough is fully moistened. In small bowl, mix cinnamon and 2 tbsp. sugar. Swirl cinnamon sugar gently into dough, making sure not to fully combine.Drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheet two inches apart. Bake 11-13 minutes until golden brown. Let cool completely. Microwave cream cheese 20 seconds until slightly thinned out. Sift in powdered sugar and mix with fork until smooth. Add 2 tsp. milk and mix well. If too thick, add an additional tsp. of milk. Using a fork, drizzle long stripes over scones.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Can we talk about fads for a second?

Most fads are entertaining. Usually somewhat annoying, but mostly entertaining. And then there are some fads that should have been over before they even began, like the words ‘swag’ and ‘yolo’. And ebooks (please just buy a real book, people! There’s no comparison). And are ‘gangnam style’ and the Harlem shake going to be leaving any time soon? Please say yes.

But there are some fads that I hope stay around for a long time, like Duck Dynasty (oh, how I love Jase Robertson). And Instagram. And the gluten-free/Paleo thing is really big right now. And speaking as a carb-addict, I am seriously hoping gluten-free food stays popular for a while. My waistline would appreciate it.

Makes one 8″ pizza.

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1½ tsp. dried oregano
• ½ tsp. garlic powder

Preheat oven to 450℉.
Break the head of cauliflower into florets. Add the cauliflower florets to a blender or the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until cauliflower breaks down and resembles rice (Be careful not to overblend or the cauliflower will turn into puree). Place ⅓ of broken-down cauliflower in a microwave-safe bowl (1 head of cauliflower will make enough for three pizzas). Microwave on high for 7-8 minutes until cooked thoroughly.
Mix cooked cauliflower, beaten egg, and mozzarella cheese until fully blended. Dump mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and pat into an 8″ circle. Sprinkle pizza crust with dried oregano and garlic powder. Place baking sheet in oven and bake 13-15 minutes until golden brown.

Cover crust with toppings of choice and broil at 500℉ for 4-5 minutes.
*In the photo below, I covered my cauliflower crust with slices of tomato, strips of green pepper, vegan Italian sausage, and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese.

What’s your favorite fad?
Bonus points if you pick anything from the 90s.
Slap bracelets and Dunkaroos, anyone? No?
I’ll stop now.