Cherry Meringue Cookies

Hello! This past New Year’s Eve was a big one for me, I had my now-boyfriend’s family coming to my house for dinner and dessert and had to think of some sort of celebration dessert that would make tons of servings that everyone would love. My head, of course, flew first to my favorite bar recipe of all time, my cookie bars, but the only problem I could see was the amount of butter and the limited portions for our guests. And for at least three teenagers being there, that just wasn’t going to cut it. So, I took a chance and decided to go the ‘new’ route. If I didn’t have a good recipe that made tons, why not find/make one?

I’m not quite up to the entire making your recipe from scratch quite yet, as I am still exploring the basics of some cooking skills. This being said, if I see a recipe, there is a 95% chance I’ll base it off the recipe and call it good enough. This past New Year’s was a perfect example of that. I decided on these RASPBERRY confetti cookies, but I didn’t have some of the called ingredients, you know, like raspberry jello. But they turned out well so therefore, mission accomplished.

Broken Glass Cupcakes

Hello! My mother and I decided to make a Halloween theme for a family birthday, so we decided to give broken glass cupcakes an attempt. The one problem we encountered was the fact we did not have a candy thermometer, so most of the recipes we found we couldn’t really use as it relied on one. The first recipe we found was only water and sugar. We used this, but when it told us to put it in the pan, it didn’t set. Therefore, we decided to attempt again with a second recipe that included corn syrup. The recipe we ended up finding used the microwave instead of the stove, so I decided to change it slightly and do it over the stove.

Michael Jackson Cake

Hello! I just love fall. I have always been a fall person, and I hope I always will. Whether I’m fall-ing down the stairs, or just smelling the beautiful scents of cinnamon, pumpkin and Christmas (not necessarily all at the same time) I just love fall. Sure, the falling part sucks, but that one happens every day of the year.

Fall is just the perfect time for everything. It’s the perfect time to bake because it is FINALLY cooling down enough to heat the oven (not that that stopped me in the summer)… It’s the perfect time for friends because you are always giving and getting presents… It’s the perfect time for creativity because you’ve got Halloween coming along… (Do I hear cakes and crafts coming?) And it is absolutely the perfect time to have some you time. Whether it’s baking or settling in with a warm cup of tea… It’s just by far the most busy, yet relaxing and wonderful time of the year.

Rosh Hashana

Happy late Jewish New Year! I hope this year of 5775 has been good to you already. 🙂

If you’re reading this, you likely have some idea of Jewish religion or at least the holidays and traditions related to them. If not, then you should know Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashana has some awesome food traditions- like apples and honey (which, if I may say, the BEST fruit combination in the world) and round challah. So for Rosh Hashana, my family was treated with an amazing meal consisting of potato latkes (what’s a Jewish holiday without them?), apples and honey, and some meat. Let’s focus on those latkes though. Latkes- some of the most beautiful creations in the world. Salty, potato pancakes that are irresistable, and usually gone before dinner (not even kidding-this has happened a few times).

Ah, latkes. They may be the death of me…

This time we made fresh latkes out of potatoes, an onion, some salt and some oatmeal. That’s really it, it is one of the easiest pancake recipes I make. 🙂

Chocolate Chip Challah

Hello! For those of you who go to temple… You know challah. Challah is challah. You either get it right or wrong, there isn’t an inbetween. I hope you enjoy my challah recipe. It is chocolate chip after all. 🙂

For those of you who don’t go to temple but are really curious what challah is… Challah is a beauty. It is like a giant braided roll with a touch more sweetness than usual and has a special flavor that I associate with challah, despite the fact it is just a sweet yeast-y taste. Awesome things about challah that you should know about eating challah: Challah is very good dipped into grape juice. Challah is meant to be teared off (hence the braiding) and shared with others. Challah can be eaten at any time (awesome right?) but is usually served for shabbat (Friday night at sunset to Saturday night at sunset… Jewish holy day). Challah is spectacular. It is food heaven in a bite. Expecially chocolate chip challah. Which I made today.

For those of you GEEKS: Let me tell you something about challah. We were best friends during Shabbat. I know, right? It’s so embarrassing. I don’t even… Whatever. So then during Passover, I started going out with my first unleavened-friend matzah who was totally gorgeous but then he moved to Indiana, and challah was like, weirdly jealous of him. Like, if I would blow her off to hang out with matzah, she’d be like, “Why didn’t you call me back?” And I’d be like, “Why are you so obsessed with me?” So then, for my passover party, which was an all-bread pool party, I was like, “Challah, I can’t invite you, because I think you’re yeast bread.” I mean I couldn’t have a yeast bread at my passover party. There were gonna be unleavened rolls there in their *baking suits*. I mean, right? She was a YEAST BREAD. So then her mom called my mom and started yelling at her, it was so stupid. And then she dropped out of school because no one would talk to her, and she came back in the fall for high school, all of her hair was cut off and she was totally weird, and now I guess she’s on chocolate chips. If you’ve never watched Mean Girls go educate yourself. Now. 

Ok. In all honesty, this is not even my family recipe. I based this off of this Kindergarten Challah recipe. As for the actual braid a beautiful instruction for 3, 4 and 6 strand braiding can be found here as well as my version for the 3 and 4 strand below.

How to Braid a Four-strand Challah

Hello! This post is to show how to braid a challah with four strands. Here we go:

How to Braid a Three-strand Challah

Hello! This post is to show how to braid a challah with three strands. Here we go:

Sausage Meatloaf

Hello! It’s been ages since I last posted… School just got out and I feel like I’m more busy now with all the stuff I’m doing to occupy myself then when I was filled to the brim with stuff I needed to do. Anyhow, I have had every opportunity to cook, and I have. The other night I made sausage meatloaf with pork sausage being the only meat in the meatloaf. That translates into a long cooking time but a delicious result.

Egg-less Crepes

🙂 This is the egg-less version of my Dexter-themed strawberry crepes. I hope you enjoy.

Dexter-themed Strawberry Crepes

Hello! How has your Mother’s day been going? This morning I made a Dexter-themed Mother’s day brunch. Each year for Mother’s day I have a fandom theme. Previously I’ve done Nightmare Before Christmas and even Alice in Wonderland, but this year I chose to do Dexter. For those of you who have no idea what Dexter is, it is a brilliant TV show about a serial killer killing other serial killers. I highly recommend it. Anyhow, each year I make a menu and my mother picks exactly what she feels like off the menu and I make it for her.