TAHINI CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES AND GRACIE ABRAMS

I made these for my best friend (and now, roommate) Kira - who was sick & asked me if I could make her something sweet. I’ve been meaning to recipe test these so it was a win/win. Tahini chocolate chip cookies are basically a chocolate chip cookie heavy on nuttiness; like a muted chocolate peanut butter cookie. I will throw tahini in basically everything, but one of my favorite ways are definitely these tahini chocolate chip cookies.
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The song that inspired this recipe? Gracie Abrams - Feels Like. I originally thought this was a love song, but read an interview where she said she wrote this about her best friend. Which checks out: there’s no greater love than friendship (I think). I met Kira in college, she was my roommate. I had just transferred from a nightmare fashion school and was already apprehensive about dorming again. Kira and I had a mutual friend who was already living with her but they needed a third roommate; this friend warned me that Kira and I wouldn’t get along. SUPER excited for my new college after hearing that. But it turns out Kira and I were actually, well… friends basically right from the start. Kira and I are so much alike, and have been through so much in the last 10+ years of friendship (including me living across the country for 7 years) it feels like she was just always there.

“Met you at the right time
This is what it feels like

Living in a movie I've watched and
Funny 'cause I couldn't have called it”

RECIPE
1 cup flour/
1 cup sugar/
3/4 cup tahini/
4oz butter/
1 egg/
1 egg * yolk */
1/2 tsp baking soda/
1/2 tsp baking powder/
Salt/
2 cups chocolate chips/
Flakey sea salt
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1. Cream together butter, sugar, and tahini for a few mins until combined, and then add the egg/yolk and vanilla.
2. Mix all dry ingredients together (except chocolate chips) in a separate bowl and then slowly incorporate that into the wet mix.
3. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours!
When ready, scoop out into 1inch balls and bake at 325 for 16 mins

Enjoy! Video for this recipe below. I always post videos (+ additional content) on TikTok, so follow along if you’d like!

 Strawberry Cream Cake and Lizzy McAlpine

My feelings around Valentine’s Day have been so mixed from the moment I was forced to hand out those weird, tacky Valentines to all the kids in my class that were basically torturing me 24/7. Because I “had to.”

The idea of forced-action to show someone you care feels so empty to me, and it always has. And does it help that I have been broken up with twice on Valentine’s Day, and had a boyfriend who forgot about it every other year? I mean - that’s not doing my POV on this holiday any favors. Buuuuuuuutttttt….

How cute are the decorations? And I have hearts and flowers tattoo’d on me more than once- I mean, come on. Also, Galentine’s Day? All for. I love my friends, I’ll take any day to be extra about it. So - if we’re going to celebrate, may as well get crafty with the desserts. I understand the urge to bake everything into a heart, I really do (see: tattoos) but if you would like to switch it up, I give you: this strawberry cream cake.

This strawberry cream cake has a dense, sweet vanilla cake that’s sandwiched between a mix of strawberry jam frosting and whipped cream. I’ve also frosted this ‘naked’ so you don’t have to worry about frosting this over and over to make it look perfect. It’s supposed to be messy, but fun, and delicious. I’m pairing this with Lizzy McAlpine’s song Ceilings. And I’ll tell you why after the recipe directions - because I’ve talked enough without giving it to you. Also, if anything seems complicated — you can watch the video below!

Directions //

Vanilla Cake:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

• 2 1/4 cups cake flour (can sub all-purpose, but highly recommend cake flour to make this cake moist!)

• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup milk, room temperature

• 2 large eggs, room temperature

Whipped Cream:

• 2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Strawberry Jam Cream:

• 1 /3 cup butter (unsalted)

• 4 cups powdered sugar

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• 1/2 lb fresh strawberries

Make the cake! Combine dry ingredients into a large bowl (or mixer), and then add in the butter until it resembles sand. Then, mix the wet (butter, extract, milk, eggs) into another - you’ll want to scramble the eggs together first and then add in the milk and extract. Slowly incorporate the wet into the dry batter, until just mixed. You don’t want to over mix, so once you no longer see dry ingredients in the bowl, you’re good! Pour batter into 2 9-inch cake pans and bake in a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes. Once out of the oven, let cool 10 minutes and then put into the freezer while you make the whipped cream and strawberry jam cream. IDEALLY, you’d make this a day ahead so the cake is cold as you frost it, but if you can’t do that - try to freeze/refrigerate as long as possible.

Make the whipped cream! With a hand mixer or stand-mixer (whisk attachment), blend the whipping cream, sugar and extract until stiff peaks form. Keep in fridge if not using right away.

Make the strawberry jam frosting! Cut strawberries and blend into a puree, then put that puree into a sauce pan on high heat. Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat and let simmer for a few minutes (could take up to 10) until the puree looks thicker - add the lemon juice. If you scrape a spoon against the pan and can see the pan, it’s ready. Let cool. Mix the butter, powdered sugar and extract together to make the frosting and then slowly add in the puree until you get the pink color you desire.

Assemble the cake! Frost the first layer with whipped cream and jam (I did dollops of jam), and then place additional strawberries in top. Place top layer, and add remaining whipped cream on top and around the cake, scraping until the whipped cream is even on all sides. Place more strawberries and dollops of jam frosting on top. I also added tiny flowers, but you don’t need to.

When I moved back to NYC I was adamant on staying single; I’d have fun, not take anything seriously, and hopefully have a few years of ‘doing my own thing.’ I feel like once you find out your fiancé has been cheating on you for 5 years and you have to call off an engagement, have a mental breakdown and move back home across the country, a break feels valid. But the universe was like, “lol okay.” And so, enter: my boyfriend. Who I met maybe 5 months after moving back, which then followed about 4 months of us gaslighting ourselves into thinking we should stay “casual” before actually committing to a relationship.

I hate when people say “it just happened” - but it really did. It was so easy, fun, and we did things that I would do for fun myself anyway, so the time really flew by. This song (“all my ghosts”) by Lizzy McAlpine captures so beautifully the beginning of a connection, where even the simplest moments (like buying a slurp from 7-11) feel big and sweet and exciting. There’s a certain twinge of sadness throughout the song too that I think also taps into how tiresome it can feel to begin having feelings for someone while still trying to heal from past experiences. It’s sweet and innocent, and it’s all the best parts of the beginning of something.

Blood Orange Loaf & Girlhouse

Citrus season is arguably, the best season. Right as winter is making you want to crawl out of your skin (at least here in NYC), you get access to the juiciest, ripest citrus babies to remind you warmer weather is on the horizon. Blood oranges are particularly the best this time of year, and I try to bake everything with them for a few weeks. Enter: this cake. It’s infused with blood orange syrup to help keep it moist/dense, and then topped with a glaze that’s infused with blood orange zest. I’ve also used crushed almonds into the flour to keep it lighter.

Amongst citrus season, my next obsession has been Girlhouse. I found ‘Knuckle Tattoo’ last year and I have been hooked since. Heavy, crunchy guitars and a vocal fry woven with the right amount of sass, Lauren had me hooked from the start with her newest project. I’ll shut up — you can listen to the song, below, and you can read on to see how this blood orange loaf is made. Remember you can watch the TikTok video for it, as well!

Happy baking/listening. xo-

ORANGE LOAF:

1/2 cup butter /

1 cup granulated sugar /

2 large eggs /

1/2 cup milk (any) /

1  1/2 cups all-purpose flour /

1/4 cup ground almonds /

1 teaspoon baking powder /

1/2 teaspoon salt /

4 blood oranges /

BLOOD ORANGE SYRUP:

3/4 cup blood orange juice

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

GLAZE:

3 tablespoons of blood orange juice /

2 tablespoons melted butter /

1/2 cup powdered sugar /

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9x5 loaf pan, and set aside.

In a large bowl (or stand mixer - which is what I used), cream together butter and sugar on medium speed (either with the stand mixer or hand mixer) until light and fluffy.  Add in eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined.  Add in milk, mixing slowly.

In a different bowl, add flour, ground almonds, baking powder, salt, and blood orange zest.  Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until just combined. 

Pour batter into greased loaf pan, and bake for 40-50 minutes. I used a toothpick to then see if it came out clean - mine took around 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. While it cools, prepare the blood orange glaze (throw all those ingredients into a sauce pan and combine until it’s slightly thick, on medium high. Don’t stop stirring!). Once you remove from pan, poke holes into the cake and pour in the blood orange glaze on top.

Prepare blood orange glaze and pour over loaf.  I then topped mine with blood oranges, shaved almonds and thyme leaves for decor — but you can literally just eat this with the glaze.

 Lemon Blueberry Whoopie Pies and Ethel Cain

If you have ever heard Ethel Cain I’m sure the first feeling in your mind isn’t a bright, sunny spring day but the whole point of this website is to introduce new music and new snacks so — here we are. What these two things do have in common though is how obsessed I am with both. Lemon blueberry whoopie pies came to me the first day of Spring, in which I transition into someone who will only eat lemon flavored food.

There’s just something about warmer weather and lemon that signify turning the page into a new, sunnier chapter after the snow has melted off. Don’t get me wrong though — the recipes get lighter, but the music preference will forever stay sad. Enter: Ethel Cain.

I am, no doubt, late to the party on her. Her album Preacher’s Daughter made headlines in the music world in 2022 for being powerful, ethereal, and — most recently, an insane storytelling of small town trauma, religious battles and also..cannibalism. So you know, great soundtrack to this light fluffy snack. BUT HEAR ME OUT: you can’t tell me you hear American Teenager and not at least sway. So, sway with these little pies in your hand.

This recipe combines real lemons and blueberry (no frozen or flavoring) with whipped lemon-vanilla cream and is just the best bite of a new, sunny season. Lemon everything. Citrus is the best produce on the planet.

WHOOPIE PIES

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 3 teaspoons lemon zest (this was 3 small lemons for me)

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

• 1/3 cup buttermilk (I made my own with almond milk and 1tbsp of lemon juice)

• 1 cup fresh blueberries

LEMON-VANILLA CREAM

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature

• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 2 teaspoons lemon zest

• 2 cups powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper

Use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment — or a hand mixer — and mix the butter and sugar together until combined and fluffy. Add in the egg, vanilla, lemon zest, baking powder and mix for until combined

Add in flour and buttermilk and mix on low speed until combined

Add those blueberries!

If you have an ice cream scooper, use that to dollop down about 2tbsp balls of this dough. I did not have mine, so I used a small spoon and shaped with fingers (wet those fingers first though). Either way, space them out about 2 inches. Bake for 10-12 mins, until cooked through.

Allow them to cool while you work on your frosting.

FROSTING:

Mix the butter and cream cheese together on medium speed until smooth. Add in the lemon zest and the powdered sugar and mix until creamy

Pipe (or spread with a cake or butter knife) the frosting on one side of the cookies and then top with the other side and make your lil blueberry sammie.