Whew! It’s been a minute since I’ve posted. The last month or so has been wrapped up in packing, moving, and unpacking. Though I tried to save the kitchen things for last – and then unpacked them first – I wouldn’t say that my apartment was exactly ready for photos 😉
But now I live in Colorado, I am thrilled by my new life adventure out here, and I am back in the kitchen!
You’ve probably seen these around instagram – there’s a reason for the popularity! This is an amazingly simple and delicious summer appetizer. Whether you’re looking for a light snack, an appetizer, or a sharing dish for potluck, this recipe is a quick fix that is not only good for you, but tastes great too! And have I mentioned how easy it is? You can pick from a wide variety of pre-made tortellini to customize these to your preference. If you want even less steps, use a bottled balsamic vinaigrette to make it even easier!
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Step One.
Start with the tortellini so that they can cool before assembling the skewers. Cook the tortellini according to package directions. Drain them and put them in a heat-safe bowl. Pour some olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the top, stir, cover, and refrigerate them until they are cold.
Step Two.
Prep step! Measure out the oil, vinegar, and lemon pepper. Drain the mozzarella, wash the tomatoes, and cut the basil into strips about 1/2 inch thick.
Step Three.
Prepare the vinaigrette. Pour the vinaigrette into a jar, and slowly add the oil while you stir it. Mix in the pepper. Seal the jar and shake the vinaigrette to complete the emulsion.
Pro Tip: If you want to make the emulsion even more perfectly, use a blender or a food processor to incorporate the oil.
Step Four.
When the tortellini are cold, begin to assemble the skewers. I use this order, but pick whatever you like best: tortellini, basil, tomato, basil, mozzarella. When they are fully assembled, drizzle with the vinaigrette, and serve!
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Total Time: 12 minutes
Category: appetizer
Whether you're looking for a light snack, an appetizer, or a sharing dish for potluck, this recipe is a quick fix that is not only good for you, but tastes great too!
Ingredients
Instructions
3…2…1… HAPPY NEW YEAR! What does 2017 have in store for you? There is something enchanting about the new year, even though I don’t buy into the whole “new year, new you” mentality. If you want a resolution to stick, it needs to be an all-year, all the time resolution! But it’s never too late to start, so go for it if you’re ready for a life change this new year!
My new life resolution is to update this blog more! I can’t tell you how many photos of awesome, delicious meals I have that never made it to the posting stage. Laziness, maybe. I attribute it to my internet, which takes about 9 minutes to upload each picture. Ugh.
But I am especially exited this for this New Year’s Eve because I am going to a fancy swing dancing party! We have always had a chill night in with our best family friends – which is very nice! – but I’ve always wanted to experience New Year’s Eve at home in New Orleans and out on the town. The anticipation might just be better than the event!
With visions of champagne bubbles dancing in my head, I dreamt up these delicate macaroons. They combine the drink of the evening with the class of the most sophisticated party. Here’s a toast to Auld Lang Syne!
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Step One.
Prep step! Measure out your ingredients. Have a stand mixer, large bowl, sifter, and spatula ready. Line two or three baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step Two.
Mix the dry ingredients. It is SO important that the sugar and almond aren’t clumpy at all. Clumpy macaroons are no fun. Sift the ingredients in small batches into the big mixing bowl.
Step Three.
Add the egg whites to a mixing bowl. Begin to beat on medium speed. Add the cream of tartar and salt, and beat until soft peaks form. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Now, increase the mixer to medium-high. Slowly, add the caster sugar in a fine stream. Increase the speed to high, and beat until stiff peaks form, about 3 more minutes.
Step Four.
Mix the extracts and color into your egg whites, folding gently. Scoop the whipped egg whites into the big mixing bowl with the dry ingredients, and fold gently until it is completely incorporated. Let it sit for about ten minutes.
Step Five.
Add the mix into a piping bag. It works best if you first put the bag, opened, into a glass (see picture!) Cut off the tip about 3/4 of an inch up from the bottom, so that you have a small hole.
Step Six.
Pipe small rounds of batter, so that they spread out to be about an inch in diameter. Let the cookies dry on the sheet before baking. The required time varies depending on your local humidity levels. At home in New Orleans, I let them dry for about 45 minutes. In Wisconsin for the holidays, it only took about 20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 300°F.
Step Seven.
Bake the macaroons for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are hard and have developed that characteristic little edge on the bottom. Let them cool completely before your carefully remove them – don’t crack them! They are fragile.
Step Eight.
Frosting prep! Measure your ingredients.
Step Nine.
Reduce the champagne in a small pot over medium-high heat until it is reduced by about half. You can measure by pouring it into a measuring glass to see if it is 1/3 cup. Let it cool to room temperature.
Step Ten.
Beat the butter on medium-high speed until it is fluffier, for about five minutes. Slowly, add the powdered sugar and beat until incorporated. Add the champagne. If you like lighter frosting, add about 1 Tablespoon of heavy whipping cream. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3 more minutes.
Step Eleven.
Time to put them together! Match the macaroons up by size. Add your frosting to another piping bag, and pipe the frosting into the center of one of the halves. Sandwich the two together, and press gently so that the frosting reaches out to the edges. Decorate as desired. I used edible gold spray paint and metallic sprinkles, all available at Michaels (best store ever!) Enjoy with a glass of champagne while you toast the New Year!
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 52 minutes
Yield: about 16 macaroons
Ingredients
Instructions
I saw a picture on the internet recently that had replaced Mars’ solar ranking with Louisiana. If you’ve even been in the summer, you would agree that it can’t be too far off!
This cocktail is the perfect summer night (or morning, whatever) cool down. It combines sweet, ripe peaches with the earthy and robust taste of whiskey. You can sweeten it up or not all. You can choose a simple sparkling wine or a sweet champagne.
Cocktails technically have recipes, but I say go with whatever floats your boat – this is a suggestion that you can tweak to your heart’s content!
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Step One
Prepare your ingredients! Separate the mint, chop the peaches, cut a lemon, slice one for garnish, and get your alcohol nearby
Step Two
Put a few ice cubes in the bottom of the shaker. Add the peaches, mint, and juice of the lemon. Pour the amount of whiskey that is desired, and add any simple syrup that you would like.
Note: You’ll see from my picture that I chose a pretty cheap whiskey. I have acquired a “whiskey snob” taste from my family, but it’s not worth the cost when you’re mixing with flavors that will mask what makes expensive booze good. Save your money on this cocktail.
Step Three
Shake, shake, shake! Pro Tip: Cocktails mix best when you come up with a dance. 😉
Step Four
Pour the whiskey mix into a glass of choice (I used a white wine glass – a champagne flute would be much more classy). Fill the glass with your desired bubbly. Add garnishes of mint and peach.
Sip on the porch under a fan and laugh at the weather – it can’t rain on your parade with this drink in hand!
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
© Adventures of a Frostaholic
3….2….1…….. LAUNCH THE BLOG!
I am beyond excited to finally share this project of mine with you! Trust me, it has been “in the making” for an embarrassingly long time…
I suppose it all started with the first time I baked a cake. Head over to my page titled “Hi, my name is Mara May…” to read about that er, interesting experiment.
But it really started with a well-tended rhubarb patch and a need for sugar. My dad, who didn’t cook much, made THE BEST rhubarb crunch when I was growing up. That recipe was genius. It was good warm or cold. It was crunchy yet soft and sweet yet tangy enough to make you pucker up. Add a scoop of plain ol’ vanilla ice cream, and you had a perfect summer night.
After learning how to make that a few times, I decided to venture from the familiar. My grandpa always came over for dinner on Sundays, and we would, like clockwork, make a stop at the pie shop to get a treat for dessert. The pies! Classic apple pie – or with custard or crumb top. Fruit pies, cream pies, inbetween pies. Special pies each month. I loved those pies. I was going to make a pie.
And it. was. delicious.
After rhubarb pie, I started throwing all kinds of fruits in there. I dreamed of having a pie shop of my own when I was grown up.
But instead I went to college. I left Wisconsin and entered into the different but exciting experience of New Orleans. I wanted to bake for all of my new friends…. except serving pie in a dorm is tough. I would have needed a whole cart of materials to serve perfect slices on plate to everyone I knew. Hm.
And then…. epiphany! Cupcakes. Mind you, this was before the cupcake craze, so it didn’t seem 100% obvious. This was a way that I could make everyone happy in a small, hand-held, no-forks-required way. Brilliant!
So that’s how it started. Never one to pass up the opportunity for creativity, I soon began writing my own recipes. If I could imagine it, I could make it. Now, I am ready to share these recipes with you! Hooray!
My interests and talent thankfully extend beyond cupcakes, or I would have to roll down the street rather than walk by now. I will share all kinds of recipes with you – please use the archived categories to easily navigate through them and find what you need!
If you ever would like a recipe for something or have a question about how to tweak one you love, ask away! I can’t wait for this to become an awesome collaboration.
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What could be better to celebrate the new chapter of cooking life than some simple celebration cupcakes? Whether you have a birthday, an office party, or just a bad day, these cupcakes will put a smile on everyone’s face. They taste familiar, like your childhood birthday parties, and you will love them! Whether you’re a novice baker or you have some tasty treats in your repertoire, these cakes are simple to prepare and disappear of the plate quickly.
I always start off with my ingredients. Prepping ahead makes for easy baking. Now, that’s not to say I don’t ever get an idea and toss something else in. That happens quite a lot, actually. But you can always try to measure first!
A FEW THINGS BEFORE WE GET STARTED.
Step One.
Prepare all of your ingredients – measure them out and get them ready to go. Refer to the recipe at the bottom for the amounts.
You have probably read many recipes that tell you to let the eggs warm up ahead of time – what’s with that?
Room temperature eggs incorporate more evenly into your batter and whip to a much fluffier volume. So, while this is pretty important for a cheesecake or a meringue, I have not found any dire need to let my eggs hang out on the counter for a while before baking plain ole cake.
Step Two.
Mix those dry ingredients in a separate bowl. A fork is best because, well, that’s what everybody says. Joking aside, you want to keep your flour nice and airy.
Step Two.
Add your butter to the mixing bowl and beat on medium for a hot second. Then, add your sugar in there and mix it up. Mix mix mix.
Step Three.
Add your eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides in between each egg. Do not over mix at this point, but you do want the eggs incorporated all the way. Then add your vanilla and mix.
Do the eggs really hate each other that much? Why do they have to be alone?
It actually is an important step – mixing into your fat (butter) is not that easy for eggs to do, so adding them one at a time encourages an even dispersion of ingredients.
Step Four.
Now put it all together. Add about 1/3 of your dry ingredients and mix. Then add 1/2 of your liquid. Repeat until done!
Again, these ingreidents are for real picky! Who cares what goes in first?! It’s all getting mixed together anyway!
A cake is a crumb mixture. Which means you do not want those strong gluten bonds forming. The bonds form when flour gets friendly with your liquid. So they need their “room for Jesus,” as they always used to say at school dances, which is what the fat does. By added the dry ingredients first, you are protecting the flour with a layer of fat, which will give you a good crumb in the end.
Step Five.
In the oven it goes!
Now you can start your frosting. It is important that the butter is at room temperature. I always beat the butter first before adding the sugar. Then whip it good! Add the cream to your desired consistency, and there you go.
I use Wilton frosting bags and tips for a special finish. If you just want to top the cakes off with a knife swirl of frosting, that’s totally ok!
Once you cut the bottom of the bag and put the frosting tip in, rest the bag in a drinking glass – it supports the bag nicely so that you can use both hands to fill ‘er up!
Step Six.
Pipe. Eat. Om nom nom.
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: about 18 cupcakes
A tasty treat for any occasion! Simple to make but absolutely delicious.
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Frosting Note - there are TONS of frosting recipes out there. Why? Because the ratios don't matter. Whatever you like, go for it. If you like less sugar, cut out up to 1 1/2 cups. If you like frosting super creamy, add more cream. As long as you like how it tastes and it will spread or pipe the way you need it to for what you're doing, go for it. Rules are for baking, not frosting.
© Adventures of a Frostaholic