Larabar Review

The first time I ever had a lara bar was after an eight mile race. You know what? They tasted AMAZING! Exactly like the flavor of the bar. Hm, I think it was uh lemon bar I had? Anyways, it tasted exactly like a lemon bar! Some of my favorites...

YUMMY!!! :)

Would you like to buy some Larabars? Like them on fb? Follow them on twitter?

Daring Bakers: Croissants!

The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non- blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!

After eating croissants in Paris, I was a little apprehensive about making my own. But, they actually turned out great! Flaky, buttery (def. buttery, very very buttery!), and sooo yummy! I used the croissant recipe from Tartine. 

With the cream/egg yolk wash

er...my attempt at a chocolate croissant...and a leftover dough patty

Look at all the layers! So flaky and buttery :)

just the crumbs!

Cookbook Review: Cookiepedia

An encyclopedia...for cookies? Yes! The book is divided in to sections based on the cookie type. There's...

Chocolaty cookies....

Fancy cookies...

Fruity...

Nutty and seedy....

and much more! Oh, and you know what I love about this book, besides the lovely pictures and recipes, near the end of each recipe there is a note section where you can write little reminders. So, let's say I hypothetically (or really) tried the black and white cookies and I find my smaller cookie scoop produces a good size cookie. Then, I can write in a little note to myself for next time :) Okay, so I really did make the black and white cookies (in addition to lemon cookies!) and they were fantastic! The only problem I encountered was that the recipes did not have a baking temperature. I searched and searched for those little words "Preheat the oven to ~" but I couldn't find them. I baked the cookies at 350˚F, you know the standard cookie time, and they still came out great.

Oh, and I love how near the front and back page of the book there is are basic conversion charts...Sorry for the small and blurry picture

Disclaimer: Quirk Books provided me with this cookbook to review. I was under no obligation to write a positive review. 

Artisana Nut Butters!!!

Do you remember my post back when I confessed my love for butter? Well look what I got in the mail... Artisana nut butters! They carry the most amazing nut butter and coconut products. All of their products are 100% organic and....they taste amazing! (plus, it's super convenient package too, you'll see what I mean if you scroll down....)

Below is a jar of Coconut Butter and Pecan Butter. Oh! I can't wait to spread them on my morning toast. Actually, come to think of it, I don't normally eat my nut butter with toast or anything for that matter. Just me, a big ol spoon, and a jar of these AMAZING butters!!!

Aren't these pouches so cute? They make a great snack and are perfect for on-the-go bites. All you have to do is knead the pouch (to incorporate all the yummy goodness together!), tear, and eat. YUM! :)

Close up...Tahini butter (who knew there was such thing?!), cashew butter, almond butter (:O), coconut oil....See that orange one in the top left? It's Cashini Butter :) A mixture of cashews and sesame seeds. How clever!

I love how there are not added ingredients. So you know the almond butter? Guess what it's made out of.... Yup, if you guessed just almonds, then you're right! 100% almonds :D

I can't wait to tear in to the cacao bliss. Doesn't it sound dreamy? It's made out of Coconut butter, coconut oil, agave syrup, cacao, and cacao butter (and they're all organic! Actually it says 100% organic, but I didn't know you could even have 50% organic product. Can you?)!

Almond butter was sooo yummy! Perfect on bread...Nope, this time I didn't just eat it directly from the pouch. Now what kind of picture would that have been?!

Instructions...

Different angle of delicious almond butter spread over bread!

Disclaimer: Artisana provided me with free samples of their products to review, and I was under no obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.

Preview...

Can you guess what's coming this week? I'll leave a few pictures...

Healthy Cinnamon Rolls

This morning I had this huuugggee craving for cinnamon rolls (wait, can you say you have a huge craving?), but I wanted to make a slightly healthy version, oh and I didn't want to wait for the dough to rise..that would've taken forever. So what did I do? I looked up healthy cinnamon rolls on google! And what came up? A healthy cinnamon roll recipe, of course.

 Do you see those white little sprinkles on top? It's pearl sugar! On my trip to London we stopped at a Swedish store and of course, I had to try some of their desserts. (Weird, yea? Swedish food in London.) Anyways, I bought pearl sugar there...

 with some icing...

Lighter Everyday Cinnamon Rolls from here

Magnum Bars

Oh! I have just found my favorite ice cream bar! While we were in Europe I kept seeing Magnum ice cream bars. It was so hot (and I love ice cream!) so of course I couldn't resist trying one, or two, or three. I found them at my local supermarket, so I just had to buy them (even though they were super expensive - $6 for 3!)

 Doesn't it look so classy? So expensive? So deliciously, awesomely, tasty!

YUM :D

I LOVE BUTTER!

Nut butter that is! This stuff is amazing and addictive. I just can't stop sticking my spoon in the container. Sweet, nutty, creamy, maple-y, all in one single bite. Hm, I wonder how it'd taste on a banana...?! Not only was this stuff super yummy, but it was also pretty easy to make. Coat some almonds in a little maple syrup, bake them in the oven for oh about 10 minutes, then grind for hm maybe 5-7 minutes.

Maple almond butter > Peanut butter? Yes, definitely better. The recipe come's from Ashley's blog. Oh wait, now that I just looked at the recipe again it seems I forgot the cinnamon! Oh well, next time. I guess I forgot because the recipe is so simple! A cup of nuts, a tablespoon of maple syrup...

Oh, you know what I just realized? I actually tried almond butter before. Whole foods has those nut grinding stations where you can sample the different kinds. Anyways, I tried the almond butter there but it didn't taste very good. The outer husks of the almonds were still visible, and the butter had a gritty taste (totally unlike this recipe! -just make sure to pulse long enough!)

Maple Almond Butter
Ingredients:
1 cup almonds
2 Tablespoon maple syrup (only real stuff please!)

1. Preheat oven to 325˚F
2. In a bowl combine almonds and syrup
3. Spread on parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes, stirring halfway
4. Once finished, pulse nuts in a food processor until cream (it took me about 5-7 minutes)
* Ashley has some great tips about making creamy and perfect nut butters

Super soft buttery buns

 I do not usually bake bread, but once I saw this recipe I couldn't wait to turn on the oven. These buns are so soft!  Actually, I made these twice. The first time I followed the directions exactly, the buns weren't as sweet as I'd like. The second time I made them I increased the sugar by 50 grams for a sweeter bread. Oh, and I love the shine on these buns! :)

Butter Bread Recipe from here