I love the smell of cookies baking. And then devouring them warm fresh from the oven. YUM!


Jake likes them with milk. I like them together with vanilla ice cream.


No recipe now. Cookies are ready-to-bake Pillsbury brand.

Easy Lemon Cookies

• 1 box Moist Lemon Cake Mix
• 1 8oz container Cool Whip
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. In medium bowl, beat cool whip, egg and cake mix until well blended. Dough will be thick and sticky. (You can chill for about 20 minutes to make scooping balls easier later.)
3. Scoop about a teaspoonful into a bowl of powdered sugar and roll to coat.
4. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 10- 12 minute.

Source: adapted from various recipes online 

UPDATE:  I DID NOT LIKE THE COOKIES!!! My fiancé said it was okay but he eats almost anything I bake anyway. I used Pillsbury Lemon Cake Mix and it turned out super lemony and sweet... uck.

So I baked a cake for my co-worker's birthday and it turned out super awesome! People couldn't stop talking about it and even our manager "D" who BAKES THE BEST DESSERT CAKES AND PASTRIES praised the cake. You know what that means when she approves... that I did a good job!

I volunteered to be in charge of the cake because I wanted D to make some cabbage rolls. Also, because I was too lazy to cook. Initially, I thought of doing a fridge cake, you know, graham crackers in cream overnight, very easy... BUT our freezer was full. So over the weekend, I kind of just gave up that idea and knew I had to bake. Sure I bake, but I'm no D. I mean, every time we have a potluck, D's cakes are always what we look forward to. Of course the good food too, but her cakes were like gold at the end of the yummy-rainbow-food. Oh my god, you don't know how hard I hoped that my cake would turn out at least half as good as hers so I won't disappoint them. I'm so glad that it exceeded everyone's expectations. YAY!

On to some pictures...

These pictures never made it to the blog last year and I don't know why. I am pretty sure I took them with the reason to write a story after. Or I probably had them up on my tumblr.

This recipe is adapted from allrecipes.com.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 3 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
• vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2. In a separate bowl, beat together buttermilk, milk, eggs and melted butter. Keep the two mixtures separate until you are ready to cook.

3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Stir until it's just blended together. Do not over stir!

4. Add a few drops of vanilla to the batter and give it a final stir.

5. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/3 cup for each pancake.

6. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Yum!

I made this for dinner.

I made minatamis na saging earlier...


I think I used too much salt.. And since one of the bananas I used wasn't that ripe, there were some weird tasting pieces. Yuck. No worries, I fixed it and learned my lesson so hopefully will get it better the next time I try. Hehehe! I boiled it for another 10 or so minutes to get the bananas absorb more of the sugar and soften them a bit more and make the syrup a little thiker.

I finally got around to making these breakfast cups. I prefer the bacon to be more crispy so next time I'll bake it ahead for a few minutes before adding eggs in.

This was my first attempt at making a jelly roll and I was not really feeling confident because the last time I tried a sponge cake, it deflated. Oh heartbreak. But that was partly because I didn't have a complete recipe to follow. My manager makes fabulous cakes and she roughly gave me the recipe. I figured I was actually making a sponge cake after researching what cake does not use butter.

It's kind of the same right now.. I don't know which recipe to follow because everything I looked at were all different. On top of that, I also only had medium sized eggs. So, it means I once again do not have a complete recipe. I tweaked here and there to get this one done. I guess this is how you learn.


It's not as pretty as I'd like it to be but it looks like a jelly roll.. diba?

In the end, it was a success. Jake liked it. I liked it. Next time I make this, I'll use only 4 egg yolks, actual cake flour minus the baking powder... we'll see.



Sifting.

This does NOT look like batter at all. I started worrying.

Whip the whites. Added to the crumbly "batter" and it started to look better. Whew!

Now this is batter!

Bake in the oven, sprinkle some powder love.

Roll that cake!

Ahh, too many pics. Here's a video for the rest of it.

Peach Jelly Roll

For the cake:

• 6 medium egg whites
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 5 medium egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, divided (optional)

Directions

1. Let egg whites stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Sift flour and salt; set aside.
3. Coat a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan with nonstick cooking spray; line with waxed paper and coat the paper with nonstick cooking spray.
4. In a mixing bowl, beat yolks until slightly thickened. Gradually add sugar, beating until thick and lemon-colored.
5. Add sifted flour mixture; mix well (batter will be thick).
6. In another mixing bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form; fold into batter.
7. Spread into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 16 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched in center.
8. Let stand for about a minute then dust with powdered sugar.
9. Place a towel over the pan and turn. Cake should drop out.
10. Gently peel off waxed paper. Dust again with powdered sugar.
11. Roll up cake in the towel jelly-roll style, starting with a short side.
12. Cool completely on a wire rack.
13. Unroll cake; spread desired filling evenly over cake. Roll up again.
14. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Sprinkle with remaining confectioners' sugar. 

For the filling:

• 1 cup heavy cream, chilled
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (but I totally forgot to add this)
• 1 peach, peeled and minced

Combine everything except the peach. Whip until stiff peaks form. Add peach bits. Whip again to incorporate the flavor. (YUMMY!)

Luto ako menudo for dinner. First time. I used pork and chicken liver. Mali pala. Dapat beef liver gamit... Haaay. Yung chicken bagay sa chop seuy (tama ba spelling ko?).

This was so good.. even though the garlic burnt a little too much.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 -6 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon dried herbs
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 12 -14 red potatoes 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Combine all ingredients except potatoes in food processor and pulse until well combined. Set aside.
3. Cut the potatoes into quarters and arrange in a 9x13 baking dish.
4. Pour mixture over potatoes and stir to coat.
5. Bake uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 60 minutes, or until the potatoes are golden brown.

Make sure to adjust the oven temp when you see your garlic starting to get darker. I left mine at 450 and, by the 45 minute mark, had to call it done because some of the garlic bits turned charcoal black already. yikes! Still GOOD though. Keeping this recipe!!



original @ food.com