I’m breaking up with breakfast

The idea of breakfast is like a romance. There are strawberries, chocolate, waffles, capucchinos, muffins, and lazy mornings, but are there really? With all of the snow days that I have been having, yes, lazy mornings and waffles have been a reality for me. But in my day-to-day life, breakfast is just a fantasy.

When I was little I ate two Eggo waffles with Log Cabin syrup every day. Then I switched to Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Then I had Cocoa Krispies. Then Pop-Tarts. More recently, a ham and cheese breakfast sandwich or honey and cheese on toast. So I feel like I’ve been sold short; where are my chocolate chip pancakes and sunshine every day? Still in bed; I can only have them if I get up extra early. Let’s be honest, sleep definitely trumps a fancy breakfast.

So this is it. Breakfast, we’ve had some great times. Some wonderful brunches, beautiful crispy waffles, butter and jam on toast, and espresso, but I’m sick of your empty promises. I’ve been seeing something else: my pillow. My pillow doesn’t make me work hard to be happy; my pillow understands me. I hope we can still be friends, and see each other a weekend or two. But I want you to know that you’ll always be part of my life and I’ll always love you. Goodbye for now.

2 Reasons Why Patience is a Baking Must

Baking is a great way to spend a rainy afternoon with a nice reward at the end. But sometimes people like me are too impatient to wait the proper amount of time for their cake and cookies, and it ruins everything.

Spontaneous baking has some of the same problems; say it’s 11 at night and you are in desperate need of some chocolate chip cookies. By the grace of the baking gods you have all the ingredients that you need, but alas the butter is not pre-softened. You have three options: 1, take a nap and wait for it to soften; or 2, microwave it; and 3, use it cold.

Regrettably I have done all of these things, and I recommend option 1. Option 2 sounds fine until you microwave it too much and it gets soupy in the middle. Option 3 sounds OK until your cookies come out hard and flat. So take some deep breaths or a coffee and wait for it to soften, you won’t regret it!

My impatience has also gotten the best of me when I wanted to make a new chocolate cake recipe with marshmallow frosting. It came out beautifully and didn’t even stick to the pan; and by some miracle I had the frosting made and the kitchen cleaned by the time that sucker got out of the oven. Except my super dishwashing efficiency shot me in the foot.

Because did I wait for the cake to completely cool before I frosted it? No of course not! I frosted it anyway and this happened (see picture). I ended up eating it out of a bowl, which by the way, was still delicious. But luckily I was making this cake for myself and not for someone’s birthday or a party; that would have been embarrassing and disappointing.

Next time you decide you need cookies in the middle of the night or can’t wait to see your finished experiment, take a walk, call your grandmother, or watch a movie. Waiting may save you some serious failures, even if they are still delicious.

French Pastries, oh là là!

This summer I had the good fortune to visit France and of course Paris. I don’t have to tell you that France is known for its fantastic pastries, bread, wine, ok just all things food. And it’s absolutely true, even the McDonald’s there is fantastic.

There is a famous pastry shop macaron bakery called Ladurée, maybe you’ve heard of it? I have never drooled so much in my life! You have to wait in line to get in the store, and a person ushers you in two at Then you wait in line in front of this spectacular case of the most magnificent pastries you have ever and will ever see. You have to decide while you’re waiting in line what to get, which is almost impossible because you want EVERYTHING.

And it’s true, the macarons there are spectacular and the pastries have the most intricate decoration. I was almost sad because I knew that my baking is no where near this heavenly goodness. But I can use it as inspiration to branch out into individualized desserts instead of just big cakes. France doesn’t have cupcakes, and while those little treats hold a special place in my heart, I think that there’s something to be said about a light yet decadent french pastry.

So I will be taking the challenge and I challenge you! Make something petit or take a stab at macarons, who knows what kind of beautiful creation you’ll end up with. À bientôt!

Simple Tricks for Spectacular Cupcakes

Cupcakes have a lot of weight to carry for such tiny fluffy things. They are on TV shows like Cupcake Wars, Cupcake Girls, DC Cupcakes, and Georgetown Cupcakes; that’s a lot of pressure! Everyone loves to eat cupcakes, but sometimes these TV shows make your cupcakes feel inadequate. No worries, here are my top tricks to achieving some TV-worth adorable cupcakes without all the drama.

Cute liners do the work for you

Are you worried about tinting frosting? You may not have to, try some cute liners! They add fun and color without any extra work, just add some sparkly sprinkles to your frosting and you will dazzle everyone. Sometimes the light patterns won’t show up if you have a dark cupcake like chocolate. I think the Reynold’s Stay Brite liners with foil are great, they won’t fade!

You can also try the baking cups like the ones in the picture, they are a little smaller but cute and easy to use! Some people like to use a cupcake wrapper, but that’s a whole extra step at the end, I like to keep it simple.

When in doubt: sprinkles

 

It may sound obvious, but the right sprinkles on a simple cupcake can be just what you need. Sprinkle technology has long surpassed the traditional rainbow and chocolate; you can get sprinkles in any color and tons of shapes. With a cute liner or some tinted buttercream, sprinkles add just a touch of interest without working your fingers to the bone to make custom fondant decorations.

When you do want to do fondant, flat is fine!

There’s a lot of pressure to create a spectacular 3D figure for each of your 24 cupcakes, but who’s got the time?! Unless I’m looking to hire a bunch of Play-Doh experts, don’t sign me up for 3D fondant. Instead, you can layer different color fondant cut out from cookie cutters to decorate your cupcakes for any occasion. For these shapes I used my Cricut, it’s great for lazy people like me who hate spending time on fondant. It’s a fun craft activity to with friends or kids, and leaves much less mess and frustration.

Cupcakes should be fun and cute, don’t work too hard! These little things can’t take too much decoration, and are great for parties and hostessing. What are your favorite tricks for cupcake decorating?