S'mores Cookies: 1 dough, 3 cookies

I bought everything to make S'mores with my husbands son last time he was over,
it was both our first times making and eating s'mores. He said he knew about them
because wow wow wubbzy went camping and made s'mores.
Maybe it was the lack of the camping tent, fire pit and stars but I didn't think very
highly of the famous S'mores treat, too sweet, not my thing.

I had a bunch of leftovers and I remembered seeing a s'mores cookie on pinterest
that really caught my eye, I was in the mood for something sweet and indulging
and so I outdid myself. I made a graham cracker cookie dough and from there
made three different s'mores cookies.
The cookies turned out absolutely amazing, all three of them.
Even the plain graham cracker cookies hold their own! You could do that if s'mores
aren't your thing. Either way this is a great recipe, one I'm keeping in the book!

Graham Cracker Cookies

recipe from: Cooking Classy

Ingredients:

- 10 graham cracker sheets, finely ground in a food processor
- 1 c. flour
- 1/2 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. baking soda
- 1/4 t. salt
- 1/2 c. butter, room temperature
- 2/3 c. packed brown sugar
- 1/3 c. granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 t. vanilla extract

S'mores Sandwich Cookies (top left)

- 1 recipe graham cracker cookie dough
- 1 bag of marshmallows
- 3/4 c. chocolate chips

S'mores Chocolate Chip Cookies (top right)


- 1 recipe graham cracker cookie dough
- 1 c. mallow bits, the ones for hot chocolate
- 1 c. chocolate chips

S'mores Cookies (bottom)

- 1 recipe graham cracker cookie dough
- 1 bag of marshmallows
-  3 chocolate bars


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine ground crackers, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt,
set aside.

Beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Stir in egg and vanilla. Slowly add in
dry ingredients, mix until well combined.

S'mores Sandwich Cookies: Scoop 1 teaspoon of dough at a time, using hands roll into
a ball and place on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten balls slightly (I like using the bottom
of a small cup) and bake for 9 minutes, remove from oven. Place a marshmallow on top
of half of the cookies, bake for another 2 minutes or turn on the broiler and slide them under
the broiler for about a minute watching the cookies closely so mallows won't burn,
after you take out the cookies from the oven top each cookie with the remaining cookies
and let cool. Melt chocolate chips in microwave by 10 seconds intervals, stirring after each
time until chocolate is completely smooth. Scoop melted chocolate into small ziploc, snip
off a small corner and drizzle chocolate over cooled sandwich cookies.

S'mores Chocolate Chip Cookies: Stir in the mallow bits and the chocolate chips into
the graham cracker cookie dough. Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough at a time, using hands
roll into a ball and place on prepared baking sheet. Flatten balls slightly and bake for
12 minutes.

S'mores Cookies: Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough at a time, using hands roll into a ball
and place on prepared baking sheet. Flatten balls slightly and bake for 12 minutes. Remove
cookies from oven and top each with a marshmallow (I used the flat ones for s'mores,
you can cut marshmallow in half) then top with a piece of chocolate and place under the
broiler for 1 minute.

You can make one, two or all three. These are great to share with loved ones, pack up

and take on a camping trip or simply enjoy in your backyard under the stars with good

company, what a way to feel all outdoorsy!

xoxo

<3

Beet Chocolate Choco Chip Cookies

I had been dreaming about beet chocolate chip cookies for quite some time...
I've actually been dreaming about anything beets lately!
Beet chips, beet muffins, beet candy, all which are still on my list.
Last weekend I actually played around with the idea of these beet choco chip
cookies and was really happy with the results!
Even the kids that my mom babysits were loving these, they would never know
that they were eating veggie cookies.

These cookies have a great texture to them, really soft but with a slight crunch
in every bite that comes from the roasted beets that were then grated and
got toasted as the cookies baked. You can also puree the beets to get a
smoother texture. They are not too sweet which makes them perfect with a
cup of coffee or tea. I made my dough a chocolate cookie dough
by adding cocoa powder but I'm sure they would be great with out it too and
the color would be more of a pink instead of the purple that I got.
I will definitely be baking them again!

Beet Chocolate Choco Chip Cookies


Ingredients:

- 1 c. roasted beets, grated or pureed (about 1 large beet)
- 3/4 c. butter, softened
- 1 c. sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 t. vanilla
- 1 3/4 c. flour
- 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla, beat until fluffy then stir in beets.
Stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, blend into batter.
Stir in chocolate chips. Using a teaspoon drop cookie dough onto ungreased
cookie sheets and bake for 12 minutes. Store in airtight container.

Enjoy!

xoxo

peek at my life through instagram:

1. i have a slight obsession for cute socks. 2. chipped nails + hello kitty ring. 3. late night cinnamon rolls, i used this recipe. 4. fish tail. 5. before & after : best homemade pepperoni mushroom pizza, recipe. 6. favorite date night. 7. leopard print shoesies + green thights.  8. making s'mores with leo. 9. homemade stuffed crust. 10. gifted bread calls for breakfast tortas.

It was my birthday yesterday, I'm now 25. Time flies. Woke up to breakfast made by my husband and no dishes to wash. I surprisingly did not bake a cake as much as I wanted to,  I just feel kind of drained lately. My mom bought me some yummy cheesecake which is what I originally planned to bake. My birthday was filled with hugs from my dearest mom, sisters and husband, lots of flowers, chocolate and gummy bears. So much happened this last year. A lot of good things. I baked lots of cakes, got married, found out I'm expecting a baby boy! Some sad things happened as well. One of them being that my dad got deported out of the country after 22 years of living here, just in the middle of his whole immigration process, he wasn't able to be here when I got married, he won't be here for his first grandchild's birth, he wasn't able to be here for my 25th birthday, I've been doing a lot of tear shedding over here but I'm hoping something good will come out of all this mess. I feel so vulnerable when I share bits of my personal life especially something like this, but it just felt like the thing to do. Going to work on my 25 things to do before I'm 26 list.

happy friday.

xoxo

Iced Vanilla Coffee

This is one of those things I had been wanting to try for quite some time...
Cold Brewed Iced Coffee. I finally decided it was time when I came across
this simple recipe for iced vanilla coffee from Call me cupcake.
If you haven't checked out the blog, I highly recommend it.
It is a beautiful blog with a unique dark photographing style.

I've made this iced coffee a handful of times since I discovered it and it
never disappoints, I will definitely be making it more often now that I get to
enjoy warm sunny days (my favorite kind of days). I love what the touch
of vanilla does to the coffee, it makes all the difference.
Make yourself a cup, pick up a book and enjoy on your front porch/ backyard.

Iced Vanilla Coffee


- strong coffee
- lots of ice
- milk or cream
- vanilla syrup or vanilla extract w/ sugar

1. Put ground coffee, (use few extra spoons to make it extra strong) and
cold water in a french press, stir well, put lid on and refrigerate for a few hours,
best overnight.

2. When coffee is ready, gently press on the lid to get rid of coffee grounds.

3. Fill a tall glass with lots of ice. Pour cold coffee over ice, filling the glass
a little more than halfway. Add sugar to your liking with a little vanilla extract, stir.
Fill the rest of the cup with your choice of milk or cream and enjoy!

xoxo

Banana Bread, one bowl required.

I love banana smoothies/ milkshakes in the am. They are a quick energy boost
to get me through the morning chores meanwhile I make myself some quick breakfast.
It seems bananas never last that long around here, that being said I bought a bunch
the other day so we would have plenty... turns out now that we have more then plenty
no one wants to eat them! So I made some banana bread, one of my favorite treats.
I was eager to try this recipe from smitten kitchen that I had bookmarked a while back.

This baby loaf disappeared in a matter of seconds.
It was some of the best banana bread I've had and seriously so ridiculously easy!
Best part is; there were only a few dishes in my sink left to wash unlike the pile
that is usually left over when I bake something!
Least thing I want to be doing now a days is washing dishes, my lower back
is having a hard time carrying all this weight I've put on.

Banana Bread
slightly adapted from smitten kitchen


Ingredients

- 3 ripe bananas, smashed
- 1/3 c. melted salted butter
- 3/4 c. brown sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 t. vanilla
- 1 t. cinnamon
- 1/2 t. nutmeg

- 1 t. baking soda
- pinch of salt

- 1 1/2 c. flour
- 1/4-1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Mix butter into mashed bananas with wooden spoon.
2. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla & spices.
3. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over everything, stir in.
4. Add flour and again, stir in.
5. If using chocolate chips you can stir in at the end or
sprinkle on top of bread.

Pour into a buttered 4x8 loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes.
Cool and slice to serve.

Walnuts or pecans would be awesome in this instead of choco chips.
Do you have spotted bananas? Make this now!

Enjoy with a glass of milk, cup of coffee or tea.

xoxo

P.S. If you have any special banana bread recipes to share,

I would love to try them out.

Mandarin-Mango Agua Fresca

Happy late Easter! What did you end up doing this passed Sunday?

I had planned to share a cute Easter recipe with you but I caught the flu

and everything went downhill from there. Imagine being pregnant with

the typical pregnancy symptoms as sore feet, lower back pain, occasional 

headaches and so... top that with a mean cough, stuffy nose, body aches,

chills, fatigue... top that off with major migraines/ teeth pain.

It was one of the hardest times of my life and being pregnant there isn't

a lot of medication that one can take so I had to toughen up and

not sleep for a couple of nights.

I am so thankful to be feeling better today, I seriously forgot how good

it feels to be well and alive. I thought I was going to be sick forever.

Now I'm just dealing with heartburn, really bad heartburn but It is nothing

compared to how I was feeling for the past week, just need to run out

and get some tums as soon as my husband gets home!

I made this agua fresca on a hot day about three weeks ago when I found myself 

with too many mandarin oranges about to go bad and one very ripe mango.

It was the perfect drink to cool down on a hot cali day!

Never thought the combination of mandarins and mangoes would work so

perfectly together but they do! Best part is you can taste both the mandarins and the

mango individually. This recipe is super easy to play around with so don't be shy!

Mandarin-Mango Agua Fresca

Ingredients:

- 15-20 mandarins

- 1 medium ripe mango

- 1 c. sugar

- water

1. Peel mango, cut pulp off the bone and place in small saucepan.

Add sugar and one cup of water to saucepan place over medium-low heat

and stir constantly until sugar is completely dissolved. Once Sugar is

completely dissolved, place in blender and puree together. Strain to get rid

of  any solids. Set aside to cool down.

2. While your mango simple syrup is cooking up, juice your mandarins

with a cute manual orange juicer. Once all mandarins are juiced pour juice

in a pitcher and refrigerate.

3. When simple syrup is at room temperature, pour in the pitcher with

your mandarin juice top with water and stir. How much water you add depends on

how sweet you want your agua fresca. Top off with ice and enjoy on a warm day.

xoxo

<3