busy little bee

this weekend my gorgeous and fabulous friend, liz gillman of fleur de sel catering hosted a beautiful croquet party and had me make some goodies for it. i made a double batch of lemon bars and some snickerdoodles. but the star of the show had to be liz's fig pizza. it's one of the best things i've ever had! oh so delicious! it was a very lovely and bourgeoisie (bougie) event, and i was so happy to be a part of it. thanks, liz!

packaging is everything

these are perfect for summer cupcakes and muffins. making what's cute even cuter! perfect to house lemonade cupcakes or strawberry banana muffins with toasted coconut.

blueberry crumb cakes

i was going to have brunch with a friend of mine this sunday and i was trying to think of something pretty quick and easy, but still fancy enough to be brunch worthy. i was hoping muffins or coffee cake would do the trick, however i wanted to try something new. i ended going through my family cookbook and found this recipe for crumb cakes. i added the blueberries to the recipe and i think it's the perfect addition. but let's be honest, blueberries make just about anything better.

batter:
1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. cinnamon
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 T. butter, melted
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
2/3 c. blueberries

topping:
1/2 c. flour
1/3 c. brown sugar
2 t. cinnamon
4 T. cold butter, cut into pieces
(cut with pastry cutter or two knives until crumbly)

preaheat oven to 375°, grease 12-cup muffin tin. combine dry ingredients till well mixed. whisk wet ingredients till combined. add wet ingredients to dry ingredents and mix with fork until just combined. add blueberries and mix unti l just combined. divide batter between 12 cups (i actually only got 10 cups out of mine, and i used a cookie scoop to divvy up the batter). top with topping and pat down. bake for 12 - 14 minutes. cool 5 minutes and transfer to wire racks.

coconut chocolate chip cookies

my oldest sister sent these to me raving about them. i have been excited to try them but i haven't had a chance. this weekend, one of my besties (the ever talented rachel thurston of rachel thurston photography) was in town, and we were gonna have a bonfire weenie roast, but with all the torrential downpours we've been having, we got rained out. so i decided to make some cookies to help make up for it and these were the perfect pinch hitters! we all love coconut and chocolate and cookies so it only made sense to make these, cause they are LOADED with coconut.

CREAM
1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. sugar
-beat butter for about a minute, then add one type of sugar at a time, beating a minute or two each, then beat all for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy.

ADD
2 eggs (beating in one at a time)
2 t. vanilla

ADD and MIX WELL
2 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt

ADD
2 2/3 c. coconut
1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. milk chocolate chips

bake at 350° for 14 minutes, roatating the tray after 10 minutes.

san francisco food

when i went to san francisco over memorial day, i basically planned the trip around the food i wanted to eat. there are always a few places i make sure to hit and i got to a few of my favorites. unfortunately my favorite taco place was closed, but i comforted myself with the food at tartine.

these are coconut buns (actually called cocktail buns) that you can get in chinatown. delicious buns filled with butter, sugar and coconut. dreamy!

and here we have my favorite ice cream and (cold) caramel sauce from fentons. best ice cream parlor of all time.

and last but very much not least, the yams at house of nanking.

banana oat shake

i found this recipe in one of my "everyday food" magazines recently and i LOVE it. i've been drinking it every morning for breakfast and it fills me up till lunchtime. sometimes i add or substitute berries, but i my favorite is just plain banana. oh, i haven't tried it with strawberries but i bet that would be a delight.

1/2 c. plain vanilla yogurt
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. oats
1 banana, cut in fourths
2 t. honey
2 t. ground flax seed (i add this for my omega-3)

too cute

i also need this.


as seen on thekitchn.com

new post: your heart out

looky here if you want to see a recipe for coconut banana bread with lime glaze. it's my monthly guest post, so check it out!

ps, it's delicious.

carrot cake

as i've mentioned before, i'm not huge into cake (don't get me wrong, i'll eat it—but i prefer other desserts over cake most of the time). however, if i could, i would probably marry carrot cake and live happily ever after. i don't know what it is (probably the cream cheese frosting) but i really love it. maybe it's because it's more dense than most other cakes, and not too sweet. whatever the reason is, i truly truly love it. and this is my favorite recipe for it. the original calls for 1 1/2 cups oil and i just can't bear to do that, so i cut it down by 1/2 a cup. i'm not a fan of applesauce as a substitute because i feel like it ruins the texture. so i just cut back oil and make sure there are plenty of carrots up in there. i love the ratio of the frosting to cake in this recipe too.

carrot cake

2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 c. vegetable oil
1 c. white flour
1 c. wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
2 t. baking soda (half this in high altitude)
3 t. cinnamon
3 c. grated carrots
cream cheese frosting

cream together sugar, eggs and oil. in a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. combine two mixtures. stir in carrots. pour into greased 9x13 pan. bake at 350° for about 30 minutes. let cool, frost with cream cheese frosting.

cream cheese frosting

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. butter, about halfway melted
1 t. vanilla
2 c. (16 oz.) powdered sugar

cream the softened cream cheese. blend with butter. add powdered sugar and vanilla. beat well. spread over room temp. cake.

i need this in my life

i could use this and the $200 to buy it. functional and adorable.

blackberry lemon pudding cake

i found this a few years ago in cooking light, and it's been one of my favorites. so when i saw some delicious blackberries for sale at costco, i had to make it. it takes a while for the cake to settle, so give it about 45 minutes to cool.

1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. sugar
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. nutmeg
1 c. buttermilk
1 t. grated lemon rind
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
2 T. butter
2 large egg yolks
3 large egg whites
1/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. blackberries

preheat oven to 350°.

lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. combine flour, 2/3 c. granulated sugar, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl; add buttermilk, rind, juice, butter, and egg yolks, stirring with a whisk until smooth.

beat egg whites at high speed of a mixer until foamy. add 1/4 c. granulated sugar, 1 T. at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. gently stir one-fourth of egg white mixture into buttermilk mixture; gently fold in remaining egg white mixture. fold in blackberries.

pour batter into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. place in a larger baking pan; add hot water to larger pan to depth of 1 inch. bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center.