Trader Joe's Almond Croissants.

I know I've blogged about Trader's Joe's croissants before- the chocolate ones, to be exact- but these are good enough to have a second mention.

The last time we were at Trader Joe's, I picked up a box of their almond croissants. Since I'm not really a chocolate-lover, I knew these would be more up my alley.

The baking process is simple. Even easier than the chocolate version. Simply leave raw croissants out on a baking sheet for 6-7 hours (I left mine out completely overnight), then bake for 20 minutes. Once they're done, you can serve as-is or even dust lightly with powdered sugar. Since I like to go over the top with my "homemade" croissants, I went for the powdered sugar. And also served them with raspberry jam. Heh.

The outsides of the almond croissants were the same as the chocolate ones: light, buttery, crispy, and flaking apart with every bite. SO much better than buying a croissant from your local chain coffee shop.

The insides had an almond paste that was sweet and rich. Perfect with morning tea or coffee.

Try them this weekend!

Read More

Recipe: Coffee Cake

Joy of all joys, it's Friday!

I mean I've heard it's Friday. I don't really know for sure because when you're unemployed, all of the days just meld into one rockin' beach party extravaganza. And by "rockin' beach party extravaganza," I mean sitting at the computer for 10 hours straight while obsessing over your LinkedIn connections.

Speaking of unemployed...

I figured I'd put my free time to good use this morning and surprise Boyfriend at work with a homemade coffee cake. Do you know how much restraint it takes to not eat a freshly baked, hot out of the oven, cinnamon'y delicious coffee cake? The answer is ALL OF THE RESTRAINTS.

The recipe I used can be found HERE. It's nothing special, just the good old Bisquick one. Although, the online version I use has doubled the streusel topping. Supposedly. My taste buds call bullshit. Either that, or I end up eating the equivalent of 1/2 before it's even reached the cake. The world will never know.

NOTES: I used a hand mixer on the batter. Even though the recipe says to stir, I thought smoother batter would result in a fluffier cake. I could be wrong. But I'm pretty sure that's why it rose the way it did- with a craggy topography. I've used this recipe several times before and it's usually much flatter.

I also used a spatula to pat down the streusel topping before baking. The butter was pretty soft and the consistency looked more like turdlets than crumbles. Rather than showing up at Boyfriend's work with a steaming plate of shit, I patted them all together in the hopes of saving face.

By the way, Boyfriend texted me shortly after I returned from the surprise delivery. The cake was a hit! And it was also all gone. 

Winning.

This recipe is super easy, requires only seven ingredients, and bakes in 22 minutes. Try it this weekend. Your chins will thank me.

Boner'ppetite!

Read More