Lunchtime Links for June 26th, 2015

• Oh, Sweet Basil: Mango chicken salad. 
• Warm Vanilla Sugar: Honey roasted peanut butter. 
• Two Peas and Their Pod: Twix ice cream pie.
• How Sweet It Is: Breakfast fried rice.
• Brown Eyed Baker: Banana cream pie.

Shake Shack - Stumptown Coffee Cardamom Custard

I love coffee ice cream, so I was very excited to try Shake Shack's Stumptown Coffee Cardamom custard which was the special custard flavor recently.  To be honest, I'm not exactly sure how the cardamom flavor should smell or taste, but either way this was a delicious cup of custard.  

There's definitely a strong but not bitter coffee flavor, but still tasted different from a regular coffee ice cream.  It tasted a little less sweet to me in a good way, like literally adding strong coffee to vanilla ice cream.  I really enjoyed this ice cream, and any fan of coffee would love this one! 

Lunchtime Links for June 25th, 2015

• Averie Cooks: Hershey's soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies. 
• Creme de la Crumb: French onion chicken sliders. 
• Damn Delicious: Watermelon pineapple lemonade.
• Table for Two: Homemade Chimichurri.
• Handle the Heat: Chocolate pound cake.

Georgetown Cupcake - Mocha Chocolate Chip Cupcake

This Mocha Chocolate Chip cupcake is another one of the June special flavors at Georgetown Cupcake, and I couldn't wait to try it out.  Coffee + chocolate = yes please!

The cupcake consists of a Mocha cupcake studded with Callebaut chocolate chips topped with a mocha frosting and a chocolate-covered espresso bean.  This looks very similar to the regular Mocha cupcake, but if you look closely, the cake portion is much lighter in color.  The cake has a ton of mini chocolate chips inside, and the mocha frosting is delicious as usual! I really enjoyed this combination and I hope they bring this flavor back again soon! 

Lunchtime Links for June 24th, 2015

• Damn Delicious: Easy Thai chicken.
• Handle the Heat: Beignets.
• Brown Eyed Baker: Classic Lasagna.
• Picky Palate: Chocolate peanut butter cookie cups.
• Gimme Some Oven: Broccoli chicken mac and cheese.

Hershey's Rich Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

I recently discovered a can of sweetened condensed milk in my kitchen, and no idea why I bought it - haha.  I'm sure I had a recipe in mind at some point, and then forgot all about it.  

When I mentioned this my friend T, she sent me this recipe that she has made before - Rich Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars.  I omitted the nuts, and went out to get the toffee bits on my grocery trip that day.  Otherwise, it's all items that are readily available in my pantry!

It definitely helps to read through the recipe first, because there's a few separate steps involved - compared to regular cookie bars.  The layers come together very easily; however it's important to make sure you do everything at the right time.  I used the Nestle springtime chocolate chips, which added fun pastel colors to the bars.  The bars are very soft when they come out of the oven, but firm up quite well once they're cool.  They were a big hit at work, with lots of flavor and texture in each bite! 

Lunchtime Links for June 23rd, 2015

• A Kitchen Addiction: Bruschetta melts.
• Crazy for Crust: Fireworks pudding cookies. 
• I Heart Naptime: Strawberry peach lemonade.
• A Beautiful Mess: Cornbread with bacon glaze.
• Kirbie's Cravings: No churn cookies and cream ice cream.