Merry Christmas

It's that time again!  We had our annual Holiday party, and as usual had way too much food. 

I love the little boxes of candy from Sugarfina. They have so many options of colors and flavors it's out of control. 

Easy to make festive cookies and cupcakes. 

Stuffed Cookies

After trying these Stuffed cookies at Cookie-Con, I had to order a box of my own.

Love the packaging and flavors!

Reeces: Chocolate Chips, Potato Chips, Peanut Butter and Pretzels

Cereal N Milk: Frutti Pebbles and Marshmallow, so good!

Japanese Cookies

Everything in Japan has a face.  Thats a fact, and probably why I love it all.  I walked into a small convenience store and was in awe of the hundreds of different cookie and candy packages in every shape and color.  These little panda cookies were my favorite!  They're made of pretzel, butterscotch, and white and milk chocolate.  I love how they each have a different expression, so cute!

@Home Cafe, Tokyo

While in Tokyo I went to @Home Cafe, a Maid Cafe in Akiharaba and it was the most unusual experience.  All the waitresses are dressed as maids, call the guests "master", kneel to take the food orders, and draw faces on EVERYTHING! 

I ordered these pancakes because it looks like my dog Lucy, it was so cute and really tasty!  I think I slipped into a sugar coma this afternoon. 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!! 

How adorable is this log cake from Eli Zabars in NY.  Somehow this was the first log cake I've ever had, and it was so rich, dense and delicious!  

LaDurée Christmas

LaDurée strikes again.  I can't ever go to NYC without stopping by the store, but when I saw this packaging collaboration with the New York City Ballet I got so excited.  Two of my favorite things all together looking perfect.  

French Macaron Pastry Class

Back at my favorite Gourmandise School! I learned how to make the adorable, and incredibly labor intensive French Macarons.  This was the cream caramel for one of the fillings.

They turned out really well! I made four flavors: Vanilla cream, caramel cream, strawberry and passion fruit.  

I'm nervous to try these again at home, for now I just have a massive supply in the freezer. 

DIY Crumbs Cupcakes

I love a good box mix, which is why I was so excited to see Crumbs mix for sale at Target! My friend loved them so I thought I'd make them for her birthday. 

They turned out great, a classic funfetti and cream cheese birthday cupcake. 

Baby Shower!

I was so excited to host my first baby shower, along with a couple other of the mother-to-be's friends. I think we did a great job with so many little details! 

The candy containers and table topper toys were so cute!

You can never have too many colorful straws, they add such a nice touch to a plastic party cup.

I ordered in catering from Bagel Broker and Nagila, both which were delicious. 

All the Nagila salads were so fresh and perfect for an early afternoon lunch.

You can never have too many sweets.

I couldn't resist, I saw this on Pinterest and thought it was hilarious.  Ice ice baby. 

Me and the mom-to-be!

Beignet's At Home

While in New Orleans I picked up a box of Cafe Du Monde's famous Beignet mix.

It was not easy, it took several tries to get the beignets to puff the right way, the secret is hot hot hot oil.  When you think its hot enough, wait and let it get even hotter! The oil also needs to be deep enough so the dough can really float around.

They turned out great!! Such a unique treat to make at home, can't wait to buy more mix!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from Cleveland!! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

The Bun Shop

Last week I went to The Bun Shop where the desserts are a big part of the experience.  The on the left is the Custard Bun, which is a sweet version of the standard bun, filled with custard and topped with salted caramel sauce, sitting on popcorn. It was delicious, but I could do without the popcorn.  On the right is their Fried Oreos with green tea ice cream.  Its impossible to go wrong with oreos, they're amazing, but I would have paired them with vanilla ice cream. 

Fōnuts

I recently tried another fōnut which was one of their yeast based steamed donuts.  It was cinnoman sugar but sort of tasted like apples... It was great!! 

Milk Jar Cookies

I finally tried Milk Jar after hearing how amazing it was, and I am certainly into it. It still not my favorite cookie, but pretty awesome.  Above is the Rocky Road, my favorite out of the ones I tried - super chocolatey!

This is the chocolate chip walnut which somewhat reminded me of the Levain cookie.

This was the pecan caramel chocolate cookie, super sweet and gooey!

Happy Valentine's Day

It's been a while, but wanted to share these chocolate strawberries I made! I bought huge organic strawberries from Whole Foods and dipped them in 65% dark Cordillera chocolate, some are topped with toffee.  Happy cheat day!! 

Stella Barra Hollywood

I only just discovered the new Stella Barra in Hollywood this week and I think it could be a game changer in that neighborhood.  I haven't tried the Pizzas yet but the bakery section is incredible.  Above is the Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookie.  It was pretty smokey but so moist and sweet.

This is the Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookie with Walnuts.  It's dense and chewy with the perfect crunch. 

And the winner...the Chocolate Chip Rice Krispies Treat cookie.  There was melted marshmallow everywhere!  That RKT flavor leaked through to the already amazing cookie base making it extra sweet.  Such a great combo idea I love it!

Salt & Straw

This Summer I have been craving ice cream more than ever and have discovered so many new companies!  The most exciting one so far has been Salt & Straw, a Portland based artisan ice cream shop. I love the homemade look of the packaging and the changing seasonal flavor options, they are so unique.  Most importantly, the quality of this ice cream is SO amazing.  The flavor shown above is the Sea Salt w/ Caramel Ribbons. So good.

 Clockwise: Ricotta Honey Lemon w/ Walnut Lace Cookies,  Pear w/ Blue Cheese, Freckled Woodblock Chocolate,  Olive Oil.

This flavor was my favorite! Almond Brittle w/ Salted Ganache. It's the perfect combo of creamy and crunchy.

Homemade Raspberry Macaroons

For Passover I wanted to try something new so I found this macaroon recipe in my Martha Stewart Living magazine.  They are super easy to make, and only use a few ingredients.  

The fresh raspberries add an amazing color, and a tart flavor. 

I also made a plain batch which are delicious.  It's always good to have variety.

Of course a macaroon isn't finished until dipped in chocolate. 

They turned out really well! Very tasty and super cute.  

Sycamore Kitchen

I finally went to Sycamore Kitchen for the first time today and died a little.  I ordered a salad, but couldn't resist just trying a little taste of everything!  I was seriously overwhelmed with how amazing these bakery items all were.  

This Salted Caramel Pecan Babka Roll was insane.  Still a little warm, it was like a Cinnabon on crack. 

I ordered a specialty coffee, the Vanilla Cafetico, which was good but the size of a Dixie cup. 

This Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge Cookie was pretty great - like a lighter, nuttier version of the Ooey Gooey cookie from Milk.

This Mini Chocolate Chip "Stump" Cake was a coffee milk chocolate fluffy cupcake with a marshmallow/meringue type frosting on top.  It was great, and just the right size.

Not a sweet, but out of control!  This Tart layered perfectly roasted tomatoes and cheese on top of caramelized onions on a flakey pastry dough.  I could eat this everyday.