Spaghetti cupcakes!

I'm not the biggest fan of April Fool's Day - I usually spend the day on pins and needles, hoping nothing falls out of the sky or jumps out to scare me. Needless to say, I hate being unnecessarily surprised. But April Fool's Day does afford me the opportunity to make a fun dessert, so I can't really complain!

HIMYM finale baking: sumbitches cookies

Over nine seasons, How I Met Your Mother has had its ups and downs, but unlike many other people, I stuck with this show to the very end - and that end has come. Tomorrow night will be the series finale, where hopefully we will finally get the answer to the show's title: how did Ted meet The Mother? (Spoilers for all nine seasons of HIMYM in my post below...)

Chai glazed buttermilk donuts

With the HIMYM series finale looming in less than a week, I have to start thinking about a perfect HIMYM-themed dessert for the finale-watching-party. The only thing I can come up with at this point is something pineapple related. The only other food-related running joke I can think of are sandwiches, and we're not having those at the party (not HIMYM "sandwiches" anyways).

Neapolitan cupcake tarts

Okay, so serious things first: I am officially moving to Boston in five months. This means I now have an issue with my blog name. Unfortunately, "Ally in Boston" or "Ally at MIT" just doesn't have the same rhyming ring to it as "Ally in Cali" does. After about two seconds of pondering, I then realized that no one is going to read my blog and go "But she doesn't live in California! I'M NEVER READING THIS BLOG AGAIN." So now I no longer have an issue with my blog's name. 

Chocolate caramel bars

So I finally saw Frozen for the first time on my flight home from Boston. Over the last few months, I've been told that I have to see this movie - and now I see why. I think I've listened to "Let It Go" fifty times at this point.

Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

Whoops, I baked again. Yes, I know this means three days in a row.

You know how sometimes, you look down and see that bowl of [insert cookies or chips or grapes or etc. here] is completely empty? And then you realize you must have unwittingly ate it all without paying attention?

Cinnamon rum apple pie cupcakes

I've been looking back through my previous blog posts and have noticed quite a few changes as I baked more and more. For one thing, my food photography skills have drastically increased. They are still pretty limited, since I use the camera on my phone, but at least I take the time now to arrange the desserts before photographing them and touch up the pictures in Photoshop after.

Nutella Reese's Pieces Cookies

As I looked through my cupboard to survey my baking ingredients, I came across a giant bag of Reese's Pieces. I previously had made Reese's Pieces chocolate chip cookies before, so for these cookies, I decided to make a slightly different variation.