Summer To-do List--Completed

Although my summer ended a few weeks ago, after Labor Day this weekend, summer is officially over.

At the beginning of the summer I made a to-do list to force me to try things or get things done I'd been wanting to for a while. I'm proud to say I completed 5 out of my 8 goals. That's more than half so I'm feeling pretty good about myself.

So let's see, I cooked all summer, finally made recipes I'd been dying to make. I had breakfast for dinner with some of my best friends, DIYed an abstract canvas and made multiple tassel garlands! I even channeled my inner yogi! 

A couple things got passed over on the list, but it's fun to look back and see the little things I accomplished this summer!

I hope everyone has a great long weekend! I have a football game and a shopping trip on the agenda!

xo annie

Milk and Cookies

Today we are talking about my Momofuku Milk Bar obsession. Milk Bar is an incredible bakery in New York introduced to me last year by my oldest sis!

Last week the best little surprise was delivered to me. Okay so it wasn't really a surprise because there were problems with shipping and my sister had to tell me, but a tin of Momofuku's Milk Bar blueberry and cream cookies arrived for me! 

my tin of blueberry and creams!

I think I've mentioned a few times how much I love Milk Bar and their cookies. Anytime Claire comes home from New York she always comes bearing an assortment of Milk Bar cookies. Last time my parents went to NY they brought back the Milk Bar cookbook for me, and then last week Kathleen had cookies shipped to me for a little congrats present! 

Inside a Milk Bar bakery. image via pinterest. All other images via Milkbarstore.com

Milk Bar is the genius idea stirred up by its founder Christina Tosi. She used to work at Momofuku (famous ramen noodle bar) as the pasty chef and would come up with the most unusual but delicious desserts. Her pastries soon become a highlight to the restaurant they decided to let her break off and start her own Momofuku bakery.

Christina Tosi. The mastermind behind Milk Bar.

A year ago when in New York, Claire and her boyfriend couldn't wait to take us Milk Bar. I fell in love. Milk Bar's menu consists of cereal milk ice cream, crack pie, birthday cake truffles, compost cookies and more. Once my parents got me the cookbook I finally took a shot at making my own confetti cookies and blueberry and cream cookies. Tasted pretty close to the real thing let me tell ya! 

Crack Pie. The name explains itself. This corn syrup, sugary pie is so good you get addicted to it like crack.

The blueberry and cream cookies are without a doubt my favorite. The combination of flavors is amazing. The recipe isn't like a normal cookie recipe though. First you have to make the milk crumbs which makes up the "cream" part. The crumbs are made from milk powder and melted white chocolate.  After 8 minutes of mixing the dough, in goes the dried blueberries. After an hour of the dough being in the fridge, huge ice cream scoop size amounts of dough go into the oven to bake. 

Blueberry and Cream cookie tin!

All Milk Bar recipes are like this. Several ingredients and several steps go into recreating Tosi's masterpieces. They are so worth it though. 

Confetti cookies. They look like just regular funfetti cookies but I have actually made these and they are so much more!

Anytime I hear someone is traveling to New York I recommend Milk Bar. If you plan to travel to NYC soon you have to make a stop. If you can't make it, you can order almost all their desserts from their website. After I instagrammed my cookies, one of my good friends told me she instantly got on the website and ordered two tins of cookies to be delivered!

I will without a doubt have a Milk Bar cake as my wedding cake. 

Now that I've been to the bakery, had cookies shipped to me, baked from the cookbook, next all I want is to attend one of their cooking classes! I'm trying to make it happen!

My plan was to make the Milk bar birthday cake for my birthday, I didn't get around to it but Claire brought my birthday cake truffles home instead!

Now that I've shared all about Milk Bar, I hope you get why I love it so much! You can see all about their menu, locations, and products on their website here.

xo annie

Hit the Bullseye

Target did it again. Not only does Philip Lim for target come out in about a week, their inventory right now is on point. So much leather. Yes it is fake leather, but I'm not turned off by it. They have some great pieces like pencil skirts lined in leather, silky palazzo pants, and all kinds of booties. 

Don't even get me started on how good the workout stuff is. Step aside lulu (did I just say that?) But really!

Here are some of my favorites from Target's fall collection.

Dinner Jacket/Quilted Jacket/Cut Out Leather Front top/Pencil Skirt with leather trim/zip booties/Quilted Faux Leather Jacket

I made two trips to target yesterday. The first trip was just accompanying some friends who needed to run errands. After seeing everything they had, I went back after work with wallet in hand. Gosh darn it Target why do you have to do this to us. There is absolutely no such thing as buying just one thing at Target.

I walked out with booties, a skirt, nail polish, coffee and a tooth brush cover. Normal things to buy together right?

Target hit the bullseye with this one. Now it's just a waiting game until Philip Lim hits the shelves. September 15th people. 

Annie

German Chocolate Brownies

I'm really excited about this recipe post. Instead of just posting step by step pictures I put together a little gif so you can see how these amazing brownies evolved.

One of my best friends and roommates brought a tray of these brownies back to school with her. I found a similar recipe online and couldn't wait to make them myself. Using a box cake mix makes them incredibly simple!

Layers of nutty brownie batter, melted caramel and chocolate chips combine to make a German Chocolate flavored brownie!

image via

German Chocolate Brownies
yields about 15, 2 in brownies

Ingredients:
14 oz soft caramel candies (about 34)
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 box German Chocolate Cake mix
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup evaporated milk (again)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Combine caramels and first 1/3 cup of evaporated milk in a saucepan over low heat until melted. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix the cake mix, melted butter and second 1/3 cup of evaporated milk. Stir in nuts. The batter will be thick, but don't worry. 

Press half of the batter in the bottom of the pan and bake for 8-9 minutes.

Spread the melted caramel over the first baked layer then sprinkle with chocolate chips. Drop spoonfuls of the remaining batter over the top, it will spread once baked. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Do not burn. They will start to pull away from the edges when they are done. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Cut into squares and serve!

Annie

Bites of My Life

Okay, so I'm back and ready to jump back into blogging! I missed not having my daily outlet to unwind with, but it was also nice to distance myself from the computer the past few weeks. That being said, school likes to get in the way, so I am trying my best to get as many posts in as I can a week...reason why I only had three posts last week. 

I had to do a #bites post today because it's monday, and because they are my favorite post to do! But look forward to an awesome brownie recipe coming up tomorrow!

-A new school year calls for a new washi tape design on my planner. I LOVE school supplies and getting organized for the year. With just a few rolls of  tape I completely revamped my planner! My old design here.

-Last Tuesday my momma came down and had lunch with me. We tried out a new Mediterranean restaurant on campus and it was delicious. My platter came with hummus, cucumber sauce, greek salad, falafel and pita. The hummus was incredible smooth. I've been dreaming about it ever since. 

-Mom came bearing yogurt when she came to visit. My family's favorite yogurt is Noosa. It is a little thinner than regular greek yogurt and it is absolutely delicious. They have two new flavors, lemon and tart cherry. The lemon tasted like I was eating a lemon tart...yum!

-A sweet insta from my sis. It's so encouraging when people tell me they read my blog or tried out one of my recipes! I got lot's of  "I'm so glad your blogging again!" comments last week. Comments like that really just make my day!

May the second week of school commence and may the blog posts be back in full affect!

xo annie