French Macarons

The last several weeks I have been getting exercise with my friend Rosemary. Our reward after walking about an hour is usually going and getting something sweet! Yes, it probably voids the exercise but, it makes us feel better! One of our favorite treats is at Miette, a Hazelnut French Macaron . These are heavenly treats and totally worth the small fortune that is paid for just one macaroon. I decided to try and make the macaroons a few weeks ago and they turned out really yummy. The one thing I forgot to buy was heavy cream for the fillings so I improvised and used a peanut butter and chocolate mixture.

Holiday Wreath

Since Thanksgiving I put my last years wreath up on my front door. Which I thought I was going to keep up until I went to my friend Liz's house and she was making the cutest wreath for her front door. I decided to make the same wreath as Liz! Thanks Liz! The only thing I had to buy was a wreath wire holder, which I got a Micheal's Craft Store for like 3 bucks! How cool is that!

Ginger Spice Cookies

These cookies turned out so yummy! Over the summer I went to Bali and brought back a ton of different spices, one was Cardamom. For the last few months I didn't know what to do with the spice. So, last week I decided to make spice cookies. I found this recipe on Food Network and it turned out chewy, soft and so YUMMY!





*** I left a few ingredients out due to not having them!

Exotic Spice Cookies with Ginger, Cardamom and Rose Water

Recipe adapted from Camilla Saulsbury, Nacogdoches, TX

Ingredients

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
* 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger
* 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 large egg
* 1/4 cup honey
* 1 teaspoon rosewater
* 3/4 cup turbinado (raw) sugar, for rolling

Directions

Whisk the flour, ground ginger, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, pepper and salt in a medium bowl until blended. Mix in the crystallized ginger. Set aside momentarily.

In a large bowl beat the brown sugar, butter and shortening with an electric mixer until fluffy (do not overbeat-it will add too much air). Add the egg, honey and rosewater and beat until blended. Stir in the flour mixture with a wooden spoon, mixing until just until blended. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray 2 cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray. Spoon the turbinado sugar in thick layer onto small plate. Using wet hands, form dough into 1 1/4-inch balls; roll in sugar to coat completely. Place balls on prepared sheets, spacing 2 to 3 inches apart.

Bake cookies until cracked on top but still soft to touch, about 11 to 13 minutes. Cool on sheets 1 minute. Carefully transfer cookies to wire racks; cool completely.

Z is for Zucchini!

One thing that I love is Zucchini bread! Here is my version of a pretty good batch of zucchini bread. Check it out!

Zucchini Bread
Adapted from several sources

Yield: 2 loaves or approximately 24 muffins

3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease one 8x8 pan ( you will have left overs, I made a smaller one for a friend)

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt, as well as nuts, chocolate chips and/or dried fruit, if using.

Stir this into the egg mixture. Divide the batter into prepared pans.

Bake loaves for 60 minutes, plus or minus ten, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Root Beer Bundt Cake!

Wow! I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post! How time fly's! For Johnny's birthday last month I made a Root Beer Bundt Cake from Baked. The cake turned out really moist, but I could not taste the root beer, I think it has to do with what kind of root beer is used. Next time I bake I will try with a different brand. Besides it not totally tasting like root beer, it was DELICIOUS!!!

Halloween Deco

It's time to start decorating for the holidays! Decorating really helps me keep my spirits up and puts a smile on my face! Since I don't have a lot of room to have decorations everywhere, I thought of a way to have pumpkins in my house but not use my space! I have a window in my kitchen that overlooks the parking area and entrance of my condos complex. I added pumpkins that hang in the window! It looks pretty cute and I have gotten some complements from my neighbors. Take a look!

Johnny's Birthday!

Happy Birthday, to my husband, John! Last night we went to a friend's house for dinner. They recently bought a house in Palo Alto so a birthday dinner was a good excuse to see the new house. I asked John what kind of cake he wanted me to make and instead of cake he wanted a apple pie! So, I took it as a challenge since I have never made a apple pie. I now how to make a pretty good crust so I just needed to figure out the filling part! I decided to use a recipe for pie crust that I have always used, because I knew it was good, and I went to an original, The Joy of Cooking for the apple pie recipe. I got a great response from everyone who ate it, and I also thought it was really yummy!

Sweet Potato Bread

The other day I was grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and found something I had never seen before, canned sweet potato puree. I love pumpkin bread and thought it would be a yummy twist on it! So I bought it with a cart full of other items! Yesterday was a lazy day for me, so I decided to make Sweet Potato Bread. I found a recipe on All Recipes.com and here is my version of the Southern Sweet Potato Bread with Pecans.

1 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg with one egg white
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons non fat milk
1 can of sweet potato puree
1/2 chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325, and grease a 8x4 loaf pan
In medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar.
Add eggs and milk and mix until blended. Finally, stir the sweet potato puree and walnuts and pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for about 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow bread to cool before serving and then ENJOY!!
***I think the bread came out a little crumbly so, next time I would add more oil to bind the ingredients.

Veggies!

Here is a veggie salad that I threw together. I think it's pretty good. It would be a good dish to bring on a hike or a picnic.

juju's Bulgar side salad:

1 cup of Bulgar
2 Persian cucumbers
3 small tomatoes
2 Carrots
2 golden beets steamed
1/4 cup of sliced almonds
red onions
mint
parsley
salt and pepper
olive oil
lemon juice
balsamic vinegar
Boil hot water and pour on Bulgar to cook
Mix the last four ingredients to form a dressing and pour on above ingredients!

Party Hopping

Party hopping! On Saturday John and I had two parties to go to. So Saturday morning I got baking! The first was a party for a friend of John's, who he had not seen in 15 plus years. His friend got married and they had a little party for people who could not attend. As a little gift I made the couple Espresso Swirl Brownies from Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies Book. These brownies turned out fabulous, I tried one and they are wonderful and full of espresso and chocolate flavor.

The next party we went to was for John's best friend. It was his birthday! I made regular chocolate cupcakes with yummy sugary frosting! I put some fun electric blue sprinkles for decorations. The funny thing with these cupcakes was the actual cupcake did not stick to the baking cups so I had to take the cupcakes out of the cups because it did not look pretty!

Cookie Swap!

For my birthday I decided to have a cookie swap! Everyone who is invited brings a batch of cookies over and at the end of the party we all have a bag of different cookies to try out! For this I tried a new recipe for a nutmeg tea cookie. I also made chocolate hazelnut oatmeal cookies! We had so many fun different kinds of cookies, my friend Janine made coconut macaroon which were delicious!

Happy Birthday! To Me!

Today is my birthday! 31! Wow! Didn't do too much today, volunteered for a few hours at HIP Housing where I am helping out every week. Then went to Micheal's Craft shop to look around at new things. Then I came home and started making my cake! The sweet and salty cake from Baked! It turned out so yummy! The one thing I forgot to do was put the Carmel Ganache in between the layers! But, it turned out so yummy! Check the picture out! So mine does not look like the picture,but it sure tastes yummy! I will post the recipe if anyone requests it, its a long one!

Read the Directions!

When I was in Bali, I took a cooking class. The first thing the chef said was read the recipe all the way through before you start. I thought to myself, that is such a basic request, I kind of laughed at the idea. Because, I have been cooking and baking and always scan through the recipe before I begin. After the goof of making brownies last week, I will ALWAYS read through the WHOLE recipe before beginning! Anther thing I will do is not assume things! Growing up when my mom would make brownies she would use a 8x8 pan, so I have been doing the same thing. So, when I made a recipe for brownies out of "Baked" I assumed that the recipe called for a 8x8 pan, but in fact in called for a 9x13 pan! That would explain the gooey middle that I discovered when I was trying to cut the brownies out of the pan and it was a complete mess I figured it out! But, the taste was so tasty that I ignored the gooey and still enjoyed the mess!

Thank you!

While we were gone in Bali, we needed to have someone watch Eli. Luckily, we have the best cat sitter right upstairs! Our neighbor, Lana has three cats and she loves animals! As a thank you I made her a lemon loaf from the book, Baked. This book is from the bakery in Brooklyn called, "Baked". The recipes look outrageously good!
Here is the recipe, I changed it a little because of a short of ingredients!
It actually turned out very yummy!

For the cake:
1 cup cake flour
2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups of sugar
5 large eggs
1/3 cup lemon zest
1 cup of unsalted butter melted
1/2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup creme fraiche
2 teaspoons vanilla

Lemon Syrup
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350
Spray the pans with nonstick cooking spray.
Sift both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together

Put the sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a food processor and pulse until combined. With the motor running, drizzle the butter in the feed tube. Add the sour cream and vanilla and pulse until combined. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.

Sprinkle the flour mixture, one third at a time, folding gently after each addition until just combined.
Divide the mixture into pans and put in oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, rotate the pans, and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

While the cake is baking, mix the the lemon syrup. Add sugar and lemon juice together on high until sugar is completely dissolved.

**If you would like the original recipe you can get the book, Baked. Wonderful pictures and easy instructions.

Back from Bali!

So, I am back from a wonderful vacation in Bali. What can I say, but it was wonderful! The people are so nice, the food was excellent and the beaches were fabulous! For one day I took a cooking class from the Rumah Bali. Chef Heinz von Holzen hosted this class starting at 6am with a trip to the traditional vegetable market, then to the fish market and off to the Rumah Bali to have a day of cooking traditional Balinese food. This was one of the best experiences that I have been through. We cooked several dishes and I walked away with a booklet of recipes that I hope to make for my friends and family. Above is a picture of all the foods we prepared, everything was so yummy! I am having friends over next week and will try some recipes out on them so we will see if I can duplicate what I made in this beautiful place!

Off to Bali!!

So, Johnny and I leave for Bali in about four hours! We have to be at the airport at 10:30 for a 1:30am departure to Tapaei! 13 hours later we arrive to have a layover and arrive to Bali at 2:20 Monday afternoon. By 3pm we can be at the beach!!! I am so excited to be going on a vaction, we haven't been on one in two summers! I am a little nervous because I was laid of a few months ago and don't have a job, but our mortgage and credit card bills will be paid so, we are off! Anyways, traveling to different countries is the best part of life, learning about new culturals and the way other people live. I am so excited! I will try to post while over there, but it may a bit hard... Happy eating and do something creative everyday!!! The things I will miss the most is our cat, Eli and Sunday morning pancakes! What would you miss when you go on vacation?

A Wedding Shower

A few weeks ago a friend was throwing a wedding shower for friend's daughter. The theme was a English Tea Party because of her English roots! I helped make scones, tea cookies, shortbread and Madelines. For the party favor I gave the guests tea and cookies! I had so much fun baking all these cookies.
Here is the recipe for the Rose Water Madeleines that I found on Martha Stewart's website:

• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and room temperature
• 1 tablespoon rose water
• 2 to 3 tablespoons sanding sugar
• Pink powdered food color, any shade
• Butter-flavored cooking spray

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. In electric mixer, beat eggs and 1/2 cup granulated sugar on medium until light, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Fold in flour mixture. Fold in butter. Cover with plastic; chill for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat oven to 425 degrees.place rack in center. Spray two scallop-shell pans with cooking spray. Use spoon to fill molds three-quarters full. Bake 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees. Bake 5 to 8 minutes more, until lightly golden. Immediately tap out madeleines onto a cooling rack. (Let madeleines cool scallop side up to avoid any creases or lines from rack.) Repeat with remaining batter. Let cool.
4. Make rose-water syrup by combining remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar with 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar; reduce to a simmer, and cook over low heat 2 to 3 minutes to combine. Set aside to cool. When cool, stir in rose water. Set aside.
5. Place sanding sugar in a small bowl. Use a toothpick to add small amounts of powdered food color to sanding sugar, stirring until you get desired shade of pink.
6. Use a small paint brush to sugar edges of madeleines one at a time; dip brush into rose-water syrup, and paint rim of each madeleine. Sprinkle sanding sugar over damp edges. Repeat on remaining madeleines. Madeleines are best served within 1 to 2 days of baking. Store in airtight container at room temperature.

It was really hard to find the rose water but I found it at a Mediterranean Market.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday- America!!

Today is the 4th of July! I am down in Carmel Valley near Monterrey, CA. I am enjoying the weekend with my husband, mom and sister and her family. We are having a great time. When I return home I will post some cool pictures of items I have made in the last few days.

Happy Birthday, America!!!

Out of the Box! A sample

So, I signed up to be part of the Out of the Box Sampler this month! I am so excited! I just sent them 25 samples of a s'more treat. Of course if you were to order this on my etsy site you would get a much larger amount! I had so much fun making marshmallows and graham crackers. I found the graham cracker recipe on Smitten Kitchen!

Friends

When ever I need inspiration I go to Smitten Kitchen for ideas. A few weeks ago I had a new friend over. We had bbq for dessert I decided to bake some cake. I made a Raspberry Buttermilk Cake found on Smitten Kitchen. Here is the recipe:

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
Adapted from Gourmet, June 2009

Makes one thin 9-inch cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional) but I think its a must!
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about two minutes, then beat in vanilla and zest, if using. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Put raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.

My oops moment: As I was mixing the batter together I put way too much butter in the cake. When I realized I had to start over! This cake turned out so yummy and was so easy to bake. I also made the cake with fresh mangos and tasted delicious. I am sure if you used any kind of fresh fruit it would be good.

And the Winner is.....

so, after reading everyones comments, which I really enjoyed! I am picking Karen! She is from Connecticut and is new at sewing. I will be sending her a zippered pouch and some baked goods. I haven't figured out what I will make her yet, but hopefully she will enjoy! Thanks for entering, Karen!!!

May Giveaway!!

I will be participating in Sew Mama Sew's May Giveaway! I am so excited to be a part of this. It was such a hit last year. This year I will be giving away a baked good gift and a cute makeup bag. All made by me!!
To enter please let me know the following:

1. If you are a baker: Your favorite go to baking item you make on a regular basis.
2. If you are a sewer: Your favorite easy item to sew!

I will be announcing the winners on Tuesday June 2nd!

GOOD LUCK!

Bananas Muffins

What do people do with old bananas? If you are a baker, you make banana bread or muffins. On Tuesday I went to Berkeley and had my first experience at the Berkeley Bowl. This place is amazing! A whole aisle of bulk food, huge section of teas, the largest fruit and veggie section I have ever seen! So when I bought more bananas than we could eat I figured I could bake!

3 very ripe bananas
1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 egg
1/4 cup tablespoons applesauce
1/2 cup chocolate chips
walnuts for topping

Preparation

1. Mash bananas in a bowl.
2. Add all other ingredients and mix well.
3. Pour into muffins tins
   
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes if making muffins\ or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
5. ENJOY!!!

You can eat as a snack or a part of breakfast. They are not too sweet so you can enjoy whenever!

Courtney's Birthday!

My best friend who lives in San Diego just celebrated a birthday. Since she was recently visiting her parents, me and a few friends decided to celebrate a little early. We got together and went for a glass of wine and some cupcakes! YUM, I made angel food cupcakes with a coconut frosting. I also gave her a little zippered pouch because he old one was looking kind of ragged...

Mother's Day Treat

On Sunday I went to my mother in laws house for dinner. She insisted on making dinner, so I insisted on bringing dessert. I made peanut butter cupcakes with a whipped cream and raspberry jam sauce. I thought they were yummy!

Soup's on!

Last week California had some weird weather. One day it was warm the next it was cloudy and cold. I made a veggie soup with black eye peas, butternut squash, celery in a tomato base. It was pretty yummy! I also made homemade cornbread for the first time. I think next time I will add sugar to the cornbread, it was not very sweet. The soup was a throw anything together soup!

Brownie Points! Again!

Today I had a total craving for a chocolate treat. I decided to make brownies. When I was in Portland visiting my sister a few weeks ago, we made Alton Brown's Coco Brownies. These were so easy to make and turned out super yummy! I made half a batch so I would not feel so bad. I added the walnuts on top for an extra crunch.

BlueBerry Muffins!

One baked item that I love is a really yummy blueberry muffin. But, I can never find a good one, usually I find the oily, greasy muffins that don't look very tempting. When I was looking thru a recent Cook's Illustrated magazine I found an article on the Best Blueberry Muffins. I figured I had to try! These were really super good. I will post recipe in a few days. You gotta try they were so yummy!

Bake for Hope

Today I participated in Bake For Hope, a bake sale for breast cancer research. I made IceBox cookies and a Rosemary Butter cookies. I went to a the organizers house in San Carlos and wanted to help sell cookies. So, I stayed the morning and had a really good time, the organizer and her family were so nice and welcoming, I think I made a new friend! Above is a picture of the Rosemary Butter Cookies.

My First Etsy Order!

 

I just package my first Etsy order today. I will be shipping to Philadelphia tomorrow! Inside is a wine tote and a little note from me! I hope she will use this bag to bring wine to dinner parties or summer concerts! I hope she enjoys!

Happy Birthday- EARTH

Every week when I go to the grocery store I try and bring reusable bags to put my groceries in. 9 times out of 10 I will bring large bags for my groceries , but what about the produce? I try and reuse the plastic veggie bags but I am looking for a new way to bring home veggies. If anyone has a idea, let me know. Check my etsy shop for grocery bags for sale!
www.jujugoods.etsy.com

A little birdy told me...

I had this plain gray shirt and wanted to spice it up a little. During my last trip to Portland, my sister and I went to a really cute craft store near her house, I found this cool iron on transfer. I decided to use the transfer on this shirt, I think it looks pretty cute! What do yo think?

A Easter Find!

For the past two months every time I go to the grocery store I have so good by resisting the temptation of the Easter Candy! My favorite, the Cadbury Mini Eggs. They only come out once a year and then they are gone! The other day I gave in and went to KMART and bought a HUGE bag of the dark chocolate Cadbury mini eggs. I also found this really cute little candy dish for Easter! It was such a steal, $3.27! WOW! I was so happy!

Melt in your mouth...not in your hand!

Last night I was looking through Elinor Klivans book called, "The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook and I was drawn to the recipe for Chocolate Chip Filled Melting Moment Cookies. I was drawn because of the ingredients, I wanted to see how the batter would end up. I have only used cornstarch when cooking Chinese food it usually helps thicken a sauce or helps homemade marshmallows not stick to one another. So, using 3/4 cups of cornstarch in a recipe really made me want to try!
As you can see, the cookies did not have much color. The filling was a butter cream frosting with chocolate. I have to admit, they turned out pretty yummy! Easy to make and kind of fun, making the hash pattern on the cookie! I think these would be good with cinnamon, or hazelnut.
Here is the recipe that I used:

Cookies:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla ( I used 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla, I LOVE vanilla)

Filling:
1/4 cup unsalted butter room temp
1/4 powered sugar
1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips ( I used regular sized chips and chopped up)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper

Sift flours, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and set aside

In a large bowl, beat butter, and powered sugar until smooth about 1 minute.
Scape sides down and add vanilla mix until blended.
On low speed add flour mixture until just blended.

Roll a level tablespoon of dough between your palms to form a ball. Place cookie on baking sheet and space two inches apart. Using a fork flatten cookie to leave impression on the cookie.

Bake for 30 minutes until bottoms of cookies are light brown. Cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet and transfer to wire cooling sheet.

Make the filling:
Mix butter, sugar and chocolate together with wooden spoon and spread about a teaspoon or more on the bottom of one cookie and put another cookie in the filling to form a sandwich.

ENJOY!

Rice Treat

So I was watching tv the other night and a commercial about Rice Crispy Treats came up. WoW, advertising works! Ever since I saw the commercial, all I wanted was a Rice Crispy Treat. So, I decided since I am babysitting tonight I would bring over some for the kids since its almost Easter. I can remember as kid making these with my sister. I think this was one of the first baking experiences I had as a really little kid with my sister. The only ingredient that I did not add to these was butter! I thought to try and cut some calories! What is your first baking memory?

Brownie Points!

The other night after dinner both John and I were needing something sweet. Of course there was nothing in the pantry so I decided to make home made brownies. These brownies were fudgey, moist and supposedly lower in fat. I used a recipe from Alice Medrich's book, "Cookies and Brownies"
I highly recommend this book. I have used it so many times that the pages are falling out! Here is the receipe:

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

41/2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa (non alkalized)
3/4 cup granulated sugar ( used just under 3/4, I ran out of sugar!!)
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I added because I love walnuts in brownies)

8 inch square pan , lined across the bottom and 2 opposite sides with parchment paper

Preheat oven to 350, position a rack in the lower third of the oven
In a small bowl, mix the first three ingredients and set aside
In a medium saucepan , heat butter until melted, remove from heat and add cocoa
Stir in sugars, add egg, egg whites and vanilla. Stir about 40 strokes, until smooth. Add flour mixture, stir until incorporated.
Put batter into pan and bake 15-18 minutes. The brownies will be done when toothpick is inserted and center comes out with a little batter, thickened and gooey.
Cool on rack
Lift brownies out of pan with parchment paper and cut in 16 squares.

I actually was able to get more than 16 squares, because I like the brownies really small.

ENJOY!

SuGaR!!!

One kind of cookie I love is the basic Sugar Cookie. I try not to eat them because they are so fating for you! Last Saturday night I babysat and I pre-made some cookie dough in the morning. I also made some frosting and had some colorful sprinkles to bring over. After dinner we baked cookies and decorated them. It was so fun!

Yesterday, I went to visit my friend who had twins about a month ago. I brought her some yummy sugar cookies that I decorated myself. She loved them! We spent the afternoon talking about her cute little girl twins!

I found these cute little chickens at Cost Plus. They came in different colors and different shapes. I thought they were so cute! What do you think! I am trying to figure out what to do with the box that I bought.

It's a hard life!

Yesterday I was doing some cleaning and dusting in my house. I moved my cat's bed so I could clean around the area. Eli, my cat gets a little concerned when I start dusting because he is so scared of the vacuum. He knows its coming when he sees me pull out the broom! He is a very smart cat, so he tries to hide in the closet but unfortunately the doors to the closet were closed. The funny thing is he found the most comfortable spot in the house, my pillow! Check it out, this is why I love cats!