Vanilla Meringues

I got this recipe from a friend of mine; thank you for the recipe Pixie! The first time I made these I accidentally made them a bit too big and they didn't bake all the way through, but the second time (pictured here) they came out perfect. I added just a bit of pink food coloring to this batch. These are delightful and melt in your mouth, and while I'm not a huge fan of how sweet they were, my family loved them. Loved them so much I don't even have a picture of them baked; they ran out too fast! Next time I make them, I think I'll swap out the vanilla extract for another flavor.

Recipe

- 1/2 cup of sugar (Though I reccommend less)
- 3 egg whites
- 1/2 tsp of lemon juice
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- I made these again, and I find 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp whatever other flavor you want works well. Adjust as needed, though.

My sister, who is much better at baking than me, reccommended I mix the egg whites alone first then add the sugar as it mixes, but I didn't do that and it still turned out fine, but do whatever you want.
Whisk until stiff peaks form
Bake on a tray with parchment paper at 225*F for 1.5 hours.

Coffee Chocolate Cake

BEFORE YOU THINK ANYTHING, Yes, I know it's ugly! I consider myself a pretty good artist, but if there's one thing I can't do for the life of me is decorate a cake. Anyway, I made this for my mother's birthday this year - albeit a day early. She originally wanted brownies but I thought she could be my test subject for soaking cakes since I've never really done that before (brownies were also made, do not worry). I used a recipe I found online here and made my own whipped cream and strawberry & peach jam for the filling. I definitely did not follow the recipe to a T but it still turned out pretty well for my first time. Not as moist as I would have liked, probably because I didn't use as much coffee soak as I should've. Nonetheless it was delightful and my mom loved it.

Recipe (Directions copied from site)

- 1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking power
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil (though I used olive oil)
- 3/4 cup sour cream (i guess?)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350*F. Lightly grease two 8-inch round cake pans, dust lightly with flour and line the base with rounds of parchment paper.
First prepare the coffee and keep it hot. If you are using instant coffee, add 1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules or 2 teaspoons of espresso powder to 1 cup of just boiled water and set it aside while you prepare the batter.
Combine dry ingredients. Use a fine mesh sieve to sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl. Add both sugars and salt and whisk to blend very well so the ingredients are evenly combined, pressing out any lumps of brown sugar.
Combine wet ingredients. Add eggs, oil, sour cream and vanilla to a medium bowl and whisk to blend well. Use a spatula to make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then pour in the wet ingredients. Mix with an electric handheld mixer on medium-low speed until blended. You can also mix by hand with a wire whisk starting in the center and slowly dragging the dry ingredients in from the sides to combine evenly with the wet mixture. It will be thick and somewhat dry. Add the hot coffee gradually in two stages to minimize clumps forming and mix until evenly combined and the batter is smooth. The batter will be quite thin.
Bake. Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans and tap the pans on the countertop to allow any large air bubbles to surface and pop. Bake for 30-33 minutes until cakes spring back when pressed gently and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes before running a knife or offset spatula around the sides and inverting the cakes onto the rack to cool completely.

Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes

I also made these for my mom's birthday, and not a day early this time. I originally wanted to add earl grey to the frosting, but we didn't have anything of the sort at home, so I just settled for regular lemon. I made another batch of homemade jam to fill the cupcakes with - blueberry jam - and ended up making way too much than I needed and I will admit it is very very sweet. Nonetheless, I think they turned out well and my mother liked them a lot. These also look atrocious I know, but hey, I'm trying.
I got the cake recipe from here and the frosting from here, but I altered the recipes quite a lot. I'll put them down below as well, albeit with my alterations if you want to do that instead. I will not put the jam recipe down here because once again I didn't use a recipe and comepletely winged it. It's not my best work, anyway.

Recipe

Cake
- 1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 3 egg whites room temperature
- 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tbsp blueberry flavoring
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup warm milk
- Optionally, I added a bit of blue dye

Preheat oven to 350*F
Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl and whisk them together
Separate the eggs (I'll be honest, I accidentally dropped one of the yolks in there and couldnt get it out because it broke.)
In another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients until combined
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined
Distribute the batter evenly into cupcake papers, filling each paper about 2/3 full
Bake for about 18 minutes

Frosting

WARNING! I actually did not have enough frosting for all 12 cupcakes. I had 3 bare ones so I'd say add another 1/4 block of cream cheese maybe
- 8oz block of cream cheese
- 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- I added a little bit of lemon juice because I felt just the extract wasn't lemon-y enough, but BE CAREFUL!! It can curdle if you add too much.
- If I had it at the time, I would've added lemon zest.
- Optionally, I added a bit of yellow dye

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth and fluffy. That's it.

Pumpkin & Tomato Soup

I made this with my mom, and she was hounding me the entire time. I don't blame her - My iPad which had the recipe on it died in the middle of making it and if I was in control, I would've just winged the rest of it without the recipe. Speaking of altering the recipe, I don't have tomato paste so I substituted it with 2 blended tomatoes, reducing the amount of broth by 1 cup (Which I also used beef broth instead of vegetable, as the recipe called for) and it turned out alright. Also not shown, but I made some grilled cheese to go with it. I haven't cooked much as of recent, but I had fun with this. You can find the recipe here, but I'll put what I used down below.

Recipe

- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- However much juice blended 2 medium-sized tomatoes gets you
- 2 cup beef broth
- 1 15- ounce can pumpkin purée
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, add the olive oil, garlic, and onion. Sauté for about 5 minutes, until fragrant.
Add the tomato pasta, vegetable broth, pumpkin purée, and parmesan cheese. Mix well.
Bring to a boil and then let simmer on medium heat for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the heavy cream and Greek yogurt. Mix well and let simmer for another 5 minutes.

Strawberry & Vanilla Shortbread Cookies

I'm still getting the hang of decorating stuff, as you can see. I tried doing the checkerboard design but I rolled the pink dough a bit too thin so it wasn't even. After I messed those up, I tried to make spiral ones instead (The bigger ones are the first batch that I evidently burnt). The second batch, the smaller ones, actually turned out pretty good. I recommend letting them sit out for a day or so. For some reason, that made them better. You can find the recipe here, but I'll put what I used down below.

Recipe

- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp strawberry flavoring
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, mix the butter until creamy. Add the granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and salt and beat again until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl as needed, then add the egg yolks. Mix on low speed until combined.
Move the dough to a workspace and pat it as needed, then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.
Preheat the oven to 350*F. Line pans as needed (I needed two)
Take the dough out of the fridge and cut in halfs, Then incorperate the vanilla and strawberry flavorings into either half of the dough, and pink food coloring for the strawberry dough. Incorperate well.
roll out the dough and cut into even squares. Place one square on top of the other, then roll gently into a spiral. Cut the roll into even pieces and place on your baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes.

Linzer cookies

When I first put these on my site, I thought they looked great. I'm not sure if it was just me or the recipe I used, but these things were so stupidly dry I genuinely felt like I was eating chalk. Which is unfortunate, because I had really high hopes for these! I can't give the recipe because admittedly I made these last month (made for Christmas, writing this currently in January) and lost the recipe. Not that you'd want it.