Everything But the Kitchen Sink

Though I have been no where near as diligent at keeping up with blogging in the last few months, if you have been around for a while you probably know that I am obsessed with all things involving meringue. From trying to make french macarons and "the world's best cake" to the lemon meringue pie I posted last. When I was making the topping for the pie, I knew I had to make an extra bit of fluff to bake off a few dozen meringues. The crisp exterior and marshmallowy interior is perfect. I made half vanilla and half one of my favorite flavors, hibiscus. Flavored & tinted naturally with hibiscus powder.


The concept of horchata cookies had been mulling around inside my head for a while. While I made eggnog snickerdoodles a few months ago and knew I could easily make a horchata flavored cookie in a similar way, I felt compelled to add rice to the cookie. I added a fair portion of super soft, steamed rice to the mixer after everything was blended and while the dough taste amazing the cookies just got a funny, plastic-like texture as they cooled. Several friends offered up suggestions such as making a rice meal to add or pureeing the steamed rice before mixing it into the dough. I haven't revisited the concept yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.


I was craving something with a crumb topping when I stumbled on Top with Cinnamon's chocolate vanilla crumb cake. I veganized the recipe, which was simple as could be. It was great with coffee. Rich but not too sweet and cut easily into beautiful, big slices. The cake was a little too dense for me, so I might play with the recipe again a little more in the future trying to get a slightly lighter texture and maybe a little more vanilla flavor in the base of the cake batter.


Busy, busy, busy. Trying to stay focused and calm. Working as hard as I can to make all my dreams come true and keeping my chin up until the winter is over. The days are already getting so much longer. I'm much happier in the sunlight.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Post-move I have been trying to reduce the amount of baking supplies I hoard. I found a pre-made Oreo crust at the very bottom of my box of supplies and knew it had been there for so long that I didn't remotely have a clue how old it was. A chocolate cookie crust called for one thing, pudding pie. Chocolate pudding pie is a tried & true classic. I have blogged about it before, so it's not enough to warrant a new post. However this time around I used So Delicious's new coconut whipped topping. While I think it tastes remarkably like Cool Whip, the texture was a little off for me. It was very heavy and quite hard to spread on top of the pie even though I had let it thaw overnight in the fridge & then beat it for several minutes to try to make it fluffier. I think if it were something that I was going to pipe whipped cream onto, it would be perfect for that & probably hold it's shape remarkably well. I have another tub in the freezer and a few more ideas for what I am going to do with it next.


Every year in DC my friend's host a vegan Thanksgiving dessert potluck. After 9pm once we have all gotten through dinners with our friends & family and maybe foraged through the meal to find the bits & bobs that are vegan, we get together to eat dessert together. Since I spent the last few years up to my knees in pie every holiday season, I decided to take a new route for the dessert potluck this year. I made an apple gingerbread bundt cake, tweaked from the apple cider cake recipe on Pickles & Honey. It went too quickly for me to photograph well. However, in my post-food coma I was wise enough to grab a few of the cookies I made to snap a photo of the next day. I saw these maple walnut cookies during Vegan MoFo on Shannon's blog. I decided to fore-go the frosting since there would be so many desserts and opted for a maple glaze & sprinkles instead.


Greg was in Europe for two weeks and while he was kind enough to bring me back German chocolate bars that are more amazing than I could have even expected, I also got a little stir crazy. I used that momentum to buy a bus ticket to New York and convinced my friend Melanie to go with me. Despite walking around in the pouring rain for almost 8 hours in a city that neither of us are fond of, we had a pretty nice day. I got an amazing hot dog made solely of root vegetables and then topped with more pickled vegetables and a kale caesar salad from Yeah Dawg. But most importantly and the sole purpose for the trip, I got a dozen macarons. Sweet Maresa's released her winter flavors, and I knew I needed to try them. Pictured are hot chocolate, gingerbread, black licorice, carrot cake, caramel pecan, and pistachio. All phenomenal, but I think the gingerbread macaron is one of my new favorites.
I have also fallen pretty under the spell of copper lately. I bought my first copper pan because it was beautiful and not too expensive. Greg's mom, who is an amazing hunter of antique & vintage goods, was kind enough to buy me these copper pots & pans. Just look at that double boiler! A very good start to my newest collection.


And almost a whole year after they were posted in Kristy's cookie swap, I finally made the gluten free turtle cookies I bookmarked. Considering that we are now almost halfway through this year's cookie swap, one could say that I am a little behind in my pleasure baking. I'm going to an in-life cookie swap this weekend, and I am struggling to try and figure out what I want to make. I have tossed around many ideas. Traditionally I feel like I should make gingerbread or snickerdoodles or maybe some snowflake & mitten sugar cookies. But I think I might mix it up. Maybe eggnog cookies? I made a batch of pistachio pudding cookies that I want to tweak and make a little better, so that might be a good option. The pressure of making something with no restrictions whatsoever. It's almost overwhelming.


One of my main routines since my move to Philadelphia has been drinking too much coffee and eating doughnuts. Dottie's Donuts has been growing super rapidly. Originally wholesaling on the weekends to a few coffeeshops, they have now expanded to 6 days a week and are being carried at so many shops! While my favorite is the classic cinnamon sugar, Dottie's really specializes in their interesting flavor combinations. The donut shown here was a Little Baby's exclusive with a glaze of Little Baby's smoked cinnamon ice cream, chocolate drizzle, and waffle cone chunks. Other favorites have included horchata, apple cider, and sweet potato. But they just keep cranking out amazing flavors like Silk nog and cranberry tangerine. If you are in the Philly area and haven't tried these doughnuts yet, you are really messing up.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink

When I veganized the Momofuku compost cookies for MoFo last month, Greg went a little crazy over them. He really wanted another batch so it was the first thing I baked in October. I kept them fairly similar to the first round, but I added a generous splash of sprinkles because we both are obsessed. As I was making the cookie dough, Greg actually took a swig of sprinkles right out of the jar?!


I don't often take a whole lot of pictures during the recipe creation process because our kitchen is a little bit dark and doesn't lend well to my use of natural light. I am a wee bit terrified of using lamps and light boxes and what not. I haven't seem to have quite grasped the hang of it, even by the most generous of standards. However as I was making the almond ricotta for the cannoli I created, the kitchen sink where I was peeling almonds and pondering my future was so beautifully lit. A rare and lovely moment indeed. This is also where I wash dishes and look out into my neighbor's yard to see their Bernese puppy, Alice, running around. Remind me to bake them Christmas cookies so I have another chance to pet her for a few minutes?!


I will always be a donut fan. DunWell is still top notch in my book, but Sticky Fingers recently started making donuts on Tuesday & Thursdays. Luckily a few of my days off lined up with their production schedule last month. The ones on the photo were some of my favorites: tiramisu, boston cream, & peanut butter chocolate. I keep hoping that they will start making them daily, because it's so hard to get there on weekday mornings. It's still nice to know we finally have the option available in DC. Now we just really need an all vegan ice cream shop.


In the summer, Greg and I made a quick trip to Boston. I had never been, and really loved the city. Aside from FoMu, which I will devote more time to discussing on this little blog soon, my favorite spot was Veggie Galaxy! The stuffed french toast was my JAM. I will always be a breakfast person, first and foremost. It is the best meal of the day. But I am also a sucker for sweets, and Veggie Galaxy's dessert case was five star. The lemon meringue stole the show for me. It was tart and bright, the meringue sweet and marshmallowy. I heard a rumor that it was made from pea protein, and my interest is certainly peaked. I will have to look more into that soon. Speaking of lemon meringue, Hannah of Bittersweet just released her third cookbookEasy As Vegan Pie! As the biggest pie fan, I couldn't be more excited. Her lemon meringue looks as perfect as Veggie Galaxy's, and it will be the first recipe I attempt. The cannoli pie will be a close second (maybe simultaneously). What can I say, I like what I like?!


These were cherry pistachio muffins my housemate Carrie made. They were so good. She couldn't find shelled pistachios at the nearby store, so shelled them all by hand to make the batch of muffins. That's dedication. These were delicious. They had a perfect crumb and the right hint of sweet and salt and tartness. I can't stop thinking about them. Eating a baked good someone else made is really bliss. I could get to use to it. Also, I don't know why I have never made spumoni flavored things before?!


This last snip-it is a wee bit embarrassing. I really hope that other people's desktops looked like this by the end of MoFo. I am normally so organized and keep all the clutter to a minimum, but with all the constant baking and photographing and writing, all of these pictures just ended up all over the place! I really have to fix it soon.
What is going on with everyone else? I have a busy week coming up, but am looking forward to apple & pumpkin pickin' this weekend and watching Halloween movies with a few friends. I can't believe how quickly this month is already going.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

My house has been without internet for fifteen days. I believe this is the longest time I have gone without a solid internet connection since I acquired a computer for the first time in high school. For the first week I thought it was really nice. The weather was completely beautiful, and I was spending more time with friends than putzing around the web. It was a wonderful detox from all the ridiculousness that constant internet access allows. The second week, I started feeling much differently. I became increasingly bitter that I couldn't watch Game of Thrones. I became frantic when I tried to check my Google Reader at a coffee shop where I only had fifteen minutes to spare. Fast forward to today, three Comcast technicians and two enraged phone calls later, and we still don't have the internet. So I am yet again at a coffee shop trying to update this ignored little blog while my boyfriend is running an errand.
We were suppose to fly out to Chicago for a quick vacation, but the city was in a state of emergency from all the rain they got and our flight was canceled! We are gonna try again today. Hopefully I will be drinking milkshakes at the Chicago Diner in T-minus 6 hours. Until then, I will let you know about a few things I have done in the last few weeks.



I have been organizing an event at Roots Market for Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale this year. I am always super excited to participate in this awesome event. So if you are local to the area, you should head out next weekend and support Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary! I also started creating a Cupcake of the Week, to make my daily work routine a little more interesting. I've had the chance to make a few fun flavors, above are Almond Joy and Banana Split. I am sure there are tons more to come. If you have any suggestions, I am all ears. I have a spreadsheet I have been keeping track of all the potential flavors for each season in.
In the craziness that has been the last month, I kept forgetting to eat breakfast and had a bunch of overripe bananas. Though I would normally make banana bread, I decided to switch it up. I tried a baked banana cake donut with a PB2 peanut butter glaze. They were good, but I definitely need to make a few more batches to tweak the recipe before I share it.


After I wrote the blog post on the white chocolate eggs I found, Charm School Chocolates sent me the peanut butter eggs I missed out on! What amazing people! They even sent me samples of some of their other chocolates, which were both to die for!


Hopefully by the time we return from our vacation the internet will be restored and I can work on more fun kitchen things! I need to tweak those donuts and still haven't made the baklava I was so set on last month. There is just never enough time in the day! If there is a place in Chicago, I need to visit this weekend, let me know! I know about the obvious like the Chicago Diner, Pick Me Up, Handlebar, etc. But are there are any places that I can't miss out on?!

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

A few sweets went undocumented throughout the month since they didn't pertain to chocolate. My favorite dessert, a fruit tart, complete with a thick shortbread crust, my top secret pastry cream recipe, and several of my favorite fruits. You also see an apple and pecan pie from the bakeshop. The apple pie is topped with a faux lattice crust, using one of these handy dandy lattice cutters. It doesn't work quite as well as you might originally think. Even after rolling it a few times with a heavy rolling pin, I had trouble picking out many of the little squares of crust. Sometimes even resorting to just cutting squares with a paring knife. It still took quite a bit less time than folding lattices over 80 pies. So I am thankful for that.


After getting a flat tire on a stressful Saturday morning, one of my coworkers fixed it for me. On my lunch break, he took my tire off, patched it, and got it back on with ample time left for me to eat. I returned the favor with a loaf of banana bread. I added a cup of crushed walnuts to the batter, and even more to the top of the loaf. I even took the time to run an oiled knife over the top of the batter so that the loaf had that perfect split down the middle. That's how you show someone you really wanted to put in effort.


Somehow it is already December. That means it's time for me to come up with another food theme to get me through these hectic holidays. I decided to go with all things yeast. My first thought was donuts. I haven't made many batches of baked yeast donuts that really won me over. This attempt was definitely not one of them. I left the dough to rise away over my warm little radiator. It rose the first time, but after I cut them, they didn't rise again. I baked them anyways and hope for the best. Unfortunately they just remained flat little doughy disks. Perhaps it is just time for a new jar of yeast or maybe the recipe was just a flop. But I am sure that I can come up with a successful batch before the end of 2012!

Everything But the Kitchen Sink

Sometimes there are things that I just want to say in some sort of public forum, but I didn't know how to classify it or whether I should bother to put it on this blog. I decided that it is aftebrall my blog, and if I want to tell people about things I enjoy, than I shouldn't worry about whether it fits in the narrow classification of 'baking blog' that I had originally intended to pursue. So I decided to create a title for this sort of thing that would let people know if they wanted to avoid it or not. I get that there are blogs people follow just because they are interested in hearing about recipes or clothes or life issues, and maybe you want to skip the rest. So here is "everything but the kitchen sink" since it's my favorite ice cream flavor, but also true to the fact that these things won't involve me filling the kitchen sink with dishes.


Last week I tabled for my work at DC VegFest. While VegFest has always been a success, I would definitely say that this has been the best year yet. It was at Yards Park, which is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in DC. We gave out a few hundred pounds of BBQ Beyond Meat for folks to sample. If you haven't heard of it yet, it's the new best faux meat. If you're into that kind of thing. My kind of thing is the sweets. And I did spend $20 at the Vegan Treats table on donuts & cannolis. Never a bad choice. I normally fall into the trap of buying all their beautiful miniature cakes because I can't stop looking at them, but I always regret it because I would just rather eat a cannoli than a piece of cake.


Also at VegFest this year was Vegan Cuts. If you haven't heard of this phenomenal website, you should definitely join. They have amazing deals on things like Emmy's Organics macaroon sampler packs and reusable glass straws. I bought a subscription to their monthly snack box. I can't wait to get my first package in the mail!
Is there anything else new and exciting in the vegan world that I should be aware of? Besides the impending tidal wave of blogposts from Vegan MoFo? I signed up for the first time. I am pretty excited/nervous/overwhelmed.