Dutch Baby Weekends

♥️Find Your Your Little Friday♥️

Nothing gets me thinking about weekends as a kid like a Dutch baby pancake. This was the ultimate treat that we only got to order on special occasions, mostly because they’re made to order and take thirty minutes to bake. Light, flavorful and crispy, it’s right up there as one of my favorite pancakes. I always loved ordering it fully loaded with fruit in the summer, berries being the best filler ever!

I have adopted the habit of making them on the weekends from time to time, sometimes splitting my recipe into to smaller cast iron pans for a cute whoa factor. Please enjoy discovering your #findyourlittlefriday moments. ♥️

Infredients;​

•3 eggs​

•1/2 cup flour ​

•3/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature​

•1 tbsp sugar​

•pinch of cinnamon ​

•4 tbsp of butter ​

•powdered sugar, fruit and lemon wedges for garnish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

•combine the eggs, flour, milk, sugar and spice in the jar of blender, blend until smooth. you can mix by hand​, just make sure it’s smooth

•place the butter in a heavy 10-inch skillet/baking dish. place in the oven. you want the butter to melt but not burn, a little browning is always yummy.

•add the batter to the pan once it’s melted and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. the pancake should be puffed and golden, then lower the temperature to 300 and bake for about five more minutes.​

•remove from the oven. Fill with fresh fruit, top with a dusting of powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon! enjoy! 

Beauty In Our Eyes 👁

 ♥️Find Your Little Friday♥️

Over the past several years I have tried to perfect what I say when people ask me what I do for work/living. I have struggled and stumbled thru so many declarations that I started to dread the question. Finding that perfect phrase has taken me a bit of time and I am sure the wording will change many more times over the course of my life. Are you ready to hear it? My work primarily focuses on food and beauty.....yep, I'm completely confusing. With that established, I wanted to start incorporating more and more of my beauty life into my work. This isn't the first time I have talked about it here so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise .

What makes something beautiful tends to lie in the eye of the beholder. As subjective as I would like to think beauty is, there are plenty of objective reasonings that many of us live by and consider to be the standard of beauty. My work in beauty revolves around skincare. I live by the idea that how you actually live your life, from what you put in your body to what/who you surround yourself with and how you participate in life, can affect your appearance and how you feel on the inside. Also, the golden rule for me here is absolutely, beauty comes from the inside. There is so much more to this idea and I am excited to dig deeper with you as I go.

I was inspired to start sharing more this week by something that happened just a few days ago. I spent several days with my young niece and was filled with joy. Something that came up during our time together was how much she hated her freckles, this alarmed me. I find them to be one of the most beautiful things about her physically, but she looks at them and sees imperfections speckled across the bridge of her nose and tops of her cheeks. I proceeded to show her photos of other women with similar freckles on their faces, included the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan. I even made a point of telling her that the Duchess's personal makeup artist was interviewed post the royal wedding and specifically talked about how they were deliberate with letting her freckles shine thru on her glorious big day. My niece quickly responded with, "Well, she is married to a prince so of course on her they have to be beautiful." All at once, my heart sank at her despair but I turned it around. We snapped a few quick photos of her illuminated face and all of its features. I told her how important it was to love yourself and that you have to remind others of their own beauty when they feel unattractive.

I then shared one of my all time favorite quotes was also loved and introduced to me by the great Audrey Hepburn.

“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others.”

This quote was written by American humorist Sam Levenson. As you head into your weekend on the heels of the beginning of spring and this painful retrograde, spread love and beauty so that it becomes contagious in our lives. #FindYourLittleFriday ♥️

Matcha Butter Cake 🍵🍰

​💚Find Your Little Friday💚

Ask and you shall receive. After an overwhelming response of inquiries about getting her recipe for her matcha butter cake, my lovely friend Adrien has shared the goods. Follow along below to recreate your own Little Friday moment at home. This is a perfect addition to an afternoon tea with friends, the end to a yummy meal or just when you want to make something creatively delicious. Also, the shade of this cake is a perfect addition to any St. Patty’s gathering for this month ahead. A lucky companion to bring along. 🍀 

 Matcha Butter Cake

makes 1 6×3 inch cake

ingredients:
for the cake:
3/4 cup butter, soft
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon matcha powder
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

for decorating:
1/2 teaspoon matcha powder
1/4 cup powdered sugar
fruit and flowers, as desired

directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour a 6×3 inch pan liberally.
Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the sugar and salt and beat on high speed for 5 minutes.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in the eggs.
Beat on high for 5 more minutes.
Scrape the bowl and add the cream and vanilla extract; mix only until partially incorporated.
Add in the matcha, flour, and baking powder.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix to ensure homogeneity.
Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is puffed and springy and a tester comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes; invert onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
To decorate, mix matcha and powdered sugar together very well.
Dust over the top of the cake and decorate with fresh fruit as desired

Enjoy baking this cake or anything else that helps you #findyourlittlefriday 💚

Adrien Finkel

♥️Find Your Little Friday♥️

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I would like to alter the sentiment of - “good things come in small packages” to “incredibly wonderful and fierce things come in small packages.” Maybe my new spin isn’t as easy to get out but the update rings true to a dear old friend of mine, Adrien Finkel. We met behind a host desk at a restaurant in Los Angeles over ten years ago when we were both fresh out of college. Over the years, our culinary adventures have never ceased to amaze me and our similar interests led us both to discover our passion for food went beyond the palate. Adrien has a full-time job while also managing her side hustle of baking and selling mesmerizing desserts. Her business is called, Sweet AF. A letter play on her initials and…I think you get the rest?

Prepare yourself to be inspired by my dessert tasting and baking partner in crime. You’ll probably need something sweet upon finishing this read.

What is your favorite style of baking?

“Simple and homemade while being an elegant tasting cake. I don’t use ingredients like fondant for my cakes, I never went to school for that type of dessert baking and decorating. My cakes are homemade but have an elevated look.’

What is your favorite desserts that you bake?

“It’s between two. My lemon poppyseed with berries and cream. Then my matcha butter cake, this is a huge favorite with my friends.”

In case you need to see those two desserts-

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What is your favorite dessert?

“I love s’mores of some sort. Anything chocolate and salt. I’ve also always loved rocky road ice cream or smoked caramel with salt. And of course there is nothing better than a molten chocolate cake or an almond croissant.”

I agree about the almond croissant. We have shared many and hunted the best one down in any city we are in together.

How do you balance your work and passion for baking?

“I am a producer and writer professionally but my baking has now become something that bleeds into almost every area of my life. When I am finished with my work day, I’ll go home and most likely bake something that I will then end up bringing with me to the office the next day. If we have a meeting, then it almost becomes a part of the conversation because we are enjoying the treat while discussing our work. My baking is truly more of a rounded out part of me, not a separate entity.”

What is something that you would recommend to someone baking for the first time?

“If it was from my repertoire, it would be my matcha butter cake. It is one pan, no chilling, just pop it in the oven. Outside of that, cookies, a simple one layer cake or brownies- the stuff you grew up on. For me it’s about getting people to challenge themselves to not reach for the boxed stuff of ingredients. You can always further your knowledge with videos online too.”

What is the best dessert in Los Angeles & New York?

“Ok, L.A. it would have to be the bittersweet chocolate budino tart with salted caramel from, Bestia. In New York, anything by Heather Miller at Barbuto. Her pistachio cake or meyer lemon curd…come on!”

What is something you have never attempted to bake but would love to attempt?

“A swiss roll. I always say I’m going to make it and then I never do. I have all of the equipment but my fear controls me!”

Dream person to bake with?

“Ina Garten.”

What does baking mean to you?

“It heals my anxiety. It’s a fruitful place I can put my anxiety. By channeling it into my food, it seems the most rewarding. It is also something that you can accomplish from start to finish in 24 hours and I just love the idea of that!

Adrien brings so much into people’s lives.  I hope you enjoyed this read and any wary feelings towards baking are slightly diminished. Enjoy finding your little moments of delight. #findyourlittlefriday ♥️