Kickass Cupcakes

The name says it all. These cupcakes are deliciously kick-ass!

Awhile back I got a BuyWithMe coupon (similar to Groupon) for a half dozen cupcakes from Kickass Cupcakes in Wellesley. Despite my hacking cough, unbelievably congested sinuses, sneeze attacks and raspy voice (I am such a joy to be around), Mike (boyfriend-saint) and I ventured over to Wellesley this afternoon to pick out a box of kickass goodies. Here's what we ended up with:

Green Monster

The deets: "chocolate cupcake with a chocolate beer ganache center and green chocolate beer frosting topped with cocoa nibs" 

Beer ganache center? I'm either really excited or really nervous to try.

Cinnamon Chai Pecan Sticky

"spiced up cupcake covered with gooey caramel pecan topping"

Yes, please.

Gluten-free vanilla

For Miss Gluten-free Feena Been :)

Cookies and Cream

Oreos. Say no more.

Cookie Dough

"Chocolate chip cookie dough in a vanilla cupcake and vanilla buttercream frosting with chocolate sauce"

Combining cookies and cupcakes...why didn't I think of that??

Lucky Cupcake

"luscious lemon cupcake with white chocolate buttercream and candied ginger, comes with a fortune"

I think the fortune was something like "the time is now" but I can't remember because the cupcake was demolished in ~3 seconds...

...MIKE.

For now I am holding off on taste-testing because my poor little taste buds are being suffocated by this kicking-my-ass cold. But I promise to share my favs once my tasting abilities are back on track!

Reason #64 why I love my job

I walked in to the library on Friday to find this gem...

JUST your standard gigantic cupcake birthday cake.

...that's all I have to say about that.

How to make friends

Here's what I've learned:

Baking makes you friends. 

When I moved to Boston I had ~3 friends. I started baking, and now I have at least 9! Chocolate chip cookies = friends. Red velvet cupcakes = more friends. Chocolate peanut butter whoopie pies = so many friends.

If you want to make friends, just whip up some whoopie pie cakes,

(which are essentially just cupcake tops, which is essentially the best part of the cupcake, no question)

Then, spread some peanut butter buttercream in those cakes.

Sandwich.

Share.

Then, charge your cell phone. You're about to have a whoooole lot of friends.

Recipe here!

Happy Tuesday

Good morning!

Is it just me, or is Tuesday the most neglected weekday? Monday is ugh, Monday. Wednesday is hump day. Thursday is almost the weekend. Friday is FRIDAY!! But poor Tuesday gets no love.
So,

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Here's today's oatmeal mix 

(Can you tell this is my new favorite thing? I've been getting inspired by Kath Eats)

Toasted almonds

Banana

Blueberry flax seeds - discovered these at Trader Joe's last night! They add a teeny bit of nutty/blueberry taste plus LOTS of fiber.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! I thought I'd pay a little tribute to the woman who:

-introduced me to my love of baking

-taught me to cook

-instilled my love of flowers

-showed me how to be a great teacher

-and so so much more...

with a nice 2nd-grade-style poem.

MOM, who 

Acts rational even when I'm not,

Really gives good hugs,

Cooks amazing meals,

Is the best listener and advice-giver I know.. I couldn't

Ask for a better mother!!

I love you, Mom!!

Little Pea

This is the story of Little Pea, Mama Pea, and Papa Pea.

Little Pea, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, is hands-down my new favorite children's book. Little Pea loves to do typical ...little pea... things. Except for one thing. 

He hates candy. 

You see, Peas eat candy for dinner and spinach for dessert.

Five pieces of candy. NOW can I have dessert?

This is the cutest book I've read in awhile. Next time you're with a bunch of three-year-olds, read it to them. They'll eat it right up!

Avocado pound cake

I bought a 4-pack of avocados at Trader Joe's last week (that's a lot of avocados). Then I stumbled upon yet another FAB Joy the Baker recipe: Avocado Pound Cake. Avocados? Cake? I like both of those things! Combining them? Genius! Here is the recipe.

Avocado Pound Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

flesh of 1 1/2 ripe avocados, just over a cup to a cup and a half of avocado, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour two loaf pans and set aside.  

In a medium sized bowl, sift together flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda.  Set aside.  Set the four eggs out on the counter to come to room temperature while you beat the butter and sugar.  

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter on medium speed until softened and pliable.  Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.  Add the avocado and beat another minute to incorporate.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that everything is thoroughly mixed.  

Add the eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after the addition of each egg.  Beat in vanilla extract.  

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half of the flour mixture, all of the buttermilk, and then the rest of the flour mixture.  Beat just until combined.  

Divide the dough between the two loaf pans and place in the oven.  Turn the oven down to 325 degrees F.   Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.  I checked my cakes every ten minutes or so after the 30 minute mark.   Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

I cut the recipe in half and only made one loaf. I have to admit I don't really taste any avocado in the cake, but it is super moist and yummy! Try it out!

Sunny Sunday brunch

How great has the weather been for the past few days? Okay, maybe it's a liiiittle too hot. Maybe I got a liiiittle bit sunburned. Maybe I haven't been able to sleep because its 900 degrees in my room. But I will take this sunshine over rainy, windy, cloudy typical Boston weather ANY day. The sunshine inspired a brunch picnic Sunday morning (resulting in said sunburn). I cooked up some Joy the Baker buttermilk pancakes, with my own little added twist of pecans and bananas.

Ohhh MAN were they good! Here is the recipe.

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

4 teaspoons light brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Whisk together milk, eggs and vegetable oil in a medium bowl, then whisk in the butter.

Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in another medium bowl. Whisk in egg mixture until combined.

Spray a griddle or skillet with nonstick vegetable spray. Working in batches of 3 (or 6 if your griddle will allow) pour 1/3-cup measures of batter onto skillet and cool until bubbles have formed on the top and sides of the pancakes and broken, about 2 minutes. Flip pancakes with a spatula and cook until undersides are golden, about 1 minute more. Lower heat if pancakes brown too quickly. Serve with maple syrup or molasses.

We had ours with some maple syrup, strawberries, and... nutella. LoveloveLOVE!

Eaten while enjoying the Sunday edition of the NY Times - with my favorite section: wedding announcements! No, let's not get ahead of ourselves; I like to look for people from Cornell, Binghamton, or fun "how we met" stories.

It's about time I discovered we had a front yard: perfect little Sunday morning/afternoon! 

Stella

Saturday night Mike and I had our date night at Stella in the South End. Usually "date night" means cooking dinner for ourselves at my house, so this was a nice change of pace. We were celebrating the official end of Mike's first-year law school classes - wooohooo! We got a nice seat on the patio (for patio meal numero tres).

We started out with some hummus and bread. 

Due to the Boston water *crisis*, I replaced my water with a pink guava lemonade :)

I ordered the ricotta balls a buffalo mozzarella center - ohhh sooo creamy and cheesy and good.

With a side of asparagus -

grilled to perfection!

Mike got the seafood saffron risotto.

I do NOT like seafood and even I thought this was delish!

Except for this little friend lingering on the side.

Yuck.

We got warm pecan pie with vanilla gelato for dessert

Then we walked FIVE MILES from the South End --> home. So I don't even feel guilty about dessert!

Reason #63 why I love my job

Lately, we've been learning about farms in our classroom. It's been a really fun unit; playing in the mud, "milking a cow", making our own ice cream, and an upcoming trip to the farm! But we also obviously had to bake. For Christmas, Josie gave me these GREAT cookie cutters:

 cow,

 sheep,

 and bunny! 

I found the barn cookie cutter on my trip to Concord. Friday we spent the afternoon baking, decorating, and playing in the sunshine. And I get paid to do this??

Kudos to Ali for the adorable cow and sheep decorations. Here is one of the kids' magical creations!:

Five new purses

My mom just listed five more purses on etsy , so go check them out! Here is my favorite:

Hurry up and buy it, before I get it for myself!

Bottega Fiorentina

Friday night after work I met up with Fina for one of three sequential outdoor patio meals, the first at Bottega Fiorentina on Newbury St. This weather makes it pretty impossible to be inside!! We had the perfect spot for people watching, and, of course, sipping Sangria.

Fina ordered the Butternut Squash Tortellini in a sage butter sauce.

And I got Linguine with pesto

Toooo much pesto for my tastes! 

So I filled up on bread instead.

Definitely recommended for a super cheap, super authentic Italian meal!