Not So Nutritious, But Oh So Delicious.

This was my first time making key lime pie and I used THIS RECIPE. Instead of adding whipped cream as a garnish I made some white chocolate "mousse" which I think I did incorrectly and it turned out more like whipped cream, but insanely better. I found that recipe HERE. The pie was very tart so it definitely needed the super-sweetness of the mousse. The flavors balanced each other out nicely and even though I don't have as beautiful results as the original poster of the recipe, it's still tastes amazing! Oh, and I just used a Harris Teeter pre-made crust because I am lazy-- I still say it's good.

There's no velvet like Red Velvet.

I used this great mix from Sprinkles Cupcakes that I bought at a Williams Sonoma store recently, and I was really happy with how they turned out. The batter was really rich and darker from the usual pop-red of red velvet mixes, but I liked it because it includes cocoa powder in the mix. I think chocolate always contributes to better flavor! The recipe for the cream cheese icing also made some super-fabulous icing, and lots of it. I skipped using their "modern dots" that came with the kit because I'm not the best icer-of-cupcakes. But the flavor is so good -- who cares what it looks like? Mmm cupcakes!

More edibles!

Derek and I made some very delicious dark chocolate truffles using Ghiradelli chocolate and some Peppermint flavoring for half of them. Mmm. The recipe I used can be found here.



Tonight I made some pesto cream sauce using this recipe and the leftover heavy cream from the truffles, and boy oh boy was it ever good! I grilled some vegetables on my trusty ol' George Foreman and voila-- a delectable dinner!

Failed, but in a good way.

I made these muffins with the intention of following the recipe below, but when I realized my butter wasn't melted enough and I'd already dumped all the berries in, I had to resort to using an electric mixer to thoroughly blend the batter. I was worried at first but it wound up giving them a really cool violet color on the tops and insides. Not quite as beautiful and moist as I'd hoped, but fluffy and berry-flavored all the same! I wound up adding some white princess icing to some of them and that really improved the overall quality quite a bit.

So hooray for happy mistakes!

THE RECIPE, credit to Nook & Pantry.

The Kristen & Emily Cake

My friend Kristen and I made this cake, whose recipe is originally by Martha Stewart (recipe here). We made some edits, such as not doing any of the "topping" recipe, and adding a "goo" above the berries (a cream, if you will) that was made using this recipe. Also, we baked it in a large rectangular pan (not sure about the dimensions, but large!) since neither of us owned a round pan with a removable bottom and hole in the middle.

It made for a very moist, crumbly and delicious cake! Hooray!

The Quest for a Simply Delicious Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

I found what I thought to be a good recipe for a chewy chocolate chip cookie, and boy was it ever! Not a lot of butter involved, easy and quick. I changed a few things about the recipe to suit my own needs and voila! Deliciousness was born. I think the greatness was partially due to the use of Ghirardelli chocolate chips (60% cocoa) instead of your plain-old store-bought brand. They were good warm, but I think even better cold once they had the chance to actually become chewy.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (with a hint of Chai spice)
an edited version of this recipe - Makes 14 medium-sized cookies

* 2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter (softened)
* 6 tablespoons white sugar
* 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
* 3 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 or 1.5 teaspoons chai spice (I used David Rio Fine Teas Masala Chai)
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 large egg
* 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 3/4 cup to 1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chunks or chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. (My oven bakes very hot, so I set mine to 325 right before I put them in the oven.)
2. In a medium bowl and using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars, salt, chai spice* and vanilla until well combined. Beat in the egg until entirely combined.
3. Sift together flour and baking soda. Add this to the wet mixture and mix on low speed until absorbed. Stir chocolate chunks into the dough.
4. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil. (I used non-stick spray on my aluminum foil.) Shape the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and drop them about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden. Let sit for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

*Note: I could stand to have added another couple of teaspoons of the Chai spice if I really wanted to taste it. I could only very faintly detect it in these cookies.

Double Chocolate Spice Cake & Sparkling Grapefruit Juice

Double Chocolate Spice Cake
A guess-and-try recipe that worked out very well!

The cake:

1 box Devil's Food chocolate cake mix
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp (a pinch) ground cloves

Follow the box's directions and add in the spices with the rest of the ingredients. Easy!

The icing was a chocolate ganache recipe from this website. Once the ganache set, I dusted the top with powdered sugar. Voila! The spices made all the difference in perking up the recipe.

Sparkling Grapefruit Juice

Alas, no photograph!

Juice from 1 freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (no pulp!)
1 cup Sprite (or I think I also tried ginger ale and it was fine too)
1 packet of sweetener

Combine juices and stir in sweetener, and don't forget the ice! It's really a recipe you can change to taste. I doubt those measurements are exact because I played around with different combinations before I found something I really loved.