This time last year: June 2012

Today's the day we leave for our vacation! I'm nervous (I have no idea why, maybe the anticipation of leaving, the 18 hour car ride, or driving overnight?) but so, so excited!  I'll be gone for 2 weeks + some odd days which means unless there's a super rainy day in there (*fingers crossed*) I probably won't be posting for a bit.  I know you'll miss me, and I'll miss baking and sharing recipes for you, but hey...FLORIDA! (On a side note, does the rapper Flo Rida have anything to do with Florida?...I've always wondered).

So here's a peak at the wonderful desserts I shared this time last year:

Chewy Brownies

 This recipe is adapted from America's Test Kitchen and is supposed to rival box mixes.  They were tasty, but definitely not the best brownies I've ever made (see below).  The bars are rich and chocolatey and speckled with chocolate chips.

Thick and Chewy Cookies

 

Another recipe from America's Test Kitchen, these cookies were delicious but I still prefer the NY Times Jacques Torres recipe (which has bread and cake flour).  The nice thing about these cookies is that they only need all-purpose flour and don't need to be refrigerated overnight before baking (compared to the NY Times recipe).

The best brownies I've ever made

 

These brownies make my heart sing.  They are fudgy, and rich, and moist, and everything I've ever looked for in a brownie.  They come from the cook book Baked: Explorations from the Baked Bakery in New York.  These brownies do not get you baked, don't let the name fool you.  They freeze ridiculously well, so you can bake a whole tray for yourself (I can't be the only one who does that) and then freeze half of it so you don't feel obligated to eat the whole thing before it goes bad, because it would be a crime to waste food.  Also, through a happy accident, I've adjusted the amount of butter in the recipe from 2 sticks to 1 1/2 - I accidentally used 1 stick (instead of 1 cup) the first time I made them and loved how dense and fudgy they were compared to when I made them a week later with 1 cup (aka 2 sticks) of butter, so now I compromise and always use 1 1/2 sticks.

DIY Colored Sugar

 

I tried to make edible glitter.  Pinterest told me that if I did it this way, I'd end up with edible glitter.  After making this, I've determined there's no way to get that mettalic sheen of glitter into sprinkles in a home kitchen without using non-food-safe items.  There is luster dust, but I think the results would be different.  But anways, making colored sugar can be especially helpful if you're making cookies and realize you don't have the colored sugar on hand you had envisioned using.  And it's really easy to do, so why not?