Gift exchange!

Oh man 🙂 so I haven’t seen my friend since before Christmas and we fiallyet up to give eachother gifts! 🙂

I got the best gifts ever!

Crochet boots and a knit headband! I have been begging her to make the boots! Both gifts were a first time for her and they look fab! I’m so happy I have such a great friend 🙂

My snapchat to her 🙂

Plus I got some coffee liquor.. I see tiramisu in my blogging future 🙂

I made her some headbands a bow and cookies of course 🙂

My chocolate Oreos aren’t too pretty.. but I saw that Martha Stewart used a chocolate mold and even uses a design up top 🙂 so i will def have to go buy some molds asap

Sugar where’s my sugar?

So of course I come home today peel some oranges and blanch them three times.. nxt step boil some sugar and water…… Oops. No sugar.
How does a baker run out of sugar?! Well that’s my dilema forbthr day and the reason I don’t have pictures of dried oranges. I would say.. shoot.. I will go buy some and have a baking night! Maybe even throw some cookies together and sleep all day 🙂
But then reality sets in. Work. I work bright and early in the morning so I got to get to sleep soon
But I promise I will bake and get some pictures up for you 🙂

Sunset

So last night I snapped a picture of the beautiful California sunset

Nature is truly the most beautiful thing in life. This is the kind of thing that inspires me to acheive greatness. Create beauty. 🙂

So on a new note… I want to bake haha. I have a little 4 hour shift at work but as soon as I get home I’m going to try making candied orange peels. I’m going for a more simplistic kind of candy today. I’ve never had candied orange peel.. but there’s a first for everything right? 🙂

Found these awesome looking brownies on Annie’s cooking labs blog 🙂 they look delish… Next project? Just maybe 🙂

annie's cooking lab

I have to admit that chocolate isn’t one of my favorite flavors. It’s not that I dislike chocolate, I definitely enjoy it when it’s with other flavors like in chocolate chip cookies or as frosting on a cupcake, but in general, you won’t find me reaching for a plain chocolate brownie or piece of cake. Usually when I bake something that’s chocolate-centric it’s because I’m making it for someone who loves chocolate. That was the case with these brownies, but I ended up loving them too!

The brownie base is dense, chewy and studded with chopped almonds. In my opinion, the best part of these brownies is the marzipan layer that sits between the brownie and chocolate glaze on top. The marzipan makes these brownies unique and a little fancier than plain brownies and definitely ups the deliciousness factor.

Marzipan Brownies

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup flour
• 2 tbl. dark or dutch…

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Granola

My first tome having granola that I really liked was last Christmas. It wa delicious! I’ve had granola before… But not like this. This was amazing! Cherry almond granola. My mom’s friend Linda brought us a big bag and I basically ate the whole thing. I’ve been obsessing over it since and I finally got the recipe!

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
2 cups sliced almonds
1 1/2 cups dried cherries, chopped
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup good honey
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cherry-almond-and-cinnamon-granola-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

One problem… I didn’t have all the dried fruit that’s supposed to go in it… But next time I make it I will definitely have the dried cherries. Yumm

preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

So here I started with granola chopped almonds and coconut 🙂 *this is also where i would have tossed in the cherries!

Then I whisked up some honey and vegetable oil

I then poured the liquid over the granola mixture stirred and into the oven it goes! bake for 25-30 min until golden brown. pull our and let cool until ready to eat!

I wrapped mine up and added it to a late Christmas gift 🙂

Have you ever had a day where you truly desire to be productive and yet all you can do is lie on your couch and watch episode after episode of Sherlock Holmes? Haha. All I can do is pry myself off the couch and out of the comfort of my blankets

Aha! As I’m sitting and typing away my brother approaches me.. “Don’t eat the bbq chicken. Throw it away. Or you will feel the wrath that is in my stomach.”

Ha anyways… After that comedic break in my day I think I can pull myself together and get some baking going on. I will have some pictures up soon 🙂

As I roll out of bed this morning I can only be filled with excitement. Altgouh my day will consist of a lot of cleaning to make my room look somewhat presentable… Ha I will be able to bake and see my boyfriend 🙂 that sounds like a great day to me!

I don’t know what I’m going to make yet…  Probably cookies… And some chocolate dipped Oreos just because I bought them but never had time to dip them for Christmas.. well I will be back to show you all what I made 🙂