Lemon, Polenta, and Olive Oil Cake

Last year, I made Dorie Greenspan's Simple Almond Cake for the first time. I chose to make it for several reasons: number one, I'm a sucker for cake and if it's plain and simple, then I'm really all over it, and number two, the recipe is naturally gluten- and dairy-free. While I don't have any food allergies or intolerances, I'm always appreciative of gluten- and dairy-free desserts that don't call for obscure ingredients, because my mom does have to watch what she eats. Dorie's cake is made with just almonds, sugar, eggs, and a touch of vanilla, and it's incredible. It's become a household favorite, and it never fails to make an appearance on the dessert table at family gatherings and holidays. I've made it so many times now, that I've actually grown a bit restless by it. I love it, but I don't really want to make it again and again anymore, you know?

So this year, I set out to find a new gluten and dairy-free dessert that my mom and I would love enough to make over and over again–at least until next year!–and I think I found it. I came across a recipe for a Lemon Polenta Cake from the lovely Nigella Lawson, and the second I saw that it was made with just almonds and polenta, I knew it was almost perfect. She uses butter in her recipe, and while my mom does ok with dairy in baked goods, I really wanted to make her something that was completely delicious and also had no chance of causing any unwanted reactions. I decided to experiment and made the recipe with olive oil instead of butter. If you've never baked with olive oil before (I agree, it sounds a little strange at first!), I definitely recommend it.  Olive oil has a wonderful fruity taste to it that complements baked treats so nicely, and even better, it keeps everything you bake moist for days. And that was exactly what I wanted in this cake recipe. I wanted it to be the type of cake my mom could place on her kitchen counter and periodically come back to and snack on over the course of a few days, without the cake becoming dry in the process.

Walnut Cake with Blueberry Glaze

A few nights ago, my boyfriend started a fun game of “would you rather", but with a foodie twist. While some of the scenarios were a bit tricky and took some thought to answer (for instance, would you rather never have pizza or pasta again?), the one that I answered almost immediately was: cookies or cake? As much as I really, really love cookies, I could never give up cake. My boyfriend, who is one of the few people on the planet who is rather meh about cake, was in shock. He was sure I would say cookies, given my never-ending obsession for testing chocolate chip cookie recipes, but to me, this question was a no brainer. Cake trumps all other baked treats (the only instance where I’d have to think about cake is if the scenario was cake vs. ice cream—that seems impossible to answer). 

For the past few weeks, I’ve been craving cake. And I mean, really, really, really craving it. It wasn’t a very specific craving. I didn’t know what I was in the mood for, but every time I opened my email and saw cake in some form featured in an email from either Bon Appétit, The Kitchn, Food 52, King Arthur, or from one of the multitude of bloggers I follow, cake was all I could think about. Pound cakes, fancy cakes, glazed cakes, Bundt, loaf, or traditional round cakes—I wanted them all. So when I decided that it was high time I go about satisfying my craving by baking up my own cake, I was at a loss on where to start. While all the cakes recipes sitting in my inbox would have probably been good starting points and certainly cured me of my need for cake, none of them really screamed, “Make me!” I was in a tough spot. With a pantry full of the basic ingredients I needed—flour, sugar, butter, and eggs—I knew that actually baking up the cake I wanted to eat wouldn’t be that difficult. Deciding the flavor and mix in’s and style of cake to make was a whole other story. 

Lemony Almond Thumbprints

I don't know why, but for the last few weeks I've been really, really busy on the weekends. From housewarmings to planned full-day excursions to family gatherings and  those unavoidable, necessary cleaning days, I feel like I haven't had a weeks to just sit back and do nothing in a while. Even this weekend is jam-packed: my sister is home from college for spring break, a few of my cousins from Colombia are here for the weekend (one of them is running on Sunday's NYC half marathon!), and Sunday also happens to be my sister's 21st birthday. So, there's tons to do. I'm happy to be this busy, and am genuinely looking forward to everything we have scheduled: Korean food for dinner with my sister on Friday, souvlaki with the family in Astoria on Saturday, and marathon spectating early Sunday morning with a big celebratory/birthday Colombian meal to follow. Three days of delicious eats and time with some of my favorite people- it's definitely a good way to spend the weekend. But with scheduled Easter activities all of next weekend, it sort of feels like my do-nothing weekend is still so far off! 

It's one of the reasons why I've been having trouble getting recipes posted lately. I made this commitment to myself to get back in the blogging game and post delicious recipes only when I had the time or came up with something truly delicious, but I've been having trouble sticking to it. Every now and then I find myself getting caught in that old mentality of mine, where I HAD to post at MINIMUM once a week (because otherwise the blogging police would get me or something). It's taken some time to get used to the fact that I don't actually have to post on a strict schedule, and if I don't have the time to make a recipe  it's not the end of the world. So, that's that. I've had busy weekends with little time for baking and photographing, but luckily, I was able to squeeze in one recipe last Saturday. 

Chocolate Walnut Breakfast Buns

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing holiday season, filled with family, friends, and lots of delicious, comforting food. I'm lucky enough to get a nice holiday break at work, so I was off for just over a week. Even though I did my fair share of Netflix binge-watching and had many "I'm gonna nap right now because I can" moments, and experienced more food comas than I'm proud of, I had a very productive week off. Last week was the first week where I had a full kitchen completely to myself, and I made sure to take advantage of it. My pantry and kitchen toolbox still aren't quite as stocked as I'd like them to be, but they're getting there, slowly but surely. It was also the first time I baked in my new apartment for the blog, so that was a new experience on its own. I'm so used to baking in my parents' kitchen and photographing in their living room, so doing it somewhere else took some getting used to. Since I only brought my "essential" props and tools, I'm still missing quite a few items that would make the process a bit more seamless. Figuring out how to work the lighting in my new space is also a challenge, especially because my sheer curtains aren't up yet!

New challenges aside, I'm pretty happy with the recipes I managed to bake last week. Each was rewarding in its own special way, and I'm excited to share them. First up, fluffy Chocolate Walnut Breakfast Buns--you're not on any kind of New Year's detox program right now!

I made some Quick and Easy Cinnamon Rolls a few weeks ago to satisfy a craving I had back when I was super busy getting ready to move to my apartment. They were great and totally hit the spot at the time, but the craving just came back just around Christmas. As good as those cinnamon rolls were, I couldn't shake away my need for pillowy soft yeast buns.  Fortunately, the craving came back at just the right moment. With loads of spare time at my disposal for once, I set out to create the fluffy, gooey cinnamon buns I was my brain was telling me I needed...except that as I was making them, I changed my mind. All I wanted was a chocolate breakfast bun. 

Chocolate Pistachio Loaf Cake

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! I think I'm just starting to recover from my food coma, but that intense feeling of fullness was completely worth it. This year, my family celebrated the holiday with my boyfriend's family for the first time, which seemed fitting given that we moved in together literally four days before. Our families joined forces and created an amazing Thanksgiving meal with an Italian flair. We started with prosciutto and melon and caprese salad, followed by an enormous plate of the best lasagna in the world, and then all the traditional Thanksgiving fixings were served. After downing a plate piled high with turkey, stuffing, two types of cranberry sauce, two potato dishes, several types of salad, stuffed mushrooms, and an assortment of freshly baked rolls and cornbread, it was time for dessert. I went a bit overboard and ended up bringing Gluten-Free Brownies, pumpkin pie, a Simple Almond Cake, Linzer Cookies, and the prettiest Apple Pie I've ever made. Tiramisu and roasted chestnuts rounded out the meal and by the time I realized how full I was, I was in no condition to do anything except pass out on the couch...basically, I did Thanksgiving proud.

While I love Thanksgiving, I'm happy the holiday is over. One down, two more to go! The holidays are my favorite time of the year, but I'm really looking to just get back to a more normal schedule. Between getting ready for the move to Astoria, the actual move, setting up the apartment, work, and Thanksgiving, I've had an incredibly busy November. It flew by and i can't believe that I'm sharing a recipe I made in the last week of October in December. I've worked on this post in bits and pieces over the last few weeks--typing up the recipe one night, selecting photos the next, editing them a few days later, and this entire post was pretty much written on the subway ride to and from work. 

I do see an "end" to all this craziness coming soon though. The apartment is in amazing shape, and C. and I are getting used to what is now the new normal. We'd been planning on living together since we graduated from college two years ago, and even though we've spent so much time together over the last six years, being able to say that we actually live together still feels very surreal to me. I'm sure it will feel that way for a while, but it's nice that we're slowly settling into a routine and figuring out how this whole cohabitation thing works. It's been an exciting and busy time, and as much as I'm ready to just have my regular routine all figured out, I couldn't be happier about the way things are unfolding.

Homemade Frosted Strawberry Pop Tarts

One of my earliest, EARLIEST posts on this tiny site of mine was all about pop tart pops. A bit more trouble than they were worth, poorly photographed, but tasty nevertheless. They were teeny tiny, filled with strawberry and peach preserves, drizzled in a sweet icing, and sprinkled with candy colored sugar. They were a "wholesome" breakfast option and a great after work snack. Fast forward two years, to when I questioned why I felt a need to make pop tarts on a stick. Surely I could be a better foodie than that. Fast forward to last weekend, when I found myself trapped inside my house on a snowy Sunday making mini pop tarts again. 

At least these were a bit bigger. And I got rid of the sticks. I replaced the candy colored sugar with candy colored jimmies (and chopped pistachios because I'm almost a grown up now). I did add more icing though. And used only strawberry filling because it's my favorite (how mature of me). I really don't know why I made these; the only explanation I have is that I was bored at home, came across some home made pop tart photos online, and got a huge urge to make a batch. Sometimes you just can't reason everything out logically. 

Simple Almond Cake (GF)

Here's a fact that I’m slightly embarrassed to admit: I never actually took the time to really read through Dorie Greenspan’s newest book, Baking Chez Moi. I’ve had it for months sitting on my shelf, and while I made a batch of rugelach using her recipe, I just never got around/made the time to peruse through its contents.  A fact that I’m even MORE embarrassed to admit is that this is my ONLY Dorie cookbook.  Seriously.  I know she’s a goddess when it comes to flour and chocolate and sugar in the kitchen, and yet the only thing I’ve ever baked using her wisdom are her rugelach (which, by the way, are the best rugelach I’ve ever tried). This past weekend though, in searching for a new “thing” to bake, I picked up my brand new, hardly used copy of Baking Chez Moi, and became aware of this incredible resource that I had been neglecting for all these months.  There were so many recipes that I wanted to try, and she even has an entire chapter dedicated to simple cakes! It’s easy to say that this was the chapter that inspired me the most, and while I had a hard time selecting my first cake to bake, in the end, the choice was pretty clear. “Plain and Simple Almond Cake.” Can’t argue with a title like that, now can you?

As much as “plain and simple” grabbed me, my real reason for choosing it over her TK cake with salted dark chocolate chunks is that it’s a flourless cake.  Made only with almond flour, eggs, sugar, and vanilla this cake is not only completely gluten-free, but it’s also dairy-free. My mom has been completely gluten-free for about 6 months now, and the changes in her health and well-being have been remarkable. She’s less tired, has very minimal stomach discomfort, and fewer headaches. She’s eliminated almost all dairy from her diet as well, save for when it’s baked into a gluten-free treat, and while she hasn’t completely given up on dairy, limiting it to the extent she has has also had a positive effect on her health.  She’ll sometimes experience some slight discomfort, but not enough to keep her away from her favorite gluten-free cornbread, for instance.  When I realized that his cake was free of gluten and dairy, I just had to make it. I really hate leaving my mom out of the loop when it comes to the treats I bake at home, so I try to bake gluten-free versions as much as possible.  Getting used to working with new flours, blends, and techniques has been a ton of fun (and work!), but sometimes I just want to be able to prepare a GF treat to share with everyone in my family that’s made with regular old ingredients that I have on hand. Something that feels a little more familiar, and that’s why this simple cake seemed so attractive (aside from the fact that my mom and I both happen to love almonds!).

Chunky Walnut Brownies

I don't think I've ever lived through a colder winter than this year's. It's pretty crazy. I remember teasing my sister for having to deal with Hanover's brutally long, cold, and snowy winters, and now I'm having to deal with them myself.  Karma, I guess? I don't think I really deserve it, and even if I do, this is just too much.  Seriously, it's beyond cold and despite the birds chirping outside my bedroom window at 6:30 in the morning (how are they even alive?!), it doesn't look like spring is coming anytime soon. All I can do now is keep warm as best I can and thank my lucky stars that I invested in my L.L. Bean parka last year (I thought it was excessive and had buyer's remorse for a while, because when does it ever get that cold in NYC, right?).

Since its been so cold lately, all I seem to want to make right now are really quick and easy comfort treats (this dulce de leche cake being a notable exception). All I want are giant chocolate chip cookies and hot fudge sundaes and warm brownies...BROWNIES! I hadn't made a batch of brownies in an awfully long time, and they seemed like exactly the type of indulgent comfort food I was craving. There's just something about brownies that makes them completely irresistible. I had that initial spark, and there was no doubt about it. I needed a big pan of brownies.

Oatmeal, Pecan, and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal is one of my all time favorite breakfast items, period. When I was little, I was really into microwaveable instant oatmeal packets, mostly because they could be purchased in variety packs and I could have a different flavor for breakfast every day. As varied as my breakfasts may have been, they were definitely pretty lackluster in flavor!  My oatmeal obsession matured over time, and now I make my own oatmeal breakfasts, in a variety of flavors, but with a whole lot more flavor.  One thing I still haven't outgrown though, is a really good oatmeal cookie. As a kid, oatmeal raisin cookies were my favorite.  Super sweet and chewy with just barely a hint of oatmeal and maybe two raisins per cookie...that was a good oatmeal cookie. 

I think it's safe to say that my taste in oatmeal cookies have evolved significantly since then.  Gone are the barely-there oatmeal cookies of my youth; they've since been replaced with chunky, substantial cookies, loaded with real oats and mix-ins galore. Even classic chocolate chip cookies can benefit from the addition of a few ups of rolled oats and nuts, a thought I would have never ever considered back in the day!

Honey and Peanut Butter Oatmeal

It's time to jump on the resolution bandwagon, and while I usually don't particularly go crazy with wanting to detox or get my butt in the gym, this year is a bit different.  Christmas cookies are my biggest weakness, and this past holiday season, I ate more than ever.  I just couldn't stop myself from eating cookie after cookie, and I'm feeling it now, for once.  We don't need to go into anymore detail than that, but it's safe to say that I'm ready to get back in my usual routine.  It's time to get back to work, back to eating square, healthy meals, and back in the gym, with the occasional treat every now and then, for the sake of my own sanity.  As ready as I am to kick this cleansing period into high gear, let's not kid ourselves.  I still have a love for all things made with butter, sugar, and chocolate, so I'm sure those less healthy indulgences will be making a comeback soon...but for now, I'll do what I can.  Healthy breakfasts are as good a place as any to start. 

I love a good bowl of oatmeal in the morning for breakfast.  Comforting and delicious, easy to prepare and full of possibilities, oatmeal is one of my go-to's whenever I want a breakfast I can feel good about eating.  One of my favorite oatmeal mix-ins is peanut butter, because a spoonful melts right into a bowl of hot oats, so you get a ton of flavor in every bite.  In college, PB+J oatmeal was in my regular breakfast rotation, and I always looked forward to making myself a bowl in the morning.  Lately though, I've really been enjoying oatmeal with peanut butter and honey.  A piece of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and a drizzle of honey is my typical pre-workout snack, because it gives me just the energy spike I need to ensure that I perform at my best, so swapping raspberry jelly for honey in my oatmeal makes perfect sense.  Honey, peanut butter and oats are the perfect combination of ingredients to wake me up and get me ready to start my day, everyday. 

Rugelach with Raspberries and Walnuts

I don't think there's a cookie that I enjoy more than a well-made rugelach. Its only competition would probably be a freshly baked, still warm from the oven chocolate chip cookie, but aside from that, I can't think of a cookie I enjoy more.  They're more than just cookies; they're delectable little pastries filled with all kinds of delicious things.  My favorite rugelach are filled with apricot preserves and pistachios, but rugelach filled with raspberry jam and walnuts are also perfection.  So, when the Baddish Group reached out to me and asked if I wanted to try out Dorie Greenspan's famous rugelach recipe from her newest book, Baking Chez Moi, I couldn't say no. 

The challenge wasn't just to make Dorie's rugelach recipe- I also got the chance to work with Driscoll's raspberries to prepare a delicious filling for my rugelach, a perfect match! I normally use ready-made jams and preserves when making rugelach, so I was excited to try out this new approach.  I first started by preparing the raspberry filling.  I took beautiful ruby-red raspberries and cooked them with a little sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice. As the fruit cooked down and broke apart, it thickened just slightly.  After cooling and chilling in the fridge, the fruity mixture transformed into a thick spreadable filling. Once the filling was done, it was time to tackle the rugelach dough. 

Cranberry and Pecan Praline Ice Cream

I know, I know, we're practically on the biggest foodie day of the whole entire year (it's the day after tomorrow and I STILL don't know what I'm baking up), and here I am, bringing you ice cream.  Some parts of the country are buried in snow, and other parts are getting ready for the snow that's on its way, yet somehow, I find sharing an ice cream recipe to be perfectly reasonable. I mean, this particular frozen treat is studded with ruby red cranberries and sweet and crunchy pecan praline, which to me, seems to be the perfect blend of cool ice cream and warm fall flavors.  It's an ice cream treat that's Thanksgiving-worthy. 

I really think that ice cream is my favorite treat, ever.  As much as I love cake and cookies, ice cream is just a whole different thing. I find ice cream so comforting, and it's an indulgence that I don't think I'll ever be able to say no to. Regardless of the temperature outside, ice cream is the one pick me up that will always bring a smile to my face, and it's one of my favorite ways to end a big meal (or any meal, really). I don't know about you, but as much as I love pie and cake, sometimes the thought of eating a thick wedge seems less than ideal after I've eaten a huge meal.  Ice cream somehow seems lighter to me, and is a sweet treat that I'll look forward to more for dessert.  Serving ice cream for dessert on Thanksgiving doesn't need to be reserved to plain vanilla on the side of a slice of pie (not that there's anything wrong with that: see here).  The ice cream itself can be the star of the dessert spread!

Trail Mix Cookies

How many of you guys are going camping this summer? Or hiking?  Or both? Or going out and exploring nature for hours and hours?  If you have these kinds of plans, you'll need to refuel at some point, and I have the perfect camping/hiking/nature-exploring snack for you.  These trail mix cookies are IT.  They're the perfect portable and cute little snack that you can munch on while doing all kinds of nature-type things, I think.  I'm not a camping kind of gal, but if I did go camping, or hiking, or nature exploring, these are the cookies I would bring. However, since that type of activity is not happening any time soon, I will settle for making a batch of these cookies and eating them while sitting on a blanket in my backyard, or maybe, if I want to get really crazy, while sitting on a blanket in the park.  Eating homemade cookies in the grass in the middle of the suburbs is my way of bonding with nature, and that's ok.

While I may not be the first to sign up for a hiking trip, I have eaten my fair share of trail mix and granola, and I think it's an understatement to say that I like both.  I mean, I haven't met anyone who doesn't like trail mix, because what's not to like about it?  There's M&M's, and nuts, and dried fruit, and all kinds of delicious things mixed up inside a single package.  Trail mix is something I can easily pick at without realizing how much I've actually eaten, so it's a dangerous snack.  Before I even realize it, the whole bag is gone, and I'm left alone, with a stomach ache, and without any trail mix.  In some instances, I'll only like a handful of the things mixed into the trail mix, so I'll pick at what I like and leave what I don't like behind.  Trail mix is just too addicting. 

Buttermilk Vanilla Cake with Nutella Frosting

Here it is.  This is the cake I've been longing for for quite some time now.  I love coming up with unique and complex flavor combinations as much as the next person, but I think that what I love more than anything is enjoying a really, really good version of a classic favorite.  Classics are comforting and tried and true and you can approach them with confidence because you know that they will work.  There's no way they can't!  I'm a true chocaholic, but even I can't resist a slice of vanilla cake with fudge frosting.  The combination is just too perfect.

I'm definitely not a pro yet at decorating layer cakes, and I often feel that my frosting abilities leave something to be desired.  I usually think that the layers of frosting in between each cake layer are too thick or too thin, or that I took the "thin" layer of crumb coat a bit too far, or that my outer layer of frosting isn't thick or smooth enough.  I'm always trying to come up with little tricks here and there to improve every time I make a layer cake, and I think I'm making progress!  Even this cake gave me a little trouble.  I knew that I wanted a simple, fuss-free swirled layer of fudge frosting to completely cover the cake, but I was having a little trouble getting the swirls to look exactly like I imagined them in my head.  In the end though, the swirls came to be, and I was in love with the little cake sitting before me. 

Tin Roof Ice Cream

Hello! I hope everyone had a really lovely weekend, and happy Wednesday!  The weekend is just around the corner, and although I don't certainly don't have exciting plans for this weekend (I don't think anything can top Governor's Ball, which was too amazing), I do hope to spend some quality time in the kitchen with my oven, and maybe my ice cream maker.  I can't say I've fully decided what baking project I want to tackle this weekend, but I'm just hoping that it can come close to being as delicious as this ice cream right here.  This, is Tin Roof Ice Cream.

Tin Roof Ice Cream is officially one of my all new favorite ice creams.  If you're like me, you've probably never heard of tin roof ice cream, but once you read the ingredients, you'll know that it's a something you'll want to eat again and again.  Tin roof ice cream is incredibly simple- it's just a sweet, vanilla ice cream base, a swirl of fudge ripple, and lots and lots of chocolate-covered peanuts mixed in.  Simple, basic ingredients get combined together into an ice cream that is beyond words delicious. 

Nutella Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

Annnddd I'm back with a chocolatey recipe! Not just chocolatey, but peanut buttery too!  I love it when ingredients like those collide and form something magical.  That's exactly what these cookies are- they are magic!  MAGIC! I'm a little excited about these cookies because they were a really big success, and by that, I mean they were gone in about a day.  Seriously, when something like that happens, you know there's some kind of magic sitting on your plate.

These cookies all started because of my mom.  Over the past several weeks, the spring cleaning bug hit my mom, and it hit her hard.  I mean, my mama has gone a bit crazy reorganizing most of the rooms in our house before, but this time it was something else, especially in the kitchen.  Let's just say that we are no longer allowed to have anything (literally nothing) on the counters (because then they don't look clean, duh) and I no longer know where the majority of our kitchen equipment is anymore; everything is hiding away in a drawer or behind a cabinet. This was a bit problematic the first time I attempted to bake something in our now spotless kitchen- I was ready to pull something out of the oven when I realized that I didn't know where all of the oven mitts and pot holders went.  I didn't even know where any of the dish towels were.  This scenario led to me running around frantically searching for an oven mitt as the timer on my stove was going off, and fortunately I found something to take out whatever I was baking from the oven before it turned extra, extra golden brown.  In addition to clearing out the counters and rearranging every last item in the kitchen, my mama also cleaned out the pantry, which I'll admit, was getting a bit out of hand.  It was just full of random half open boxes of food, food that hadn't even been opened, and other items that we just didn't know we even had anymore.  The pantry cleanout was necessary.  In this process, my mom discovered that we had three large half-filled jars of Nutella, obviously all purchased by me for my baking endeavors.  She ordered me to use them up ASAP, so I obliged. 

Chewy Cocoa Brownies

I feel like I have been waiting for this post to happen for such a long, long, long time.  Since change of season took place, I've been obsessed with working with light seasonal flavors and fresh berries and all things pastel and pretty.  At the same time, however, there's been a part of me that's been feeling more and more neglected as time passes.  The more I worked with berries and lavender and vanilla, the more and more I kept craving chocolate.  It's been so long since I last posted anything with chocolate in it (this Double Chocolate Pound Cake from the beginning of April is my last recipe with any chocolate in it!), and my last post was the complete opposite of chocolate- Vanilla Bean Ice Cream!  As much as I love working with all these spring flavors, I felt like I was going to go crazy if I didn't have anything indulgent, rich, and full of chocolate soon.  

This past weekend, I took care of that problem in the best way possible- by making an enormous batch of rich, chocolatey brownies.  I hadn't made a batch of brownies in a really long time, so curing my chocolate fix with brownies seemed to be the perfect remedy.  There's just something so comforting about biting into a chilled fudge brownie, and I'll never get over the first taste of intense chocolate flavor to hit your mouth.  A good fudge brownie is a treat that I don't ever see myself turning down.  

Banana Nut Muffins

These Banana Nut Muffins have been on my baking schedule for a long, long, long time.  Not this exact recipe, necessarily, but the idea of making and posting a banana nut muffin recipe has been on my mind for the past month and a half at least.  If I had had my way, I would have made and posted a batch of banana muffins a month and a half ago, but I couldn't.  I had to hold out.  These muffins were a direct request from my sister, and she demanded that I make them for her.  It's funny, because she was home for her spring break in March and her banana nut muffin craving kicked in maybe the day after she left, meaning that she (and I) had to wait until this past weekend when she came home for a random trip home to enjoy these muffins.   She mentioned these banana muffins that I promised to make for her at least three times daily since the idea landed in her head, and by the time she got home on Friday night, her texts had gone from, "I'm so excited for these banana muffins" to, "OMGAHHH BANANANANAANA MUFFFINNSS AAAHHH!!!!!!"

This was clearly a very serious craving.   

As much as I teased her for becoming so obsessed with banana nut muffins, I was secretly counting down the days I until I could make them.  I've always loved banana-flavored things, and muffins are just about one of my absolute favorite baked treats to eat.  Anything that's sweet, cakey, and without frosting is my kind of baked good, and along with simple cakes, muffins are at the top of my list. When my sister mentioned that she wanted me to make her banana nut muffins, I immediately realized that I really couldn't remember the last time I had had a banana nut muffin, and I found this upsetting.  I think I was just excited about making these banana nut muffins as she was, except that I obviously made sure to play it cool and kept my excessive excitement to myself.

Apple Walnut Raisin Cinnamon Rolls

Today's Breakfast Week recipe is an extra special one.  As if Apple Walnut Raisin Cinnamon Rolls don't sound good enough on their own (and they definitely are, believe me), today also happens to be my little sister's birthday!  Breakfast Week, like I mentioned on Monday, was a sort of collaborative venture between the two of us, and the reason for that is simple.  My sister is literally obsessed with breakfast and brunch foods.  Brunch is her favorite meal of the day, and if it were possible to have brunch during the week instead of just during the weekends, I'm sure she would go for that without hesitation.  I'm pretty sure I would do the same, and honestly, who wouldn't?  What's not to love about brunch and special weekend breakfasts?  They help break away from the monotony of the work week and our normal hectic schedules.  I love nothing more than whipping up a stack of huge fluffy pancakes on a Saturday morning, and not just because I love pancakes, but because I can actually sit down and enjoy them, rather than scarfing down some eggs and juice in five minutes like I normally do during the week.  So, in honor of my sister's birthday, this week has been an extended celebration of breakfast and brunch and easy, carefree weekends.

While I love more elaborate weekend breakfasts, I typically gravitate towards easy things to prepare like pancakes and waffles, because they're usually pretty quick to assemble and don't require much planning.  Every now and then though, I crave something more.  Lately, I've found myself craving homemade cinnamon rolls, something I haven't made in way too long.  I'm pretty sure this craving came about simply from waiting for my train in Penn Station every night after work.  I usually get to Penn about ten minutes or so before my train is scheduled to depart, which means that I need to stand in the station in front of a giant switchboard until the platform for my train is announced.  The giant switchboard is conveniently located in front of a Cinnabon, so I can't help but get enormous whiffs of cinnamon roll deliciousness as I wait for the platform to be announced.  It's true, there are other switchboards I could wait by, but those are also conveniently located by other Cinnabons or Auntie Anne's pretzel shops, so it seems that escaping the cinnamon sugar aroma is completely impossible, a coincidence that I'm sure was planned on purpose.

Chocolate Coconut Almond Revel Bars & a Hershey's Spreadable Chocolate GIVEAWAY!

Oh jeez, we're barely into 2014, we just finished baking up a storm of holiday cookies only a few weeks ago, and here I am bringing you MORE cookies?  I know, I can barely believe it myself.  As soon as Christmas ended I promised myself that I would take a long detox from cookie baking for a while, as I was seriously all cookied-out. I don't really know how many dozens of cookies I made, but just trust me when I say that it was a lot.  Because of that, I'm just as surprised as you are that I'm already posting a brand new bar cookie recipe.  At least this new cookie addition to the blog is a really, really, really good one.  Here's a quick summary of the ingredients: coconut + oats + HERSHEY'S CHOCOLATE ALMOND SPREAD.

Yeah baby.

Now that we're in part three of my Hershey's Chocolate Spreads exploration, you may have picked up on the fact that out of the three flavors, the Chocolate-Almond spread is my favorite.  I won't go into all the reasons why in this post (just go here and here if you need your memory refreshed!), because there are other more important things to discuss, like these Chocolate Coconut Almond Revel Bars.  I loved snacking on all the spreads and using them as dips, but when the time came to actually incorporate the spreads in a real recipe, I was a bit lost. Lost in a good way, I mean.  I just had too many ideas and narrowing them down to one really great idea seemed impossible.  I was torn between swirling the spreads into waffles and ice cream, or creating an intense chocolate Bundt cake with a molten chocolate center, among others.  All that changed once I stumbled upon a confection known as a "revel bar."  I'd never heard of a revel bar until a few days ago, but I instantly knew they would be a bar cookie that I would love.  A revel bar is basically oatmeal cookie dough sandwiching a middle layer of chocolatey fudge.  Sounds too good to be true, right?  As soon as I discovered revel bars, the foodie gears in my brain started turning and I just knew this was what I had to make.