Lunchtime Links for February 28th, 2011

• Tokyo Terrace: Matcha sugar cookies.
• Gossip Girl: Recap from NYMag.
• La Fuji Mama: Japanese steamed egg buns.
• Serious Eats: Homemade Tagalong cookies by Cakespy.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Brownie-stuffed chocolate chip cookies.

Free Sprinkles Cupcakes!

Woohoo- great news brought to you by DC food blogger metrocurean:

Sprinkles Cupcakes, slated to open its DC shop in Georgetown on March 3rd, will be driving around DC beginning February 28th, giving away free cupcakes!

Since I've already had Sprinkles before, I already know that they are good but can't beat Georgetown Cupcake in my book.  But HELLO- FREE CUPCAKES! Of course I'm going to be stalking them.

Lunchtime Links for February 25th, 2011

• Adventures in Bentomaking: Rilakkuma instant noodle cooker.
• Top Chef All-Stars: Recap from Serious Eats. 
• Tasty Kitchen: Double fudge Oreo crunch cookies.
• The Kitchn: Roasted edamame appetizer. 
• Serious Eats: Fried dumplings in Chinatown, NYC.

Lady Gaga + Pittsburgh!

This weekend I'll be heading out to Pittsburgh for a fun weekend of friends, food, and of course, LADY GAGA LIVE!!! WOO! 

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend and play "Born This Way" a few times to get into the spirit ;o)

Lunchtime Links for February 24th, 2011

• Diamonds for Dessert: Penguin icebox cookies.
• Serious Eats: Cookie-stuffed cookies.
• The Pioneer Woman: Frozen cappuccino cups.
• Top Chef All-Stars: Recap from The Kitchn.
• BellaSugar: Lady Gaga's new MAC VivaGlam lip color.

Martha Stewart's Cream Cheese Swirl Blondies

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a huge fan of cream cheese in baked goods - brownies, cupcake frosting, cake frosting, etc.  That being said, it was only a matter of time before I'd try out Martha Stewart's cream cheese swirl blondies- yum!  This is another recipe from the Martha Stewart Cookies book, which I am slowly making my way through.

Mise en place

The great thing about blondies is that the ingredients are pretty much items that any semi-regular baker would have on hand.  Luckily, with a sale on cream cheese at Harris Teeter recently, I also have a few blocks of cream cheese on hand for these occasions as well, haha. 

The recipe came together easily, but one issue I had was with the consistency of the cream cheese mixture.  I can't blame Martha for bad instructions, because I a) don't own multiple bowls that fit into my stand mixer; and b) was too lazy to wash out the blondie batter bowl to use for the cream cheese mixture.  You can clearly see from the photo below that the hand-mixing method didn't turn out so well- haha.  Also, my attempts at creating a swirl pattern on the chunky cream cheese mixture resulted in a "dirt bike racing track" look that did not melt away in the baking process, ha.  

All that aside, these blondies tasted great, and I loved the addition of cream cheese with the blondie.  My co-workers were not too thrown off by the look of these, and seemed to enjoy them a lot.  If you'd like to add some texture, feel free to add chopped nuts, or whatever else strikes your fancy :o)

Lunchtime Links for February 23rd, 2011

• Serious Eats: Apple butter swirl bread.
• Jersey Shore: Recap from TVGasm.
• Bell'alimento: Pasta with broccoli.
• Cute Overload: Puppy barnacle, haha. 
• Healthy Hungry Happy: Peanut butter banana ice cream.