Sand Dollar Cookies

My calendar tells me it's summer, but it seems the weather begs to differ. Rain... in June? In California! What gives??? Nonetheless, my brain knows it's summer, and I've been dreaming of lounging around on the beach with the sun in my face, the ocean just a jump and skip away, and the sand beneath my feet.

Of course, given the weather conditions and my current work load, a beach trip will have to wait. So instead, I decided to bake something "beachy" to compensate, sand dollar cookies. I remember learning about sand dollars in science class when I was a kid and thinking that they were super cool. There are folk tales that describe sand dollars as mermaid currency or the lost coins of mermaids. How lovely is that? And apparently, according to Wikipedia, in New Zealand, sand dollars are referred to as sea cookies and snapper biscuits!

For the cookies, I wanted something fragile and not too sweet. I remembered reading up on kuih bangkit, a Malaysian CNY cookie, and thought that they might just work. I've never had kuih bangkit before, so I can't tell you how these cookies differ from actual kuih bangkit, but I can tell you that they fit perfectly with what I imagined for sand dollar cookies. They're white, crisp, and delicate with an interesting texture, a bit like a dry meringue. And tastewise, they're slightly sweet with a hint of coconut. A perfect summer treat!

Graduation Bears

I'm back (after a busy month of no blogging)! And I'm now officially a college graduate! I just graduated last Tuesday morning in the pouring rain... Seriously, it was the only rainy day of the week. What is up with that? Well, at least it was a super memorable experience.

Nonetheless, it's big milestones in life, like graduation, that make me realize just how quickly the years pass. To think, just four years ago I was still in high school with pretty much no idea how to bake. Now, four years later, after teaching myself to bake and realizing how awesome it is, here I am with my own baking blog. It's interesting to see just where life takes us. For my graduation, I decided that it'd be nice to bake a bunch of Cal themed cookies to pass out to friends at the reception. The key was that I didn't want the designs to be too complicated, so that it'd be easy to make them in bulk. In the end it all worked out, and I ended up with two designs: a blue and yellow Cal heart (much love for Berkeley) and graduation bears (Go Bears!).

Grasshopper Tart

The warm weather here in California has me dreaming of summer. Already I'm seeing shorts and tank tops everywhere as well as lines out the door for ice cream. So, with a craving for something sweet, cold, and refreshing, I decided to make this grasshopper tart.

With my love of all things mint chocolate chip, this was right up my alley. This tart is a remake of the very retro grasshopper pie, a slightly boozy mint chiffon pie with a chocolate cookie crust, based on the grasshopper cocktail (equal parts crème de menthe, crème de cacao, and fresh cream). What I really like about the tart version is the higher crust to filling ratio (when it comes to pies and tarts, I'm very much a crust person) and the addition of mini chocolate chips. This is definitely a wonderful treat for a hot day, or any day, if you love the combination of mint and chocolate.

Lucky Spinach Quiche

It's almost spring (in less than a week)! I already see clovers popping up everywhere, which means that St. Patrick's Day is near. I wanted to make something green for St. Patrick's Day and finally settled on making spinach quiche. And for some extra luck, I decided to shape my quiches like 4-leaf clovers.

I didn't want to buy a clover shaped pan, since I knew it'd get very little use and take up a lot of space. Instead, I did some brainstorming and came up with two different ways to make 4-leaf clover shaped quiches. Both involve disposable aluminum pans, one a muffin pan and one a pot pie dish. So pick and choose depending on which method you like better. The great thing about this quiche recipe is that it's pretty adaptable in terms of ingredients. Overall, these would make a great treat at any springtime party.