Hot milk in minutes. That's an Aeroccino...Plus!

I am SUPER excited to talk about a product that has changed my life over the last couple of months.  Living on my own is not always cupcakes and sunshines.  What am I speaking of in particular??  ..... breakfast .....  Don't get me wrongI love eating it, in fact, I look forward to it every morning. It's my favorite meal :)  But what I hate most about it is making it myself.... I'm LAZY...I know.... But what I am about to introduce to you has definitely made my morning routine a whole lot easier.

Honey. Chocolate. Oatmeal. Raisin.

Everyday morning at work, I search through my red tea bowl ( it was a gorgeous Valentine's Day flower arrangement from my boyfriend but over time all the flowers wilted and died.... ]: ) of "assorted" green tea bags for my early morning caffeine fix.  I say its assorted but there are really only like two choices of tea: Numi Jasmine Green Tea and Mighty Leaf Tropical Green Tea.... I tend gravitate the jasmine green tea as it's the least bitter of two and it gives a delicate flowery after taste which I really enjoy.  But, today, I noticed a new tea bag towards the bottom of the bowl.  Excited, I give it a try.  My first sip and all I can think is: BITTER. SUPER BITTER. Its the one taste I can not handle. Its the sole reason why I can't drink coffee without A TON of sugar.  Luckily, I was find a small bottle of honey in the break room.  I squeezed just a little for taste and then a little bit more because I forgot how absolutely delicious honey.  I remember I used to eat it by itself by the spoonful with I was an itty bitty.  

Chocolate meet vanilla.

I guess it was just one of them days...... :D

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE with VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

My first time frosting with a piping bag.  If you tilt your head 15 degrees to the left...and maybe squint your right eye just a tad, you will see that they all kind of look the same.....

Lemon. Lemon. And more lemon...with just a hint of vanilla.

Last week, I was gifted with a lemons.  Hand picked the night before.  :)  What's a girl to do with a whole bag of lemons straight off the tree? BAKE OF COURSE.  Let me introduce to you....

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my VANILLA CUPCAKE with a LEMON CURD FILLING and LEMON BUTTERCREAM FROSTING. 

I initially planned to make a simple vanilla cupcake with a lemon buttercream frosting.  But when I took them out of the oven, I thought they looked a little bit plain.  And then lemon curd was born.  

Vanilla cupcake with lemon curd? Or eggs...sunny side up....

M&M Blondies. Looks like a cookie but tastes like a brownie.

I was cleaning out my pantry and hidden ALLLLL the way in the back, behind my boxes of cereal was a GIANT box full of M&Ms.  Okay, well, not THAT giant, just a Costco sized box of individually packaged M&Ms.  Although I do LOVE M&Ms eating them straight out of the bags seemed a bit overwhelming (talk about M&M overload...), I decided to take a few packs and make some M&M Blondies.  M&Ms? Yumm.  Blonde brownies? YUMM. Blonde brownies with M&Ms? That is heaven.....

All the ingredients mixed together. Doesn't the batter remind you of a rainbow?? :)

Chocolate Chip Cookies. Neiman Marcus Style.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES.  Easy to make and super delicious.  I'm seriously drooling at the thought of them.  Crispy crust with a warm chocolately chewy center.... All I can say is YUMMMMM!!!  I have made my fair share of these cookies over the years.  From cookie mix to freezer version, even from scratch, somehow, they all in some way tasted the same.  (Probably because they were all based off the same recipe....oopsie) For my first entry on my blog I needed something different, something with a twist.  And then I found these....

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. NEIMAN MARCUS STYLE.

And So It Begins....

Hello everyone.  First things first. I would just like to say...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Now that that's out of the way, lets move on to whats important.  Every year for as long as I remember I would make tons of New Year's resolutions that I NEVER follow for more than 2 days.  I totally fail.  I know... :(  Well, this year its definitely time for a change. One resolution to last me the entire year.  Since I am determined not to fail this time, my resolution will be a simple one -- BAKE MORE.  Easy, right?  Well I sure hope so. To make sure I stay on track, I have created this blog to document my progress.   

As an incentive, I decided to get my self for Christmas something that I've been secretly stalking FOREVER (well maybe not forever, but a really, really long time) ...

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A KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer in Empire Red.  Buy it on Amazon here.

 *Here's the start of many baking adventures!* :D