Posts tagged family

With a little bit of time left in her stay, and all the leftover Nutella Buttercream frosting from our Poopycakes taking up space in the fridge, Lena made the executive decision to make a yellow cake (that we would then fill with Nutella and top with the same delicious frosting). 

Kendra, I really liked the mocha idea and will have to try that sometime, but Lena’s not a huge fan and it was all about her.. or something. Personally, I liked them with the chocolate cake better, but the frosting was still to die for and I was happy to try out a new yellow cake recipe that I hadn’t used before. 

Switching gears… I made us breakfast. Now this is a big deal because I hardly every cook.

I don’t think you can even call making scrambled eggs and french toast cooking, but I did it, all by myself, Lena didn’t even help me. It was one of the most adult feelings I felt all week (along with shopping, not getting it, and telling her stop acting like such a tween, making her finish her salad and reminding her to brush her teeth… I swear I’m a cool aunt) because she sat down to a meal fully prepared by me that I was very proud of. There were a lot of things going on between making the scrambled eggs with monterey jack cheese (SO GOOD), the french toast and I was also hard boiling eggs at the same time.

It was delicious. And now I know I can do it.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and my family planned to gather in Springfield (that’s where our roots are) and have a brunch. My mom actually called me on Saturday to ask if I had time if I would make biscotti. Well I was already planning on baking and I wanted to make something that I knew she would like but also that I wouldn’t have to take out of the oven, slice up, and bake again (like you have to do with biscotti) because I just didn’t feel like it. Also, I really wanted to make these specific cookies for my mom because I’m starting to learn her sweet tastes and I was almost certain she would LOVE them.
My mom’s not a super big sweets fan, not big on cake and all, but she likes good, quality cookies.  

I made Ginger Molasses cookies before, and they were beautiful and well enjoyed. I’ve still got a good amount of molasses in my pantry so I figured I’d give them another go. 

This time, however, I added chunks of good quality dark chocolate (yes, I splurged… only the best for my Mamma) and cut up crystalized ginger; neither of which I have ever baked with. 

I broke up the chocolate by hand but next time I think I might shave it into the batter or something, I had NO IDEA of what they were going to do in the oven. I remember my mom mentioned she put crystalized ginger in brownie batter before (something to try!) and it seemed like a good idea. 

The butter was too melted and the batter was quite warm and soft so I wasn’t super surprised with how flat the cookies came out (see… I am learning things… that is why that happened, right? or is is the chocolate? or did I mess something else up? or did I not mess up at all?). Anyway, the first time I made them they were a bit thicker. The chocolate spread out more than I expected it to, because I had really only put chocolate chips into cookies before, I don’t think it was a bad thing, I actually didn’t know what to expect.

But they were perfect! The texture was just right. I love my baking pans.

A HUGE HIT with my family, especially my mom. I was so glad I made something she really liked and I got compliments from my brothers, which really means a lot to me. The boys haven’t been able to enjoy my baked goods except maybe for Christmas because we don’t live in the same city and they’ve seen my blog so I was glad that they got a chance to taste some quality cookies by me.  

This weekend my wonderful niece Lena came and stayed with me in Boston. On her other visits we’ve baked together and it’s been really fun, so among the things I had planned, I promised we would bake again. 

It was hard to decide what to do but we settled on Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes to celebrate spring (while it’s been cold this weekend, it’s sure starting to look like spring, and I am very hopeful about warmer weather soon).

She’s 5’1” now, and in middle school, soon enough she’ll be taller than me. In all seriousness, she’s the coolest 12 year old I know.

Funfetti cake out of the box used to me my go-to thing to bake, especially when I was in college. To make our cupcakes we followed a vanilla cupcake recipe I have and just added spring sprinkles in the batter.

Lena folding in the sprinkles.

The batter was looking great and tasted just right… now the frosting, that was a whole other (sad) story.