Making Macarons for Valentine's Day

Last Valentine's Day I wrote about my indifference towards the holiday while loving heart-shaped everything. Here I go being an even bigger hypocrite because I was excited this year! Last year marked the start of a new tradition when Andrew and I made those seriously delicious Jacques Torres chocolate truffles, and this year we decided to take on the super daunting task of making macarons. Dun Dun Dun!


Completely out of fear, I only searched using phrases like "easiest macaron recipe ever made—EVER" until I found one that fit the bill. Ann Reardon's Salted Caramel Macaron Recipe doesn't require aged eggs, rest time, or even caster sugar, so I didn't bother with any traditional French recipes as I was already entirely too stressed about feet! And skirts! And cracks!


The meringue whipped up so easily, and beautifully, we almost forgot to add in our color. Without any food coloring, we improvised and added a small amount of cocoa powder. "What if the ratios are all off now? What if we over/underfold it?" repeated in the back of my mind continuously, though I probably whispered it in horror a few times to be honest. Then came the worry over not owning an oven thermometer... They're all going to burrrn.


But they didn't! We'd nailed it! Sort of. I'm not even going to pretend I completely understand the food science going on here, working with a piping bag was hard enough, but I know we should have rapped the baking sheets on our counter just a little more to release more air. We lucked out with maybe 10 perfect circles, 40-ish ovals, and a few blobs, mostly free of cracks.

Earlier in the day I made dulce de leche to use as filling: as-is and in a buttercream. After everything was out of the oven and cooling, I combined all but a few tablespoons of the dulce de leche, a hefty pinch of salt, and half a cup of butter to make the salted caramel buttercream, which I layered over a bit of dulce de leche. Unreal. My dulce de leche was still a bit too warm and runny when assembling—messy, but absolutely incredible. Ultimately I switched over to just buttercream.


Too eager to wait, we inhaled about ten bare shells while the next set were in the oven baking, then another ten assembled cookies afterward. By the next morning we were practically eating them by the handful. We brought some to Andrew's parents' house Sunday night and even they gobbled them up immediately. They're that good.


Using the 3.5 cm template from Pure Gourmandise definitely helped as we pipped our shells. Getting them perfect is going to take a lot more practice but we will willingly labor through it! Speaking of which, I had a ton of buttercream left over so we made another thirty macarons last night! Dare I say they're even better‽

Disastrous Salted Caramel Brownies

First things first, that title is misleading. My first attempt at making brownies from scratch wasn't a total disaster, but the outcome wasn't very pretty either.

I should have known things were doomed when I pulled out what I thought was parchment paper only to see it was actually wax paper just as my caramel was ready to be poured. Of course! My panicked solution? Asking Andrew to butter a dish while holding the hot saucepan in one hand and my face in the other. Cutting the caramel into perfect little squares after it cooled clearly wasn't going to happen but I was relieved to have (semi) successfully made caramel for wannabe caramel candies.

Using Smitten Kitchen's Salted Caramel Brownies recipe, I upped the salt content, but only by a pinch or two, to cut some of the inevitable sweetness. Everything would have been fine from here had I employed some common sense; ergo, caramel melts → mini-muffin pans are shallow → don't fill the pan so damn high.

Each bite had the perfect balance of sticky, salty-sweet caramel and rich, dark chocolate goodness. I mean, they were mouthwatering. I honestly could have eaten the entire batch in one sitting if they weren't headed to my in-laws as Sunday dinner's dessert. I served them warmed and topped with vanilla custard. SO, so good. I will definitely make these brownies again, being sure to forgo the mini-muffin pan. Having all-edge pieces was a delicious result, but I think a square pan is ideal.

I debated having an entire post dedicated to these Salted Caramel Brownies but I think it's important to showcase your (my) failures and laugh at yourself (myself). Don't you? Obviously everything I make in my kitchen isn't a masterpiece (I wish!) and some things can be so painfully simple, I'll think "why am I putting so much effort into styling this food right now?" Yet here I am.

Things could have gotten way worse. I could have set off all the smoke detectors from the dripping caramel oozing off of the mini-muffin pan onto the bottom of the oven, the dripping caramel causing the apartment to go up in flames—is that even possible? Or I could have sliced a few fingers off while improperly holding my chef's knife chopping chocolate intended for Tsokolate (Filipino hot chocolate)!

Now I'm thinking I could have gotten away with no one knowing about this, besides Andrew, if it weren't for this post... What's the worst damage you've caused in the kitchen? How did you recover?

Hearty Meals for Cooler Months

Now that there's a slight chill in the air I can finally start cooking and baking more comfortably. There's nothing like making comfort food while comfortable, right? I'm the type to bake homemade pizza with the oven at 500° when it's 90° out, making even the dogs miserable.

Lentils have never been a staple in my family, in fact we're the black/red/garbanzo type but I know tons of vegetarians eat 'em constantly. Being a rookie in the lentil department, I decided to find a super simple recipe for Red Lentil Curry. I used sweet potatoes in place of russet, and upped the ginger, garlic and curry powder.

Had I planned better I would have added more spice to balance out the sweetness. Instead, we busted out some Sriracha after the fact. I'm sure that's making some of you cringe, but my taste buds aren't sorry!

Now this next dish... Is it a casserole? A hash? What exactly does adding "bake" to end of the name even mean? I don't have answers to any of these questions but I can tell you this concoction was delicious. I can't take all the credit though, I found the Monster Meat Cornbread Bake recipe (lol) on bettycrocker.com of all places!

It's another quick and easy one-pan meal that I totally see myself making often during these cooler months. I'd venture to say my favorite part is not having one billion dirty dishes afterward since I'm notorious for using every dish in the kitchen when I cook. I'm sure Andrew also appreciates this. It's packed with layered onions, bell pepper, mashed sweet potatoes, lots of sharp cheddar cheese and topped with cornbread. Where's the monster meat portion? Well, I subbed veggie sausage for the smoked turkey sausage the recipe calls for.

When it comes to cornbread, I've always been partial to Jiffy and that little blue and white box that probably sparked an interest in package design in baby me ages ago. However, I'm excited to try making it from scratch next time! Do you have any amazing cornbread recipe recommendations? Give me links!

My Own Personal Cinnabon

I couldn't tell you when I ate my last cinnamon roll but chances are it was from Cinnabon at a rest stop years ago. How tragic. Once the craving came on the desire to bake was basically intolerable (I'm only half-joking). I found a quick and easy recipe for Baby Cinnamon Buns using a canned Pillsbury Crescent Seamless Dough sheet and figured I'd give it a shot.

Luckily I had everything else the recipe called for on-hand: butter, sugar, cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla, powdered sugar, and a little milk. Easy!

All of the brown sugar and a good chunk of the butter which was reserved for the bottom of the pie plate made for a nice gooey crust, though the butter separated a bit too quickly for my liking.

The resulting sticky sweet rolls totally hit the spot but I couldn't help wondering what could have been. I'm dramatic, what can I say? Having never made cinnamon rolls before this, I was determined to make the dough myself. With so many recipes out there, it was a tough choice but I narrowed it down to three: Smitten Kitchen's Cinnamon Swirl Buns, the Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls, and Alton Brown's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls. In the end Alton won. Leave it to me to choose the most time consuming recipe of the bunch.

I definitely prefer the abbreviated ingredients for Alton Brown's dough over the 20+ in the Pillsbury Crescent Seamless Dough sheet. Plus, it was a great excuse to use my stand mixer and hook attachment. After kneading the dough and allowing it to rest for two hours, it doubled in size beautifully. I couldn't wait to punch it!

Just look at those adorable puffy swirls!

Rolling out the dough was much easier than I expected considering how springy it was and how bad I normally am at it (my pizzas are almost always oddly-shaped). Once the dough chilled for sixteen hours (yes, 16), I had to wake the yeast up by proofing the rolls with a fancy steam bath for half an hour before baking.

This icing was miles better than the simple powdered sugar and vanilla combination of the first recipe and I doubt I'll ever ice cinnamon rolls with anything else again. What a difference a little cream cheese made!

Two recipes and twenty cinnamon rolls later, and I totally believe making the dough from scratch is 1,000% worth it. The second batch was softer and fluffier with the perfect savory buttery flavor. And WOW, the smell! I can't recommend Alton Brown's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls recipe enough. Try it, your belly will thank you.

All of this cinnamon roll business had my mind naturally wandering off into sticky bun land. I think you can see where this is going...

Biscuit Bake-Off

There will never be a day when I stop loving Red Lobster. In fact, Andrew and I were just there a couple months ago! Naturally, I chowed down on those melt-in-your-mouth mounds of buttery garlic heaven the waiter so graciously bestowed our table with until I was stuffed. Which of course happened before the food we actually ordered got to the table. I assume that's how everyone plays the Red Lobster game, right? At least that's how I've done it since I was a kid!

Last month I was introduced to the prepackaged Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit Mix sold at Sam's Club. It comes with enough powder and herb packets to make a few batches, and it's less than $6. Not bad if you're in a pinch, but you know me—I love making things from scratch.


And there are countless recipes out there, you guys! Like, wow, the people have spoken and clearly we all really love these damn biscuits. A lot. I found tons for sprucing up Bisquick but I opted to pit the prepackaged mix against a fully made-from-scratch recipe from Brown Eyed Baker.


The difference in texture was obvious, but nothing was more recognizable than the smell! The prepackaged mix was completely odorless, while the homemade batch smelled so amazing I wish I could have bottled it.


While the biscuits baked, I prepped the butter toppings for each. The herb packet is where the prepackaged mix really shined. I'm not completely sure what was in it, but BEB's combination of garlic and parsley didn't stand a chance!


Once out of the oven I could see how much the prepackaged mix spread outward whereas the homemade batch rose, as biscuits should (though I'm no drop biscuit expert—these were actually the first ones I've ever made!). So, which was best??

Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit Mix
Brown Eyed Baker's Cheddar Bay Biscuits
The Brown Eyed Baker's recipe, hands down! The fantastic biscuits were flaky on the inside and just crispy enough on the outside. And as much as I loved that herb packet, the prepackaged mix was just too doughy to compete. Both were excellent the next day (and the next) after being reheated in the oven. I even made grilled cheese out of them with the leftover cheddar I used in each recipe! We literally have biscuits for days, you guys. It's intense.

Lemon Pick-Me-Up

I planned to post this deliciously tart lemon cake earlier in the week but my insides have left me with little motivation to blog. I actually had to go to an Urgent Care clinic yesterday. I don't know about you, but I'm definitely one of those people who fights through the pain and blows off a lot. As I get older I realize I should probably stop doing this, but enough about that, you're here for cake!


Though my glaze wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, I still consider the cake a beauty. I made it using Ina Garten's Lemon Cake recipe, which makes two loaves or one bundt cake. I'll take any excuse to break out my bundt pan!

The cake had amazing citrus flavor that I'd never experienced in lemon pound cake before. This is totally the result of copious amounts of lemon zest and juice that goes into the batter.


Midway through the baking process I used a skewer to poke small holes throughout the cake and spooned in lemon syrup. Think of it as injections of pure lemon flavor. So good, and it made it super moist.


This was my first baking adventure using buttermilk and I'm officially hooked! I'm not one for pancakes but I think I'll be trying out some buttermilk ebelskiver next. The cake kept surprisingly well and fed quite a few co-workers.