Hello Spring! S'mores Cookies

So once again I was gone and I had baking with drawl.  I was off to California for a week for work, where the best part was that I got to catch up with an old high school friend.  Well and we went whale watching and for once we actually saw a whale!  It really is beautiful out there and one of my very favorite places to go running.  

Well then I came home and back to work it was...well work in the office that is.  I thought cookies were definitely in order to take my break from work this week and to celebrate spring.  

Guest post #5: Strawberry Balsamic Tart

Sometimes it is all about the little things in life...one of them being able to cook/bake with one of your very best friends!  I am so excited for this 5th guest post.  Although Meghan says she has been having a time with baking cookies lately, she is an excellent baker and especially chef.  She inspires me to cook more for myself...to make single girl dinners and enjoy a glass of wine.

It was a very sad/happy time when she moved from DC to Birmingham last year, but no matter the distance we will always be friends.  We will continue running and pushing each other...having dance parties in the middle of the work day; although in different offices...finishing each other sentences...and discussing life over entire bottles (yes, not bottle) of wine.  This recipe is going to be amazing and easy so if you like strawberries and balsamic give it a try!

Apple Spice Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

This is a cake that was one of three, that went along with two french pear tarts and dark chocolate almond toffee from the week of baking.  This is an apple cinnamon spice cake.  This cake is all about the apples...3 red...3 green...some were grated and others were chopped.  

I don't know what it is, but I have been on a serious apple kick.  An apple with almond butter is my new snack every morning at work.  Its my little break...my five minutes in the morning to take a breath... to stop thinking about what is on the computer screen in front of me for a hot minute, and maybe just day dream.  I have been day dreaming a bit too much lately it seems...oh well, sometimes its necessary.  Sometimes there is just too much real world, real job stuff going on...seriously though.

Clean your cupboard out cookies...Brown Buttered Chocolate Chunk, Butterscotch Chip, Pecan Cookies

What a great weekend...

...Meghan came in town Thursday

...We took a long weekend...aka Friday it felt like I was skipping school: went to go checkout the National Cathedral, and walked around Georgetown 

A couple of French Pear Tarts

So I burned myself for real.  I burned myself, and while I was doing it I dropped the tart. It was a tart disaster.  Half of it landed on the stove and the other half landed on the floor.  Lets just say that to begin with I could do nothing about the tart being half on the floor and have on the stove, because I now had the imprint of the tart pan on my arm.  It hurt, this is probably the worst baking burn I have had so far. And I was pissed...the whole purpose of baking said tart was to try it out, it was a test tart, for the other tarts that I would make later in the week and half of it was on the floor.  

A St. Patty's Day Treat: Irish Car Bomb"ish" Cake/Cupcakes

This is my life...

...sometimes its a bit sweet

...sometimes its a little boozey

...sometimes it both

...and other times I fall down the stairs with a cup of coffee in hand...thank goodness it wasn't still hot

...then there are the times when it is really still hot and I burn my arm on a tart pan...it hurt...a lot

But such is life.  It can get crazy out there but thats when the sweet and boozey can help.  Well that and good friends who come into town for a visit.  Or the friends that go for runs with you and don't stop even when they want to.  Or the friends who will listen to you complain about the same thing over and over again.

A light Birthday Cupcake...Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cupcakes

So I am a huge dork, if you didn't already know this.  While I was in Phoenix working, I ordered a new cookbook and could not have been more excited to have it sitting on my desk when I got back to the office.  It really is the smallest things that make me excited...buying my flowers, ordering a cookbook, or even just making up some pancakes with friends.  Well the cookbook I ordered was the Joy the Baker cookbook, and it is basically awesome.  Plus, I was super pumped to find the recipe for these cupcakes in there.  

Time to wake up and enjoy breakfast...Caramelized Banana "Bread" Oatmeal

Sometimes you need to wake up to a special treat.  Something other than pancakes or french toast...something a bit more healthy.  Just a little Sunday morning treat.  This caramelized banana bread  oatmeal is packed with walnuts, flax seeds, raisins, a touch of brown sugar and cinnamon, with caramelized bananas to finish the oatmeal off.  It is a great way to start off the day with the right amount of goodness.  Well, really I just wanted another excuse to use my kitchen torch...and this seemed like just as good a time as any because I had everything in the kitchen I needed.  The bananas caramelized just enhances their flavor, adding another depth of flavor to the oatmeal.  This comes out delicious, is fairly quick, and is a filling, and healthy breakfast.  Try it when you need a little fun and want to change things up a bit.  Enjoy!

A little Toffee in my life...Dark Chocolate Almond Toffee that is...

What a crazy week.  I don't know how I get myself into these things.  By these things, I mean agreeing to bake cupcakes for two peoples birthdays, bake two pear tarts and 3 apple cakes.  I must say it has been fun though.  Plus, for the first time ever I am making the desserts that will go with a scotch tasting at a work event!  So, pumped seriously though.  I love making desserts for other people.

A Milky Way Birthday

This was the start of my week after a great weekend.  Literally the start...I did it again....I got up and made 3 dozen cupcakes before 7am.  Sometimes you just got to do what you go to do.  

Well Kathryn came into town this past weekend and we made some awesome mustachio pistachio shortbread.  Well that and we went and had some alligator fritters and delicious beignet pancakes Saturday.  Yes, you read that right AND they were served with chocolate sauce, the pancakes that is.  But hey went for a run and then ate healthy for dinner, making up some delicious kale pesto (recipe from Shutterbean) served over pasta and roasted vegetables.  Then we went out had a few drinks and took in the great view from the top of the W at POV.  It was a great weekend; a perfect weekend when I knew this week would be crazy.  

Guest Post #4: Mustachio Pistachio Shortbread covered in Chocolate

Lucky number 4, my favorite number, and for my forth guest post is by one of my very best friends Kathryn who came to visit this weekend.  We have known each other since high school, traveled to Germany with our German class between sophomore and junior year; then became super close friends our senior year and have been close ever since.  Her job lets her be in the DC area often, which of course is my favorite part of her job.  Plus, we go on fun trips together...she headed south with me to Birmingham in February and last summer we had quiet the adventure in Charleston.  Kathryn is a foodie like me, and I love cooking with her!  She is one of the most genuine and nicest people I know, plus she is just so much fun!  

10 days away and 7 layer bars later

I've been gone.  By gone I mean in Arizona for 10 days for work.  Please note this is not me complaining.  I had fun, we got 5 meetings done (leaving 13 to go for the season), the food was good, the company was good, AND my "office" was outside overlooking a fountain pool in the warmth of Arizona.  Plus I totally had fun playing with my iPhone all week and taking pictures.  I have missed baking though!