White chocolate, walnut, and almond snowball cookies

Hey all,
Apart from candies that I discussed in my previous post, the holidays are epitomized by cookies. In fact most food blogs, including my favorites: Smitten Kitchen, Joy the Baker, and Lottie+Doof, bring forth the deliciousness of the cookie in a variety of ways. Whether it be chocolate, macadamia, chestnut, or any other flavor cookies, they highlight how delicious the holiday season can be.

Thus far, I felt like I haven't yet contributed to this wonderful tradition and that changes today.

That changes today with my white chocolate, walnut, and almond snowball cookies.

Holiday Candy making time! Almond Brittle

Hey all,
So I finally finished my first semester in medical school! What a semester it has been - learning about the cells that make up our body and how they work, seeing patients, meeting my amazing classmates, and having a lot of fun with exploring the city.

I admit that it was stressful, but I enjoyed myself. Still I look forward to the holidays - a time when I can recover with reading novels, listening to new music, cooking, baking, and eating.

When I think of the holidays, one of the first things that comes to my mind is candy. Traditionally, one sees peppermint candy canes, chocolates of various sorts, and boxes of truffles. They make a great gift for the ones that you love (although I'm sure they'd prefer something shiny).

But, what takes it up a notch and trust me will gain bonus points from the people you care about is when they are homemade.

Whole wheat Chocolate Olive Oil cake with Blackberries

Hey all,
The last few months of my first year in New York have been a whirlwind. Medical books, clinical work, parties, and hanging out with friends have been an absolute blast. Dinners, frozen margaritas, and  broadway shows have only made it infinitely better.

But, now and then, when I want to get away from the stress and the busy life, I turn to the little oven in my dorm and try and bake something. Last week, for a mexican fiesta night planned by my friends, I decided to try something a little outside of my comfort zone.

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake topped with little black nuggets of deliciousness - a.k.a blackberries.

I love New York!

Hey all,
Sorry I've been missing for the past few months. It has been insane!

Let me tell you the many many ways that my life has been in constant motion....

1. Packed and shipped everything from California to Michigan
2. Best friend's wedding in Kansas. (I loved my first ever wedding!)
2. Visited family in Michigan
3. Packed and shipped stuff to New York
4. Came to New York
5. Started medical school.

The last part has been intense, but at the same time, I've made so many many friends here that I'm very glad that I'm here in New York. It has also given me a chance to flourish as a person and I'm so excited for the many adventures - both city life and cooking that await me in this crazy yet wonderful city.

I have a New York State of Mind....

Homemade Cocoa Walnut meal saves the day!

Hey all,
Forgive me for this short post. I'm in the process of wrapping things up here in sunny California before I move to New York (exciting!) for the next four years of grueling education in medical school (equally exciting, but daunting as well). So to speed up the cleaning process I'm trying to use up as many ingredients as I can before I move. Especially the ingredients that will spoil in the shipping process - nuts, frozen goods, produce, the usual stuff.

A few weeks ago, I had made those delicious pancakes with the strawberry sauce and the main ingredient in the pancakes was hazelnut meal. That is posted here. Trust me, they are fantastic. In fact, I've made them religiously for the past several weeks, because they are cheap, delicious, and easy to make. When I ran out of hazelnut meal, I turned to the bag of almond meal in my fridge.

So imagine my reaction when I got up this morning only to find that the almond meal was all gone. I smacked my head in frustration. I wondered why the universe was plotting against me. Now what would I use as a dry ingredient that would be tasty (flour is not tasty by itself). The clock said that it was 7 am. Do I really want to wait for an hour for Trader Joe's to open to make pancakes? The answer was an emphatic NO.

Almond and Chocolate chip muffins (my second minor disaster)

Hey all,
So if you look through this entire blog, then you will notice one thing that is missing. All right, well several things, but one thing is muffins. Where are the quintessential little bite size munchies? How can I call myself a baking blog without muffins?!!

That little detail had to be rectified right away. So I went to the store and got myself a muffin pan and a box of paper liners. Proud of my step forward, I started planning what muffin recipe to make and usually I go to my go-to-guides - Joy of baking and 101 cookbooks to get some ideas. Usually all the recipes I'd seen thus far involved way too much sugar than I wanted in my diet.

Then I found THE recipe. Simple, straightforward and not too much sugar. I adapted it considerably and made the Almond and Chocolate chip muffins.

Little did I know about the trouble I was about to have....

Hazelnut Banana Pankcakes with a Strawberry sauce

Summer is looming... and it's glorious!

What do I think when I think of summer? I think of the beach, wearing sandals, drinking a mimosa, hanging out with friends, and the food. Sadly, there won't be any "Glee" during the summer, but now is not the time to dwell on that.

It's hard to believe that May has already gone by so quickly. I finally finished the medical school process and I'm going to Cornell - yes, this fall, I will be moving to New Yotk! But, that will be a story for another day. Apart from that, working day in and day out in the lab has been the norm.

I used to get up every morning and have some oatmeal or muesli and leave for work, until the moment that I was introduced to the simplest, easiest, and most delicious recipe. The bonus is that it's also quite healthy because it uses very few ingredients and takes 20 minutes to make everything, which means that you can stay from that oh-so-attractive donut.

That recipe was the hazelnut banana pancakes with a strawberry sauce....