have you had a homemade marshmallow? if not, please make these. not only do they far surpass those jet-puffed, bleach-white mallows in flavor…they are deceptively easy to make. plus, everyone will think you are some sort of confectionary genius. these mallows were made to impress.

listening: the wrong side of reno: rocky votolato

because that was our recessional song for our wedding and, well we live, met and went to school in reno.

Next week, I will be camping with my fam near Santa Cruz, Ca…I’m very excited. I’m bringing the mallows for some s’more action. Be excited!

Homemade Marshmallows

adapted from this recipe at epicurious.

I used organic cane sugar instead of regular white, granulated sugar. Since my husband and I have been on a quest to virtually eliminate  High Fructose Corn Syrup from our diets, I used Lyle’s Golden Syrup in place of corn syrup. I have also used honey with excellent results. MMMmmm, honey scented mallows! (Can be made and stored in an airtight container for two weeks at room temperature.)

So, this pie. This pie will rock your socks off. I loved it. The lucky friends I shared it with loved it. Four of us ate the whole thing in under 2o minutes. We’re wild like that.

I made this amazing pie for the 4th of July. Sean and I made plans with our friends Jackie and Danny to have a Independence-Day-Grill-Fest! We figured BBQ chicken, corn, cornbread, and potato salad were all quintessentially Americana, and as per usual, I made dessert. Jackie told me it had to be something that screamed “USA!” So, I instantly began thinking about pies…peach pie, cherry, berry, and cream. Each pie was rejected because, well, it’s like hell in my kitchen in the summertime and pastry dough and the oven on for extended periods of time sounded nightmarish. Then, i started thinking about cold pies, with cookie crusts and custardy fillings. Which led me to think of my mom’s ice cream pie, which in turn led me to thoughts of an ice cream-cream pie hybrid!

So, here’s the breakdown: cinnamon toast crumb crust + toasted coconut ice cream + whipped cream + coconut shavings = delicious!

Can i just say, cinnamon toast crumbs…where have you been all my life?! Best crumbs ever…EVER!

listening to: january wedding: the avett brothers

(thanks to Hannah from Honey & Jam for introducing me to this song!! Makes my heart swoon!)

Since the pie was such a delicious success and since it was fairly easy to assemble (you could totally cheat and use a store-bought crust and ice cream), I have many more ice cream pie concoctions and ideas rolling around in my head…like mini mud pies, strawberry ice cream pie, grasshopper ice cream pie…it’s endless :)

Cinnamon Toast Crumb Crust

Adapted from Momofuku for 2

I used leftover challah buns from Trader Joes. I think you could use any bread that you want. I did have to use the oven for the crust, but not for too long and since this recipe is largely assembly, I was able to do all my baking after the sun went down.

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

2 Tablespoons sugar

Large-ish pinch of cinnamon

Small pinch of salt

1 cup cubed bread

Preheat oven to 350F.

Melt butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave. Toss bread cubes with 2 tablespoons of the butter, cinnamon, sugar, and salt. Spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 15-20 minutes, stirring halfway through, or until golden brown and toasty.

Remove toast cubes from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Once cooled, place cubes into a food processor and process until you have fine crumbs. Add remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and pulse until combined. Press crust into the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate or spring form pan.

Place back into a 350F oven and bake for 7-10 minutes. Cool completely before filling (if filling with ice cream, freeze the crust for about 15 minutes after cooling and before filling).

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

I think it is important to seek out unsweetened coconut for this, the sweetened kind would make the recipe far too sugary. I found desiccated, unsweetened coconut in the bulk bins at Whole Foods. I have seen it in the bulk sections of other well-stocked grocers as well. Also, I used evaporated cane sugar with great results.

1 ½ cups desiccated coconut, unsweetened

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

¾ cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

5 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon bourbon

Preheat oven to 350F. Spread coconut on a baking sheet and bake for 5-8 minutes, stir frequently to toast evenly, until golden-brown and fragrant.

In a medium saucepan warm milk, 1 cup of the cream, sugar, salt, and toasted coconut. Scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean into the saucepan and throw in the pod as well. Cover, remove from heat, and steep 30-60 minutes.

Re-warm coconut mixture on the stove. Set a fine mesh strainer over another medium saucepan and strain the coconut infused liquid into the saucepan. Press down on coconut firmly to extract all the goodness. Discard coconut solids.

Pour the remaining cup of cream into a large bowl and set the mesh strainer over the bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm coconut mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the custard back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom and sides as you stir until the mixture is thick and coats the back of the spoon. Pour the custard into the strainer and mix with the cream. Stir in the bourbon and stir over and ice bath until cool. Chill the custard in the refrigerator until completely chilled. Process in ice cream maker according to manufactures instructions.

Assembling your ice cream pie!

Spread freshly churned ice cream (because it’s already like soft -serve at this point, smooth and spreadable!) into prepared pie shell, cover with plastic and freeze until solid. Before serving remove from the freezer for 10 minutes or so to defrost slightly for easy serving. This is a good time to whip up some heavy cream and toast up some large flakes of coconut for garnish.  Top with the whipped cream and a healthy sprinkling of coconut and serve! yumyum!

it is summer in the northern hemisphere. if you are like me and you melt into a grumpy puddle in the summer heat…i may have something for you.

something refreshing, just barely sweet and a little boozy too.

something you can make by the pitcher and that can be sipped through a straw.

let me introduce you to my iced tea cocktail.

last week sean and i ventured north to vancouver, bc, where we biked and walked and ate and drank to our hearts content. one day at lunch, at a restaurant whose name i have forgotten (but, i do know it is on granville island), we ordered a pitcher of liquored-up iced tea. ohmygoodness was it good! refreshing, light, not too sweet and dangerously easy to drink. right then and there i decided we would be recreating this perfect summer cocktail at home.

also, while in vancouver’s yaletown neighborhood, i found my new favorite store…the cross. i’d like to move right in, but i settled on buying a few fun things, including the bejeweled stir stick pictured :)

iced tea cocktail

since we’ve been home…a whopping 5 days…i have made it twice. it’s nice, try it!

i have used tart cherry and cranberry juice in this recipe so far…both are lovely and not too sweet. i can see this being made with any juice of your choice. when we had this in vancouver the alcohol was raspberry flavored vodka. i made it with plain Kettle One and with bourbon…get crazy and do your own thing if you want.

5 cups fresh tea, chilled

3 cups juice

sugar or honey to taste

2 cups (or more!) vodka

pour all ingredients into a pitcher and stir! fresh raspberries or wheels of lemon or lime make a nice garnish :)

hello! okay, so i have been dying to share this with everyone! a year of planning and a pretty intense couple of weeks led to this…my wedding and marriage to my mr. sean!

i worked with amazing people and a lovely photographer: Courtney Wilson. when i first met with courtney, i knew she would be shooting our wedding. our style and ideas were very similar. she is getting married in september and as we were trading ideas we realized we shared many details…right down to our future husbands name (sean!), our dress designer (melissa sweet!) and a homespun desserts table.

these are just some of the photos courtney has sent me (and given me permission to share ASAP!). i can’t wait to see the rest!

about the wedding:

sean and i had been engaged 4 1/2 years prior to our wedding day. we took our time, finished school and pinched our pennies to throw a wedding that we hoped would be full of fun, food, family and much dancing. we chose amazing vendors that helped us create an event that was uniquely us.  many of the details were DIY, including all of the decor, the favors, and the desserts. with the much needed help and support of my amazingly talented best friends, i spent the weeks before making the tuile pom-poms, canning jam, sewing flags, paper-crafting banners and food labels, creating a guest tree, and finally…baking desserts. my best friend, maid of honor, and hair stylist extroidinaire, brooke did all of our hair. she is amazingly talented. she also brought me back from the edge more than once ;) my friends bailey and josh made all of the bow-ties. my oldest friend katie ran errands and fetched coffee like a pro. my dear friend amber officiated our wedding with the sweetest words and most tender thoughts. sean created a killer playlist of songs that have a lot of meaning to us–courtney even discovered her new favorite song, “to be young” by ryan adams!–along with plenty of dance jams a la michael jackson, whitney (before the crack made her wack) and some vintage madonna. we asked our wedding party to follow a loose dress code: vests and slacks with homemade bowties for the boys. garden party dresses for the ladies. it was truly an amazing and unforgettable day.

i have so much more to share and its all still a bit overwhelming, but i will surely share more as the photos come in!

i made breakfast!

in the morning time!

i rarely make breakfast since i can really only stomach coffee or tea in the hours after waking up. today i wanted to re-shoot these pancakes from this way old blog post. the originals were taken with my janky-old point and shoot. i think the difference can be seen ;)

i actually did this for a little somethin’ i’ve been invited to work on…ooooh! exciting!

listening: okkervil river: lost coastlines

oh, yes. i did. a roasted strawberry and vanilla cheesecake in fact. with chocolate cookie

and pistachio crust even!

you’re a mom and you deserve something indulgent and pretty. happy mother’s day :)

listening: rocky votolato: white daisy passing

i know it says “eater” and not “easter” up there. i figured some people don’t do easter…but we all eat, so there’s that.

if you do easter…have fun, hug your people and eat tasty treats! if you don’t, do those things anyway ;)

listening: where you belong: language of flowers

i’ve been an interesting combination of busy and lazy lately. busy with planning for the months to come (our wedding, my friends wedding, sean’s cousins wedding…and so on)! too lazy to pick up my real camera, but not so much that i can’t play with my new app for my phone. it’s called hipstamatic and i discovered it via the blog scary mommy. fun times.

listening: simple x: andrew bird

this weekend was full of love for us. love-tastic if you will…

instead of our usual valentine’s plans of dinner and dessert, we had an extra special event to attend. last monday my mom rang us to ask us to come and witness her and her boyfriend mel get married. they said they decided they didn’t know what they were waiting for and when the town judge (a friend of mel’s) offered to officiate any time…the wedding was on for February 14th!

whoa!

exciting!

i don’t know what their “song” is, so i’ll use ours.

listening: naked as we came : iron and wine

my mom has been single since we lost my dad 23 years ago. it is so wonderful to know that love can come at any time and through many paths. this wedding could not be more special. my mom and mel are wonderful together…so fun and too cute! they actually met like 12 years ago and mel has had a crush on her for the duration…so cute! they began dating a few years ago and have been inseparable since! i threw together a cake and we got to witness the exchange of vows, all on my favorite day of love!

up until recently i worked in child care. if you’ve ever worked with children and their families you might know the stress and struggle that can come with such an occupation. especially with younger age groups, they need more care and attention, as do their parents at times. my biggest saving grace was my co-teacher L. we ran the 2-year old room together (20 2-year-olds up against two childless teachers) and anyone with a 2 -year old knows the daily drama that can arise. we learned, swiftly, how important sticking to a daily schedule was and how persuasive a single tic-tac can be.

very soon miss L will welcome her own little one into the world! i could not resist making something sweet for her baby shower. since all things baby and all things valentine’s day make me want to explode into a million pieces of heart-shaped confetti…i knew i had to make something that included heart sprinkles. i also knew that i had to do something chocolatey. L’s mom, R, is one of my very favorite people, so genuine and sweet, and she is notorious for her love of chocolate. i went with a mini brownie…a perfect, little bite of decadence. i needed something to adhere the sprinkles with, so i went with cream cheese frosting, yet again. originally i was going to do peanut butter, but the color combo and the nut-allergy issue dissuaded me. i think the brownies were well-received, i’m not sure since i was too busy catching up, gushing over baby leg warmers (yes! pink argyle ones at that!), and glaring with envy at L and her stretch-markless baby bump.

listening: maria taylor : speak easy

best cocoa brownies

i’m lazy and i’m just going to link you on over to smitten kitchen. i made mine in a mini cupcake tin and baked them for less time…like between 15 and 20 minutes. be sure to cool competely before piping on any frosting…though these fudgy babies could definitely do without the frosting.

cream cheese frosting

this recipe was me adding powdered sugar to cream cheese until i got a consistency i liked. if i had softened butter around i would have probably added that too.

8 oz. cream cheese softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

with a mixer or hand blender mix cheese and vanilla until creamy. add powdered sugar and beat well, until fluffy. pipe or spread onto brownies.