I am currently prepping so hard to chill TF out for the break. I’m gonna be honest, this fall put in borderline burn out mode so I’m hoping that a bit of rest and chillaxation will give me some much needed energy.
This is also my favorite time to take a break because EVERYONE is taking a break. Usually if I go on a vacation in the month of May or April, I still end up working because I’m addicted to checking my email BUT NOT NEXT WEEK!
I’m also spending a bit of time doing some last bits of work, cleaning and organizing my apartment before we all head up to The Bay for the holidays.
We’ve also been binge-watching The OA and I am not mad at it. It’s SO good and weird and addictive and weird.
If you have a bunch of time over the next week, definitely watch it. It’s also family-friendly (no weird sex scenes) so you will be a-ok to watch it with your father-in-law/grandfather, etc.
This cranberry chestnut cake is a lil’ thing I made last week when I had some cranberries in the fridge and remembered this beautiful cranberry frosting I saw on Food52 a month ago or so.
Every family has Christmas traditions. I love hearing about other families’ traditions because they vary so much.
The one tradition my mom always kept alive and well was Peruvian-style homemade hot chocolate on Christmas Eve. In Peru, homemade hot chocolate is cooked over the stove, with Peruvian chocolate chopped into tiny bits and then mixed into milk with cinnamon and cloves; it’s rich and delicious.
Traditionally it’s had right before everyone heads to midnight mass. When we were teeny-tiny, the hot chocolate would come right before bed since at that time we believed that Santa would come down our non-existent chimney and bring us gifts. My dad would tell us he’d sneak in through a window which sort of scared me but whatever.
It was the one time a year when we had dairy because my parents jumped on the non-dairy train so early. We were one of those houses with rice and almond milk only.
This is a mash-up of another dessert my mom LOVED to make; it’s not Peruvian, though they do make it all over South America. Crema catalana is a Spanish dessert that is SO good. It’s a lot like creme brûlée with the big difference being that it’s not baked—it’s simply cooked over the stove-top then chilled in the fridge.
For this post, I teamed up with McCormick spices to add all the goodness to this dessert. It uses McCormick ground cinnamon, whole cloves and vanilla extract.
Apparently, I have fancy Christmas tree taste because my favorite tree at the tree market was called a silver tip and it went for like 75% higher than all the other trees. It’s actually quite tall and sparse looking so when I went to ask for the price, I expected a discount but nope. Expensive tree taste—didn’t even know it was a thing!
I went home with it and had the guy kindly tie it to the top of my tiny car because it’s like when you get something in your brain and you just can’t forget about it. Like shoe-shopping. It’s like that.
I came home and Amelia immediately thought the water in the tree basin was for her so I’ve been constantly catching her drinking it. I yell at her but at the same time it’s so funny and cute that I just fill it up and let her do whatever she wants.
Another thing that has been on my brain for so very long are miso brownies! I saw them in the bakery case of a bakery I can’t actually remember but thought they sounded so good! Sweet and savory and chocolate-y…sign me up.
I wanted brownies that had a super crackly top and after I did some Googling and testing, I figured out that the thing that ensures a super crackly crust is beating the eggs and sugar together for a full 10 minutes (thanks, Martha!). Also, the sugar amount has to be up there for this to really work.
These past few days have been quite leisure. The emails have slowed. The deadlines have been met and everyone seems to be winding down for the holiday season. I am completely ready.
I have been chilling in sweats and watching episodes of The View and The Great Holiday Baking Show while I bake the day away.
I’ve already kinda made enough content for the month of December so these past few days have just been things I’ve wanted to bake. And this horchata cake was on that list!
I thought about it long and hard because the big question has always been: How do I get it taste like horchata…?
I am the most last-minute holiday person in the entire world. A gigantic part of me actually really loves the adrenaline rush of shopping the week-of. My dad and I would always get our holiday shopping like two days before Christmas and it was always way more fun than being planned and perfect.
This year I somehow have it together. I even bought a few hostess gifts to hand out at parties. (And yes, that is a link to cat and dog bingo.)
Luckily one of the main people on my shopping list (my brother) is already taken care of. I’m going to gift him a KitchenAid® Stainless Steel Cookware Set
because he is just got his first adult job (hello first engineering job!) and is moving into a brand new apartment in a brand new city!!
For this post, I teamed up with KitchenAid® to show you how I put their set to good use by making these very fluffy and cloud-like balls of gnocchi.
Apparently Kylie Jenner is having a pop-up shop this weekend in the valley and a large, morbid, embarrassing part of me sort of wants to go. I won’t go because shrieking teenagers might drive me to take a vallium, but I want to, you know?
Instead I’m putting on my coziest sweater and going to my friend Teri’s holiday party. I also might watch A LOT of Fixer Upper because I love watching it and seeing people buy houses for 100k. It feels like another world, seeing as I live in LA and all.
When I was little, I didn’t need fancy holiday cookies. All I needed were Keebler Fudge-Striped Cookies. I’d put on my fingers like rings and bite ‘em off.
My mom would go grocery shopping every Friday and it always made my brother and I SO excited because that meant the pantry was filled with cookies and Capri-Suns and Sun Chips (omg remember those?
She always had to regulate our eating because if it was up to us, we would eat all the best food all in one day.
1. Lime and Lemon Squeezer — All in one!
2. Benrier Mandoline — I love mandolines because I like things to all be the same size.
3. Wilton Piping Decorating Set — For your best friend who’s a baker!
4. Vitamix 750 Copper Blender — This is totally on my to-splurge list for myself. It’s so beautiful.
5. Chemex — How I make my coffee every morning.
6. Kitchenaid Mixer — What would I do without my mixer?!? I use it multiple times a day. And I love it in this color.
7. Dansk Butter Warmer — For me this is half prop/half useful butter melter.
8. Corgi Cookie Cutter — Need I say more.
9. Le Creuset Oval French Oven — I loooove this color. I use this size in the color PALM daily. It’s the most versatile pot I own. I would buy it for everyone I know if I could.
1. The Del Posto Cookbook — The photos are stunning and the tiramisu is maybe the best I’ve ever tried. Definitely a splurge of a cookbook but worth it!
2. Molly on the Range — So fun and cute and will make anyone happy.
3. The Year of Cozy — Cozy season is here!
4. The Vanilla Bean Baking Book — I’m baking from this book in a few days and am super excited!
5. The Love & Lemons Cookbook — The most beautiful cookbook. And all the recipes I’ve tried are healthy and delicious.
6. The Edna Lewis Cookbook — The first biscuits I ever made were from her.
7. Alternative Baker — I’m trying my hardest to dip my toe into gluten-free baking. I’m starting here because look at that pie on the cover!
8. A Cozy Coloring Cookbook — The other night I colored for 2 hours straight, while I watched trashy tv and I felt so rejuvenated! Pair it with some awesome colored pencils.
9. Taste of Persia — Everything in this book looks SO good.
1. Tinker Watch (in pink) — Mix and match to build a beautiful watch.
2. Butter in London “Fall in Line” — I’ve worn the third color on the right every single day for a month–I love it!
3. Acne Emoji ‘Adriana’ Shoes — I wear these almost every day. They’re my absolute favorite and the emoji plaques are the best conversation starter.
4. Mansur Gavriel Backpack — Another thing on my to-splurge list for myself. Basically I look at Gift Guides for myself. :/
5. Corgi socks — I currently own three pairs of corgi socks but frankly I could use a few more pair.
6. Dr. Jart Water Replenishment Mask — The best stocking stuffer. I love wearing them on flights and scaring everyone around me.
7. Donut mug — Basically the only thing I want for Christmas this year.
8. Softest sweater from Madewell — Also very into this one.
9. Prettiest Alarm Clock in Grey — I probably would still use my iPhone but it’s super cute to go on a side table.
My first date EVER in my entire life was at an upscale fondue restaurant. I think I was 15 or 16 and had been to some nice restaurants before but this time I was by myself, with a boy (!!), not with my parents. For the first time, I sort of felt like an adult. It felt super fancy and I was very into it.
Halfway through the meal, after the lobster, I realized I’m not all that into boiled meat and fish. My favorite part, by far, was the bread dipped into the cheese and dessert, of course. Who doesn’t love melty chocolate with fruit?
For this very adult, fondue party, I teamed up with ALDI to score all of the veggies and cheeses. A few weeks ago I walked through ALDI trying to think of all the things I could dip into cheese. The good news is that it’s not a hard task. Mostly everything is delicious in cheese!
I feel like this is an easy winter-party situation that you can throw together. People come over, chop up some winter vegetables and tell everyone to dip them in cheese. Game over!
Los Angeles! Just a heads up, tomorrow I’ll be in Echo Park at Shout & About signing books and handing out holiday cookies from 11am to 1pm. Stop by!
Now, for this tiramisu pie! I made this pie a few times to recipe test it, pretty normal stuff, but after I finally nailed it, I loved it SO much that I decided it was going to be my Thanksgiving pie.
It was really easy to make, which is why I made it, and right before I started to make it, I remembered that a friend of mine is gluten-free. Luckily I found out that you can totally make this pie with gluten-free ginger snaps and it’ll be just great.
I needed a tablespoon less butter but it worked! I was pumped to find that out.
The pie goes like this: chocolate cookie crust on the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan. Then it’s filled with an espresso cream custard that is SO good. At the end of making the espresso cream, I mixed in a few tablespoons of rum and it is BOMB. It tastes just like tiramisu. Then, the pie is filled and chilled. Right before serving, you pipe on some mascarpone cream and top it with a bunch of cocoa powder.
I made Amelia into a cookie! And then ate her. Sounds a little dark, doesn’t it?! It’s not I promise. She’s alive and thriving.
These corgi cookies are inspired by Stephanie’s cookies that she made last year. When I first saw them my eyes popped out of my head and immediately turned into heart shapes.
I figured it’d be a good time to share one of my favorite recipes from A Cozy Coloring Cookbook, which are chai sugar cookies. They are so spicy and flavorful and taste like, well, chai-like. In the book they’re in the shape of snowmen and Christmas trees and chai gingerbread men. You obviously don’t need a corgi cookie cutter to make these but if you do want to buy one, here’s where you can do that.
