Runs on Coffee and Cream

This past Friday was May the 4th, which is Star Wars Day!


I try to make a Star Wars-themed treat each year to celebrate. In the past I made Princess Leia Cinnamon Buns and Chewbacca cupcakes. It's fun brainstorming ideas with Adam and then executing the plan. This year I didn't have as much time since Emma is no longer napping like she used to. I don't get many big blocks of free time to bake right now.

So the final idea was Bantha Milkshakes! And let me just say they were so good! Adam is lactose intolerant so I made these with lactose-free vanilla ice cream and coconut milk. The coconut milk enhanced the flavour and made these even better in my opinion. Other than that, I just used blue food colouring and some Cool Whip to top them off. Super easy!



These would be perfect to make for a Star Wars marathon or themed party. I'm excited to make more milkshakes with the ingredients I bought (though I may leave out the food colouring).

How did you celebrate Star Wars Day?
xo Jen

Happy day after Gilmore Girls Netflix revival day! Have we all recovered yet from 6 hours of binge watching, loads of coffee, and piles of junkfood?! Honestly, I'm ready to sit down and watch all of it again.

To celebrate the release of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, I made double chocolate coffee cupcakes that I know Lorelai and Rory would love.

I made the chocolate cupcakes with double-strong coffee in replace of the water in the recipe. This made the cupcakes have a more mocha flavour and tones down the sweetness of the chocolate. The frosting, however, is a super rich milk chocolate buttercream that melts in your mouth.



They were a great snack for watching one of my all-time favourite television shows since I needed all the comfort food to get me through the emotional 6 hours of episodes.


I refuse to give any spoilers but I'm itching to sit down with friends to discuss what happened.
xo Jen

I love fandom recipes. I love recipes inspired by anything geek-related. Well this month I was able to explore that interest more and find so much inspiration thanks to IGGPPC. September was a food-themed month and I had the opportunity to interview two amazingly talented ladies. Their geeky creations have left me wanting to run to the kitchen to make all the food!

The first food blogger I interviewed was The Gluttonous Geek. I'm amazed by how she comes up with recipes from tv shows and movies. Her interpretations are perfect.

Orange is the New Black: Corn and Leek Quiche from The Gluttonous Geek

Through her blog I was also introduced to #PokeNOM. Earlier this year I had made Pokemon Starters Cupcakes for the 20th anniversary of Pokemon and I was up to the challenge of coming up with another Pokemon recipe. So I spent a busy couple of weeks trying to think of another Pokemon recipe I could make easily since September has flown by for me. Then I woke up one morning with the thought of doing another Starters-themed recipe: Candy Bark! You can see the post I wrote for IGGPPC here. The directions and ingredients are listed in the post.

Pokemon Starters Candy Bark I made and posted on IGGPPC

The second blogger I had the pleasure of interviewing was Pixelated Provisions. So not only are all her recipes inspired from video games, but her photographs have me wanting to up my game too!

Overwatch: Pass into the Sundae from Pixelated Provisions

You can find both the interviews on IGGPPC here and here.

Now that I'm  hungry from looking at so many food photos, I should be off to try out my next recipe!
xo Jen

3. Decorate! Spread your mutagen icing onto the cookies and add sprinkles!


I love how these cookies turned out! The piping gel was a great idea to make the icing shiny and I think it really does resemble mutagen ooze. I may have to use this idea to make some blue 'water' for future cookies.


We have to wait to see the new movie until next week because of work but I'm really looking forward to it, especially for Bebop and Rocksteady.

xo Jen

Are you a fan of iZombie? Did you watch the finale? I won't get into spoilers because some people are behind. But, damn, season two was incredible! If you're not watching iZombie, please get on it.

The show is hilarious, smart, and very witty. I love the pop culture references, the hidden meanings in the chapter titles, how Liv's food corresponds with the theme/personality of that episode, and all the characters! You might think, zombies? No, thanks. But it's so much more than that!

Season 2 brought on some really good characters and storylines including Drake and Keith Mars (yeah, he's always going to be Keith to me so let's pretend that's his name). And even though all the food being prepared on the show contain human brain, the food always looks appealing! And it makes me want to get in the kitchen and whip something up.

For the season finale I decided to make a treat, something with a bit of heat, since zombies are all about their spicy food.


Spicy Chocolate Cookies:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter (I used 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce)
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix together flour, cocoa powder, cream of tartar and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat butter (and applesauce*) and 1 1/2 cups of sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat to combine. Gradually add flour mixture and beat until combined.
*I imagine Liv could blend up her human brain and substitute that for the applesauce. Then the chocolate and chili powder would hide the taste.
4. In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon and chili powder.


5. Using a tablespoon, make balls of dough and roll in sugar-cinnamon-chili powder mixture. Place about 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until cookies begin to crack.


6. Move cookies to wire racks to cool. Eat. If using human brain, prepare to have visions from the victim.


These cookies are so delicious! The applesauce makes them a bit fluffier and they're super soft and fudgy inside. The chili powder and cinnamon add just the right amount of spice to the cookie too. I was a little worried they'd be too much for me since I'm a suck with spicy things. But I'm having a hard time not consuming the whole batch.


Now, go catch up on iZombie! And let me know if you try this recipe.
xo Jen

Today is the 20th anniversary of Pokémon! How crazy is it that Pokémon has been around for 20 years and it's still going strong with awesome games and toys!?

I was a child of Pokémon. I grew up with it. I had two younger brothers who became obsessed with the card game and the Pokémon handheld games. As for myself, I loved the television show, anything to do with Squirtle, and the console games - Pokémon Snap, Stadium, and Puzzle League. To this day I will pull out Pokémon Snap from time to time to beat it in one sitting and I have a hard time beating Adam in any rounds of Pokémon Puzzle League.


To celebrate Pokémon Day, I made Pokémon starter cupcakes - water, fire, and grass.


The water ones are my favourite, which isn't just because of my love for Squirtle. I love how the little waves turned out!



These are some of our newest perler bead creations too - Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur. They're the perfect accessory for my cupcake photos.

How are you celebrating Pokémon Day?
xo Jen

We went to see Deadpool this past weekend for our Valentine's date. The movie was so good and they did a damn good job portraying Deadpool very accurately to the comic books. The action scenes were a lot of fun and the writing was hilarious and smart. Needless to say, I'm so pumped for the possibility of a sequel and what new characters they might bring in for it.

Because it was Valentine's weekend and I was super excited for the movie, I decided to make a super chocolatey cake for dessert and to decorate it Deadpool-style.


I started with a devil's food cake mix (you have to go naughty for Deadpool) and baked it in two 9" pans. Once cooled, I used strawberry jam in between the layers to attach the two cake pieces. I thought the jam would make a nice oozy, blood-like center. Though, the jam is so dark against the chocolate cake, there's no way to photograph it well.


After that, I frosted the entire cake with homemade chocolate buttercream. And not to toot my own horn, but my chocolate buttercream is to die for!


Then I had my amazing husband help me with free-handing the Deadpool logo onto the cake with coloured sugar sprinkles. I'm super impressed and happy with how well it turned out. After cutting into it last night, I can vouch that this cake is insanely good and I look forward to eating more of it tonight.


Did you head out to see Deadpool yet? If so, what'd you think?
xo Jen

I'll be sharing another animation-inspired recipe on the IGGPPC blog next week before getting into next month's theme.
xo Jen

I'll be trying this method again but I'll make sure I have two cookie cutters that will work so it'll save me time from cutting out the inside design by hand!