Containing my excitement over this is hard.

This is a letter from Joy.  I'm sure you know her.  I often attempt to recreate her recipes, and more than often don't do them justice.  That's okay though.  My roommate helps me finish off the batter, I post semi-delicious-looking photos of the outcome, and everyone is happy.

Wait, did you catch that first part? THIS IS A LETTER FROM JOY! She's embarking on a Thirty Things Before Thirty Years journey, and one item on her list was to write more handwritten letters.  Apparently I was having a good Twitter reflex day, because I was one of 30 people to see her tweet and quickly email her my address.  Bam, a week later, look what shows up in my mailbox. The card even has a cupcake design on it from Cakespy. It's like we're best friends or something...or I blog way too much about cupcakes.

It isn't everyday that one of your fave creative celebrities takes the time to handwrite a letter to you--and Joy is most definitely a celeb in the blogosphere.  She'll be humble about it, but it's totally true. When I was in elementary school, I wrote a letter to Lisa Frank asking her to create a mermaid character for her colorful school supplies line.  Lisa never wrote back, but I would like to credit myself with the fruition of said design a year later. Perhaps that's wishful thinking.

Thank you Joy for making my day! When I'm back in LA this summer, I'd love to attend one of your pop-up catering events with your partners-in-crime and actually meet you :)

The Crew Does Vegas: The Music Video

Last winter, I went to Vegas with my roommate/best friend Tierney and our 6 best guy friends, who also happen to be our neighbors.  Actually, it's because they are our neighbors that they're our best friends. Anyway, what was supposed to be a Skype session telling Tier that she was crazy to think that all 8 of us would commit to such a trip, turned into her booking us a 4-night stay at The Mirage.

Best decision ever. Tier is always right.  And she's been pestering me to upload the music video that I made of our trip on my blog, so here it is.



Vegas Part II: Graduation Celebration, coming in June to a point-and-shoot camera near you.

Rainy Day Whole Wheat Semi-Healthy Cookies

Things that I like:

1. Being done with finals.

2. Spring Break!

3. A week at home in LA.

4. Rainy days.

Things that I don't like:

1. Being sick.

Unfortunately, being sick had to coincide with all of the above.  Can't bake, can't drive downtown to be in the "crowd" of a music video filmed by the talented Kurt Hugo Schneider...can't do too much at all because I sort of feel like death. On this plus side, I can catch up on everything in the Twitter/Pinterest/Blogging world that I put on hold during finals week, and post this recipe that I recently adapted from Joy the Baker (quite successfully, I might add).

After this baking catastrophe, I was determined to prove that I'm not a total fail at baking from scratch.  Plus, the Whole Wheat in the title makes me think it's sort of healthy, so we're just gonna roll with that thought. I used bigger portions of dough per cookie, I wanted them to come out super soft, not as crunchy (see how mine are thicker, and hers are thinner and oh-so-stackable)  I also didn't freeze the dough; I can be very impatient.

Here is Joy's recipe for Whole Wheat Chocolate Brown Sugar Sugar Cookies

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fit with a paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugars.  Beat until well incorporated.  Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.  Add the egg.  Beat on medium speed until mixture is glossy and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Stop mixer and add the dry ingredients all at once.  Mix on low speed until all of the flour is incorporated  Stop mixer and finish incorporating ingredients with a spatula. Spoon batter out onto a sheet of waxed paper, and form loosely into a log.  Roll and seal cookie dough and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Once chilled, divide dough in half and place one half on a lightly floured counter surface.  Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll out dough to a 1/4-inch thickness.  Use a heart shaped (or whatever) cookie cutter to cut out cookies and place dough on prepared baking sheet.  Very lightly brush cookies with water and sprinkle with granulated or turbinado sugar.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.  Remove from the oven, allow to rest on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Roll and cut cookies, re-rolling the dough once or twice, until all cookies are cut and baked.

Cookies will last, in an airtight container at room temperature, for up to five days.

Take a look at Joy's list of recipes--they'll make you want to bake for days!

Chi-O Cookies 2011 Part III: DIY Cupcake Stands

Literally made these the day of Chi-O Cookies.  Since we were short on time and tight on budget, my goal was to create centerpieces that doubled as dessert stands.  Presenting Candy Land Cupcake Stands made straight from the game board!  This project was super easy and inexpensive.  The board games are from thrift stores, wine glasses from the dollar tree, and one dollar movie-sized candy boxes from Target.

Candy Lands as far as the eye can see...

Attach wine glasses to board with a really strong glue.

Fill glasses with colorful candy of choice.

Cut another game board in half, finish off edges with black paint, and glue to wine glass rims.  Finish off with the little gingerbread playing pieces!  See Part II for more decor ideas.

Chi-O Cookies 2011 Part II: The Decor

Grande iced latte in hand and absolutely no sleep the night before, my amazing Philanthropy Committee and I turned our whole sorority house into a Candyland of desserts.  It was a true all-you-can-eat dessert buffet.  From homemade apple pies to oreo cake pops, vegan peanut butter fudge and almond rocha, my XΩ sisters really outdid themselves!  For DIY cupcake stand instructions, see Part III.   

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Started with a quick sketch...

...and had it turned into this AMAZING logo!  These were our shirts :)
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Bunting is all the rage these days, check out this one at The Pretty Blog.
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The results of the Candy Land cupcake centerpieces made from a total of 8 games!
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Placecards for the desserts, especially for the gluten-free, vegan, allergy-specific etc, all made from elements of the board game.
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Giant lollipops with a sprinkle of vintage Candy Land cards.

Chi-O Cookies 2011 Part I: The Dessert

Chi-O Cookies 2011 was a total success!  After sifting through hundreds of blogs for the past few...months...bookmarking photos and recipes for dark chocolate this and vanilla bean that, I had to come to terms with the fact that I couldn't turn our sorority house into Candyland overnight AND bake every single thing that called for flour.  It came down to whatever I could do in the 12 hours before the event.  Naturally, we pulled an all-nighter-baking-bonanza, complete with a 4am emergency frosting run to Safeway.  Here are the pictures of the cupcakes that I made (9 dozen total...yeahhh don't talk to me about it). See Part II for the decor.

Vanilla cupcakes with a caramel center, topped with brown sugar caramel frosting and sprinkled with coconut.

Chocolate Banana cupcakes  dipped in chocolate ganache and topped with a chocolate covered banana.

Dark chocolate cupcake with a chocolate ganache center, topped with vanilla frosting with caramel drizzle.SO. DELICIOUS.

And blue + green cupcakes for Dr. Seuss's birthday! The plastic cupcake containers were perfect for transporting them all to the Chi-O House, I picked some up from the grocery store for a dollar a piece.

You're invited to Chi-O Cookies 2011!

Here are the finished invites that we sent off to the Sacramento alumnae chapter.  This year's theme: Candyland!  I've started bookmarking decor pages, and already have a million ideas in mind.

An Ode to Joy: Vanilla and Chocolate Cornbready Cupcakes

Cupcakes are many things.

They are pretty.
And they are fluffy.
Bite-Sized!
Delicious.
Definitely not allowed in my new eat-healthy-get-fit plan.

But one thing that they should not be: Cornbready.

Yeah, these little cuties definitely tasted like cornbread.  Quite possibly because, in an effort to be "healthier," I halved the sugar that the recipe called for.  This probably breaks every single rule in the cookbook.  Didn't think it would matter, but nope, they definitely tasted like cornbread.

This normally wouldn't be such a big deal, but this was the first recipe that I tried from Joy the Baker.  Joy is an inspiration to professional and amateur bakers, cooks, and people who just plain love to read witty things.  Her blog is so fantastic and expansive, the photographs she takes are positively mouth-watering, and I have gotten lost for hours and hours on end just sifting through her posts.  OH and she also hosts super awesome, trendy, and delicious events in Los Angeles (hometown shoutout)! So, in between writing papers, studying for midterms, and trying to figure out a general plan for my future, my pastime as of late has been bookmarking her recipes, and trying to not drool on my laptop.

Back to my predicament.  Cornbread cupcakes?? Who would eat that? This was super embarrassing...I mean, it was just 12 cupcakes.  One stick of butter. You can't mess that up!  I needed a solution, stat.  I turned to what I knew and took a page from the last batch of cupcakes that I made.  I cut out the top of the cupcake and infused them with chocolate ganache. Problem solved. Sort of.  If you could get over the mealy texture.

In any case, the frosting turned out pretty.  And I highly doubt any of the 18-21 year olds buying them at our sorority's table on the quad even noticed.

coho + crafts

No Friday class = relaaaaax and craft.  Finishing up invites for our alumnae chapter for Chi-O Cookies, our annual winter philanthropy event.  I definitely won't stop hearing about the fact that I busted out a paper cutter and adhesive at our booth at the Coho, the on-campus coffeehouse.  Pics of the finished invites will be up soon!

Superbowl? Try Super-Bowl-Them-Over-With-Cupcakes!

My sports-loving neighbors: Elysa, do you even know who is playing on Sunday?
Me: ...uhm...[platter appears] Cupcake??
My cupcake-loving neighbors: OMG YOU'RE AWESOME!

Figured that if I fed them, I wouldn't have to hear about my lack of sports knowledge for three straight hours.  Introducing my rendition of GuinnessGasm cupcakes (recipe from SF Food Wars found here).  They were chocolate Guinness cupcakes with a chocolate ganache center, topped with Baileys frosting.  This is why they keep me around.

Let's take a moment to appreciate the fact that while I was making these FROM SCRATCH, Tier's contribution was nacho ingredients, then chilling in front of the tv. Yep, that's how we work.

Attempted artsy shot.  Note to self: learn how to do neat things with camera.

GOOO...FOOTBALL!!! ...Yeahhh...If the neighbors hadn't made delicious nachos, I would have peaced.

spiked banana milkshakes and other tuesday ramblings

It's 1:18am. Studying for two back-to-back midterms on Thursday. I really need to sleep. But right now I just really want this.

What is this, you ask? I like to call it a Frothy Coffee Banana Milkshake with a Hint (Cough) of Vodka Because We're All Out of Baileys and It's a Thursday Night and I Just Took Two Midterms In a Row So It's Justifiable.

I will be making this in approximately 40 hours.

Recipe:

2 over-ripe bananas that you were going to make banana bread with but you're in this mindset that bread equals carbs and you wouldn't want that would you so it's about time you did something with them.

1 of those canned Starbucks Mocha drinks that call themselves frappucchinos but really taste like water unless you mix it with something like bananas.

2 scoops vanilla ice cream ONLY because it was left over from some neighbor shindig and I highly encourage substituting chocolate, coffee, or virtually ANY other flavor.

1 cup milk or however much calcium you still need for the day.

1 cup crushed ice to make it frothy because frothy is fantastic.

X number of shots depending on the kind of week you had of whatever alcoholic beverage happens to be in your kitchen. Ask your roommate for permission first even though she will give you a look and mumble something about choosing milkshakes over cowboys. Vegas joke, sorry, slight tangent...

Directions: Blend everything together in that Magic Bullet that your awesome mom surprised you with after lusting over it for years on those infomercials.

Cheers! Have a lovely Wednesday!

fuel for the weekend

Tier's new car is totally equipped for froyo on the go.

diy! fabric flower accessories

It's JANUARY!! Thursday, January 20th, 2011, 2:01 to be exact, and we're watching When Harry Met Sally in my Sociology class.

Aaand now it is most definitely Sunday, January 23rd, 2011, 5:42pm.  So much for finishing what you start.  I was certain that in that hour and fifty minute class block I could bust out a post.  But...that movie is just so emotionally draining, I couldn't focus on anything else.  You know what I'm talking about? When Sally and Harry are dancing at his New Year's Eve party, and you know that they are feeling and thinking the same thing, but they both have too much pride to admit it, because they're just friends of course, and then it's about to strike midnight, and you're all JUST GOT FOR IT! but of course they don't because pshh that would be way too easy and neat and clean and WHY can't they just see that they would be PERFECT together?!?

Ahem. Hello. We're okay now. Mostly because these flower accessories are darling and make you feel super cute. Adapted from Heather Bailey's wonderful blog.

chocolate cheesecake cupcakes

with ganache frosting.  Did you get all of that?

Chocolate + cheesecake + cupcakes + ganache + frosting.

Those are some good words right there.

It's a lot of chocolate, and a lot of delicious.

Is it okay that I'm slightly more excited about the cupcake wrappers than the actual cupcakes themselves?  Mostly because the wrappers are a delightfully bright turquoise and frill out at the top.  It makes me want to string cute, colorful cupcake wrappers around my room.

Not a bad idea.  And low-cal too.

The recipe can be found here via The Food Network.

Baking cupcakes with a surprise in the middle makes it that much more impressive. Just my opinion.  Thanks to Kaylee for helping with...most of the baking.

a little bit of retro love

Super cute retro typewriter that I bought my mom off of Craigslist for her birthday!  I thought that it was SO awesome...my mom sees it, and goes, "Elysa...this may be retro for you, but I grew up with these."  Ah well.

And here's a close-up of the card that I made for her as well. Total sucker for a good pun.