Cinnamon Sugar Butter Cookies

Honestly, there's nothing better than a light, crisp, buttery flavored cookie. Yes, I'm talking about the butter cookie. While these cookies don't necessary trim down the waistline, it's good to indulge every once in awhile! There is something attractive about the butter flavor as these cookies bake in the oven. On top of the buttery goodness, these cookies are rolled in a cinnamon sugar before they hit the oven!

These cookies are easy to make, partially because the main ingredient is butter but there is lot that can be done with a simple butter cookie, like rolling it in cinnamon sugar. Also, you can always guarantee these cookies to be gone a few hours after they come out of the oven.

I got this recipe from the Mrs. Field's Cookbook and I must say everything I make from this book is delectable. I first came across this book, or part of this book, from my mom's recipe collection where she baked her favorite chocolate chip cookies from. I've looked through the book once but I there were so many recipes I wanted, I was better off buying the whole book. So a year ago, my mom and I were browsing a thrift store and there it was, Mrs. Fields cookbook! I immediately snatched it off the shelf and paid a measly five dollars! All I can say, best investment of my life!

Matcha (Green Tea) Cupcakes

A few months ago, I was engaging in my usual blog browsing and came across many recipes using matcha powder. The recipes intrigued me but the only problem was I didn't have any matcha powder. Since I frequent Asian supermarkets, I didn't think it was a big deal to grab some matcha powder the next time I went. Little did I know I would run into a problem...I couldn't read the labels. Many of the labels were in Japanese and the ones I could read, did not specify "powder" on the container. I got really confused and left the market sans matcha powder. Finally on vacation in L.A. last December, I stopped by a Japanese market and was able to get some help in finding matcha. When I brought my matcha back home, I tucked it away in my pantry and haven't taken it out...until now!

Matcha powder is essentially green tea but in a fine powder form. This is great for making things "green tea" flavored such as in ice cream, mochi, cakes, cookies, etc. Or...you can use it for its intended purpose to make green tea. Either way, if you are a green tea lover (which I have grown to be in the last month), grab some matcha powder the next time you go to an Asian supermarket. There are so many things you can use flavor it with.

Earlier this year, I made Orange Cupcakes, and it was the first time I successfully made cupcakes with an airy-ness to it. I decided to adapt the recipe to be matcha-y instead of orange-y. Was I successful in making these cupcakes airy?

Y-U-M-Blurb: Mind Over Batter

Are Sprinkles Cupcakes good? Yes. Expensive? Yes. Overrated? Yes. Got competition? Yes!

I tried Mind Over Batter for the first time. While it seems like they only sell cupcakes, they have a great selection of ice cream and cake balls. The aroma as I walked in reminded me of this homemade ice cream shop I frequently visited growing up. The place had a warm feeling and I could smell the fresh baked cupcakes emanating from the kitchen! I was surprised by the selection of 17 cupcake flavors. This made it difficult for me to choose one flavor to try. Because it's a small business, they make a few of each flavors so once it's gone, it's gone...unless it's early in the day because they can bake up another batch and hopefully sell it before closing.

As my eyes shifted up and down the line at the vast selection Mind Over Batter had to offer, I couldn't resist the appearance of the chocolate peanut butter cupcake. Mind you, the name was much more creative than chocolate peanut butter. It was called Reece-with-a-spoon! How adorable is that? It was a chocolate cupcake batter with crumbled Reese's peanut butter on top with a drizzle of chocolate. Unfortunately, I was too excited to dig into the cupcake that I don't have a picture to show the decadent cupcake but take my word, it was delicious! The cupcake was moist, flavorful, and had a great texture. On top of that, there were surprise chocolate chips throughout the batter that made the cupcake experience so much more thrilling. Speaking of "the cupcake experience," cupcakes are boxed in a cute hot pink box with a cupcake holder so it doesn't slide and move around inside the box. So, how did I rate Mind Over Batter?