Around Town: Wild Blue Frozen Yogurt

May 25, 2014May 28, 2014 Caitlyn4 Comments

Last week I was spoiled with frozen yogurt not once, but twice! After talking about going for “FroYo” with a few of my friends for months, we finally made it to Wild Blue Frozen Yogurt in Grand Haven, MI.

This was my first experience in years with frozen yogurt, and I was really excited to sample some of the fun flavors that ranged from cheesecake, to salted caramel, to standards like vanilla and chocolate. As my sister-in-law explained, once you’ve sampled a few, you’re free to mix any favors you like before adding additional toppings, and then you pay for your treat based on the total weight.

Above you can see Chad, my sister-in-law, and my brother in line paying for their delightful cups of frozen yogurt, as well as a view of the 70 plus toppings offered to add to your yogurt.

I chose the White Chocolate Macadamia-flavored frozen yogurt, and I topped it with raspberries, Ghirardelli chocolate pieces, cookie dough chunks, a cherry, and waffle cone pieces. A couple days later when I came back after hiking with my friend Alex, I tried the same flavor, but perfected my toppings, choosing Heath bar pieces, a light sprinkling of the Ghirardelli chocolate pieces, and a cherry. *sighs happily*

Chad’s cup and my cup on the scale being weighed.

So many pretty colors amongst our four cups!

I really enjoyed my experiences at Wild Blue last week. The location is easy to get to, the shop itself is very open, clean and friendly, and the atmosphere felt very relaxed. I’ve heard that other Frozen Yogurt places tend to have more flavor choices, but that they also tend to be much busier and less inviting. I felt like Wild Blue offered a perfect set of choices: I wasn’t overwhelmed, yet I still had lots of fun choosing different flavors and toppings!

What is your favorite Frozen Yogurt place? And what flavors do you like the most?

Bookspiration · Food & Cooking

Bookspiration: Chocolate Temptations

May 21, 2014May 21, 2014 Caitlyn5 Comments

And now the finale to all the fun I’ve had with Uncommon Grounds: An adventure involving coffee and chocolate, which are two of my favorite things on the planet. I found a recipe in 1000 Chocolate Baking and Dessert Recipes from Around the World for Chocolate Temptation cookies, and decided to give the recipe a try. They. were. GLORIOUS.

To start the recipe, you preheat your oven, grease a cookie sheet or parchment paper, and melt some chocolate, coffee and butter into a heat-proof bowl until the chocolate is almost melted.

Then, in a separate bowl, you beat some eggs until they’re fluffy before adding some sugar.

From that point, you add in the chocolate, butter and coffee mixture, stirring until smooth. Next up you sift a mixture of flour, baking powder, and salt into the mix, along with chocolate pieces and almond extract.

Next, put tablespoonfuls of dough onto a greased baking sheet or greased parchment paper and stick them in the oven to bake!

Once they’ve cooled, it’s time to pipe melted chocolate onto them (I used a ziplock bag!).

I did the white chocolate first…

…and then I did the milk chocolate!

The cookies turned out fantastic, though the coffee flavor was quite subtle. As you can see in the first picture above, I used Starbucks Breakfast Blend for my cookies, but that was just because that was what I had on hand. When I brought the cookies to work, we decided to do a tasting with a French press of Espresso roast, which goes well with nutty, chocolatey flavors. The pairing was FABULOUS, so I’m thinking that perhaps next time I make these cookies I’ll use a darker roast coffee brewed more strongly instead of the Breakfast Blend. Do you have a favorite recipe that incorporates coffee?

Chocolate Temptations (adapted from 1000 Chocolate Baking and Dessert Recipes from Around the World)

Ingredients

3 1/4 oz unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

12 1/2 oz semisweet chocolate

1 tsp strong coffee

2 eggs

scant 3/4 cup brown sugar

generous 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

2 tsp almond extract

scant 2/3 cup chopped walnuts

scant 2/3 cup chopped hazelnuts

1 1/2 oz. white chocolate

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a large cookie sheet or parchment paper. Put 8 oz of the semisweet chocolate with the butter and coffee into a heatproof bowl and heat in 30 second bursts in the microwave, stirring in between each burst until chocolate is almost melted.

2. Meanwhile, beat eggs in a bowl until fluffy. Whisk in the sugar gradually until thick. Add the chocolate mixture and stir until combined.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and stir into the chocolate mixture. Chop 3 oz of semisweet chocolate into pieces and stir into the dough (or use semisweet chocolate chips to make things go even faster!). Stir in the almond extract and nuts.

4. Put tablespoonfuls of the dough onto a cookie sheet, transfer to the preheated oven, and bake for 16 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, or if using parchment paper, pull paper off cookie sheet and set aside to cool. To decorate, melt the remaining chocolate and spoon into pastry bags or ziplock bags with the ends cut off, then pipe lines onto the cookies.

Enjoy!
xx

Around Town · Seen/Heard/Tried · Tried

Around Town: Hodgepodge Bakehouse

May 13, 2014May 14, 2014 Caitlyn2 Comments

A couple weeks ago my mom and I decided to try a new-to-us bakery in Muskegon called Hodgepodge Bakehouse!

When we first walked inside, we were greeted with a case of enticing baked goods.

It’s difficult to choose, believe me. My mom and I decided to go with Apple Fritters. Since each one was about the size of my face, I double-checked with my mom: “Do you want a whole one, or to split one?” She replied in a very matter-of-fact way that she wanted a whole one and I was like, “Yeah. Of course. Go big or go home. Totally makes sense.” On the inside I was like, “There’s no way I’m going to be able to finish this!”

I soon found out that you can do anything you put your mind to, however. I got about halfway through the fritter and felt super full, but it was just. so. good. All will power was lost. As if the fritter itself wasn’t enough, having delicious Ferris coffee to pair it with did nothing for my lack of inhibition.

Glazed on the outside with a fluffy, light inside, the apple fritters had a perfect balance of sweetness. The apple filling was spread throughout the filling like a delicate, almost creamy surprise, occasionally delighting you with a tiny apple wedge. In one word: fabulous.

My mom and I enjoyed our Hodgepodge experience amidst fun signs like “Donut Worry, Be Happy” (which could be my motto), and “A good baker will rise to the occasion… It’s the yeast he can do.”

Since going with my mom, I’ve already been back to Hodgepodge Bakehouse again with a friend (last time I indulged in a more reasonably sized donut with a cookie crumble topping). Hodgepodge Bakehouse also serves pizzas, soups, sandwiches and salads, all of which look really yummy from across the coffee and sweet-filled tray that tends to grace my table when I go. I’m so glad I got to try someplace new, and would recommend giving Hodgepodge Bakehouse a try if you’re in the area!

Bookspiration · Food & Cooking

Bookspiration: Uncommon Grounds

April 28, 2014April 29, 2014 Caitlyn5 Comments

I’ve finally finished the behemoth book Uncommon Grounds, and am happy to say that I learned a lot. It’s quite possible my coworkers don’t feel the same joy I do, since upon starting the book I’ve been spouting out all kinds of random facts to them. In my defense, we are in the coffee business, so telling them interesting things I learned should be perfectly acceptable. I also should get an award for finishing the giant coffee history book, but perhaps that’s just my opinion.

Anyway, in honor of Uncommon Grounds I wanted to do a coffee tasting (I may or may not do coffee tastings all the time, but that’s beside the point 😉 ). I chose to give the medium roast coffee, Guatamala Antigua, a try. I tried this Starbucks coffee in a French press when I first started working as a barista, and after it was mentioned briefly in Uncommon Grounds, I thought I should give it another go. My palette for coffee tasting has improved a bit, so I was hoping to be able to recognize the notes of cocoa and soft spice this time around. Because the Guatamala Antigua pairs well with caramel, I decided to try it with one of my favorite treats: Stroopwafles!

I found some stroopwafles at my local grocery store, and though they weren’t the brand I normally get, I purchased them. The last time I went to the fabulous DeBoer Bakery in Holland, MI, a cashier recommended putting a stroopwafle on top of a cup of coffee or tea so that the caramel in the center would warm up, so that was a must for this tasting.

After waiting for the press to finish, it was finally time to try my pairing. I poured some coffee into my cup and set a stroopwafle on top. In that moment, it was like dreams were coming true. *sighs happily* I smelled the coffee and slurped it, noticing the medium body and acidity of the roast. Then, I tried a bite of my stroopwafle and…MY DREAMS WERE DASHED! The stroopwafle tasted quite stale, and it paled in comparison to stroopwafles of my past. (Chad and I were fortunate enough to try stroopwafles in Amsterdam a couple years ago, and since then the best brand I’ve tried is Daelmans. I’ve decided to make amends for the serious sadness of this tasting by getting proper stroopwafles and trying them with another press of the Guatamala!)

Despite the heart-breaking taste of the stroopwafles, the Guatamala Antigua paired so well with caramel that it actually improved the flavor of the stroopwafle. Good coffee and food pairings are supposed to compliment each other that way: the food should bring out the best of the coffee, and the coffee should bring out the best of the food, so that you’re sitting there wanting to take bite after sip after bite after sip.

I didn’t finish my stroopwafle, but I finished the delicious Guatamala. I’ll keep you posted on how the next tasting goes, and I’ll share some of my favorite facts from Uncommon Grounds, too! What’s your favorite coffee pairing?

Bookspiration · Food & Cooking

Bookspiration: Dame Eyola’s Lemon Tart

April 21, 2014April 23, 2014 Caitlyn3 Comments

This weekend was full of Easter treats! I made some super easy, dangerously yummy Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Easter Eggs, some pretty pastel-colored deviled eggs, and a lovely lemon tart.

Pretty Deviled Eggs ❤

Sweet treats: top left and right: Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs (made for work, but definitely sampled at home!), bottom left: my mom’s amazing carrot cake, and bottom right: too many desserts! Carrot Cake, Lemon Tart & Cheesecake.

I decided to make the lemon tart in honor of Dame Eyola from The Neverending Story. The recipe is sort of a glorified lemon bar recipe, but I figured Dame Eyola grew fabulous fruit, so why not glamor up a lemon bar recipe with her in mind?

Dame Eyola’s Lemon Tart

Ingredients

1 1/4 c. chilled butter 2 c. sugar

2 c. all-purpose flour 1/4 c. lemon juice

1 c. powdered sugar (plus a little extra for dusting)

4 eggs candied lemon zest

blueberries (for garnish)

1. Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Then cut butter into flour and powdered sugar until crumbly; press into an ungreased tart pan. Make sure you spread the crust high enough over the edges that you’ll have a high “wall” for holding in the lemon filling later. Bake for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, you can make your candied lemon zest. I didn’t take any pictures of the process, but it’s super easy and wonderful directions and pictures can be found by clicking here. Basically, you zest a lemon (the directions say to peel and slice the zest, but I just used my zester), boil the zest in a sugar-water simple syrup, drain it, dry it, and coat in more sugar. Can’t go wrong! Set your zest aside and make your filling. Squeeze out the lemon juice from your zested lemon (it should equal about a 1/4 cup, at least), or use lemon juice from a jar. Then blend eggs, sugar and lemon juice together.

Here is my crust after pulling it out of the oven.

3. Slowly pour lemon mixture over crust. (Be careful!–I got a little over excited and some of my filling spilled over the sides of my crust, leaking through the bottom of my tart pan and onto the counter! *cries*) Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes; cool.

Here is the tart after cooling.

4. Once the tart has cooled, sift some powdered sugar on top for decoration.

5. Next, add your pretty candied lemon zest.

6. Lastly, add some blueberries for a nice, colorful contrast. The tart will taste best chilled, so I recommend keeping it refrigerated for at least an hour before serving.

Oo la la!

Enjoy!

I had a lot of fun making and eating Easter delights over the weekend, and was happy to make Dame Eyola’s Lemon Tart: a spring treat that was book-inspired! Did you enjoy any special treats over the weekend?

Food & Cooking · Seen/Heard/Tried · Tried

Chuao Honeycomb Dark Chocolate

April 17, 2014February 16, 2017 Caitlyn2 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about chocolate, but believe me: it hasn’t left my heart. It’s just that I haven’t had many opportunities to indulge in specialty chocolates lately. Fortunately, yesterday I went to World Market and came across Chuao chocolate bars. I saw a Honeycomb flavor and knew I had to try it!

On the package, there is a description of the “experience” of eating this chocolate bar: “Crunchy bits of golden, caramelized honey mingle with deep dark chocolate, like secret lovers meeting on a warm summer night. Sweet and decadent, the Honeycomb bar will charm you, one nibble at a time.” Phew! Is it getting hot all of the sudden? I’m surprised a chocolate bar that sexy doesn’t melt just from the description! 😉

Before trying the bar, I knew that I liked a couple of things about it: Firstly, Chuao ethically sources its cocoa. Secondly, Chuao chocolates are 100% natural, without hydrogenated fats, artificial preservatives, artificial colors and flavors or artificial sweeteners.

I broke off a hunk to split with Chad, and observed the little crispy bits of honey visible. I had sort of hoped there was going to be actual honeycomb covered in the dark chocolate, but upon reading more carefully I realized there were only caramelized pieces of honey. (Out of curiosity, I looked up how much honeycomb costs, and it can range from around $11 to $30 and up for just 8 ounces!)

Any tiny bit of disappointment at feeling misled by the picture was replaced with pleasure as I took my first bite. The dark chocolate was rich and lovely, and the bits of honey lightened the overall feel of the chocolate in my mouth. The texture actually reminded me a lot of sea foam chocolate, which of course got me looking up recipes for sea foam, which led me to finding this nice video with an easy recipe for honeycomb sea foam:

Overall, I enjoyed the Chuao chocolate. I’d be interested in trying their Pretzel Toffee Twirl Bar or their Whisky Pairing bonbons. Which would you like to try?

Food & Cooking · Seen

I Spy…

April 8, 2014April 8, 2014 Caitlyn3 Comments

Spring!

It may still be cold, but I’ve been finding bits of springtime (or creating bits of it!) all around me 🙂 Firstly, I’ve been spying it outdoors…

Is that water? Oh my gosh, that’s water! THE ICE IS MELTING in Grand Haven! HURRAH!

This ice was melting from the inside out, creating a little cave!

Bright skies = happy days

Secondly, I’ve been creating a springtime atmosphere to “spy” indoors…!

Nothing like whipping up some Lemon Poppy Seed Scones for a nice spring day. I made my first-ever batch with a nice (cute!) mug of coffee nearby.

The recipe said to cut the scones into twelve triangles, but I chose to cut the twelve in half again because they were so big. The scones were fantastic!

I may not be able to start a garden just yet, but I was able to make a cute radish needle felting craft with one of my Whimsey Box kits. I had never heard of needle felting before, but now I’m in love with it. I can’t wait to show you a tutorial featuring the other needle felt cutie I made!

There was invigorating spring lemon scent in another of my Whimsey Box kits: homemade lotion and hand scrub.

I also decided to make some Vanilla Pistachio Cream Puffs because I thought the bright, pastel green color created a nice, light spring feel.

The cream puffs were yummy, too, so I decided it would be best to get them out of the house and bring them to work 🙂

Where have you spied spring?

Food & Cooking · Monday Matters · Tried

Hina Matsuri Dinner

March 4, 2014March 4, 2014 Caitlyn3 Comments

Today it’s Hina Matsuri in Japan, also known as Doll’s Day or Girl’s Day, so I decided to make a Japanese meal to celebrate from Michigan.

I was really excited to find a simple, pretty-looking recipe for chirashizushi using fresh, sushi-grade tuna. Chad went all over town in search of tuna I could use for the recipe, and finally found some at our local D&W supermarket. Chirashizushi is basically a bowl of sushi rice topped with fresh fish, and–in this case–a colorful salad mixture.

Yes, I know this picture is blurry, but at least there are cute dolls decorating it.

In addition to the chirashizushi, I also made yudofu (recipe at my old blog, here!) and ichigo daifuku. Yudofu is basically tofu boiled with kombu (dried kalp), and ichigo daifuku is a lovely spring treat consisting of fresh strawberries wrapped in sweet red bean paste and mochi.

Here you can see my colorful bowl of chirashizushi, as well as the plate of yudofu in the background. I used traditional white sticky rice rather than the brown rice for which the recipe called.

So bright and cheery!

Here are some up-close pictures of the ichigo daifuku. I had to do some conversions when using the recipe because everything was in grams and ounces, so I think I’ll be experimenting to make them look prettier in the future. When it comes down to it though, I didn’t care too much about how they looked because they tasted really yummy, and totally brought me back to Japan (they were one of my favorite Japanese sweets! Natsukashii!). You can find the recipe I adapted by clicking here.

We really enjoyed having a Hina Matsuri dinner, and I was so glad everything turned out! Hope you have a lovely Girl’s Day!

P.S. I know I had promised I’d be back last Friday, but something…unexpected came up. On the bright side, I’ve reserved the post I’d been planning to write, and should have it ready for you this Friday instead! 🙂

Food & Cooking · Monday Matters

Annual Bake-Off

February 18, 2014February 18, 2014 Caitlyn3 Comments

This past Saturday we hosted this year’s annual Bake-Off, using the occasion to have a housewarming party as well. Before the party started, we prepared some fruit, cheese, sausage, crackers and nuts on the table, along with utensils, plates, and napkins, etc.

We also set up an area with coffee, hot water and tea, wine, soda, and punch. The temperature outside was just perfect for leaving the beer to stay cold on our back porch 🙂

I adapted an easy Dreamsicle Punch recipe I saw to make a pink version more fitting for the Valentine’s weekend. Just combine a quart of Raspberry sherbet, a quart of vanilla ice cream, a liter of sprite or 7-up, and a can of cream soda to recreate this simple punch yourself. We added some sliced strawberries for extra decoration.

As guests started arriving, our table started filling up with more and more delicious baked treats. Chocolate seemed to be in everyone’s dish this year, and everything was so decadent!

I made a Nutella Strawberry Tart, but I was worried there wouldn’t be enough for everyone, so I made extra filling and made mini versions in phyllo dough as well.

My friend Kara made some dense pumpkin muffins with whipped cream topping.

A friend of the family made this chocolate cake with almond slivers. So pretty and delicious!

My friend Caitlin made this lovely cake with cocoa and coffee flavors. Such nice presentation (and, once again, so yummy!).

On this plate you can see a slice of the tart, a slice of the chocolate cake with almond slivers, and a slice of a fantastic Guiness Chocolate cake that I unfortunately didn’t get a full picture of (however, many of us teasingly compared its appearance to that cake in the movie Matilda). I can neither confirm nor deny tasting some of EVERYTHING.

My sister-in-law Ariel took this picture showing my mother-in-law’s awesome French Vanilla Cherry Cream Puffs with Chocolate Ganache alongside my tart.

Above you can see Ariel’s very popular Samoa Brownies.

I didn’t manage to take many pictures aside from ones involving all of the pretty treats, but Ariel took this nice one of my friend Tia and I giggling in our sugar comas.

She also took this one of my brother-in-law, who was dealing with his sugar coma by passing out on the floor.

There were so many fantastic baked goods this year that voting was as difficult as ever. In the end it came to a very close match between the mini Nutella Strawberry Tarts and the Cream Puffs. We’re still working on some of the leftovers–thank goodness everyone took a little “variety” plate home! I’m already looking forward to next year 🙂

What are some baked treats you’d like to try showing off at a party sometime?

Food & Cooking · Projects

Spreading a little love

February 14, 2014February 14, 2014 Caitlyn2 Comments

I’ve been enjoying doing a few little crafty things here and there: making cute little robot cards using a pattern from the book Craft-a-Day: 365 Simple Handmade Projects, writing Valentines and a few other letters that I’m looking forward to sending, and getting crafty in the kitchen with special Valentine treats as well 🙂

I just love having sealed envelopes filled with hand-written messages ready to be sent! They’re even better when surrounded by lots of fun craft supplies!

Here are the two robot cards I made. In Craft-a-Day, the author suggests using paper for the entire craft, but since I didn’t have any grey paper I just used foam. I thought the cards turned out pretty cute–one of robots is saying konnichiwa!, and the other one is saying hello.

I also had a lot of fun making heart-shaped rice crispy treats today to bring into work tomorrow. I just made them like usual, spread them in a cookie sheet, let them cool, cut out hearts with a cookie cutter, and then frosted half of each one with a Strawberry Shortcake frosting.

So easy and cute!

What I love most about the crafty things I’ve been up to this week is that they are all things I get to give to other people that spread a little love. I really enjoy that sort of thing anyway, but I realized after reading a couple of blogs this week that it just so happens to be “Random Acts of Kindness” week, too. Have you done anything kind for others this week, or received any kind surprises? Have you been up to anything crafty this week?

Little Snail

…inching along

Tag: Sweets

Around Town: Wild Blue Frozen Yogurt

Bookspiration: Chocolate Temptations

Around Town: Hodgepodge Bakehouse

Bookspiration: Uncommon Grounds

Bookspiration: Dame Eyola’s Lemon Tart

Chuao Honeycomb Dark Chocolate

I Spy…

Hina Matsuri Dinner

Annual Bake-Off

Spreading a little love