Spring Break: Do You Fro-Yo?

Spring break has never been something for me where I've planned a long trip and I have to pack up and leave the moment finals are done. That is, until this year. I planned well ahead of time to visit my boyfriend in Athens, Georgia where he's going to the University of Georgia for graduate school.

Now, I love my boyfriend - obviously, I spent good money on a plane ticket to see him - but he is as picky as a five year old when it comes to food. He hates vegetables - will only eat corn, potatoes, and some peppers - and absolutely loathes onions with a fiery passion. I knew it would be a difficult trip eating wise, especially after getting so used to eating vegetables all the time by myself. But one of the best things about him is he will try new places to eat - which paid off when we saw Menchie's frozen yogurt.

In Georgetown square, which is the largest shopping center near him, we passed this brightly colored store. Stark white tables made the bright purple and kiwi green pop. It looked inviting with indoor and outdoor seating and a cute cartoon character as their logo. I wanted to try it. I couldn't help myself. I had heard and seen all of the frozen yogurt craze in Chicago, but the locations never looked as big or open or fun as this one did.

So one night for dinner we strolled in, grabbed a cup, and looked at the huge wall of selections for frozen yogurt flavors. Vanilla, chocolate, chocolate covered strawberry, Georgia peach, cake batter, Irish mint, blueberry, strawberry banana, there were so many that I had a hard time and could never pick just one. Luckily it's made for you to mix and match whatever you'd like. First time around I had cake batter swirled with strawberry banana. It's even more fun because flavors rotate and differ on the store, so it's an adventure every time!

The Boyfriend @ Menchie's

Then you stroll over to the long toppings counter. First are plastic bins like you'd see in a candy store, but in addition to candy they have cereal, sprinkles, nuts, pretzels, coconut, and any other dry toppings you might like to sprinkle on. Another lower set area of the toppings counter had fresh fruit, cookie dough pieces, cheesecake pieces, and cooler options to toss on. Then, of course, the end has silver containers where you can squeeze caramel, chocolate, fudge, or marshmallow toppings. Just the toppings bar made me feel like a child - wanting everything, but unable to choose. My strawberry banana cake batter was topped with fresh strawberries and cheesecake pieces. Besides the cake batter and cheesecake, this was a low-calorie and low-fat treat.

How it works is you put as much or as little of all the flavors and toppings into a bowl or a cone bowl and then, when you're done, you weigh it and pay around 42 cents per ounce. Let me tell you, it's more fun and cheaper than most ice cream shops. Brandon even loved it because he could avoid the fruits he thought were nasty and mix together a mint and chocolate treat with cookie dough pieces and caramel. He was just as giddy as I was picking out his flavors.

When I looked Menchie's up online I saw they have a smileage club. It's a rewards program you can join online or in store and use a rewards card or your phone number to get points for every dollar you spend. If you spend $6.78 you would get 6.78 points - they do everything down to the penny. Then when you reach 50 points you get $5 free. But for signing up you get 25 smile points and if you use your card within the first week of signing up you get another 10 points free. Of course, I did both those things to get 35 free smiles. Plus, I'm looking forward to my free frozen yogurt on my birthday.


The smileage club sent us back two more times to stock up on points and get our $5 free. I tried vanilla and georgia peach the next time - which was wonderful - and got georgia peach the next time too but with blueberry and marshmallow topping. It was always fun picking what flavors I wanted and what kind of dessert or treat I wanted. It could be fruity, healthy, dairy-free, or a thick tasty dessert.

For those of you who love options, trying new things, or have picky eaters that like to pick and choose, I'd recommend Menchie's frozen yogurt. While there's a lot of fro-yo out there, this place is friendly, well designed and just too cute.

Better than the Bahamas: Golden Rum Cake

St. Patrick's Day is known for it's drunken debauchery, but I am just not a fan of beer. I'd much rather spend the holiday trying out new boozy baking, so that's exactly what I did.

After having a rum cake at La Palma in Chicago, I desperately wanted to bake my own rum cake. I couldn't get enough about the sweet rum that keeps the whole cake moist, sweet and a little kick to it. I found this Golden Rum Cake Recipe at AllRecipes and convinced my boyfriend to let me make it when I visited him in Georgia. Truthfully, it wasn't that hard. Boozy cake on St. Patty's will always be welcomed.

Golden Rum Cake
via Allrecipe and Jackie Smith

Ingredients
    For Cake
 -  about 1 cup chopped walnuts
  - 1 package of yellow cake mix
  - 1 3.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix (I used the no sugar one)
  - 4 eggs
  - 1/2 cup water
  - 1/2 cup oil (vegetable is what is listed, I used a Smart Balance which is a blend of canola, soy and olive)
  - 1/2 cup dark rum (Got a little captain in ya?)

   For Glaze
  - 1/2 cup butter
  - 1/4 cup water
  - 1 cup white sugar
  - 1/2 cup dark rum

Directions
 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour your Bundt pan - make sure it's thoroughly coated, I had problems with a part of mine sticking and breaking.
 2. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts over the bottom of the pan. You can use more/less walnuts depending on how much your pan can hold or how much you'd like.
 3. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup rum. Blend well.
 4. Pour the batter into your pan over the chopped nuts.
 5. Bake for 60 minutes (checking periodically) on center rack until a toothpick or knife stuck in comes out clean. It'll be a nice light golden brown.
 6. Let the cake sit in the pan for 10 minutes, then flip onto a serving plate. Here's where you'll find out if you greased the pan enough. Mine stuck and I had to use a knife to loosen the edges up - and I still had it fall apart a bit.
 7. While the cake is cooking in the pan or on the serving plate, make the glaze. In a sauce pan, combine the 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup of sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, continue boiling it for 5 minutes while stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the 1/2 cup of rum.
 8. Brush glaze over the top and sides of the cake. Allow the cake to absorb the glaze so it gets moist and boozy. Continue glazing the cake until you use it all up or it's so glazey that it might fall apart. If any parts broke, use the glaze to help it stick together and get the glaze into the center of the cake
 9. Serve and Enjoy!

I made this cake in the afternoon and had it ready for late that night when my friend's came over. They had just been on a cruise to the Bahamas and were stopping by on their drive home. Even though they had rum cake in their bags, they wanted to try mine. In fact, they said it was better than the Bahamas' rum cake. This was probably one of the greatest compliments I've gotten.

So if you need a little boozy baking, or want to pretend you're in the Bahamas, try out this rum cake for a moist, sweet treat.

How you say... motivation: Berry Streusel Bars

I often go through fits of saving recipes, e-mailing them to myself, or bookmarking the links to go back and bake them. Often, I forget about them or can't find what I want. This time, I purposefully went back in between studying to make a list of my top three low-calorie treats to try.

The winner of this batch was... Recipe.com's Streusel Strawberry Bars.

Ingredients
- 2 cups butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup of Splenda sugar blend)
- 2 eggs
- 4 cups of flour (I used whole wheat, but you can use all purpose)
- 1 cup of pecans
- 2 cups of preserves

Directions
1.  In a large bowl beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until combined.
     Note: Due to our failure at having a mixer right now, I tried using a blender. This was tough. And we had to slowly let it into the blades to mix it together. This is why you need a mixer. You'll need to scrape the sides of either way you mix though to get it all together.
2. Beat in eggs.
3. You can either beat in some of the flour with the mixer, or do as I did and mix together the flour and pecans by hand. The note here is the mixture will be crumbly. I didn't notice this and mine was not crumbly, possibly due to a lack of flour. This isn't awful, but makes it difficult to set aside 2 cups of this mixture to crumble on top to make the layers.
4. Press the mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 13x9x2 inch pan or two different sized pans. I used a round cake pan and a longer oval pan so I could try using two different preserves.
5. Spread your preserves on top of the mixture to within 1/2 inch of the edges.
    If you listened to the directions to get the crumbly mixture, then you can sprinkle reserved mixture on top of the preserves to make the layers. If you failed, like I did, you can just go onto the next step and pray for the best.
6. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.
7. Either drizzle on top icing, or just put some powdered sugar on top, and cut into bars.

The oval strawberry one pre-baking

Their powdered sugar icing recipe:
   Combine 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in additional milk, about a teaspoon at a time, until you get a drizzle consistency - so it's creamy, but able to let slowly drop from your spoon/fork/spatula.

I had a hard time with the consistency of the powdered sugar icing and the thicker mixture early on. Mine was more like a dough, which ended up being extremely tasty, but wasn't crumbly like before. Although it worried me at first, it was still really delicious, so don't be too worried if it isn't crumbly and you can't make that top layer.

Blueberry one pre-baking

I also may have had a delicious turn out because I used the best preserves I have ever had. The Thelen family farm in Wisconsin does the best jams and I used their strawberry and blueberry. They sell them on the road during the warmer weather as well as at Farmer's markets. I'm lucky enough to be related to them - so I can go picking strawberries with my aunt and watch as the jam making happens. A lot of hard work goes into them and it is the best. Smucker's ain't got nothing on the Thelens.



But if you need motivation, or just a sweet and fruity treat, these Berry Streusel Bars are a great treat that can feed a crowd or last all week.

Touchdown! Baking and Football.

The talk about bounties, draft picks, and Peyton Manning leaving all make me miss football season. There is nothing better than screaming your heart out as you try to coach your team through the television. I love everything about football and, as we all know, I love baking. This is why my baking adventures with my friend Ashley for the Super Bowl were some of the best.

This past year we created a collection of hand pies, sugar cookies, and brownies to keep the crowd fueled for cheering on the Giants. It seemed to do the trick. I mean, I couldn't stop eating them and from how quick they went I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one.

The hand pies we were determined to do after Ashley texted me a picture of heart shaped ones. We thought it would be fun to do football shapes (with her new football cookie cutter set) and fill them with blue and red berry fillings. One set, our first attempt, was with canned cherry filling. I kept just eating the filling by itself, but it tasted even better in tiny crusts (despite the fact that the cherries were much bigger and the filling wanted to spill out). The hand pies are really easy to make with any kind of filling, canned or homemade. Ashley made a mixed berry one for our other batch that was heavenly.

via Foodista: similar to the ones that Inspired ours.

To make your hand pies just take premade pie dough and lay it out on top of wax paper and cut out whatever shapes you want. Make sure the shape you use has enough of a center to it to actually fit a good amount of filling though, or what's the point? This was difficult when we closed them up, because we wanted more filling than some of the football shapes could handle. Don't worry, I cleaned up the extra filling so it didn't go to waste. The best method to closing them that we found was to put one of the shapes on top of the other one after putting the filling on the lower one, then press down at the edges with your fingertips. Once they look sealed, use the tines of a fork to create the sealed pie edge look. It also looks nicer and gets crispier if you do a light egg wash over the top before tossing them in the oven.

The sugar cookies and brownies were boxed mixes that were spiced up by a few substitutions - such as the brownies had cola in them. The best part about that, though, was frosting our mini-jerseys. They were adorable and the butter cream frosting popped when we added the food coloring. It's kind of a fun, childish joy to frost the cookies with your friend, giggling as you lick your red (or blue) finger tips... and then the bowl.

Football and baking might not seem like your typical combination, but trust me, everyone enjoys something sweet and watching the game doesn't change that.

- Mollie

Browning Bananas and a Craving for Cookies

It's that time of the year when the snow begins to thaw, it starts to rain more, and we throw out that old pair of snow boots. Jackets get lighter. The sun shines more often. And the Girl Scouts set up their stands around town to sell cookies of all flavors. Sadly, I wasn't able to buy my Girl Scout cookies before Lent - where I gave up chocolate and candy. Now all I can do is drool over samoas and tagalongs from afar. This drooling has led me to craving cookies like the cookie monster.

This morning I discovered that our last two bananas were starting to turn brown. This is usually the key sign to make banana bread, but it didn't interest me as a baking adventure. I wanted something new. And I still desperately wanted cookies. This meant in between classes I would scour the internet for recipes (on cooking light, all recipes, real simple, and my recipes). I found a lot of awesome recipes, but this idea I fell in love with: Banana Oatmeal Cookies.

An episode of Good Eats got me into using Oats, especially for their health benefits. Plus I could make a healthier snack that didn't break my lenten promise - or hopefully my waistband. I set out later that night on a fun baking adventure adapted from this original recipe at all recipes.com.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients
 - 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
 - 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
 - 1 teaspoon salt
 - 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
 - 3/4 teaspoon (generous) ground cinnamon
 - 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
 - 1 teaspoon cornstarch
 - 1 cup sugar (I used splenda half and half blend, meaning I only used 1/2 cup)
 - 1 egg
 - 2 medium mashed bananas
 - 1 3/4 cups cooking oats
 - 1/2 cup pecans (or your favorite nuts, preferably chopped)

Directions
 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease baking sheets.
         Since we actually don't have any cookie sheets here right now (go figure), I used a mini cupcake pan and a pizza brick to hold my dough. The mini cupcake can made adorable little muffin shaped cookies. My sister called them muffins, but they're softer inside with a nice crunch outside.

2. In a medium bowl, add flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

3. Cream together the greek yogurt, cornstarch, and sugar.
          I decided to use greek yogurt instead of the 1 cup of shortening, to cut down on fat and give it a moist and soft texture inside. I found out that it's good to add cornstarch to your recipes from the Livestrong website for tips on baking with Greek yogurt. It keeps the yogurt soft and from clumping or really mixing up the texture of the baked goods. They also recommend keeping some of the original, such as butter or oil, but I just avoided that all together and went with all Greek yogurt. This is okay with cookies, but might not work as well for cakes.

4. Add egg, banana, oatmeal, and nuts to the mixture and mix well.
         This step was interesting since I don't have a stand mixer or a hand mixer. I started off doing step 3 in a small food processor. This worked fine until all this stuff was supposed to get tossed in. The egg and banana were more important to get really blended - so I added them into the food processor and got that mixed in while I added the oatmeal and nuts to the dry mixture.

5. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients.
        This is where it was fine for me using the small food processor. It all gets put together. Of course, it may have taken me longer to get everything incorporated, it works if you would like to focus on the egg and banana in the wet mixture and the oatmeal and nuts in the dry. They are combined very quickly.

6. Drop by teaspoon fulls onto cookie sheet - or into a mini cupcake pan. Or whatever way you feel like mixing up this recipe.

7. Bake at 400 for around 15 minutes, or until they just start to brown. For smaller cookies (or muffins) they end at 10 minutes, but the larger are about 15. Let them cool completely and store in a closed container to keep that moist banana flavor.



Trust me, this is a sweet treat you can keep coming back to and not feel bad about - either for a Lenten promise, your waistline, or your heart health.

- Mollie

Fat Tuesday: Paczki for Poland

"Fat Tuesday" is a day that emphasizes one of my sins: gluttony. I mean, I get to partake in eating everything and anything I can before I give something up for Lent. This year, though, I learned of a Polish tradition that I clung to in all of it's sugary, flaky, gluttonous deliciousness. The Paczki. (Pronounced: Poonch-key)

Paczki Day is usually a "Fat Thursday" type of thing in Poland, but has transferred through immigration and love of food to being incorporated into our "Fat Tuesday." This is almost a quite literal thing. In the 1600s in Poland the paczkis were made out of extra lards and meats that were going to be given up for Lent, the Chicago Tribune reported. Now, though, they're much more Americanized, sweetened and not just for the polish.

I'm grateful that I read the entirety of the Chicago Tribune article after I had eaten my paczkis. The explained how the batter is made out of three kinds of fat: butter, margarine and lard. It's a yeast-based dough that is deep fried in vegetable oil until golden brown.

But... it was totally worth it.

I made a trip in my hour between classes to one of my favorite Chicago Bakeries, Dinkel's, to stand in line and get four paczkis to share with my brother later Fat Tuesday Night. It was worth each minute, running to the "L" train only to miss it and walking into my writing course with baked goods.

The doughnut-like pastry is soft, light and has a beautiful sugary texture. It's this softness that makes you feel less guilty while devouring the entirety of a paczki. I mean, I couldn't help myself and ate a whole one with custard filling and chocolate frosting. The custard was smooth, creamy and added a density to the light pastry that holds it. The chocolate was a great touch of flavor and sweetness without overpowering the textures that make up the paczki. This was the same experience in the double chocolate, which has chocolate filling and chocolate frosting. It had a great combination of sweet and the soft pastry to not overwhelm your sweet tooth, but leave you craving more.

I also got a strawberry and a cinnamon-apple that were absolutely delicious. The strawberry had a typical kind of strawberry compote/filling that gooed out with that first bite. It had sugar sprinkled on top to go along with the natural sweetness and bring out the flavors. I gladly had sticky hands after picking at this one. The cinnamon-apple was impressive as well. The filling was almost like an apple pie filling, with a great mix of spices and that syrupy mix along with the actual apple chunks. The light sugar coating on the pastry also made you remember that it was a dessert and perfect for Fat Tuesday.

Dinkel's was one of the easiest places to go, for me, to get the paczkis, but I really want to try some at a real polish bakery. Next year. Or after Easter? Who knows. But Dinkel's did have a great selection of flavors in addition to the four I got. Some of them included: pineapple, cherry, raspberry, lemon, plum, apricot and custard.

If you're looking for paczkis I found the chicagoist's article helpful - my ex-boss sent it to me when she found out about my hunt. And even if you have to wait a whole year to try them, give them a shot. They are worth the calories, sugar intake and possible gluttony.

- Mollie

London Cravings: Bread and Butter Pudding

So maybe for other people bread and butter pudding is a staple or a basic dessert or something their mother made them or something they tried once, but for me it's a London memory. When I get all gooey and miss London, I also think of bread and butter pudding.

I had never, ever tried it until my 22nd birthday. Nicole made a large sheet of it, which I refused to stop eating even though A) it was hot, B) I was drinking rum, and C) I didn't have utensils. Hands in. Eventually they got me away from it, but it was a perfect breakfast the next morning and became the staple for when all our feminine hormones were running wild.

Which, you'll understand, since we start off with this lovely selection of chopped Cadbury chocolate, typically Dairy Milk. A bar or two will work, depending on how chocolatey you want it. Chocolate chips work as well.

The oven should be preheated to around 375 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit depending on your oven (We had it 200 degrees Celsius). You should have a brownie type pan, either a 9x13 or a square one. We had the rectangle one in London with edges that weren't straight up and down, but Nicole said it worked better in her larger square one at home. Make sure this pan is sprayed with something so the chocolate and everything doesn't stick.

Layer the bottom of the pan with around 6 slices of white bread (you can use others, but Nicole suggests white) cut into quarters. Although some of the sides may overlap it will bake fuller if they're in a single layer and will rise more like a cake. If you want more bread and don't care how it looks, feel free to have around a quarter of an inch of each piece on top of the others. Ours was a little more haphazard due to our excitement and need for speed (as you can see on the right).

In a large bowl mix together half a cup of heavy cream, 2 cups of milk, 3 eggs, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Once mixed dump that on top of the pan full of bread and make sure it gets across the entire pan. You'll want to shift it around or press any pieces down to try and get it all to soak up into the bread. Sprinkle chocolate on top and let it sit for around 10 minutes. We were always in a rush to eat it, so we never let it get that way, but it'll cook more evenly if soaked into the bread.

Then dust the top evenly with granulated sugar and bake it for 35 to 40 minutes or until it's nice and golden brown.

You can serve it up in slices or sit with your good friends and eat it straight from the pan with spoons. Just be careful, it's hot! The best parts are the gooey bits where the chocolate has pooled together when it melted. You'll get a rush of sugar there. You can also do a raisin and rum version with cinnamon and nutmeg - just take out the chocolate.

Now go and enjoy a taste of my London experience.

- Mollie






For easier access...


Bread and Butter Pudding Recipe:

Ingredients:
- about 6 slices of bread (white preferred, but feel free to experiment with the flavors you love)
- 1/2 cup heavy/double cream
- 2 cups milk
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 to 2 bars of chocolate or chocolate chips (depending on preference)
- granulated sugar

Instructions:
1) Chop up bars of chocolate (if you did bars). Preheat oven to 375-400 degrees.
2) Coat brownie pan with cooking spray, can be 13x9 or square.
3) Quarter the slices of bread and place in a layer on the pan.
4) Mix together the cream, milk, eggs, and vanilla in large mixing bowl. Once completely mixed pour on top of bread in the pan, coating the bread as evenly as possible.
5) Sprinkle chopped chocolate or chocolate chips evenly across pan. Let this rest for around 10 minutes.
6) Dust a layer of granulated sugar across the top of pan.
7) Bake for 35-40 minutes or until just golden brown.

8) Devour

Nothing Says Love More Than...

 I have always loved Valentine's Day. It didn't matter if I was five years old with paper princess valentine's cards, a teenager with no hopes of a boyfriend, or a girl head-over-heels. Valentine's Day is all about love, of all kinds.

I fell in love the moment I stepped into Anna Shea Chocolates and Lounge last weekend. I could have spent all day there and emptied my bank account. This place is a chocolate lover's dream. For now, though, I'll focus on my first trip to the lounge where I was treated to a hand dipped chocolate covered strawberry and Red Velvet hot chocolate.

The whole place was ready for Valentine's day - since it was the weekend before the celebration of chocolate, reds, pinks, and fluffy love. My jaw practically dropped when we were brought a plate with these two large strawberries dipped in chocolate and decorated with silver and gold hearts and swirls. Not only that, but my red velvet hot chocolate came in this adorable cupcake mug. Being the cupcake fanatic I am, I wanted to walk out of the store with it. (of course I didn't though! I'm not a thief!)



The chocolate covered strawberries were almost too beautiful to bite into. We sat beside the glass window in the lounge where you can watch their chocolatiers creating the chocolates and baked goods as you ate. It was behind that glass, not that long ago, that those strawberries were just being dipped and decorated. It has a very sophisticated feel to it, knowing that as you take that first succulent bite. Oh and it was succulent. The strawberries were still juicy and fresh beneath that thick layer of chocolate coating. The chocolate was solid, making me nervous about breaking into and biting it, but it wasn't too thick to overwhelm the strawberry itself. The nice fact was that it felt fresh and not like it had been hardened, frozen, and kept around for quite a while. The chocolate was solid, but I didn't actually break my teeth biting down on it. It was more like a solid piece of chocolate outside the sweet berry. Not to mention the designs made it practically a work of art.

Let's not forget the real surprise out of this adventure though: the red velvet hot chocolate.
First off, I have never, ever had red velvet hot chocolate. I needed to try it. It was a Valentine's special, since red velvet is always the biggest seller and real heart of the baked goods when it comes to Valentine's day (I mean it combines cake, a bit of cocoa, and that bright festive red color, it's just perfect).

I was surprised how nice the flavors melded together though. It wasn't strange, like some of the reactions I got when I told people about it. It was like drinking hot cocoa, but it had this great rich, velvety flavor that blended alongside the actual chocolate. I couldn't get over the pink whipped cream either - it was a great touch to add to the red velvet touch. At one point while sipping I got a little marshmallow, which I didn't know was in there at first, and thought to myself "A red velvet marshmallow?!" It was blended so well with the hot chocolate and the red velvet flavoring that I was truly impressed. The whipped cream wasn't overwhelming either - like it can be in frappuccino or a milkshake. Instead it was a creamy, smooth texture that cooled the warm drink and created this great combination of flavors on your tongue.

I was in chocolate heaven at Anna Shea's Chocolates and Lounge. I'll write about them again, but be sure to check them out for fun and festive treats such as these. The red velvet hot chocolate may have to wait until next Valentine's, but it was my favorite treat this Valentine's Day. Let me know what your favorite Valentine's or holiday treat is so I can try it out.

- Mollie

From London to Home: Making Crepes

I don't know what sounds more fancy and romantic than crepes. Most people don't know how to pronounce it or pronounce it differently and it can come in all types and flavors. A crepe is the kind of thing you just fantasize about, that is if you're a foodie and especially those of us who love sweet crepes. Sweet crepes are wonderful because you can use all types of fruits, you can have chocolate, you can have Nutella, it will mold and adapt to your ever changing longings and urges. Really, crepes are like a really caring lover. They can be whatever you want them to be.

Perhaps that's an obnoxious comparison, but my friend Nicole showed me in London how versatile crepes can be and taught me the tricks her mother taught her. We started off with a savory crepe for dinner one night. It involved a cheese sauce, bacon, chicken, and mushrooms. All of that wrapped inside a thin crepe like a burrito, with more cheese sauce poured on top, and then baked in the oven. It was savory. It was filling. It was meaty. It was delicious. I was skeptical at first, due to my lack of knowledge in the savory crepe area, but it was wonderful.

But, of course, I still wanted sweet crepes.

After a night of Wicked and magic and tears, they came. Nutella and banana all rolled up inside the thin beautiful crepes. I could barely stop myself from eating them. I had to have the recipe. I promised my family to make them crepes the moment I got home after watching Nicole.

Although I am not, and will never be, the pro crepe flipper that Nicole is... I wanted to make them. I ignored the fact that I would never be able to flip the crepe using just the skillet and a little fancy wrist movement. It was something even Nicole took a while learning. Instead I got the recipe and made them for my family. They were instantly full on one crepe, unlike myself, but loved the combination of chocolate, hazelnut, and banana.

The beauty of the crepe is that you can adjust it, so here I'll post the basis for the actual crepe and you can feel free to fill it with whatever you want, whenever you want.

French Crepes
original recipe from lifestyle food

Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:
1) The recipe calls to sift the flour with a pinch of salt, I was bad and didn't sift, but this might make for a lighter, fluffier crepe if you want to give it a shot. Otherwise just a pinch of salt tossed into the flour was my attempt and it wasn't bad.
2) Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in eggs and milk. Use a whisk to draw together the ingredients slowly and whisk together.
3) Add in melted butter, cover, and set aside. The recipe says to set aside for an hour, but every time we've done it we only let it sit for a few minutes or so. I don't think it hurts it to start earlier, but may lead to a fluffier, lighter version if you give it the time it asks for.
4) Grease a frying pan or crepe pan with butter or some cooking spray.
5) Pour in just enough batter to thinly coat the surface of the pan. Be careful! It's very easy to pour in too much which will make flipping harder and the crepe into more of a heavy pancake (which may be what happened to the ones I made for my family and why they could only eat one). Pour off any excess that you can.
6) Let it cook for about 1 minute until bubbles appear in the batter.
7) Flip the crepe and let the other side cook for another minute or so.
8) Remove crepe from pan, placing on hot plate and continue until all your batter is used up. Stack the crepes on top of each other flat while you are making the others.
9) Have fun mixing up ingredients and rolling them up or folding them into quarters. Try sprinkling some powdered sugar on top or adding a squirt of lemon juice. The flavoring is all up to you. Some of my favorite ingredients I've seen are: bananas, nutella, chocolate, strawberries, ice cream, whipped creme, blueberries, raisins, jams, marshmallows.


I think the real trick to the crepe is not to stress out too much. Although it seems fancy and scary, just have fun and be creative. If it doesn't flip right (I used a spatula and often found myself using other silly tools to help it flip evenly) try something else or start a new one. The batter is easy to make, so you can always do more. They'd make a really fun party food too with a selection of ingredients to put in the center. Just enjoy it and remember, the crepe will do whatever you want it to.

- Mollie

Outsiders in London: Brownies

Outsider Tart - Wine and Cheese Festival

Of course, the moment I heard there was going to be a Chocolate Festival in London it was on my calendar. The main event for me was the baking demonstration with David from The Outsider Tart. I had tried their peanut butter cheesecake brownie at the Wine and Cheese Festival earlier in my London adventures and fell in love. I was determined when I saw they were doing a baking demonstration that I had to go.

Little did I know that this was an American bakery - until I googled it. Of all the things for me to fall in love with in London it was an American bakery. Funny, right?

The bakery was started when both Davids (David Lesniak and David Muniz) moved to London from New York. They started The Outsider Tart to bring American baked goods to the area, focusing on brownies, cupcakes, whoopie pies, and cookies. For them, it was about spreading recipes that had been passed down for generations and showing that baking can be accessible to everyone. For me, it was a taste of home.

The cooking demonstration was cold, wet, and we were all huddled in folding chairs in a large white tent. But it was worth every minute. The David who wasn't sick showed up and had the host of the festival help him create two of their favorite brownie recipes. The fun part was that he didn't take himself too seriously. Although they have their own pans made specially for them, he emphasized how anyone can bake and that you have to keep going no matter what gets thrown at you. He even forgot to add some liquor to one of the brownie batters until it was in the pan, but that didn't faze him.


He made a chocolate-cherry cheesecake brownie that was prime competition for their peanut butter cheesecake brownie. The brownie and cheesecake were mixed together in this beautiful soft meld of flavors. I think their real trick is that when swirling together the cheesecake and the brownie mix it's very simple and light. You aren't supposed to shove the knife in and swirl it dramatically - as I know I do to try and get that marbled look. Instead he emphasized a light drawing of the knife back and forth across the plan and finishing there. Don't go back again. Don't play with it. Don't try to be too creative. This way the brownie batter is still mostly at the bottom, but you get a nice moist mix of the two to give it that mix of flavors.

These brownies were so good that I was begging for more, literally. They had trays of samples for everyone and the leftovers I called out and asked for. When it comes to brownies this good, you can be greedy.

I now desperately want their new book Baked in America. It can be ordered online at their website, through Amazon, or picked up at their store. If you're in London stop by their store. I was really disappointed I didn't go, but was at least able to take advantage of seeing them at the two food festivals. Back in America, I still want their recipes. There's 120 in their new book too and I can not stop drooling over the cheesecake brownies.

Perhaps it's the taste of home for another outsider in London that drew me to them, but that doesn't decrease the deliciousness of these baked goods.
- Mollie