Hello Friends! I wanted to share a few quick recipes with you that have saved my life recently! The first is in honor of my baby girl’s first birthday party. <3 I can’t believe it’s been a year already! In case you haven’t already read it and enjoy birth stories (nothing TMI because that’s not my style, don’t worry ;)) you can read Baby Girl’s covid-time birth story here.
My husband is wonderful at planning birthday party themes because tbh I’m so last minute and just can’t think past the day I’m currently trying to survive, ha! I very much appreciate his planning and this birthday was no exception. He decided we were going with a unicorn princess theme, which turned out super easy to shop for! All shopping was done on Amazon (obvs) and he got a whole unicorn princess set that came with this cute cake topper!
There’s something really special about baking birthday cakes and I’m really picky with store-bought cakes anyway, so I whipped up a chocolate layer cake and vanilla cupcakes. The Chocolate Cake (follow the link for the complete recipe!) is my absolute go-to when it comes to chocolate cakes because it’s the moistest ever, thanks to the secret ingredient (boiling water added slowly at the end!!). And here’s the delicious vanilla cupcake recipe from the same author that I used. So so good.
For the frosting I just whipped up a simple cream cheese frosting with the following ingredients creamed together:
- 2 cups cream cheese
- 2 sticks salted butter (yes, salted!)
- generous drizzle vanilla extract
- 1 and a half 32 oz bags of powdered sugar
YUM!!!
3 Ingredient Survival Mode Breakfast Cookies
SPEAKING OF survival mode, have you made the 3 Ingredient Breakfast Cookies found all over the internet? I think they were super popular at one point and we kind of rediscovered them a few weeks ago when I couldn’t think of what to make for breakfast. We just mixed together:
- Mashed ripe bananas (maybe 2-3?)
- Rolled Oats (maybe 3-4 cups?) enough to make it all come together like a loose dough
- Chocolate Chips (a few handfuls, depending on taste)
- *optional* drizzle of vanilla & sea salt for topping
-After mixing the bananas, rolled oats, drizzle of vanilla and chocolate chips, we dropped them by the scoopful onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet (they fall apart easily so just try and form them together). What really takes them to the next-level though, is adding a pinch of sea salt on top!! Do not skip this step – since the cookies don’t have an added sweetener (not counting the choc chips), the salt gives it that complexity and makes you notice the natural sweetness far better. Trust me on this!
-Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until the edges are brown and let cool.
These are perfect for hangry kids (and mom!). Enjoy!
How are you doing, friends? Are there any go-to recipes you’ve been enjoying lately? Are you also looking forward to the Fall and baking alllll the things like I am? Thanks for reading along and I can’t wait to chat more!
*Edit* 1/14/2023
Hi guys! I just wanted to report that we’ve been adding peanut butter (creamy natural – “Justin’s” is the brand we’ve been using) to these cookies and, dare I say, they are even BETTER?! I never measure ingredients but I add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup peanut butter depending on the amount of cookies I’m going for. The ratio is more banana than pb, and I’ll adjust the oats until the cookie “dough” is not too wet but not too dry if that makes sense. The baking time is still 12-15 minutes for these (just until slightly browned at the edges). You’d never guess they have no flour! The texture is soft and amazing and the peanut butter binds it all together perfectly. As always, don’t forget to top with coarse kosher sea salt! Pictured below is the pb version. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!! <3
Love,
