Little Things

Summer life is flying by sooner than I'd like it to. I hate to say that there are exactly seven days left before I need to go back to school. This week, I plan to get personal affairs done, eat whatever I want whenever I want, and sleep as much as I can. These past few weeks of summer have been filled with baking, sleeping, watching re-runs of Gossip Girl and Melissa and Joey (which I'm obsessed with), going out with friends and visiting family.  

{I'm in love with this tiny Eiffel Tower pendant. I bought this precious piece at the St. Louis Art Museum, which had a beautiful French art gallery.}

{This is yet another Eiffel Tower beauty. This necklace holder has been so useful to solve the problem of necklaces tangling with each other. I bought this at Michael's for about $14.}

{Baking my morning away. This is a tray of all of my specialties (according to my family's judgment). Brownies, oatmeal raisin cookies, chilenas (alfajores), and lemon bars. Head over to Recipe Index to find the recipes.}

{Round two of Life In Color! It was a night full of lights, music, gooey paint, and even unwanted rain. In addition, my friends and I got to catch up after a full two months apart. The crazy concert party was followed by a nice sleepover with my best friend.}   

Christmas Presents for the Family

Have you ever had that moment when you have no idea how to be smart about shopping for gifts? This year has been a little tight for me and my family. With Christmas approaching and everything else that was going on around my family, Christmas shopping was the last thing on our minds. I decided to think about a better idea for gifts for my family. They say a way to a guy's anyone's heart is through their stomach. So why not bake something exquisitely delicious for our loved ones? The critically acclaimed Chilenas de Dulce de Leche (Alfajores) were the first thing that popped to my mind. I think I would like one of these Christmas boxes as well. This was a perfect way to save up money and make my family smile.


I followed the following steps:

1. I went shopping for the Christmas boxes and all of the ingredients for the cookies
2. I designed a Christmas card in Microsoft Office Word and printed them out on thick printing paper
3. I baked the cookies as the recipe describes
4. I placed wax paper inside the boxes and added about a dozen cookies 
5. I wrote a heart-felt note on the Christmas card
6. Delivered them with joy! 

{I baked the star-shaped alfajores to take to our family Christmas dinner for everyone to enjoy as well as a batch of homemade oreos (recipe coming up soon)}

Little Things

It's crazy how a person's life can change in a matter of seconds. I have a strong feeling inside of me that tells me that God is in control. I may not understand why, but the loving bond that has spurred inside my family has filled me with hope. I swear I have the best family in the world. To any teenage girl out there, I promise it gets better. I can't imagine how Christmas this year will be like without my grandfather (nagging about how I'm too young to wear high heels), but whatever God has in store for me and my family, I know that we will be together. Nevertheless, I know my grandfather would like for us to smile through the season. Christmas is right around the corner!  

{Reading Divergent by Veronica Roth on a beautiful Sunday afternoon while being hugged by the wind and kissed by the sun}

{After finishing Divergent, I felt completely lost. Luckily, the next day my super mom surprised me with the next book of the trilogy, Insurgent}

{First batch of Christmas cookies for the season: Butter Lemon Cookies}

{Baking Chilenas de Dulce de Leche (Alfajores) as a Christmas gift for my family. They appear to have been drizzled by snow.}

{Improvised desert: a scoop of vanilla ice cream, sliced frozen strawberries, slivered almonds, and chocolate chips}

Chilenas de Dulce De Leche (Alfajores)

The combination of a semi-salty cookie that dissolves in your mouth at every bite with the decadent sweetness of a dulce de leche filling make this cookie a piece of heaven on earth. Surprisingly, chilenas are so easy to make and have a great impact on anyone who tries them. It has become a ritual for my mom and I to enjoy a cup of fresh, warm coffee with a chilena on the side at our favorite cafe shop as a pick-me-up on busy Saturday mornings or leisurely afternoons. When my best friend pulled out this recipe from a pile of stored papers, we could not resist the urge to make them and we were certainly not disappointed. Now to be able to enjoy them in the coziness of our homes and to be proud of the work that we did is a thousand times better than that same old cafe shop. 



Chilenas de Dulce de Leche (Alfajores)
This recipe makes approximately 20 sandwich cookies
Baking Time: About 15-17 min. at 325F
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 2 bars of butter (unsalted is best)
• 6-8 tablespoons of powdered sugar, plus more for powdering

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together in an electric mixer, adding the butter first and then the dry ingredients.
2. Divide the dough and roll it out so that it is not so skinny. (Do not touch the dough too much because the butter makes it delicate to heat and will make it harder to work with).
3. Cut out even circles and lay them on a greased baking sheet.
4. Bake for about 15-17 minutes at 325F. (Take them out when they are starting to appear golden).
5. Once they are cool, add the dulce de leche filling (Be careful! They break easily). This can be substituted for any kind of fruit jam or even nutella! Sprinkle sifted powdered sugar on top. 
6. Enjoy with a nice cup of coffee (Honestly, nothing better than this. It's heaven.)