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We've got a nice mix of sweet and savory recipes in this baking roundup! All delicious and all pretty easy, even if my execution was a bit off. There was, however, one bigger disaster, but again, still tasty. This past week I baked treats (breads) for Easter that will be in my next baking update, but you can just save the recipes for next year! (or make them anytime.)

 

Gooey Oatmeal Fudge Bars

These were so easy to make and super tasty! They're good straight out of the fridge or after a quick zap in the microwave to melt the fudge a bit! For mine I should have saved a bit more cookie batter to crumble on the top but they still look great.

 

Pâte à Choux / Cream Puffs

I made Cheshire Cat tails again and had leftover crème pâtissière. I decided it was the day to finally make cream puffs! It wasn’t as hard/scary as I built it up to be in my mind but I did almost have a disaster. They’re supposed to bake at 425 for 15 minutes so they actually puff up and then you lower the heat to 350 for 20-25 minutes. Somehow the oven reset my pre-heat temp of 425 and only heated to 350. I went to check on the puffs at 14 minutes and they hadn’t puffed up AT ALL. I looked at the temperature and it said 350 - NOOO!! But I did some quick thinking and decided to pump up the heat to 450 to try and get some steam going inside to puff them up. Came back after the oven had gotten to that temperature and they had puffed! YAYY!!! Then I lowered the temp to 350 for the final 10-15 minutes of baking. I used King Arthur Baking’s recipe and added a bit of sugar to make them sweet.


Thick and Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another recipe from Tessa of Handle the Heat's Ultimate Cookie Handbook. Her cookie recipes (any recipes really) always come out amazing! In the past I've made her brown butter chocolate chip cookies, cosmic brownies, lemon loaf cake and many more! The recipe uses cornstarch and part cake flour to make them soft and chewy. I made a full batch but only baked about 14 cookies. The rest went into the freezer so we could bake them off fresh for easy desserts!


Ukrainian Garlic Bread - Pampushky

The recipe is by Olia Hercules and was shared by Nigella Lawson as part of Cook for Ukraine. "Cook For Ukraine aims to increase awareness of the humanitarian crisis the world faces right now, as well as raise the funds needed to aid children & families in Ukraine who have been displaced by the current situation." You can donate to the cause on JustGiving.  Now to the food! I'm a big garlic bread fan and immediately added this to my must-bake list after seeing it on Nigella's instagram. So fun and tasty! It was pretty easy to make too, although I had a bit of trouble with my dough not wanting to come together so I added a couple spoonfuls of water and kneaded like crazy! They plumped up nicely and came out golden brown. Yummy!

[King Arthur's] Favorite Sandwich Bread

For some reason I have a difficult time with making loaves of bread. This is the second or third "sandwich bread" recipe I tried and it didn't come out quite right. My loaf pan is slightly bigger than the recipe so I increased all the ingredients by 25%. The flavor was great but I guess I need to increase the recipe more. I might just double it next time so it is definitely big enough, ha ha! At least it tasted good! I made this the same weekend as the Pampushky so at least one thing came out the way it was supposed to.


Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Here comes the disaster. In the middle of the week I decided I wanted to make dessert but I didn't want to take the time to make individual cookies so I looked for a new cookie bar recipe to try. Grabbed the recipe from a blog that gave me good success with an updated French macaron recipe. Unfortunately, the dough didn't want to cook!! I even left it in TWENTY extra minutes and the center was still flowing lava while the edges were crisp and cooked. Super weird. Luckily it firmed up overnight and I like underdone cookies/brownies, but Christian still avoided eating the middle (more for me!) 





I wore this outfit to the Roger Williams Zoo last month but it was too people-y to take pictures without feeling dumb so I re-wore it the next weekend to take some! I figured I would go with the animal theme since we were going to the zoo so I picked my fun safari print tee by Madewell and paired it with custom Nike's made from leopard print pony-hair. I know, it was weird to make sneakers in a material I couldn't actually use for hiking or working out - but I don't generally do those activities so why not go wild! I've had these for seven years now, wowza!


Tee: Madewell Safari Print Linen

Sweater: Banana Republic Italian Cashmere-Blend Boyfriend Cardigan c/o Westfield Trumbull

Jeans: FRAME 'Le Skinny de Jeanne' (Shopbop)

Sneakers: Nike by You custom Air Max 90 Premium  c/o (previously called Nike iD)

Bag c/o Orox Leather Co Merces Petite (not photographed, whoops!)

Sunglasses: Ray Ban 'Erika' c/o Shopbop














If you missed my Instagram posts from the zoo you can see them below!



 

Can't believe we're already 3 months in to 2022. This month was another light shopping month - no clothes purchased. There's nothing I really need at the moment since we haven't really been out much in the past 2 years. Many of my old clothes now feel extra new again because I haven't worn them in quite a while. It's nice to be able to "shop my closet" as the cool kids are saying, ha ha. But I've always shopped my closet in the past (many of my clothes are 10+ years old.) It is still nice to have the occasional new piece to sprinkle in, but not much has caught my eye these days.

 

THE (modified) RULES

  1. Be mindful of purchases 
  2. Quality over quantity
  3. Basics are best

MY PROGRESS

 

Clothes:

  1. None yet

Basics:
  1. mīere the label "Frankie" knit sweater in Faded Black ($56.92, $32.15 if we omit shipping)

 

Shoes:

  1. None yet


Handbags:

  1. None yet

 

Accessories:
  1. None yet

 
 

Activewear/Swimwear:

  1. None yet

 

Gifted from Brands:

 

Spent in March: $0

Spent in 2022: $56.92

Wearing my newest sweater acquisition! I mentioned in my February wardrobe update that I finally bought another sweater from my friend Jamie's clothing line - mÄ«ere the label. She is currently in between collections/stocking items but keep an eye on her site for when she launches more!  This is the Frankie sweater and it is perfectly chunky, slightly oversized and super cozy! I'm sad I will probably only be able to wear it a couple more times before it gets too warm! I'll make up for that next year.


Decided to go for an (almost) monochromatic look for it's first outing as an ode to Jamie. She is the queen of monochromatic looks and simple but chic outfits! I did want to add one element of surprise to the look so I paired it with my bright purple Prada Cahier! I had been trying to rotate through other bags lately because I've really been favoring it. What can I say - I'm still obsessed.

 

Sweater: mīere the label "Frankie" knit sweater (currently out of stock)

Jeans: Free People 'Jax' Patchwork Jeans

Shoes: BCBGeneration Yerra slip on sneaker (DSW)

Labradorite Necklace: Indulgems (Gilt)

Bag: Purple Prada Cahier in Viola (Rebag via Vestiaire Collective)

 












 

 Time for more baking!


Easy Cast Iron Pizza

Rather than our usual King Arthur pizza crust recipe I decided to try a cast iron pizza recipe. It was super easy to make and really tasty! Crispy yet chewy crust and I love the thickness. Will definitely be making this again! It reminded me of Pizza Hut pan pizzas from back in the day. You know, when you would read books all Summer to earn a free pan pizza? Those were the days!

I topped it with pepperoni, red onions and used my friend Amiyrah's pizza sauce recipe, our go to for any pizza!

 

Flourless Fudgy Chocolate Brownie Cookies

These were a bit of a fail, in my mind, because they don't look like the photo. But they were tasty enough, especially a day after they were made. I was having one of my "cranky" days so I think that bled into me thinking they weren't perfect, ha ha. You ever have days like that?

Baked French Toast Sticks

Way back in December we bought (and froze) some French Toast bread for like 50¢ at a bread outlet store and I finally got around to using it! Instead of normal French toast I decided to make sticks! Most of the recipes I found had you pan fry the sticks but I wanted it to be an easier weeknight meal so I found one where they were baked. They were cruncher when I had them as leftovers the next day but they’re still great fresh. Definitely a bonus if you want to meal prep them! Put some in the fridge and some in the freezer and you’re good to go. I will be doing that in the future!

 

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies 

We aren't huge celebrators of Valentine's Day. Maybe a card and going somewhere a little bit better than takeout for dinner or lunch the weekend of. When I saw these red velvet crinkle cookies they seemed like a perfect treat to make! I made them the weekend before Valentine's Day so we finished them before the actual day. But I had already planned on a different treat to make on Vday weekend. Very soft and tasty!


Blood Orange Coffee Cake

This was our actual Valentine's Day treat! I saw this recipe at the end of January and it looked fun. It was also a great way to get some more use out of our bundt pan (we've only used it one other time.) Conveniently, blood oranges were on sale and we already had almost everything else (except yogurt) on hand! Had a slight issue with glaze thickness but other than that super easy and delicious! The recipe called for 1/4c blood orange juice + 3/4c powdered sugar but it was still liquid so I had to use WAYYYY more….maybe 4x the amount of sugar.

 

Spicy Detroit-Style Pizza

Yep, another cast iron pizza!  I saw this one on Instagram in early February and added it to my list of things to make! It was super delicious, we wished we had made 2! Christian says he likes the crust of that other cast iron pizza better because it was thinner and crunchier. I loooove a thick chewy crust so this was perfect for me. The edges were crispy but the inside was pillowy soft.


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