Treats for appetites of every size
Remember last week when I was saying some weeks I have loads of free time and don’t want to bake? This week I was the opposite – I had a free morning and decided why not make some cookies! Of course, I had a recipe in mind, and usually that means I can’t not make it, so it wasn’t that difficult of a decision.
Sometimes, I have my first free weekend in literally months and all I want to do is bake a super time-intensive, beautiful-to-look-at, I-have-to-go-back-for-fourths treat. That was not this weekend.
Cakes seem like they have it pretty good. Always out on display in bakery windows, drawing people in. Frequently the centerpiece at special occasions. Oohed and ahhed over when they’re particularly well designed. But I’d argue that they actually get the short end of the stick when it comes to baked goods.
If I could have any kitchen appliance added to my collection, it would be a food processor. I talk a big game about wanting the Breville ice cream maker, but in terms of versatility, it’s no match for a Cuisinart food processor. I could make pie dough. And lots of other stuff that I can’t think of right now that always tells me I need a food processor.
I’m always surprised by how much of ice cream making is done over a stovetop. It’s a frozen dessert – I feel like at most I should be mixing the batter at room temperature, and then freezing it. But no, it’s like 20 minutes of stirring over low or medium heat and then using an ice bath after the fact to cool it down. Seems counterintuitive.
I cannot believe first year law classes end in one week. And, patting myself on my own back, that I’ve kept up my blog throughout the whole year. I didn’t miss a single post! (Knock on wood.)
I really like cookbooks from famous bakeries. They always use some new technique or ratio that I never see in recipes online, and they unashamedly own their copious use butter. There’s also something nice about having a physical cookbook – crumbs get stuck in the pages, well-loved recipes open easily, you can flip through the pictures until something jumps out – you don’t get any of that online.
Anyone following my Instagram (@smilesbymeg) knows that Easter dessert involved more than just a Carrot Cake Roll, but also some coconut cupcakes. Since it’s my parents’ anniversary – Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! – and my mom always insists on celebrating with coconut cake, it seemed fitting to post this recipe now.
Things that happen when you have a big paper due on Monday morning: you push off your blog post until past 10pm. But I’m yet to skip a Sunday entry since starting law school, and I refused to let a little assignment get in the way.
First day of Spring, and we’re due for a snow storm tonight. If that doesn’t perfectly capture New England weather, I don’t know what does. But that’s not going to stop me from moving forward with my lighter, more summery desserts – a week in sunny Florida definitely has me in the desserts-I-can-eat-with-a-spoon mood.