Monthly Archives: March 2012

Thin Mint Cupcakes

This year, I’ll have been a Girl Scout for 20 years. After all those years of eating, selling, and buying Girl Scout cookies, I’ve never thought to bake with them. The most I’ve ever done is pop some thin mints into the freezer. I saw a lot of recipes for Thin Mint, Samoa, and Tagalong-inspired recipes on Pinterest and decided I was going to do something creative this year. I can’t usually wait long enough to save a whole box for baking, but this time I bought extra and forced myself to wait to make something special with them.

We had a celebration at work for someone’s promotion so we surprised him with some treats. I made the little “Congrats!” flag the same way I did on the mini whoopie pies, a toothpick and decorative washi tape.

I used a cake recipe (found through Pinterest) I baked Peppermint Mocha cupcakes with in December that everyone declared “the best cupcakes ever.” I then combined two other recipes for the ganache and frosting. Another great discovery I’ve made is that the perfect vessel for cupcake duo transport is a tea box! I’ve used this method multiple times to give friends and family two cupcakes and it works like a charm.

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Funfetti Cookies & Pinterest

I used to have a feature on here called “Show and Tell” where I would share a few of my favorite things found on the internet that  caught my eye. After a few installments, I found out about Pinterest. It basically accomplishes the same thing as my feature was and it’s a one-stop-shop to ‘pin’ things that inspire you, or to remind you to make those recipes that you see floating around the internet. The great thing about it is that you can share or ‘re-pin’ things on it very easily and it always keeps a main picture and original source link.

I introduced my sister to Pinterest and she found about about these Funfetti cookies and shared them with me! Before meeting up with my sister for an event we put on together for local Girl Scouts, I made these as a surprise treat for her.

These cookies use funfetti cake mix, but you also have to add flour, eggs, butter, and… wait! It sounds like I’m making cookies from scratch? The amount of work needed for these cookies and the fact that they only use part of a box of cake mix makes me think that I won’t make them again. They do have that nostalgic “kid’s birthday party” taste, but they are a tad flat. The recipe makes a lot of cookies, but I think it would be worth it to double the recipe just to use up the full box of cake mix.

Regardless, my sister was happy and so was my office since they got to eat the leftovers. I ate quite a few myself, so I can’t complain too much!  For the source of inspiration and recipe, visit Lovin’ From the Oven.

Sriracha and Wasabi Deviled Eggs from Food & Wine

In November 2010’s Food & Wine magazine there was a great article about an Asian-American Thanksgiving that included recipes such as Soy-Sauce-and-Honey-Glazed Turkey, Sweet-and-Spicy Sesame Walnuts, Cranberry, Ginger and Orange Chutney, Red-Miso-Glazed Carrots, Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Five-Spice Marshmallows, and Sticky-Rice Dressing. I really empathized with the article, written by Joanne Chang, a first-generation Asian-American married to a meat-and-potatoes East-Coaster. Right from the beginning, I knew I was going to like this feature.

I must have been around 10 when I realized that my Thanksgivings were not quite like everyone else’s.

Before recycling the magazine, I ripped out every single page related to this feature and tucked them away for safe-keeping. Sure enough, soon after I boiled up a big batch of eggs to make these Sriracha-Wasabi Deviled Eggs. These eggs are a marriage between Chinese Tea Eggs and traditional American picnic fare. I brewed them too long in the marinade so they were extra salty, but otherwise were a nice, rich snack. The only problem? A plate full of deviled eggs and only two people to eat them! Sad to say, I don’t think that deviled eggs keep long in the fridge, especially after plating them. But, I definitely recommend this for an appetizer for a group of people with more adventurous taste buds.

Have you heard of “Magazine Mondays“? It’s an informal round-up of recipes reproduced from magazines, by Cream Puffs in Venice. Just like me, she has a heap of magazines and this non-event event gives incentive to delve into the cooking magazines that seem to pile up and to justify their continued purchase. I always enjoy seeing what magazines people are reading and what they’re making from them. This is my first time participating in Magazine Mondays and I hope to be contributing more in the future!