Month: January 2018

Uncategorized

Last-Minute San Diego Food

Emerald Thunder

I ended up taking a last-minute trip out to San Diego last week, so cooking and baking my own food went on the back-burner. But being away from my kitchen didn’t stop me from experiencing all sorts of delicious food during my time out there! Shameless food pics below!

Short Ribs Benedict from Fig Tree Cafe
Chocolate/Almond Tart from Extraordinary Desserts
In-N-Out Double-Double!
Art Lovers + Pepperoni Pizza from Blaze
Ice Cream Sandwich from Baked Bear
Savory Crepes from Broken Yolk Cafe

In addition to eating food galore, I also went to Pacific Beach and to Temecula. Whenever I wasn’t inside, I wanted to bask in the sun, because I knew winter was just a couple days away for me. I think I even got a little color from my beach day!

21 days until Houston!

Baking

Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Cookies

Emerald Thunder

You want a cookie whose aroma will waft throughout your apartment building? This is your cookie! These Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Cookies came together super quickly, and I eventually got the hang of baking them.

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At first, I didn’t roll the dough into balls before baking, which caused some frustration in not being able to get a decent cross-hatch on top. But by the last four, I rolled the dough into balls and got a lovely little design on each. These last ones also cooked and browned more evenly. So, note to self, don’t just plop the peanut butter cookie dough onto the sheet. Take another minute to get a smooth, evenly browned, cross-hatch-having cookie!

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I didn’t have any sanding sugar like the recipe called for, but I did sprinkle some raw/Turbinado sugar over top each cookie before baking.

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Baking, Uncategorized

Pumpkin Spice Latte Muffins

Emerald Thunder

I’m trying to keep the momentum going on doing at least one semi-productive thing each weekend day now that I’m not consistently at work until all hours. Today’s productivity resulted in temporarily being the epitome of a “basic white girl” and making PSL muffins.

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We definitely didn’t have a true Fall this past year, which means that all of my candle scents have shifted by a few months, hence the Pumpkin Banana Muffin in the background. How rude of the weather to not abide by candle season!

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In even sadder news, the sugar/butter rule applies to these little delights, which means that I have to share them with my coworkers. At least they can safely go in tupperware containers in a tote bag to get them to work!

Baking

New Year, New Bread

Emerald Thunder

Is this a New Year’s Resolution? Who knows? Maybe this lasts, maybe it doesn’t. All I know right now is that I made my best loaf of bread ever today! And I want to celebrate that personal achievement.

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Coming off of watching 40 episodes of The Great British Baking Show over the holidays, I needed to make *something,* but a sugar-overload during the latter half of the year has put me off sweet baked goods for a bit. It also seems more reasonable to eat an entire loaf of bread than to eat an entire cake. That’s how it works, right? It doesn’t have a mountain of sugar or butter, so I can eat it all myself?

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I used this Rustic White Bread recipe, and I’m quite pleased with this little loaf! Paul Hollywood was in the back of my head the whole time–knead well, don’t over-prove, have steam in the oven for a good crust! Using a Dutch oven didn’t hurt, either. When I brought it out of the oven and gave it a good knock on the bottom, there was a lovely hollow sound. Music to my ears!

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All in all, not a bad start to the year!