Christmas cookies ROUND 1!!! I love love LOVE Christmas cookies and I love baking with the Andes mint chips that they sell during this time of year. You can find them at Walmart or Target in the baking aisle! I usually make the normal Andes mint cookies which are a crowd favorite, but really wanted something fudgy and chewy and rich for my craving. This recipe uses Greek yogurt instead of eggs which I find super wonderful! Hope this makes it onto your Christmas cookie list!!!
Today has been a wonderful day. It’s finally a week before Thanksgiving and I am super duper excited to go home and get my holiday on! I even packed yesterday, which is so unlike me because I scramble at the last minute haha. I began today finally logging into my student loan account and found out that I owe a tad bit less than I thought – I mean it’s still an atrocious amount, but it’s not unmanageable either. I learned from my friend that I can peg it to my future income which is exciting!!! All in all, I am just super stoked about my adult life and really planning for the future. In addition, Venmo launched an awesome promotion where you win money by clicking on leaves that is falling off a money tree. And it spread like wildfire and everyone was totally spreading it that probably overwhelmed the servers. It truly is so exciting and fulfilling when you know you will be working for such an awesome, fun company that people love and get excited about. 🙂 I also had Thanksgiving lunch today at the school’s gourmet restaurant – La Gran Terraza. It is totally a hidden gem inside our school and only a walk across the street for me. I have come here several times now and I have loved every bit of it. Their unlimited buffet lunches are only $14 – it’s such a good deal given all the gourmet food and desserts you get – I had pumpkin creme brulee and pecan pie. YUMMY! So feeling festive, I came home having the itch to bake. I don’t like sweet things and I don’t have too many people who live near me I can drop them off to, but I just felt the urge. I came across this recipe a few days ago and became consumed with the thought of making them. I hope you will too 🙂
As much as I wish San Diego would turn Fall, it doesn’t seem close to possible. It’s still 75 deg and sunny! But the nights get chilly, so I have been dreaming about warm spiced drinks for the holidays. But I do have to go on a rant about people skipping Thanksgiving now. What the hell. Thanksgiving is a grand holiday that gets people excited for Christmas but it seems like people are forgetting about it. Friends are decorating for Christmas already, stores are open on Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations are sold before Halloween now. It is getting utterly ridiculous. Like what happened to Thanksgiving ya’ll? What happened to giving thanks for what you have, not the latest TV you can buy on Thanksgiving for $100 cheaper -_-. And this is coming from a person who LOVES Christmas. I swear I will be the perfect mom because I am festive, loves Santa, and actually decorates every single year (lights all over my house, a REAL Christmas tree, day after Thanksgiving dedicated to decorating for Christmas, baking cookies, etc.). I am just mad that Christmas has become so commercial – there isn’t that slow, sweet anticipation for Christmas anymore. WE EVEN SKIP THANKSGIVING NOW. I just want everyone to take a moment and remember those times when we were kids and slowly waited for Thanksgiving to pass and then have a whole month to get ready for Christmas. I want Christmas to be cherished during that special time of the year, not make it a 4th quarterly thing. Let’s all just step back and enjoy the holidays the last quarter of the year : Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years in this order.
In the meantime, I will sip my spicy hot drinks in anticipation for Thanksgiving, and then bring out the peppermint for Christmas. Anyone care to join me?
I used to make this all the time, almost twice a month because I would bring it to work! But since I am not working this semester really that much and I don’t have an office to go to, I have delayed making this. I finally was like I’m craving chocolate and my roomies will eat it, so Sunday night baking commenced! This pumpkin bread is super easy. I can’t stress how something so delicious can be so easy to make! You can add the chocolate chips if you want, or not. I was craving chocolate at the moment. Ever since my epic half marathon, I have basically eaten everything in sight. I need to go on a cleanse ASAP. I keep delaying it, but I think I will do one after the holidays. In the meantime, get fat! hehe
OMG. These cookies are like amazing. I couldn’t believe it when I ate one this morning when I got up and baked these at 6am before I headed to work. The very very slight crispy when you bite into it, and the soft chewy cookie bursting with caramel nut flavor…sigh…anyway, I really do think its the brown butter that makes this cookie sooo good. I’ve never had a more fragrant cookie. When I was making the brown butter, which is basically boiling butter in a saucepan until it turns sort of brownish and brown sediment sinks to the bottom, my whole apartment smelled like melted butter on popcorn at the movie theatres –> to caramel popcorn –> to that rich nutty syrupy smell. It is beyond amazing. Now I really might have a brown butter obsession because of this…until I make the next thing, I’m going to be dreaming about this cookie. Yes, its that good…
Ever have a craving for chocolate? Hell, I guess everyone does!!! Chocolate and nutella? Even better! I’ve made many chocolate cupcakes before, but I have never really ever been into making cakes- normally its too big and since I’m forever alone I can’t eat it at all or distribute it. This recipe is one of the most moistest, chocolatey, soft cake texture I have ever made! So excited this will become my go-to chocolate cake 🙂 Some fun facts about nutella? An Italian made this up and formed the company Ferrero, with plants all over… the North American nutella is made in Canada. Each jar contains 50 hazelnuts… it has 67% of saturated fat, and 2 tbsp of nutella contains 200 calories!!! A typical candy bar has 250 calories…yikes! Nutella is cray. Because of this awful health makeup, there was a 2012 class action suit for false advertising by Nutella…the label claimed and marketed it as part of a nutritional breakfast! Can you believe that?! Well, the company ended up paying $3 million. World nutella day is February 5. Must remember that for next year. Make this simple cake for your next potluck or fancy dinner! 🙂
When I made these divine, soft, and chewy cookies, it was for a company potluck because one of my fellow interns was going back to NYC for the rest of his internship. I of course had to make two things late the night before because I am still such a procrastinator and somewhat of a cooking overachiever….sigh. Anyway, by the time the potluck rolled around, I had already been interning at Venmo for a month. So far so good! I am so thankful to be there and take everyday as a learning experience. I really do love the company am so so thankful for the opportunity to be in a time of growth! (For those of you who don’t know what Venmo is, please please please sign up! It makes life so much easier and seriously is the best thing…ever. Ask anyone who uses it!)
Back to my cookies. I learned a while back that cookies are best when you freeze the cookie dough for at least a few hours or overnight before you bake it because the butter needs time to rest to do its magic. Before this knowledge, I had always wondered why my cookies alwayssss turned out flat and blehhhh compared to store bought kinds that were big, chewy, and thick. When the chef came in to cook for us at the office, her cookies were so blehhhh so I told everyone that I could make better cookies. I hope I lived up to the hype…there were no leftovers and the moms took a few home to their sugar hungry kids. I think these cookies were quite the hit…
Had some extra lemons, so decided to make some lemon meltaway cookies! They are sweet, full of citrus flavor, and melt in your mouth! It is basically a shortbread. Sort of like the the Girl Scout Savannah Smiles cookies! I usually get them, but I didn’t buy any Girls Scouts cookies this year because of my fit obsession. But two of these that I ate satisfied my craving. THANK GOD i dont have a crazy sweet tooth like everyone else. Give this a try! I have made it with limes too! Super easy!
Put a Ring on Annie 