Pumpkin Coffee and Pumpkin Spice Milanos

Yessss more pumpkin! I warned you it's this time of year again so there will be heaps of pumpkin stuff on this blog. I purchased pumpkin spice milanos a couple of weeks ago because I was super curious. Unfortunately, they didn't live up to my expectations, they were dry and the pumpkin chocolate flavor didn't mesh as well as I wanted. Also I think I'm completely spoiled for biscuits (packaged cookies) now because of Tim Tams. 

Anyway, I had also fought this pumpkin spice coffee from World Market. THIS MIGHT BE MY FAVORITE THING FROM WM TO DATE. This coffee is fantastic, and is now my new favorite blend. I basically have gotten used to drinking coffee black, though I still prefer it with a splash of skim milk. So when I want coffee in the morning brewed at the apartment, I'll just suck it up and have it black. But this coffee is different. It has just the slightest hint of pumpkin flavor at the beginning of the sip, as well as in the after taste. This makes it go down very easily and cuts the bitterness of the beans. I LOVE THIS COFFEE SO SO MUCH, I'm actually considering stocking up on it so I have it for the off season (It's only sold from September to November). 

So I have my amazing coffee, and I had all of these pumpkin milanos… and I thought to myself that the milanos could be vastly improved by dipping them in my coffee. I was spot on. The coffee stopped them from being dry (duh) and the pumpkin in the coffee brought out the pumpkin flavor in the cookies better. A good solution in how to use my milanos, and an excellent pumpkiny breakfast!

Amaretto Tiramisu

 So I decided to make some Tiramisu. I've never made this dessert before, and the fact that it is no bake, combined with it being boozy made me want to try it out. It took me awhile to find the ladyfingers, but I finally found them at United Provisions on the Loop. I make this I ended up basically following the instructions on the package of said lady fingers. I mixed egg yolks with sugar, and combined that with whipped egg whites and marscapone cheese. That made the creamy stuff. Then I dipped the lady fingers in a mixture of brewed coffee, Amaretto, and Bailey's. I dipped each side for about a second. My roommate cautioned me not to dip them too long or the dessert would be overpowered by alcohol and get super soggy. It was really good advice. I layered the ladyfingers, lining the pan with them. Then I sprinkled coco powder on top then layered on the cream filling. Then more coco, then more lady fingers, then coco, then filling, you get the idea. I did this until the pan was filled. Then I stuck it in the fridge to settle. The recipe said that it would need 3 hours to settle, but realistically it needs about 24 to harden to the right consistency. Also I noticed that it tastes better the second and third days, because the flavors have time to permeate the cookies and really blend extremely well.

Thoughts on this Dessert:

• For a first try I was really happy with this. I'd love to make it in a larger portion so that it is easier to share with lots of people.
• Construction doesn't take very long, but waiting for it to settle obviously does.
• The longer it sits the better, I'm glad that I now know this. I felt bad because I had friends waiting to eat it the night I made it and they had to come back to taste it the next day.
• The combination of coffee, and liquors was great! I'm particularly partial to both Bailey's and Amaretto so I loved it, but my friends agreed that the flavors meshed extremely well.
• I'd love to try this with different flavor profiles! Matcha Tiramisu anyone haha? Also though I could see myself doing this in an orange chocolate variety. I would put orange zest in the filling and use Grand Mariner as the alcohol to soak the cookies in. 

A fun first time dessert. I'm glad it turned out so well!

Baked Cinnamon Apple Cider Donuts

This is a very delayed post about my Donut adventures with my mom and sister. My mom bought donut pans about a year ago and had yet to try them. So one afternoon the three of us decided to make donuts together. We agreed on apple cinnamon donuts, since we loved the homemade ones from our local apple orchard. We used spiced apple cider to give the donuts the apple flavor. Also my sister came up with the awesome idea to shake the donuts in a paper bag of cinnamon sugar to coat them. These donuts ended up tasting good… but not like what we expected them to. They were less cakey and less sweet. We still aren't really sure why. They did taste amazing dipped in coffee though. And them not meeting our expectations didn't stop them from disappearing from the house in a couple of days, as they were devoured for breakfast and late night treats. Goes to show that while you can be disappointed in something, doesn't mean that you don't also like it. Regardless, it was really fun to bake with my mom and sister, they are 100% the experts so I usually just do what they tell me to, and everything works out fine. 

Tasting my way around Fitzroy

Fitzroy is a funky neighborhood in Melbourne. It's filled with Coffee Shops and boutiques. It is somewhat of the hipster area. It was also one of my friend's favorite part of Melbourne so I wanted to check it out! I walked there from the Queen Victoria markets, and that's where I spent most of my afternoon. The architecture makes the area look bohemian, and the funky names of the stores give in personality. I bought this mini strawberry cupcake (above), as a walked around. It wasn't amazing, but it was $1 and cute. It started randomly pouring on my when I was there (below left), so I ducked into a coffee shop and got a chai (below right). They give you a pot of milky tea, and you have to strain it yourself. It was really good and the chai hit the spot on a rainy afternoon. I drank it and read my book!

I continued to walk around and made a few small on sale purchases. I got a map of Australia poster for $4 and a scarf for $2.50! When I got hungry I stopped at Lord of the Fries, a Melbourne fast food chain known for their amazing chips, a bunch of friends had recommended it to me. I got their Sweet Potato fries with sour cream and sweet chili (below), they were amazing!!!!! Just the right thing for lunch!

I had such a nice time enjoying an afternoon of walking around and exploring. I've realized it's a nice and leisurely way to get the feel of different areas of a city!

Spinach and Feta Muffin + Finals Studying

So I returned from a live aboard dive trip on the Great Barrier Reef yesterday… and immediately headed to the library because it is actually reading week and I had to get started on finals studying. I've got one on June 14th so now it's basically crunch time. This morning I went for a run, showered, and then booked it back to the library, where I have now been for the past 6+ hours. Of course, a long day of studying means appropriate study foods are needed. Number 1: Coffee!!!!! I got myself my typical large skim flat white (notice that the 'large' size here is a medium in the states) at Darwin's and also grabbed a feta spinach muffin. They heat the baked goods up for you there, which is great, it was a really nice and filling treat for breakfast. I also brought with me yogurt, kiwi, and my Just Right cereal so I had yogurt and cereal for lunch later in the day. And I also brought a can of soup with me, so I can eat it later if I get hungry. Basically, I did not want to have to give up my spot because I got hungry so I brought enough food for the entire day if need be. I also brought water in my new Prodive water bottle (above) that I got on the dive trip! I was properly prepared and have gotten through all of my material for my first two finals today, I may go through some paleoceanography material again, but I'm pretty much done for the day. I find that if I don't have excuses to end my studying I'm able to plop myself down for hours and just power through it. Guess that's one of the perks of being a Junior and going through the hell that is finals 6 times now...

Cinnamon Glazed Apple Banana Muffins

Every once in awhile I actually have some time on my hands. And last week I felt like using some of this time to make dessert! I went to our local grocery store and told myself i'd spend $10 on baking supplies. I ended up decided to make these muffins from a honey banana muffin mix. But I wanted to spice them up so I bought some apples and frosting ingredients as well. My general thought was to cook apples into the muffins and then frost them with a cinnamon cream cream frosting. The apples worked outstandingly. I cut a large pink lady apple into small pieces and then simmered it in a pan of apple cider, brown sugar, and cinnamon. I cooked them at a high simmer for around 15 minutes or so. Basically until they got soft and brown (below right).

As the apples were cooking, I prepared the cake mix. I added water and eggs as it said on the box, but I noticed that it would only make 8 muffins. I decided to add flour, sugar, and eggs to the mix to make the recipe bigger. This worked out well because I had enough batter for 15 muffins instead of 8 them. another thing to note was when I was mixing the apples in, I wanted to pout the excess cider/sugar mix in too, but the batter started to get watery so I stopped. However, the muffins got a bit spongier than expected when I baked them, so I would add the cider mix next time. I baked them for 20 minutes and that was the perfect amount of time. The rose quite a lot and resulted in this wonderful muffin top shape (below).

As I let them cool, I started to make the frosting. I added 1/4 a cup of skim milk to 1 block of light cream cheese. I then added 3/4 a cup of brown sugar and lot and lots of cinnamon. I beat this mix together. Then I added powdered sugar, until I had the consistency I wanted. What ended up happening is that I added the entire bag of powdered sugar, a little bit a a time, and didn't actually get frosting. The mixture I ended up with was more of a icing or glaze than a frosting (below left). While unexpected, it was actually delicious so I had no problems. I was pretty liquidy when I spread it onto the muffins, I tried a frosting bag, but it broke, so I ended up spooning it on and that worked really well. Though, it was a really really messy process.

These muffins were stellar! The apples added so much to the cupcakes, they were sweet and whenever you got one in a bite they made it amazing! The banana, cinnamon, and apple flavors went really well together, and the glaze helped keep the muffins from drying our and really took them to the next level! The icing actually solidified a bit the next day which was perfect and made less of a mess. I had these for breakfast the next two mornings with coffee with cinnamon in it. They were the perfect morning treat! My housemates also really liked them and they disappeared quickly.

Also I had a TON of  icing left over. My housemates and I had some spoonfuls of it and discussed good ways to eat it. Our brainstorm came up with these ideas. Eating it by the spoonful (classic), spreading it on toast, raisin cinnamon toast is the best, drizzling it on a piece of toast with Nutella, and dipping fruit in it. I sliced up when of my left over apples a couple of days later and dipped the pieces in the icing, which was much more solid after sitting in the fridge (below). It was amazing!!!! Also a "healthy" way to eat the left over icing. This was a really successful on the whim dessert. It might be good with actual banana chunks, as well as apples to make the muffins even fruitier!

Tim Tam Gelato

Tim Tams, oh how I love thee!!!!! Tim Tams are amazing and hopefully I will soon be doing my mega Tim Tam post about my love for these cookies. However, in the meantime I have to rave about this Tim Tam flavored Gelato that I had in Fremantle. Gelato is Italian style ice cream, it's creamier and richer than American ice cream, and it's really common in Australia, which is awesome because I love it. Another reason that this kind of ice cream is so amazing is because it is made fresh everyday with the actual ingredients of the flavor. So if it's pear gelato for example, you better believe that actually fresh pear, not just nasty "pear flavor" went into making it. What this means is was that ground up Tim Tams went into making this gelato. It was AMAZING, I was eating bliss. Liquid, creamy cookies, what could be better? You may have noticed that there are two scoops of ice cream in that cup. The Tim Tam flavor is on top, and I also got a scoop of Freo (Australian abbreviation for Fremantle… Aussies abbreviate everything) Delight. It was basically affogato flavored ice-cream with chocolate chips. For those who don't know, affogato is a scoop of vanilla gelato with a shot of warm expresso poured over it (it's amazing obviously). This flavor was really great as well, but the Tim Tam one really outshone it. This was a perfect way to end an afternoon of wandering around the shops and coffeehouses of Fremantle. And since I didn't end up getting a cup of coffee on the Famous Cappuccino Strip, I still honored it with the affogato gelato :P 

Bailey's Coffee Blondies

As a continuation of the St. Patty's day treats we made last week I present the Bailey's Coffee Blondies. Blondies are brownies but without the chocolate, which is better than you'd expect. For these ones we added instant coffee to make them coffee flavored, as well as moister. Like the cheesecakes we used an online recipe from another website, http://www.kitchentreaty.com. We made no changes to it so it's 100% this recipe linked below. The Bailey's for this one was in the frosting not the brownies, I think next time I would add it to both. Also The frosting was not as fluffy as I would have liked because we have no power baking tools here. I really want to have my sister make this frosting for me when I get home because she is the frosting queen! The one we made was a little sugary for my taste. Otherwise these were awesome! I loved eating them with coffee in the mornings for the week following. Here's the recipe that we used: http://www.kitchentreaty.com/baileys-coffee-blondies/. Pretty simple and turned out really well. These were really cakey brownies and I like them that way as long as they aren't too dry (which these weren't) so I loved them!

Bailey's Cheesecake with Tim Tam Crust

Last week was St. Patrick's Day, and one of my housemates found all of these wonderful irish alcohol inspired recipes online. We decided to choose two and have a house baking night. The first one was a Bailey's cheesecake, which is the first cheesecake that I have ever made. Turns out, not as hard as I expected!!! Credit where credit is due we basically followed a recipe from http://www.baked-in.com, but modified it a bit. The way we modified it was that we used Tim Tams for the crust. I haven't blogged about these amazing Aussie cookies yet because I'm waiting to do a huge Tim Tam post when I've tasted every flavor, so it's coming I promise!! All you need to know is that Time Tams are the Aussie version of an Oreo, If an Oreo was twice as big, rectangular in shape, had chocolate cream filling, AND was covered in chocolate. Basically, 1 million times better than an Oreo and seriously addicting. I had the great I idea to mash up some dark chocolate Tim Tams and mix them with butter to make Tim Tam Crust. It turned out really well, and added an Australian twist to the desert. The cheesecake was really great, it tasted strongly of Bailey's (though not alcohol) and was creamy and rich. Since we used an online recipe I'm going to link it here: http://www.baked-in.com/2012/09/18/baileys-cheesecake-cupcakes/. Note that we made 3 major changes. We used Tim Tams for the crust, we didn't use cupcake wrappers, and we mixed the cake uniformly (no non-baliey's layer for us).

Thoughts on this Dessert:

• We let it sit in the fridge for an hourish, but letting it sit overnight is better because then it is super consolidated and cold.
• We were working without an electronic blender so it took us a while to make the cheesecake batter, so at home this would be quicker. 
• We greased the pan with butter because we din't have baker's joy, and you could taste it (I was not a fan of the extra butter taste) so definitely would make sure we have baker's joy next time.
• I really want to make cheesecake again now that I know how, I'm thinking taro or match cheesecake are on the list for future endeavors, as is pumpkin :)

Loved these soooooo much they were really fun and delicious!!! Check out the next post for the other St. Patty's Day dessert we made :)

Flat White at Darwin's

So iced coffee is not the only coffee difference here. They don't have American style black coffee here, just expresso shots. So therefore, I've had to get familiar with the different Australian coffee terminology. They have something called a Long Black, which is similar to an americano, water added to expresso. I've usually hated americano's back home because they are watery and not strong, so I haven't gotten a long black here. However, I'm told that they are stronger than an americano, so I might have to try one eventually. What I have been getting here is something called a Flat White. A flat white is basically a latte without any foam. They have lattes here, but they have twice as much foam as American lattes so a flat white is actually closer to an american latte. I've actually really been enjoying getting these as my coffee on campus. And my favorite place to get them so far has been a cafe called Darwin's. The reason I like it is because it is clever. The cafe is named after the famous biologist, resides in the biological sciences library, and has a finch as it's mascot ( for those who don't know Darwin's Finches refers to the galapagos finches that he used to form his theory of natural selection). The science nerd in me is made very happy by this cafe and the coffee lover loves the coffee here. At first it was a bit hard to get used to the Australian way of doing coffee, but I like it.

Iced Coffee and Scones

My study abroad program had a Coffee Break at one of the cafes on campus. We chatted and got free scones and drinks. Scones here are like english scones, more like biscuits. They also eat them the english way, with jam and cream. I was starving at the scones were heavenly so I ate 2! As for drinks, I finally get to tell you about one of my favorite Aussie foods. Iced Coffee! Now here iced coffee is not simply coffee and ice. Here it is coffee and milk with a scoop of ice cream in it! It's such a delicious dessert for ice cream and coffee lovers like me! I got an iced mocha, which was what I described above plus chocolate syrup. It was really filling and rich but I ate it all because it was so amazing. Luckily, we were told beforehand about this difference otherwise I would have been really surprised if I ordered an iced mocha and they put this down. This was such a nice free breakfast, and even though it wasn't healthy it kept me full past lunch!

Red Velvet Coffee

I used the rest of my wonderful Red Velvet hot chocolate mix to make Red Velvet Coffee. The package suggested adding it to coffee, and because that sounded AMAZING I totally took the advice. It was sooooo good. I brewed my morning coffee and then instead of adding a bit of skim milk like I usually do, I just added a spoonful of the red velvet powder. It tasted like the hot chocolate did with just a hint of coffee. It was perfect it was like drinking cake with my coffee. I need to get more of this mix since it's been amazing in everything and a refreshing way to have real tasting red velvet drinks.

Rosemary Brown Sugar Latte from Kaldi's

Kaldi's Coffee is a St. Louis company that has shops all over the STL area. This particular Kaldi's is on De Mun Rd. It's a bit farther from campus, and a great deal smaller than Kayak's. This means that it has a much more low key atmosphere (they also don't have a sandwich menu). And they close at 11p, so it was the perfect place to stop with friends after Dewey's and before the Catching Fire Premiere. I decided to be adventurous and try the seasonal drink. A rosemary brown sugar latte. I was a little skeptical about it, but I like rosemary and I like brown sugar and my curiosity was peaked. My thoughts? It was weird, rosemary (which is a fairly strong flavor) is not something that I'm used to having with coffee, but after the first couple of sips I really enjoyed the drink. It's nice to try something different and I'm always eager to try new flavor profiles, because sometimes the strangest combinations are the best.

Thoughts on Kaldi's:

• I'm a big fan of the brand because they are a local place. They grind their beans locally and are pretty conscious about getting fair trade beans. 
• This place is nice and out of the way, it's in an area that more professors are living in than students so there are some really nice restaurants and bars on the same street and this shop. 
• It's really close to our local Shnucks (St. Louis' local grocery chain) and movie theater, so it's in a convenient location if you have a car. 

Overall, many positive feelings. It was fun to something completely different than my usual!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

As I've mentioned before, around a certain time of year pumpkin flavored stuff becomes readily available. One of these famous pumpkin treats are the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice lattes. Everyone loves them, and I'm no exception. During my beginning of October grocery run I happened to come across the Starbuck Via instant mixes for pumpkin spice lattes, and because I am my pumpkin obsessed self, I bought them. It turned out to be a good decision. These are individual packets of the pumpkin spice latte mix, that when added to hot milk create an instant recreation of pumpkin spice lattes. While, instant coffee really cannot live up to the expectations of the real thing, these are still pretty good for a 2 second instant pack. Just add hot milk and stir, and instant fall comfort drink. 

Thoughts on this Drink:

• These are nice to drink as a latte, but I also use them to flavor other things. An example is my banana "ice cream"
• Besides their connivence,  a nice thing about these is that while the real pumpkin spice lattes are gone now that October has ended, the packs will stick around for a little while longer. So this is a good way to extend pumpkin spice season!

Overall, really great if you have realistic expectations about Starbucks VIA. Not to dump on VIA since they sponsored a free Parachute concert on campus at the beginning of October. I tend to like Starbucks instant more because of that, which was probably their marketing strategy all along... but well, free concert :)

Cookies at Piccione's Bakery

I already did a long post raving about Piccione's so I'll keep this short and sweet. I took my family here to enjoy some of their treats. They agreed with me that this bakery is a find! We basically did a tasting of all my favorites, plus some mini frittatas (below). I think that we all agreed that the napoleon and the tricolor cookies (above) were the best things we got. We also tried a chocolate cannoli (below), and a spiral cookie (above).

 I had a cappuccino (below on the right) and my sister had a hot chocolate (below on the left). We both enjoyed our respective drinks.

Basically, this place is still wonderful. And the Tricolor cookies are still amazing and addicting. And now you can see that they are beautiful too!

Crepes and Coco at Crepes Etc.

Firstly, I apologize for the demolished state of the food in these pictures. We were halfway through our meal when I remembered to take them... but that doesn't detract from the awesomeness of the food. Crepes Etc. is a breakfast place in the Central West End. This area recently became more accessible to me because I now have access to a car and the Saturday morning of my visit I shared the area with my family. My roommate had recommended this place, so we got breakfast here. The walls are pink and white stripped and it has the feel of a cutesy french coffee shop. They are famous for their crepes and hot chocolate, but have a full breakfast menu. I got the Crazy Caprese Crepe (above). My sister had the Pumpkin Gelato Crepe (below), and my parents got omelets. My Dad's delicious goat cheese and red pepper omelet is pictured below.

All of the food was really yummy. I very much liked my crepe which was packed with spinach and had pesto on top. However, the highlight of the food was the breakfast potatoes. My family unanimously agreed they were the best breakfast potatoes we'd ever had. They tasted like a combination of has browns and french fries. Yuuuummmmmm! As I said before, Crepes Etc. is also famous for their hot coco. They made their own marshmallows, and serve the drink in gigantic size mugs (see below). Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the marshmallows for you since they were already eaten by the time I got around to taking a shot :)

Thoughts on Crepes Etc.

• This place is obviously popular for good reason! It was packed when we were there and we were lucky to find a table. But the line to order the food moved fast, and they have outdoor seating.
• They have a huge menu of both sweet and savory crepes. I love savory crepes and was super happy that they have some really great vegetarian ones here. 

I loved the food and atmosphere of this place. I was so happy I could share it with my family, and will definitely try to get back here again!

Kayak's Coffee

Kayak's Coffee is a coffee shop that is right across from Wash U. It's owned by the St. Louis coffee chain Kaldi's, but has an awesomely unique outdoorsy feel. I love this place. I've been a frequent customer since I started at Wash U. As a freshman it was a good place to go to get off campus for a bit to study. I stayed on campus the summer between my freshman and sophomore year. I was taking a class and working, and my work schedule was such that when I got off all the on campus eateries were closed. I also was working in a lab in the Earth and Planetary Sciences building, which is very close to kayaks. This combination of circumstances led me to eat at kayaks almost every night that summer.

Kayak's takes campus card. They have good coffee, free wifi, and a really nice atmosphere. I stopped there on my way home earlier this week after class to catch up on some reading for class, and to grab an after school snack. I got a raspberry and almond scone, and a latte. Kayaks scones are amazing! They have some really fun flavors. My favorite is raspberry lemon, but I also like the orange almond a lot. Another  really fun thing that kayaks does is cool latte art. The latte above has a heart, but they also sometimes do really unique art too (see the dragon below!).

Kayaks also has a full cafe menu (which I got a chance to extensively try 2 summers ago). They have sandwiches (all named after mountain towns), salads, pizzas, waffles, omelets, and wraps. My favorite sandwiches are the Snowmass sandwich (see below), which is basically a swiss grilled cheese on rye with sautéed onions, and the Jackson's Hole, which is their version of a turkey reuben. They have this amazing salty rye bread that I absolutely love!

Things to note about Kayak's:

• It's on the corner of Skinker and Forest Park Parkway, across the street from both Wash U and Forest Park. 
• While they take campus card, they do frequently have trouble with their campus card reader. So if you're a Wash U student make sure you have some other way to pay when you go, just in case. 
• While the food and coffee are great, they are kinda pricey...
• They have outdoor seating! Also the place is ALWAYS hopping with community members, students, and faculty. It's almost always crowded, but the atmosphere still manages to be quiet, and intimate. 
• Also Kayak's is named after the owner's dog Kayak! There's a picture of him above the fireplace, he's a Husky. How cute is that? 

Overall, great place. Especially if you live on the Northeastern side of campus. 

Napoleon at Piccione

This is my first post about St. Louis food! So one of my new favorite things this year has been Piccione Pastry. It's an authentic Italian pasticceria that opened this summer on the Delmar Loop. My apartment is fairly close to Piccone and its become a frequent stop for my friends and I when we're craving something sweet. They have amazing pastries, good coffee, and most importantly, take campus card. So far I've tried the tricolor cookie (which I think are my favorite thing there), this beauteous napoleon, and a pumpkin cannoli. All were fantastic and reasonably priced. As for drinks I've had the cappuccino,  the cappuccino creme with amoretto, and the house coffee. The cappuccino creme (pictured below) was a bit sweet for me, but I very much enjoyed my other drinks. One of my friends loves their italian sodas. I'm also dying to try their affogato (basically think italian version of an ice cream sunday but with gelato and expresso, yummmm). Needless to say I will be back soon.

Other notes on Piccione Pastry:

• Its on the corner of Delmar and Skinnker, easy to get to for Wash U students. 
• They have a nice seating area and FREE WIFI making it a perfect study destination.
• Also, my roommate and I just discovered this, they have a coffee happy hour from 2p-4p where all drinks are 50% off!!!!! Did I mention that this place is a good study spot, with cheap coffee?

Basically if you live in Saint Louis you have to come check this place out