The Fourth of July

hi friends! i hope everyone had a great Fourth of July, and enjoyed long weekend.  Sadly, I did not get the day off in Israel, but my friends and I had a little Independence Day celebration that evening with some s'mores :)

they were delicious! we couldn't find graham crackers at the grocery store, so we had to make do with tea crackers. Nevertheless, our toaster-oven version of s'mores with melted Israeli chocolate (yum) and pink and white marshmallows was perfection.  I can't count the number of times I've said this, but sharing food with friends just makes me indescribably happy.  As I start get sentimental about leaving college (only one more year!!), I can safely say that my happiest memories in the last three years in school mostly involve eating with friends :)  

Remember last Fourth of July, when I had barely started blogging? I still remember how great it was to eat those crumble bars with everyone. I am so grateful to have friends to eat with, regardless of where i am in the world.

 Beth (pictured above) was the mastermind of Project S'mores. Thanks, Beth, for joining us in Rehovot for the weekend and making this happen :) May we have many more cooking adventures together!

Strawberry-Almond Scones

My post-semester laziness has lasted about a week and a half, give or take.  I've been waking up close to lunch time and watching way more bad TV than I care to admit!  In rare moments of productivity, I casually throw a couple of items into my suitcase, or wander into the kitchen to make some calorific baked good that i will probably never do enough cardio to actually deserve... :)

entering... these scones! strawberry-almond with a buttermilk glaze.

remember when i made these scones? The original recipe from that post is so versatile that it was quite easy to modify it to suit my strawberry craving.  and yes, I fully recognize that I had the option of simply eating fresh strawberries if I actually craved them.. but that wouldn't be any fun, now would it?

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

After a flurry of final exams, projects, and packing up my room for the summer, I'm finally back home! It's so nice to relax at home,  and enjoy the full-sized kitchen at my disposal :)

So... I've been craving a good chocolate chip cookie for about 3 weeks now.   But, school got in the way, and i wasn't able to bake them until this week.

mmm.  while i was baking these,  I also made a giant casserole pan of salted caramel cookie bars :)  Ever since I discovered this salted caramel recipe, i've aspired to put it into pretty much every cookie or brownie that I've made.   Making these bars was actually super simple, since I made the cookie dough ahead of time. To make them, simply line a greased casserole pan with one layer of cookie dough, followed by the salted caramel squares.  Then, pat down a second layer of cookie dough, and bake the whole thing at 325 degrees F for 30 minutes. So easy!

After trying these bars, it was very difficult to go back to eating the cookies ;)  they were perfect with a nice cold glass of milk.

I have ambitious plans to bake many things this upcoming week before I leave home, so stay posted for at least a couple more recipes this week!

-Meena

The Semester in Cakes

My friend Sylvia and I have a tradition- we like to make our friends' birthday cakes from scratch every year :) This semester was particularly special because of a lovely Secret Santa gift exchange where i got my first ever cake decorating set!

We literally felt like the coolest kids on the block when we were piping out our friends' names on cakes, or making fancy designs on along the side of the cakes.  I will personally admit to feeling like the coolest kid when I practiced my frosting penmanship on cardboard ;) Someday, I hope to take a cake decorating class to make my cakes look a little more professional, but until then... here is a summary of this semester in cakes!

Presented in chronological order:

Chocolate-Almond Biscotti

so... it's been awhile.   Week after week, I've dutifully penciled in "update blog" in my planner, to no avail.   Here's a short summary of what i've been up to in the past 6 weeks:

Life Happened.  Drama Ensued.  Therapy Baking Initiated. Happiness Restored!

Now, back to the relevant part of that summary - therapy baking:)

Over Christmas break, I decided to make biscotti. Having never made biscotti, I figured the best time to make it would be when I had access to a nice kitchen at home, rather than my small dorm kitchen. It was a good call.

What I didn't realize until I sat down to look at a biscotti recipe was that they actually have to be baked twice.  The first time, you bake them in little logs, and the second time, you bake the individual pieces.

it was quite the process. However, given that i was on break and i would probably have been watching reruns of That 70's Show if I was not baking, I thought it was worth it :)

Applesauce Muffins

 

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! Since I'm supposed to bake for a big party tonight, I'll keep this post short. Last week, I made applesauce muffins for the first time, and they were a big hit! It was my first time baking with applesauce, but I'm definitely going to use it more often now :)  

Best wishes for 2013!

-Meena

Applesauce muffins (1 dozen):

2 Cups of flour

1/2 Cup of sugar

1 Cup of Applesauce

1 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup soy milk or regular milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  In a mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the applesauce, soy milk, vanilla and oil.  Fold the dry ingredients into the applesauce mixture until a thick batter forms.  Pour the batter into a greased muffin tin and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

October Brownies

it's October.

of course it is, you say as you roll your eyes at me. captain obvious much?

Please bear with me, I swear I have a point here.  I don't know what October is to you, but to me, it means arm warmers, the Head of the Charles, apple picking, earthen-toned sweaters, pumpkin, cinnamon, and exams.

That's why, when I make brownies in October, they can't just be any old brownies.  They have to be spiced-up, decadent, my-midterm-sucked brownies.  in short, October brownies!

now don't get me wrong, i love a good box brownie mix as much as the next person does, but in October, that stuff just doesn't cut it. no sir. for these brownies, i decided to look up a recipe from Martha Stewart's cookie book and tweak it a little:)

Pumpkin Birthday Cake

This week, one of my closest friends at school turned 20 years old.  Since it's October and officially fall now, I decided to make her a pumpkin cake:)

I had been itching to make something with pumpkin for a few weeks now.  Finally, after 3 Sundays of staring longingly at the baking aisle in Trader Joes, hoping that those bright orange cans of pumpkin would materialize, they finally arrived!  If there had been a Trader Joes employee nearby, I probably would have hugged them.  

Nutella Banana Bread

remember how i have a problem with bananas? specifically with how I buy way too many of them? enter project banana bread: nutella style!  

mmm nutella...  I've been told that nutella is an integral part of most people's childhoods.  Personally, I spent most of my childhood eating hummus sandwiches and fiber granola bars (thanks, mom) so i didn't have my Nutella epiphany until I came to college and met my more culinarily relaxed friends.  

It was totally worth the wait though, because now I just want to eat nutella with ALL of the foods!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Cookies

After a week of school, i can now safely say that i'm tired.

i would like to say that i'm tired because all of the homework i have, and all of the things i have to get done (seriously, who doesn't enjoy complaining about their busy schedule?) but really, it's because i've been hanging out with friends. In the past two weeks, we've been catching up on each other's lives by watching movies, having impromptu Monday night dance parties, and watching more movies.  so that is why i'm tired:)

furthermore, since i believe the best way to connect with friends is through food, i recently purchased an industrial sized bag of chocolate chips from Costco.  if those 72 ounces don't buy a friendship i don't know what will.   in any case, you may be seeing a lot of chocolate on this blog in the coming months...

these are the chocolate chip oatmeal banana cookies i made over the weekend:)

since i always seem to have more ripe bananas than i can eat, i tend to incorporate them in my baked goods and then share them with the world.

mashed banana. the stuff that babies' dreams are made of.

anyways, these cookies were fairly simple.  they had a slightly cakier consistency than regular chocolate chip cookies, but the banana definitely added a level of moisture that you don't find in a lot of other cookies.

glitter nails!

my friend Carmen took advantage of my frantic picture-taking to show off her gorgeous glittery gold nails. oh, and if you aren't blinded by the dazzling gold spectacle, that's the cookie batter in the background.

ok, it's probably time to get back to work now.  Happy Wednesday to everyone!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Cookies:

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2 ½ large bananas)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 cups of flour
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2/3 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup oatmeal

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy.  Incorporate the egg, mashed bananas, and vanilla extract sequentially.  Fold the flour mixture into the larger bowl in small increments, until all of the flour is incorporated.  Lastly, fold in the chocolate chips and oatmeal.  Spoon cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet or a silicone mat, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Mini Lemon Cupcakes

In my last few days at home, i'm trying to pack up and get ready for Boston, but i also just had to take advantage of my parents' garden! we've got a great lemon tree, an orange tree, a couple of apple trees that aren't quite bearing ripe fruit yet, and some tomato and zucchini plants.  I had my eye on some really nice zucchinis that we just harvested, but alas, my mom decided to use them for something else:(

luckily for me, our lemon tree consistently provides us with a steady supply of lemons during the year, and i didn't feel bad stealing a few for these cupcakes.  also, i really, really wanted a nice snack for my afternoon tea. 

this was the first time i used lemon zest in a recipe, so zesting was kind of a challenge.  growing up, my mom made me grate carrots, and i always thought it was a pain. i had a similar experience this time.  the good news was that i only needed a small handful of lemon zest, so it didn't take me too long:)

Chocolate Cake with Strawberries

Hello readers! I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything in awhile.  But, i have been enjoying California's mild summer weather and eating my mother's amazing food:)
After about 5 days of pure relaxation, I decided to bake a cake! A chocolate cake, because it's my mom's favorite, and topped with strawberries, because I'm basically trying to eat as many California strawberries as possible while I'm still here. Seriously, they are delicious.

I baked this cake for a graduation dinner for

Apple-Raspberry Crumble Bars

 

I had the best day off for the Fourth of July.  In short, it involved friends, food, and fireworks:) it was nice to take a break in the middle of the week for a little r and r.  also, i got a chance to make this apple-raspberry crumble to celebrate our lovely Independence Day.  

Orange-Blueberry Cookies

Remember those cookies I showed you some time ago? Well, the recipe's back!

 

But this time, instead of throwing in all of those butterscotch chips and peanut-butter cups,

Father's Day

One of my favorite food-related memories from home involves fruit.  Every morning, my dad would cut fresh fruit into bite-sized pieces and serve it to me and my brother in small bowls with forks.  At the time, I would grumble about eating a few pieces of oranges or mangoes, but now, I miss the days when fruit appeared in front of me, ready to eat.  

Appa, thank you for all of those mornings with fruit.  Throughout my life, you have taught me how to persevere, stay committed to the things I care about, and work hard for the things that I want.  I am so grateful.  and this post is for you!

This fruit salad is so simple that I wouldn't think to write a recipe for it.  Most of the ingredients

Spur-of-the-Moment Everything Cookies

 

These are my everything cookies.  They were mostly an experiment that turned out well enough for me to post on the internet :)  Anyhow, the reason I call them everything cookies is because they have peanut butter, honey, and oatmeal.  That's almost everything cookie-related, right? it's probably not (they don't have chocolate for one thing), but you get the idea.

Banana Bread

 

Question: what's the best thing to do with ripe bananas?  spoiler alert, it's banana bread! In the past two years, I've used pretty much all of my ripe bananas trying to achieve The Ultimate Banana Bread.  My lovely floormates have dutifully tried every single loaf of bread I have made, including the one where I forgot to add baking soda. Thanks guys, you're the best :)

Anyhow, the special ingredient that I've incorporated in my banana bread is...