Morning Glory Muffins

These muffins are hippie muffins.  Seriously, if these muffins were people these would groove in drum circles, smoke pot, attend anti-war candle light vigils and always be in need a haircut and/or shower.  Despite all that, these muffins are like totally delicious, man.  They've got lots of goodness in them, just like hippies, despite their somewhat less than refined appearance.  A lot of the sweetness and moisture comes from the grated apples, carrots and raisins.  And some walnuts for crunch.

Strawberry-rhubarb oat bars

Happy Spring

In Seattle, Spring is a fickle friend.  You will catch a glimpse of her but she'll disappear behind Winter's pouring rain.  She'll emerge coyly, wrapped in gray skies, to be glimpsed in the buds on every tree.  When you least expect it, she will burst forth from Winter's veil and flaunt her charms in every corner of the city. 

Cuban Sandwiches

I don't normally cook things that need to be made the day before. This isn't because I don't like to; I'm just not usually organized enough to have 24 hours notice for a dish. Sometimes, however, it is worth it. And when it comes to these Cuban sandwiches, it totally is.

Dan's mac and cheese

Dan is my boyfriend. He is great, but I won't go in to that here because he reads this and it would go to his head. He doesn't cook very often and claims he isn't very talented, but I have seen proof to the contrary. He will help me cook though, and we do this fairly often. We've gotten quite proficient at making pizza (there will be posts about our pizza in the future, I'm sure). Dan loves mac and cheese; his favorite used to be blue cheese mac and cheese from the Blue Onion (which is unfortunately now closed). This recipe is my attempt to claim the favorite spot.

Madeleines

Madeleines have everything I look for in a cookie (okay, they aren't really cookies, they are more like mini-cakes but I use the term loosely here). They are delicious and pretty; they look fancy but are easy to make; they're delicate and require special baking equipment. I realize for most people the last would be a deterrent but I love kitchen accessories. I love all kitchen stores and could spend significant amounts of money at Sur La Table and Mrs. Cooks and Crate and Barrel if it weren't for the limited capacity of my kitchen to hold said items. Some day I will have a house with a giant kitchen and will be able to buy kitchen gadgets to my hearts content.

Granola

I love trying new recipes, so when I have time to bake, I usually try out something new.  There are some exceptions: I make the same Christmas cookies every year (Russian teacakes, Zimsterns, Thumbprint cookies) and Boston Cream pie for my mom every year.  And this granola.  I make it every few weeks.  It is so easy to make and it makes my entire house smell delicious.  Plus I need to cook it that often because I go through it that quickly.  There is no reason not to make granola, it is much better than store bought and you can make it exactly the way you like.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Irish Cream Frosting

 Happy St. Patrick's Day

Pi Day

Yesterday was 3/14, which, as I'm sure you are all aware, is Pi day. Pi is the ratio of the circumference to diameter of a circle. If you take -e (the base of the natural logarithm) and raise it to pi * i (the imaginary number, or the square root of negative 1) you get 1. The important thing to take away from all this is that the obvious way to celebrate pi day is with pie!

Chocolate Chip Cookies ++

First off, let me just explain to everyone who doesn't already know that I am a giant nerd. I studied computer science, work in the tech industry, and love math (hence my blog being named after a superhero). So, there may be some nerdy jokes that go over the heads of "normal" people. For example, in computer science "++" is the increment command, so chocolate chip cookies++ means one better than just plain chocolate chip cookies.

Now that we have that confession out of the way, let's talk about baking. Much more interesting than computer science, I'm sure everyone will agree (even all the computer scientists I know).

Welcome!

I love food. I love to cook it, eat it, read about cooking it, talk about eating it . . . I especially love to bake things, mostly sweet things like cookies and cakes and tarts and pastries and pretty much anything with copious amount of butter and sugar. I have always loved baking, in fact I had a chocolate chip cookie recipe my mother made for me with pictograms because I couldn't really read yet.

The story behind this blog: I was showing a friend one of the other baking blogs I like and he said "Why don't you start a blog?" And so I did. The end.