Requested by my newest coworker, and a cookie I have never baked before! Turns out when I was baking at home that my sister has baked them before. And I was worried they would turn out dry since matcha powder just makes things look dry. But they turned out beautiful and spread perfectly. I am in love. Made a half batch from the original recipe, and all my measurements turned out perfect. Cookies and baked sweet goods are in full swing for the holidays! Can’t wait to drum up my next project.
October is in full-swing!!! Busy busy October. I never have time in October. In high school and college, it was midterms, school activities in full throttle. Now at work, professionals are mostly back from summer vacation and are gearing up for the last quarter before the new year. Then, my friends mentioned Halloween last night, and I stopped and was like AHH! haven’t thought about it AT ALL. No costume, no plans. Help!
Hope everyone is having a fantastic LDW soaking up the sun!!! Although its September, and basically tomorrow is the unofficial start to fall (due to Starbucks Pumpkin Spiced Latte being in stores nationwide), the weather is still warm but I can’t help but get excited about my favorite cooking season of the year!!! FALL!!! I love the pumpkin and the warm spices, and because summer continues on and on, later and later every year, there’s only a short time for pumpkin (before Santa Claus rolls in with peppermint and chocolate). The weather plays a huge factor in what my taste buds want, and when its hot out, there is little room for pumpkin cravings. But I figured that since tomorrow is the start of unofficial fall, and I am heading to Alaska, the cold cold rainy time for the state, I figured I would begin the celebrations in hopes that when I return from my vacation, that it’ll be full on fall in CA!
These pumpkin snickerdoodles are really bomb. They’re chewy and soft, with pumpkin and spices hinted in there. People say snickerdoodles are sugar cookies better cousin and I totally couldn’t agree more! Make these and enjoy them with your first of many pumpkin spice lattes! Or you can pair them with Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Ice Cream for sandwiches!
If you follow me on SnapChat, you might have seen that a few weeks ago, I snapped about tons of fresh peaches from my family’s tree, and snapped a story where I was making peach jam. That peach jam failed…since I didn’t have enough pectin and was too cheap to buy more at the time. However, my dad and sister, seeing that it was an absolute fail, and that I reused old jars, set out to re-make my failed jam. They bought new canning jars and my sister cooked the recipe. Now she is legitimately a Jam Queen. She has made 15 jars of jam (since we had SO much super ripe needed to be eaten peaches). Also, it is grape season here in Lodi. This year, due to the hot, dry weather, the grapes ripened early. Since Lodi is full of wine grapes, my dad went to go pick some and now, my sister has made grape jelly! Needless to say, we are a jam obsessed household now. My dad, being the French baker he is, has made croissants filled with jam (see picture below), and I can’t wait until the holidays, where I can make cookies!!! But since it’s summer, I figured crisps, and cobblers are the best to use our supply. I didn’t have an 8×8 pan, so I put the batter in cupcake tins. Turned out perfectly!!! So you can use either to get the same result – light, jammy, crispy, almond-y, and yummy. It’s perfect for breakfast!
Since this year was a hot hot hot year, with little rain, and an early summer, the peaches on our tree ripened so quickly so early in the year. We used to wait until about mid-july or august for harvesting, but we ended up harvesting them in mid-june this year!! So I learned this year that fruit trees bear delicious, juicy, sweet fruit every other year consistently. So one year it will be large and sweet and delicious, and the next will be smaller and less sweet, maybe even sour. Also, after the peach flowers have bloomed and it starts to form the fruit, on the same branches, you have to pick off some of the fruit so the other fruits on the same branch will have enough nutrition to form these big and yummy peaches!!! Darwin’s rule!! Funny how nature works and I have definitely noticed that with our fruit trees. Anyway, we have a ton of peaches so we needed ways to use them up. We made jam and peach salsa. The jam can go on homemade bread and jam cookies during Christmas! I am so excited.
For some reason I have always thought of kiwis as an all season fruit – it’s in my house all year long and they seem to be in Costco, always fresh, year round! With the summer abundance of fruit, I have been looking for ways to use them! As decoration (see Strawberry Kiwi Fruit Tart) or as more savory options, like this spicy jalapeño kiwi salsa!
Kiwis have a unique history – surprisingly, they are native to China, where it used to be called Chinese gooseberry. No idea where the goose came from (although there are red core kiwis according to Wiki). Then the cultivation journey of the kiwi fruit went to New Zealand, where there are birds that are called kiwi birds…LOL but New Zealanders named these bright green fuzzy fruits the kiwifruit, and it stuck!!!
This salsa only takes 4 ingredients and can be used as a chips and dip or a topping for fish!!!
It’s been a busy two weeks since my last post due to the EXCITING Warriors v. Cavs matchup – didnt really have a life besides drinking beer and eating nachos for the past two weeks!!! If you didn’t know already, I basically pledged blue and gold a few weeks ago during the rockets series (I know I am a total bandwagoner fan but BUT i would argue that everyone has a starting point ha ha). Anyway, the night the Warriors won I was at ORACLEEEE watching Game 6 on the arena’s screen. It was definitely like a home game – us fans were just as loud, waving our teensy towels around and screaming our lungs off. It was truly an experience that I am hoping we can experience again in our lifetime! Let the curse be broken and a dynasty begins :). I was unfortunately super busy on Friday and wasn’t able to join everyone at the parade, but I saw all the Snapchats of the event and thought, damn, it really is a wonderful to be alive, in the Bay, and be young.
These cream puffs were made with leftover Fruit Tart pastry cream! (But I have provided the exact recipe for 12 cream puffs in case yall just wanted to make the puffs and not the tart). I made exactly 12 little ones (if you want, you could make 6 Beard Papa’s sized ones if you wanted with the same amount of cream.
IT’S BASICALLY SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY FAVORITE SEASON OF THE YEAR!!!! Have been into WHITE lately – white shorts, white tanks, white shirts, white sheets, white shoes, all white everything! Can’t wait to be a little more tan (yes I still care about my facial skin care) by being outdoors! I hope this summer is the best summer yet (unlike last year when I was studying – had a nose disease that wasn’t curable until late summer! hahah) !! Lots in store like country concerts, wedding, ariana grande, vegas, kevin hart, etc. Someone invite me to a BBQ so I bring over this magnificent fruit tart and/or cream puffs (another post). Anyway happy beginning of SUMMER!!!
Mmm brisketttt!!! I don’t normally touch complicated meats, as I leave the complicated meat and seafood stuff to my dad when I am at home, but this was a MDW project for the both of us where we bonded over our love of cooking and excitement over BEEF. We have been talking about kobe and wagyu beef a lot lately and are excited to someday go to Japan to try real kobe beef, as the marble is incomparable to “kobe style.” Anyway, since it was MDW, we were deciding between the tri-tip or brisket cuts of beef to make. Both of us have never made brisket before but have definitely eaten it before and have heard of the famous texan beef brisket where people wait in lines for. So we went to Raley’s and the meat cutter who brought out fresh cuts was like “go for the brisket today! and here is a recipe on the sticky for you! have fun!” So we set out on this project, which turned out to be relatively easy, but you just have to be patient and give it the slow roast that it needs. Half-way through the roasting process, and after poking it a little, it didn’t seem to soften and I was afraid it was going to be tough like some people said online. So we lowered the temp and let it roast another 2 hours. WHEW did it turn out perfect. And the sauce was an amazing pair. Slow and steady wins the race!
It’s the middle of May and SUMMERRRR is almost officially here!!!! You know I am most alive during the summer months when the days are longer and the sun is shining! Being that I live in SF though, I gotta get out of the city to get this sunshine, so I will take whatever chance to this summer! Since I basically had zero, nada, summer last summer, well except maybe the weekend of July 4th fun, I want to make this summer the best summer ever since 2013!!! My plans this summer are to go to vegas, go camping for the first time, go to another national park, hike more hiking trails, run more trails, eat at a Michelin star restaurant, and explore more of SF! I owe it to myself to be a worldly person and that begins today.
Check out this yummy, easy cornbread I made for the Fight of the Century!!! It’s perfect for summer BBQs or camping trips 😀
Put a Ring on Annie 