Malteser Cookies that led to a surprising discovery...

I love Maltesers. They're the British/Indian version of Whoppers. People who love Whoppers should try Maltesers, I think they'll taste the difference. Maybe it's the chocolate? No idea. Either way, I was surfing the net the other day and saw a lot of TWD (Tuesdays w/Dorie) recipes and pictures for whopper cookies. Which gave me the idea to try Malteser cookies!

(Notice clever placement of the wrapper.. I tore half of it off in my haste to open it!)

Even though I like Maltesers, I hardly ever eat them. They're kinda expensive around here. Also, I have crummy teeth (way too many cavities for one lifetime) and some chocolate literally makes my teeth hurt. Especially the crunchy ones, and this is one of them.

I was a bit weary of this recipe, it's really outside my norm.. But so far, I've been sticking to the usual, so I thought it was time to step out of the comfy shell.. of baking..

Strawberry Cupcakes

I just bought a gigantic box of strawberries from Costco, and they're all so yummy. So I decided to try strawberry cupcakes. I was thinking more like a strawberry muffin, but at the last minute I decided to frost them. I just finished a cake decorating class with my sister.. we both had to buy so many frosting tips... so I think we're just excited to practice our frosting on anything and everything. Plus it's fun!

Baby Shower!

My sister threw a baby shower for a friend this weekend, so I took it as an opportunity to take pictures for the couple. I've never really done event photography, mostly since I'm not very good at it when I do. I'm in love with natural light and still objects (like food photography). Taking pictures of my niece is hard enough! But I thought this would be a good test of my abilities.

I made this collage for them last night with the pictures. I LOVE mixed couples (I'd love them even if I wasn't in one)! I'm excited to see their little Indian-Japanese cutie pie running around soon :)

Kita Cakes!

So, my friend Kita had a birthday this past week. I'm really quite fond of this girl, even though we don't see each other that much. It's funny, because I met her through my bff J, and I used to go out with her and all the other girls J shared a dorm with at school. I didn't really enjoy my time at UGA and instead would come home and party with these girls. I love that they never made me feel left out and were always a fabulous time. I have so many great memories from my college years because of them!

I have more pictures but I'll save them for other posts :) 

Kita is adorable. She's not short; she's fun-sized and always making me laugh. When I think of her, I think of dancing; dance class, clubs, and Nazaaqat. That girl can dance up a storm...

Frosted Cookies for Spring!

I recently discovered the best frosting ever. Well, lots of people call it the best frosting ever. I can't decide how much I like it. I want to try adding cocoa to it, I have a feeling it'll be yummier. But so far... every time I taste a little on my finger, I just want to eat more... It's weird.

Anyway, I did a test batch the other day and tinted it green since I had some lavender sugar crystals. I thought I'd go for a nice spring cookie, even though the weather is crazy strange and we had a hint of spring for about 2 days and then it changed to near freezing overnight.. It infuriates me that some people don't believe in the climate change problem, but that's a rant for another day.

Blueberry Hearts for Blueberry Days...

I'm sick and stuffy. I think it's allergies but I can't really tell... It's been gorgeous outside though, and so nice to finally be able to wear dresses!
So what do I do when it hurts to talk or concentrate on a computer? Bake!

I decided to make linzer cookies. I'd been wanting to do this for so long. More specifically, it was supposed to be a Christmas gift for JBS, but then my first two tries turned out to be a disaster. The cookies would horribly spread in the oven...

STL Food Feasts

I spent a glorious 6 days in St. Louis, Missouri with JBS and friends. It's funny, I never imagined I'd go to the midwest, and even so, I figured it would be Chicago, not St. Louis. Now I'm getting to know this city pretty well. Strange.

I had heard JBS had made a Chinese food feast with his friends a few weeks back, and he promised to make me one when I got there. I love that this boy keeps to his promises...

Moose Tracks Cupcakes

JBS and I love moose tracks ice-cream. Something about those ribbons of chocolate fudge, and finding a mini peanut butter cup in a mouthful, mmm...

Anyway, I decided to try to make moose tracks cupcakes, even though they don't taste much like the ice cream.

I made my usual vanilla cupcakes and filled the center with milk chocolate/peanut butter ganache. Then I topped the whole thing with some dark chocolate fudge. It was soooo good!

Mocha, Mocha and Silpat Mats!

I asked JBS to come up with another macaron flavor for me. He suggested mocha. I hate coffee and didn't want to buy any just for this so at first, I was against the idea... but then my family ended up having some lying around, and I had already used the coffee for the chocolate cake.
I also had leftover cake batter, so I made mini cupcakes and a simple mocha frosting on top. I tried to make the frosting look pretty but it was just too soft. It was so strongly flavored with coffee that to dilute it, I used some of the milk chocolate hazelnut mousse I had leftover.

It worked out pretty well. It made the frosting softer but tastier, and it ended up spreading over the cupcake. I didn't get any pictures since my coworkers finished them pretty quickly but I'll just take that as a compliment :)

The Chocolate Lover's Cake

So last week I made a cake for my mom and her friends, as per her request. There was a cake I had planned to make for my sister and Sanjay's wedding anniversary, but it had turned into a disaster. It was my first time ever making a 2 layer cake, and I'm just terrible at it... The cake kept cracking or breaking, it was always lopsided and sliding off the filling.

This cake wasn't much of an exception except it was way more delicious. It did crack a little and it's definitely lopsided, but it was pretty tasty.

FLIP Burger Boutique

I am so behind on posts!

I'm also in St. Louis at the moment, spending time with JBS even though he has many lectures and exams to get through/study for. So I was saving my posting and photo editing to do here to keep busy and not distract him. It's been good so far! Especially since it's supposed to rain in ATL for the next few days and I left that miserable weather to come to the most gorgeous sunny days here. I really just feel like running around outside, which we plan to do later...

Mango Lime Mousse Tart

One of my mom's most popular recipes that is loved by many many people is her mango pie. It's relatively simple... you blend unflavored gelatin, mango puree, cream cheese, whipped cream and sugar in a blender and pour into a premade graham cracker crust. The results are divine.

I had my tart dough left over and I bought a 6in tart pan from Ikea that I really wanted to try out... I love the combination of mango and lime. I still remember when I was about 12 and my bff Cici and I would go watch movies at Regal (for $5.50!) and sneak in a mango lime sorbet smoothie from Ben & Jerry's. It was the perfect drink for summer. Eventually, they stopped making it and turned it into a fat-free sorbet which really wasn't as good. I found out later that it was Sprite and their mango-lime sorbet, but they never sold it in stores and other brands didn't do it justice (when I tried to make it at home).