I Heart Dessert

2008 Dec 28

All Star Cupcakes

I finally got shoes! I’ve been having a hard time finding shoes to buy because I find it hard to find regular tennis shoes I like. I’m more of a flats, flip-flop, boots, or heels kinda gal, but since its winter time and I’m freezing I figured it was time to start my search. Sadly, I’m super picky when it comes to shoes. I need it to be comfortable, functional, warm, and most importantly not ugly. I refuse to wear Uggs for the sole reason that I think they’re Ugg-ly and I won’t give in to this trend. I rarely find decent looking shoes that aren’t Uggs or some other hideous clog or mule. It’s been a long search, but I finally found the perfect pair and they were definitely meant to be because I got the last pair in my size. My new shoes are Converse All Star Chuck Taylors with cupcakes on them! So awesome! See for yourself.

Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Cupcakes Shoe

2 Comments

2008 Dec 25

Merry Christmas!

Posted in holidays, shopping

Sadly, I’ve been limited to writing one post per month on this blog during the past couple months but, I promise as part of my New Year’s resolution I’ll write more! December was definitely a hectic month for me, I just felt like it whizzed by and now its Christmas. I was even very last minute with my Christmas shopping this year, and I promise to never do that again, because I was completely stressed out. I had the misfortune of holding off buying gifts that I found on sale, until I decided to come back on the day that I designated as my Xmas shopping day, only to find they weren’t on sale anymore. Another string of bad luck I had was seeing that a store had the item online, but when I actually went to the store they didn’t actually sell it in stores. My advice to myself and everyone else, just buy it when you see it the first time around!

Other than all the Christmas shopping drama, I was able to get myself a Christmas gift I really love. I finally found a cupcake stand that I like. I was never really fond of the Wilton Cupcake Stand that I always see in stores…it’s a bit too whimsical and the cupcakes look like they’re about to fall out. I bought my cupcake stand from Crate and Barrel (on sale too!). I think it has a more elegant look to it and it will really hold your cupcakes in place. A couple other things I love about it is that you can easily carry it around by holding the top loop and the tiers also spin!

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2008 Nov 28

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted in baking, cooking, food, holidays

Sorry, I’m a little late, but better late than never right? Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday! I know Thanksgiving is over, but I wanted to share this stuffing recipe I found recently…you can keep this recipe in mind for next year’s Thanksgiving or whenever you feel like eating some good stuffing. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and the title immediately caught my eye, “Awesome Sausage, Apple, & Cranberry Stuffing“. With a title like that and 5 stars with 900+ reviews, I had to try it. So, I decided to make this “Awesome Stuffing” for a friend’s potluck Thanksgiving party last weekend and I must say this stuffing is pretty awesome. I’ve always made stuffing out of the box, so this made from scratch stuffing was entirely new to me. I think this recipe has certainly changed my mind about making boxed stuffing ever again, the flavors were great and the addition of apples and cranberries made this a perfect autumn dish. I made a few shortcuts (how very semi-home made of me…haha) and changes…I didn’t add a couple of the ingredients (sage and the turkey liver). And I also recommend that you use fresh herbs, rather than dried. Anyway, here’s my take on the “Awesome Stuffing”:

Ingredients:

1/2 box of Mrs. Cubbison’s Seasoned Dressing
1/2 box of Mrs. Cubbison’s Seasoned Cornbread Stuffin’
1 pound ground Jimmy Dean’s sage sausage
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped celery
3 teaspoons fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 large Fuji apple, cored and chopped
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
1 1/2 cup chicken stock (use more if needed)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onions over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the lumps until evenly browned. Add the celery, rosemary, and thyme; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to blend flavors.
Place boxed stuffing in a large bowl and pour sausage mixture over it. Mix in chopped apples, dried cranberries, and parsley. Drizzle with chicken stock and melted butter, and mix lightly.
Place stuffing mixture in a baking dish, cover with foil, and bake at 350 degrees for 40 min. Then remove foil and bake for another 15 min.

All the ingredients in one bowl, ready to be mixed.

The finished “awesome stuffing”

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2008 Nov 4

Halloween Treats

Posted in baking, dessert, holidays

I hope all of you had a great Halloween! Mine was especially great because I got to dress up in 3 different costumes haha. Anyway, this year I decided to try making caramel apples for Halloween. I love caramel apples, but I don’t really love having to try and bite into a huge apple or slicing it and taking the risk of any chocolate, caramel, and nuts pieces breaking off. So to avoid the mess, I wanted to try something new and make miniature versions. After some research, I found that a lot of mini caramel apple recipes started with a large whole apple and scooping out apple pieces with a melon baller. Sounds simple enough, but the results just didn’t look as appetizing as a whole caramel apple.

So, I decided to go on a search for the smallest apples I could find. Luckily, Whole Foods had a huge selection of small apples and I finally found what I was looking for. I ended up buying “crab apples” which are the smallest apples I’ve ever seen. Most of the crab apples were slightly larger than ping pong balls, and they tasted a little sweet and tart.

The whole process of making the mini caramel apples took longer than expected. Mostly, due to the fact that I had about 20 apples, and each took a while to prep and dip. The hardest part was sticking the lollipop sticks in…my hands were so sore from having to shove those little sticks in and you had to be extra careful because they bend so easily. I suggest wearing oven mitts while doing this or something to protect your hands. But after all the hard work, the best part was the decorating. I went a little overboard and decided to try and come up with every caramel apple combination I could think of (caramel, chocolate, nuts, m&ms, sprinkles, etc.). Overall, the outcome was a success and I’m happy to say that my friends enjoyed these mini caramel apples more than those ginormous ones haha.

Mini Caramel Apples

Ingredients:
about 20 crab apples
20 lollipop sticks
2 bags of caramel bits
1 bag of chocolate chips
an assortment of toppings (m&ms, sprinkles, nuts, etc.)

Directions:
1. Prep apples (wash, dry, and de-stem)
2. Place lollipop sticks into the center of apple where the stem used to be.
3. Place wax paper on baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.
4. Melt caramel and dip apples into the caramel. Place on baking sheet. Let apples cool.
5. Melt chocolate and dip the caramel apples into the chocolate.
6. After dipping into chocolate, immediately place any additional toppings on the apple.
7. Place finished apples on baking sheet and let them set in the refrigerator.
8. Take apples out of fridge 15 min. before serving.

Cute tiny crab apples

Prepped and ready for dipping!

These caramel bits were very easy to use and tasted great.

The finished product!

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2008 Oct 15

Oh Happy Day!

Posted in cooking, life, shopping

I GOT TO MEET GIADA! I’m tired, but extremely happy. After waiting in line for 2 hours, I was finally able to meet my favorite Food Network chef. I went to Giada De Laurentiis’ book signing today at Williams-Sonoma for her new cookbook “Giada’s Kitchen: New Italian Favorites”. The wait was long, but my 60 seconds with her was worth it. What you see on tv is what you get when you meet Giada. She is very nice and sweet and also really pretty and petite in person. I don’t know how she keeps fit when she makes such good food. Despite the long wait, Williams-Sonoma helped keep us going by offering us samples of soup and an appetizer which were all recipes from Giada’s new cookbook. I thought that was really great and thoughtful of them.

As for her new cookbook, I can’t wait to try out the recipes. I have to say that this cookbook is definitely a lot better than her first one. I love the fact that almost each recipe has a great picture of the final product and there’s even some pictures of Giada in the process of making her recipes in a step by step fashion. Her first cookbook “Everyday Italian”, lacked pictures and it really made the decision process hard when selecting a new recipe to try. A recipe can sound good, but having a picture can really make all the difference. I’ve already picked more than a dozen recipes I want to try, just from looking at the pictures alone. All the food looks so delicious and she came out with some pretty interesting recipes that sound strange, but after taking a look at the picture, it actually looked pretty appetizing. Two particular recipes that stood out to me were the Tomato, Watermelon, & Basil Skewers and also her Cantaloupe, Red Onion, & Walnut Salad. I know it sounds weird, but after seeing the pictures you’d want to try the recipe out too. I’ll keep you guys posted when I finally narrow down and choose a recipe to make!

Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures with her, so this is the best I could get.

Giada’s New Cookbook

My signed copy of the book! YAY!

Giada’s 1st Cookbook. Don’t mind the yellow flags…I like to tag the recipes I want to try haha.

I got her to sign this book too! Double YAY!

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2008 Sep 28

Sweet Shop

Posted in dessert, shopping

Just found these cute new items at Shana Logic. And here’s the offer code for 10% off your purchase: indie.

Glass Candy Corn Earrings – $12, For all the candy corn lovers!

Chinese Take-out Necklace – $18, This necklace is so cute and just makes me laugh when I see it. It’s kind of hard to see with the white background, but the fortune cookie has a little white fortune paper coming out of it too. It’s all about the details!

Cupcake Love Necklace – $10, Cupcake + Sparkles = Awesome

Oreo Cookie Necklace – $15, Mmmm oreos.

Cupcake Hat – $35, Wow! A cupcake beanie! Love it.

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2008 Sep 21

Dean & DeLuca Fall 2008

Posted in dessert, shopping

Yay! I just got the new Dean & DeLuca Fall Catalog. They have a lot of new items, especially for Halloween. As always, Dean & DeLuca have the most mouth-watering pictures…here are some of the ones that have caught my eye:

Fall Cupcakes – 9 for $55, Three each of Pumpkin with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Icing, Cinnamon with Mayan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting and Vanilla with Vanilla Frosting.

Pumpkin Truffles – $36, These truffles are filled with white chocolate ganache with a hint of nutmeg and wrapped in dark chocolate. The flavor sounds so interesting!

Caramel Apples – $48, I love caramel apples and nothing says Halloween quite like these caramel & chocolate dipped ones.

Pumpkin Cake – $120, This cake is too cute! It has six layers of vanilla spiced cake with praline butter cream and also a layer of chocolate fudge.

Apple Crate Cake – $200, This cake is almost unrecognizable! It really looks like a crate with apples inside. No wonder it costs so much.

Green Tea Truffles – $42, The color of these green tea truffles definitely caught my eye.

Chocolate of the Month – $180-$720, I’ve heard of monthly wine clubs, monthly coffee clubs, even monthly fruit clubs, but a Chocolate of the month program is definitely something new and more my style. You now have the opportunity to try a new assortment of chocolates each month and have them delivered right to your doorstep. There’s a 3 month, 6 month, and 12 month program.

The Ultimate Chocolate Truffle: La Madeleine Au Truffle -$350, The description says its a “1 oz. fresh tuber melanosporum dipped in a dark chocolate ganache“. Ok, I know what you guys are asking…what is a tuber melanosporum? Well, that’s just the scientific name for a Black Truffle. And it’s not to be confused with chocolate truffles. Although in this case this Truffle is in a way a chocolate truffle, more like a chocolate truffle truffle. Anyway, Black Truffles are those very expensive fungi found in France by specially trained pigs or dogs. I’m not sure how you would even eat this ultimate truffle, just bite into it? And I’m also curious about the taste…I like chocolate truffles and I like Black truffles in dishes, but the two together seems like a pretty odd combination.

2 Comments

2008 Sep 20

Kean Coffee & SusieCakes

Posted in dessert

I finally got to Kean Coffee today! I’ve been wanting to go to Kean Coffee for a few weeks now after reading all the positive reviews about it on Yelp. My friend told me he tried it for the first time yesterday, so I decided to take a trip there today and I also dragged my friend back there, but he didn’t mind since he claimed that the coffee was “really good”. The place was packed and super busy, but I guess that’s just a good sign that people really like the place.

I ordered a Caffe Napoli Latte (hazelnut & white chocolate flavor), which was one of their house specialties. My latte was filled to the brim in a big white coffee cup and I was pleasantly surprised by the lovely latte art in the foam. Apparently, latte art is done by all the barristas and it is their signature finishing touch. I’m a sucker for details! Anyway, my latte was just the way I liked it…sweet and not too strong.

I’m not an avid coffee drinker, so usually coffee for me is pretty much coffee flavored milk with a lot of sugar haha. I must be a pretty weak coffee drinker, because after I had my latte the caffeine was hitting me hard and I was really jittery. Overall, I really liked Kean Coffee and its nice to know there’s a coffee place that takes pride in making a great cup of joe.

To my delight, there was a bakery called SusieCakes right next to Kean Coffee! Of course, I had to stop by and check it out. SusieCakes is very reminiscent of Sprinkles, even down to the font of their store name. They had a large assortment of cakes, cupcakes, dessert bars, and other goodies. Right when I entered the store, there was a tray with samples for their 6-layer Chocolate Fudge Cake (very yummy by the way). It’s always a plus to get samples!

I settled for the Red Velvet Cupcake which was $3, which is 25 cents less than Sprinkles, but I noticed that the cupcake was a tad smaller, so I guess it evens out to be the same. The cupcake was really good, moist, and not crumbly at all. I’m sorry Sprinkles, but I think SusieCakes takes the cake for this one. There was one thing that I didn’t like and that was the consistency of the frosting. The frosting had good flavor, but it was quite goopy. Getting the cupcake out of the bag was a big mess since the frosting was just too sticky and melted, so it got all over my hands. I think that frosting needs to have a thicker consistency, so that it actually stays on the cupcake and won’t fall off as you’re trying to eat it.

Despite the frosting fiasco, SusieCakes is definitely one of my favorite cupcake shops now. But, don’t get me wrong, Sprinkles still has a place in my heart and it will still be my go to cupcake shop since SusieCakes is a little out of the way for those last minute cupcake cravings.

Caffe Napoli – I love latte art.

Coffee & Cupcakes are a great combo

From far away you’d think it would say “Sprinkles”…

Inside SusieCakes

2 Comments

2008 Sep 15

Birthday Indulgences

Posted in dessert, food, life

Yesterday was my birthday and the entire week leading up to it, was just filled with stress. I was stressed out planning a joint birthday party that we didn’t really pull together until the very last minute, but in the end it all worked out and on top of that I had some weird ailment which was a combination of sinus/ear pressure and ear/headaches…on a side note I felt like my head was going to explode on Saturday when I was driving to the mountains and the elevation just heightened the pressure and pain even more. Anyway, I’m much better now (Sudafed and Advil are my best friends) and I was able to celebrate my birthday yesterday the way I like it…lots of sweets, food, and shopping! I totally overindulged yesterday, but hey what’s a birthday without forgetting about everything and just enjoying life, right? So, yesterday I started off my day with a Starbucks Java Chip Frappucino and as I was standing in line, I happened to notice this cute pink cupcake staring back at me in the pastry display, it had birthday cupcake written all over it, so I bought it haha. Sometime during the day, I also had a piece of my large Mrs. Fields Cookie that a friend gave me, by this time I was already on a sugar overload. Dinner was definitely my favorite part of the day, my boyfriend and I went to this restaurant called Savannah, its a “contemporary American restaurant featuring regional cooking with a Southern accent”. One word: delicious. We started off with the Maine Lobster and Crayfish Bisque, which was really good and it came with a side of these freshly fried garlic potato chips, definitely my favorite part of the dish. You have to dip the chip in the bisque, it’s a must. Next, for our entrees we both ordered the Prime Colorado Rack of Lamb. It came with a side of Savannah potatoes, asparagus, & a sweet garlic jam. I love lamb, and this was definitely one of the best I’ve ever tried. AMAZING! Just perfectly cooked and seasoned. On to the next best part of dinner…dessert! We ordered a hot Scharffen Berger Chocolate Souffle which was baked to order. The presentation was nice, they brought the souffle to our table, scooped out a little hole, poured hot chocolate sauce inside, then a dollop of freshly whipped cream, and then one more pour of the chocolate sauce. It was rich, but so so good! I wish I could have eaten more of it, but the lamb had filled me up. So, that was the end of my wonderful overindulgent birthday…can’t wait until next year!

Birthday Cupcake

Giant Mrs. Fields Cookie

Lobster & Crayfish Bisque

Bisque with a side of garlic chips

BEST lamb ever.

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Souffle – chocolate heaven!

1 Comment

2008 Sep 6

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Posted in dessert

So, the other day I made ice cream for the very first time. My cousin has an ice cream maker and always raves about how he makes really good ice cream, so I said, “Let’s make some!”. I was really excited and we got all got the ingredients to make cookies n’ cream ice cream. My cousin told me about the very easy 3-2-1 recipe he uses…3/4 cup sugar, 2 cups heavy cream, and 1 cup of milk, plus 2 tsp. vanilla and about 6 crushed Oreos. So, step one was to combine the 3-2-1 ingredients and vanilla, but, we made one fatal flaw…we added the crushed Oreos to the liquid mixture as well. My cousin being the so-called ice cream expert that he is, totally forgot about the important fact that you shouldn’t add the cookies until the very end when the ice cream mix is already in it’s last stage of freezing in the ice cream maker. Of course, this was my first time so I had no idea and just went along with it. So, what happens when you add the Oreos in the beginning instead of at the end? Well, you end up with grey cookies n’ cream flavored ice cream, with no oreo pieces to be found anywhere. Sad day. Well we learned our lesson, and we will never ever make that mistake again! For those of you who want to make cookies n’ cream ice cream the right way, here’s the recipe:

Cookies n’ Cream Ice Cream (3-2-1 recipe)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla
6 crushed oreos

Directions:
1. Combine the sugar, cream, milk, and vanilla in a bowl or pitcher(this makes it easier to pour).
2. Pour the liquid mixture into your ice cream maker and follow your ice cream maker directions
3. Mix in the crushed Oreos during the last stage of freezing
4. Then just follow the rest of your ice cream maker directions

Crushed Oreos