French Cupcakes or Bouchees Chocolat au Yaourt

So I kinda have this thing with Paris. I can honestly tell you that I've been in love with Paris for more than half my life. Ever since 6th grade when Ms. BlahBlah gave us our annual country project. I don't remember exactly how it was done. I think we drew for position and then got to pick our country. All I know is that I got France and it was then my love affair with all thing French began.

In high school my friends convinced me to take Latin and I eagerly agreed as a) I wanted to hang out with my friends and b) thought I was going to be a lawyer and Latin seem like a good idea. In college when I had to pick a language I naturally went with Francais. Je voulais français! A couple years later and I could only parle un peu français. Then I came across a book, a wonderful book, a gift from the gods. I began reading The Sweet Life In Paris by David Lebovitz and I fell in love again.

The Sweet Life In Paris is a great book. Even if you are only a casual reader I would recommend it 100%. David weaves recipes and stories together in a magical way. And the recipes, oh wow, the recipes. If nothing else, oh the recipes- they are très excellent!

Bouchees Chocolat au Yagourt (Chocolate Cupcakes)
by David Lebovitz, The Sweet Life in Paris

7 oz Semi-sweet chocolate chips (or chopped)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (or plain whole-milk if you prefer)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan. In a double broiler melt the chocolate with 1/4 c of the oil until smooth. In another bowl, mix the remaining 1/4 cup oil with the yogurt, sugar, eggs, vanilla and almond extract. In a larger bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, whisking to combine.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the yogurt mixture. Stir a couple of times and add the chocolate, stirring just until combines. Pour batter into the muffin pan and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool (though I can never wait until they are cool, I dare you to try).

Note: No matter how healthy you want to be, do not substitute apple sauce for the oil. The first time I made these with Kenz we did just that and these cupcakes are about 1000x better with oil. Trust me.

Fortune Cookies

Now before we get started I will warn you, our fortune cookies did not turn out- they looked fabulous but well... the taste part was lacking. The recipe was suppose to make 24 and we ended up with 9- I'm gonna call that Problem A. Problem B- these things seemed relatively healthy- I mean, how can you succeed when you use egg whites- I think the kitchen gods were against us. Or maybe it's my obvious lack of Chinesseness, maybe we'll try again later, maybe I hate writing fortunes and don't plan on repeating this ever again, or maybe you'll make these despite my obvious bias against them (sorry Kenz). Either way it was fun and that's why I bake (I got over that baking for boys thing months ago, such an obvious fail). I bake to hang out with my girl friends, beat the shit out of some eggs and consume large quantities of chocolate. And I achieved all so I'm gonna call it a success.

If you so choose to make fortune cookies you can be all cute and write little personalized notes and dip them in chocolate and add sprinkles and pretty much full fill every ten year-olds dream. The cookies are super easy (but then again mine were a total flop, haha). Make sure you give yourself time to let the batter chill for an hour in the fridge before you get started or you may consume half a bag of Sweedish Fish (don't judge- there were 3 of us). The decorating is the best part but i like to dip things in chocolate and after the fortune fail began dipping pretzels which was fabulous- I love sweet and salty, it's down right addictive.

Homemade Fortune Cookies
(adapted from Cooking Light and www.ourbestbites.com)

1/2 C flour- If you have bread flour, use it.
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg whites

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend to combine. Place in a container and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400°.Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper*. Draw 3-4 (3-inch) circles on paper. Turn paper over (If you don't the pencil will be on your cookie). Spoon 1 teaspoon batter into center of each of the drawn circles; spread evenly to fill circle.

Bake at 400° for 5-6 minutes or until the cookies are brown just around the edges and a little toward the centers. Remove from the oven. Let sit for a few seconds before removing from pan. Working quickly, loosen edges of cookies with a spatula, and turn over

Place fortune along the center of 1 cookie. Fold cookie over so the edges meet ; press edges together. Gently pull the ends of the cookie down over the rim of a small bowl (or jar); hold for a few seconds or until set. Repeat procedure with remaining cookies. Makes about 24 cookies.

For some really fun dip them in melted chocolate and add sprinkles!

Thank You Sweet Amandine

Sweet Amandine, my favorite baking blog!! LOVE IT.

They have so many wonderful recipes that will warm you up on a blissful day!

Last Sunday Amy, Jess and I decided to have our little baking day. We decided we were due for a good girls day, and what better way to celebrate a friendship is with baking!!!

Jess found this delicious recipe for Salted Chocolate Almond Toffee. It was fabulous. And it was actually super, super easy!! I highly recommend it to all of you. The only problem is that it is super addicting. I actually finished my piece for breakfast. HA

Get ready, set, BAKE.....

Salted Chocolate Almond Toffee (Sweet Amandine)

2 c. sliced almonds

1¾ c. sugar

3 T. water

½ c. unsalted butter

1 t. Blackstrap or other dark molasses

¼ t. sea salt, plus another 2-3 generous pinches for finishing

1 t. vanilla extract

¼ t. baking soda

5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the almonds evenly on a baking sheet and toast until golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes. Let cool completely.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick liner, and evenly spread half of the almonds on top. There should be no visible parchment paper between the almonds. Reserve the remaining almonds for topping.

Combine the sugar, water, butter, molasses, and salt in a medium, heavy saucepan. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture registers 295 degrees – no more, no less – on a candy thermometer. Depending on your heat and your pot, it will take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. Immediately remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda. Stir well, until fully incorporated. The mixture will bubble up when you add the baking soda, so take care.

Pour the hot mixture evenly over the almonds. Work quickly, as it will begin setting up immediately. If necessary, use a lightly-oiled rubber spatula to spread the toffee. When the toffee is just cool enough to touch, spread the chopped chocolate over top. As the chocolate melts from the warmth, use a spatula to spread it across the toffee. Sprinkle the rest of the almonds, and then a couple of pinches of sea salt over the chocolate to finish. Let cool completely. (I’ve been known to speed things up by sliding the pan into the refrigerator.)

Break the cooled sheet into pieces. The toffee will keep in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for several weeks. Do not freeze.

Yield: About 1½ pounds.

Oh My, My, Chocolate Macaroons!

Sometimes I can be stubborn, ridiculously stubborn if we're being completely honest here (and here we are always honest, promise). And sometimes with that stubbornness comes an irrational sense of determination, I'll let you decided whether that's good or bad, hehe. Like the time in high school when I decided to bake over 1,000 cookies to make the most delicious holiday gift bags for practically everyone I knew. Or the time when I decided to drive to BGSU in the middle of the night just to prove a point. Did I mention that I was kinda stubborn?


And maybe a little bit spontaneous too. Sometimes I just get an idea and flow with it. Like the time I decided to fly to Vegas spur of the moment to see my favorite Auntie and go to a Kenny Chesney concert with her. Sometime this stubbornness thing or even the spontaneousness can causes problems and it may have gotten me it trouble a few times, just maybe, but occasionally I am rewarded by my intense stubbornness and/or spontaeousness. Making Chocolate Macaroons was definitely a reward, a big reward, it may even make up for some of the not so rewarding problems that my stubbornness has caused.

I don't really know why, but Saturday morning I decided to make Macaroons. It was one of those hey- I'm gonna do this moments. I don't think I've even eaten a macaroon before, trust me if I had I would remember and probable be the size of a small elephant due to macaroon consumption (no lies here people, I told you we tell the truth). Coconut goodness and chocolate, how can you say no? I sure couldn't. The crisp golden coconut dipped in a luscious chocolate ganache. I'm telling you this stuff is better than crack (okay, so I can't verify that but it's good)! The macaroons come together easily and you are greatly rewarded- crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside and that ganache- oh wow. Wow.

Be stubborn people, be stubborn. Go to the store right now- buy some coconut, preheat the oven and pretend you're somewhere tropical and enjoy these little guys. You really wanna listen here, Or I may be forced to drive to your house and feed you macaroons 'til you know you love them, I really am that stubborn.

Chocolate Macaroons
Adapted from TheBrownEyedBaker.com and JoyofBaking.com

If you know me, you know that I had an odd addiction to ganache- if I can replace chocolate with a chocolate ganache I do, which is what I did here and I was very pleased with the results. My macaroons ended up a little on the large side so next time I will make them smaller, but overall amazing. Make sure you use parchment paper or spray the pan with cooking spray- you can't cheat and use aluminum foil- otherwise you will be prying broken macaroons off your cookie sheet and picking off pieces of foil. True story.


2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg white
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3½ cups sweetened flaked coconut
3/4 cups heavy cream
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 325 and in large bowl combine sweetened condensed milk, egg, vanilla and salt. Add coconut and stir until coated in the condensed milk mixture. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop macaroons into Tablespoon sized piles. Form into haystack like mounds (wet your fingers or the coconut will stick horribly). Bake for 15-20 minutes or until coconut is lightly browned on top.

Place chocolate in a small heat proof bowl. Heat cream and butter in a small saucepan until it is just ready to boil. Pour cream mixture over chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. After time has passed whisk cream and chocolate together until smooth.

Working quickly dip each macaroon in the ganache and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Once all macaroons are dunked place in fridge for about 30 minutes to harden.

You can put the extra ganache in the fridge overnight and roll into mishapped balls to form truffles, I prefer mine plain but you can also roll them in cocoa powder.

A Cookie Break Between Packing, Exams and New Moon T-Shirts

Life has been crazy. Not that my life isn't always crazy- because it is. It just feels like things have been extra crazy lately. Taking exams early, packing for Vegas, skipping class to pack, making Twilight T-shirts. Ya Know. Crazy.

But no matter how crazy my life gets there will always be a few constants and baking is one of those. I was sick all week- the dreary I need to pee but the effort required to walk the 10 feet to the bathroom is to much so i'll hold in kind of sickness. Although there was some Gilmore Girls incorporated in which is why I don't mind getting sick, weird- i know. But by Thursday I saw the light at the end of tunnel and I actually left my house for the first time in like 3 days- which with the craziness my life involves is amazing that i didn't go anywhere. Truly, it was.

So by Thursday there was class, more sleeping and of course Gilmore Girls. Oh and orders not to go to class- The Vegetarian maintained that I needed to save my strength for New Moon. Valid point, besides that's what friends are for- get better cuz I'm dragging your ass to see this movie. :) Love it. But a miraculous thing occurred- I got my energy back and after throwing myself a fiesta for dinner I decided to bake.

Lets be honest and say at that point I wasn't up for much but I did manage to whip up a batch of No-Bake Cookie. And let me say these cookies were delic! They reminded me of the ones my Aunt Karen used to make. I would go down to visit her with my grandma and me and my sister would have burping contest with my cousins and she would make us cookies and play video games with us when the boys weren't there. Having typed that- Wow. What a woman to put up with all that- I sounded like tom-boy terror. haha. I was.

But Aunt Karen's cookies were always the best. I never did get the recipe, at that point i was to preoccupied playing with the boys but these cookies are incredible. Much thanks to the Brown Eyed Baker for posting these! These come together super quick and are very easy. But lack of work does not result in lack of taste. If you have 10-15 minutes to spare and a choclate craving these are the cookies for you! I halves the recipe when I made it and it yielded a dozen large cookies but this recipe doubles or even triples easily.

No-Bake Cookies

adapted from www.thebrowneyedbaker.com

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

Add the butter, sugar, milk and cocoa powder to a 4-quart saucepan and bring to a roling boil for 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and add the peanut butter and vanilla, stiring until smooth. Then stir in the oats. Form into cookie shapes on a cookie sheet and let set. Then enjoy!