NYC Food Blogger Bake Sale

Are you going to be in New York City this weekend?  If you are, you should come out and see me in Brooklyn!  I'm so excited to be in town and free to participate in the NYC Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry.  I was out of the country last year, so I made sure to plan my spring vacation after I found out when the bake sale was!

But it's not just me!  I'll be joining 35 other NYC area bloggers at the Brooklyn Flea with homemade treats from our kitchens.  I've spent the past few weeks trying to decide what to make for the bake sale.  I wanted something that would just scream WITK.  I came up with - Mallomars.

I've made many different varieties of mallomars here at WITK.  From simple flavors like key lime and blueberry flavors to holiday flavors like peppermint and pumpkin.  For the NYC bake sale, I decided to give everyone what they want - Funfetti!

I used my classic almond sugar cookie base and swapped out the vanilla extract for cake batter flavoring (I got it at my local gourmet food shop) and added a copious amount of rainbow sprinkles.  My classic vanilla marshmallow was also pumped up with the cake batter flavoring.  The marshmallow batter smelled Ah-mazing.  I was seriously licking it off the spoon (after I was done piping the cookies).  The whole shebang was topped off with a coating of rainbow sprinkles.

If you can make it to the city this weekend, come visit me and taste test these bad boys!  If you can't make it out/across the country for the bake sale, I included the recipe for you to try at home.  Be sure to buy this cake batter flavoring, you can also add it to milkshakes and ice cream (which I totally plan on doing this summer).

Don't worry, even if you can't come out and visit us at the Brooklyn Flea this weekend, you can still take part in the NYC bake sale for No Kid Hungry.  You can enter to win a whole bunch of different raffles!  From Divine chocolate to Le Creuset stoneware, amazing cookbooks to sweet gift boxes.  You can win these without even being in New York City!  Enter them all!

Wilde Week #14

1. It's been a long week in the lab.  I've been working on a tricky new synthesis and have spent the majority of my time on my feet, running around the labs.  As of Friday, I'm happy to report that I completed the synthesis and made my project leader and boss very happy.  Along the way I ran a nickel reduction and during the course of the reaction, the nickel became magnetic.  Enjoy the magnetic lines formed as my newly magnetized nickel dances around my magnetic stir bar.

2. It was a week of ups and downs.  Like Sunday, when I discovered my iPad screen had shattered somehow.  It's still a mystery to me.  Then moments later I noticed there was a Groupon for iPad screen replacement.  

3. Why Jimmy Fallon was so good and so terrible on SNL.  Enjoy the top 10 crack-ups of SNL.  Love it.

4. I wore these shoes to work Friday.  The only thing most people said to me was "Whoa!  Those shoes are bright!"  My girlfriends told me they were awesome.  I believe both groups of people were correct!  Please note, these are just hot pink ballet flats.  Not hot pink four inch heels.  Wait till they see my lime green Sperry wedges this summer!

5. Why yes magazine, I am grossed out by walking around the yoga studio in my bare feet.  Am I willing to drop $110 for some adorable pink and orange polka dotted foot wraps?  Maybe...

6. If I could, I would make everything in a muffin tin.  You too?  Here are some cool ideas, some that I'd never even thought of before.  Love the mini lasagnas.

7. I'm spending this weekend prepping for the NYC bake sale that is happening next Saturday at the Brooklyn Flea.  If you're in the city next weekend, stop by and support No Kid Hungry by picking up some tasty treats made by some of your favorite NYC area food bloggers and bakeries!  There are some raffles you can enter, even if you aren't in the NYC area!  Enter Here!

Have yourself a great week and hopefully I'll see you next weekend at the Brooklyn Flea!

Cute, Colorful and French

I know, I know.  Macarons are so 2012.

I should move on to whatever this years big dessert treat is!  (actually, I have no idea what is supposed to be "IN" in 2013.  The internet says it's fancy popcorn, figs and push-pops.)  But you know what?  I love macs.  I think that they are cute and colorful and French, so I will go on making macarons until I run out of flavors to make!  Especially now that I've found my method for macs that works consistently without all the fuss.

First, I got these handy egg tools from OXO (through their blogger outreach program).  OXO suggested I make myself a nice omelet, but quite frankly, I don't really go for omelets.  I'm much more of a cinnamon bun for breakfast kind of girl.  If I'm going to eat eggs, they are going to be scrambled and it is going to be after six pm.  Worry not OXO, these egg tools fit perfectly for my other egg related plan - macarons!

I received an egg separator - perfect for separating those whites from yolks.  I also got a person powered hand mixer - just what my tired arms need for whisking sugar into egg whites over a simmering pot of water.  Finally I got a fancy spatula.  The tag said it was an omelet turner.  I put mine to use in the oh so important macaronage step of macaron making.  These tools should be remarketed to the macaron maker.  They worked perfectly!

The other reason I decided to make macs?  I found these freeze-dried raspberries at a gourmet grocery store in South Orange, NJ.  I knew they would make an amazing ingredient to a macaron, since the best way to flavor the cookie itself is with dry ingredients.  If you find freeze-dried mangos, let me know.  I totally want a mango-flavored mac.  How the French would sneer at a mango macaron!

With the tools and the cookies taken care of, there was just one thing left to deal with.  The filling.  Searching my cabinets I happened upon a block of Callebaut white chocolate.  Raspberry macarons filled with white chocolate buttercream?  That sounds just delicious enough to work.  (Would I rather have filled them with white chocolate ganache?  Yes, but I was out of heavy cream and I wanted to eat the cookies ASAP.)

So now we have raspberry and white chocolate macarons, OXO has a new marketing campaign for their egg tools and my pantry is cleared of two of the more eccentric items.  All in all, a good day!

See, so cute.  So colorful.  Bonjour macarons.