Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ganache

Welcome to adult life. I'm a new kitten mom and starting a real job on Friday. With a retirement plan. So weird, honestly. But also I read a tweet saying that adult life gets better once you realize you don't need an occasion to make and eat a cake. So that's what I did, although arguably I'm celebrating my new kitty.

Meet Nissa:

I got Nissa unexpectedly this past Saturday. My fiance and I had been talking about getting an animal for quite awhile, but he was gunning for a dog or bunny. I had begged for a cat, but pretty much given up on ever having one. I made all my arguments for a cat, explaining that it was probably the best pet for our lifestyle, but my fiance wasn't really swayed.

Enter Nissa.

On Saturday I was in a store with a friend when I suddenly heard high pitched meowing. A guy had come in with a little kitten in a cardboard box. He explained that he had found her under his car and couldn't keep her and that since it was kitten season all the ethical shelters were full. My heart melted. I asked if I could touch her, and she leaped right into my arms. I explained to the guy that I needed my fiance's permission, but was interested in keeping her.

After some begging, sweet Alex reluctantly agreed. Nissa was mine. The Humane Society thinks she's about 8 weeks old, and other than being a little skinny, was healthy. They even gave me a grant to get her spayed and her shots for free, a long with some kitty kibble.

She is the kitten I always wanted. She's playful but loves to cuddle, and loves to "talk" to me. She's the sweetest little thing, purrs like a lawnmower. I'm so in  love. I feel like a new mom, constantly posting pictures of her everywhere, but I can't help it. She's mine. Since I haven't started work yet, we just cuddle and play all day.

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ganaches

cake

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup coffee, cooled

filling

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tsp coconut oil

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup whipping cream

8 Reese's miniatures, chopped

icing

1 stick butter

3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (buy it on Amazon. it's cheaper than buying the pods. and amazing.)

1/4 cup whipping cream

1. To make the cake, start by stirring together the dry ingredients.
2. Add in the eggs, milk, vanilla, butter, and blend together until smooth.
3. Pour in coffee. Batter will be thin, once stirred together.
4. Pour into two pans (I used 9x9 squares, but rounds will work just as well). Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the middle springs back when touched.
5. Let cool thoroughly, and remove from pans.
6. Using a wooden spoon, poke holes in the top of one of the cakes (like the picture above).
7. While the cakes are cooling, make the ganaches. Melt together the peanut butter and coconut oil, then stir until smooth. Let cool.
8. Melt together the chocolate chips and cream. Stir until homogeneous.
9. Once the cake is cool, spread the peanut butter onto the cake, making sure to get it into all the holes. Sprinkle on the peanut butter cups, then carefully spoon on most of the chocolate ganache. I sprinkled on some salt at this point. Highly recommend.
10. Stack the other layer on top, and let set.
11. Make the buttercream frosting. Ensure that the butter is room temperature and soft. Stir in two cups of the powdered sugar.
12. Add in the cream, the remaining sugar, and vanilla paste. I also added a dash of salt, but that's up to you and your taste.
13. Carefully frost the cake, then drizzle on remaining ganache, swirling with a spoon. Keep in the fridge until ready to eat.

Strawberry Shortcake Waffles

Hi. I've spent too much time talking about how much I love breakfast food to not share more breakfast recipes, so here I am. With waffles and whipped cream, which makes me feel like Leslie Knope. These are the important things in life.

Anyway, let's talk podcasts. I love them, because I like having stuff to listen to while I walk or clean or do other mindless stuff, and audiobooks are way to expensive. Most of mine revolve around either true crime or psychology, but I'm open to most things, so if you have recommendations pleeeease send them my way.

Let's see, on the true crime vein, I loved Serial. Season 1 is much better in my opinion, but both are good. Sarah Koenig takes you inside her investigations of a couple crimes, and I loved "seeing" it all slowly come together. She also lets her listeners form their own opinions which I really appreciate.
I also highly recommend Serial Killers, if you're into that. They spend a couple weeks on each serial killer and talk some about the psychology of psycopathy, and I LOVE that. Neither of the hosts have psych degrees, so their opinions are kinda questionable sometimes, but other than that, GREAT. Just don't listen if you're easily scared.

For psychology, I highly recommend Invisibilia. They talk about different human phenomena and the reasons behind them, such as our insatiable need to solve things--even if it's a problem that should maybe be left alone. There are a lot of deep truths about life and human nature in this one and sometimes it makes me cry.
Another one is The Hilarious World of Depression. Comedians come on and talk about their experiences with depression and other mental illnesses, and I'll be honest--if you have the right sense of humor, they have a point. Depression is kind of funny.

Strawberry Shortcake Waffles
waffles
1 1/2 cups flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter
1 1/3 cups milk

topping
1 pint strawberries, sliced
2 tbsp sugar (more if it's not berry season)
juice of 1 lemon
whipped cream

1. Start by browning the butter: place the butter in a pan over medium heat. As it melts, swirl the pan a bit. It will start to crackle--this is the water boiling out. It's a good thing. Once the butter turns light brown, remove from heat and let cool.
2. Next, make the topping. Gently stir together the strawberries and sugar. Dribble in the lemon juice, then set aside to do their thing. This is called macerating; it means the strawberries will release their juices.
3. To make the waffles, stir together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
4. Create a well in the center, then add eggs, vanilla, and butter. Stir together.
5. Add milk and stir until smooth. Let sit while you preheat the waffle maker.
6. Butter the waffle maker and ladle in about 2/3 cup of batter (depending on size of your waffle maker). Cook for about 3-5 minutes.
7. Serve waffles with strawberry topping and a swoosh of whipped cream.

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Poorly lit kitchen strikes again

Hi. What's this? Another cinnamon roll recipe? Yeah, sorry. I love them to death. Also, where have I been for the last few months? I don't know. Death by undergrad...which I finished. Thank God. Planning a wedding (I said yes to the dress, and cried). Working two jobs which were equal parts rewarding and draining. Trying to enjoy my last semester of undergrad with the people who supported me along the way.

More recently: handling a bizarre and unpleasant turn of events that left me jobless post-graduation. After handling the aforementioned turn of events, I really just haven't felt so good, mentally or physically. Once I finished crying (change is really hard for me), I attacked the job hunt, trying to figure out what the hell you do with a BS in psychology. I have a couple things going, but let's wait until the ink is totally dry until we talk about them.

Dough is calming. Especially the proofing stage. I love.

Quick anecdote: In the process of making these, I somehow touched the heating element of the oven, which I don't recommend. That was quite awhile ago and I finally have all my fingerprints back. Yay.

In other news: I'm applying to medical school, which is weird and daunting but also fun. I've started having weekly brunches at my apartment because honestly, friends, pancakes, and good coffee are better medicine than anything else I've found. Stuff hurts, change is hard, but I think my goal shouldn't be to force joy, but to love the people I care about as deeply as I can and to find the happiness in the time I have with them. Easier said than done? Sure. But cinnamon rolls help.

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

rolls (adapted from Joy the Baker)

1/4 oz yeast (this is the amount in the little packets)

1/2 tsp +1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup milk (higher fat content=better)

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 yolk

3 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup butter

filling

1/2 stick butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp maple syrup

3 green apples, diced

dash of salt (unless you're using salted butter)

glaze (only if you reallllllyyyyy have a sweet tooth)

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1. Start the dough by adding 1/4 cup warm water to the 1/2 tsp sugar and yeast. Let sit until foamy, about 15 minutes. If it doesn't foam, your yeast has issues.
2. Add the remaining sugar, milk, brown sugar, egg, and yolk. Stir until combined.
3. If you have an electric mixer (I'm jealous), fit it with a dough hook and add the flour half a cup at a time. If not, still add it only half a cup at a time, and use your muscles to smooth it out after each addition.
4. Let rise for 2 hours. In the last half hour of the rise, make the filling.
5. For the filling, melt the butter and combine with remaining ingredients, other than the apples.
6. When the rise is complete, dump out of the bowl onto a floured surface. It should be fairly fluffy. Gently roll out into a rectangle.
7. Spread filling on top of the rectangle, then sprinkle on the diced apples.
8. Carefully roll up the dough into a tight tube, then slice with a sharp knife. I got 8 rolls.
9. Place in buttered pans, then allow to rise for another 30 minutes.
10. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
11. For the glaze, whisk together the sugar and milk. Pour over hot rolls. Serve and enjoy.

Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze

I'm having an issue. I have a recipe and pictures, but I don't have too many words today.

These were a part of my annual holiday baking binge (which isn't much different from my every day life, but still....). I've realized I love working with dough, so I made cinnamon rolls a couple different ways, but these were my favorite.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and wish you a happy new year.

Yum.

Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze
Ingredients

dough (adapted from How Sweet Eats)
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 package dry yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

filling
1 stick butter, melted
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar

glaze
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Heat milk in microwave for about 1 minute, until lukewarm. Add vegetable oil and sugar, stir. Sprinkle in yeast and let sit about 15 minutes, or until foamy.
2. Move mixture to an electric mixture and add flour, baking soda, powder, and cinnamon. Stir until combined, then run mixer for about 6 minutes, kneading until dough is elastic and smooth.
3. Allow dough to rise for 90 minutes or until doubled.
4. Punch the dough down, then empty onto a floured counter. Roll out into a rectangle, making sure dough is roughly 1/2 an inch thick.
5. To make filling, combine melted butter, sugars, and cinnamon. Spread evenly on the dough, then roll into spiral tube.
6. Slice into 1-inch sections, then place rolls into a buttered pan. Let rise for 30 minutes.
7. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.
8. To make glaze, blend ingredients together. Pour over warm rolls and enjoy.

Chai Pie

If you follow me on Snapchat, you're aware that I baked kind of an obscene amount over the course of Thanksgiving. The final count ended up being 4 pies (pumpkin, apple-cranberry, chai spice, and Kentucky derby) and one chocolate cheesecake. Also apparently no one communicated this to the rest of the family, so we ended up with 8 pies and a cheesecake for 17 people. Oh well. Also, wait until you see how much I bake at Christmas. It makes Thanksgiving look like amateur hour.

Anyway, this recipe is for the chai spice pie. There's only one picture because I sort of forgot to take them and also wasn't expecting this to turn out that well. But here we are.

I sort of love baking pies lately. I love baking everything lately, and it's a favorite hobby of mine. It keeps my hands busy, it's repetitive to a certain degree, and I've been doing it forever, so it brings an amount of familiarity which is calming to me.

In other news, has anyone else seen Moana? I went with my fiance, siblings, their significant others, mom and grandma. Let me just tell you, going on a "triple date" with your younger siblings and their boyfriend/girlfriend is a FUN time, especially when you're engaged and they've been dating for like a month. My mom told me to act as a chaperone, and I thoroughly enjoyed that task.

The movie is pretty good though too. I loved the music and the setting, and Moana herself is likable. I also just thought she was beautiful and love that she has a realistic body type, especially compared to some of the classic princesses.

In other news, the Beauty and the Beast trailer played and I cried. Emma Watson is playing another of my childhood role models and that makes me really emotional.

Okay, that's enough rambling for today.

Chai Spice Pie
Ingredients
2 sleeves cinnamon graham crackers
1 stick salted butter, melted
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
2 1/2 cups heavy cream

1. Crush the graham crackers into coarse crumbs, then drizzle in the melted butter. Stir to combine, then press into a greased pie pan. Refrigerate as you make the filling.
2. Whisk together the eggs, sugar, and spices in a medium bowl.
3. Microwave the milk until hot, then slowly stream into the egg mixture, whisking constantly.
4. Gently pour into crust. Some of the crust may combine with the filling, this is totally okay.
5. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Filling should be set. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Enjoy!
   
   
   

On Language Learning (and Cookies)

Forever my love

For those of you that don't know, in addition to my psychology degree (and 85% of a biochemistry degree...lol), I'm working on a Spanish minor. Learning a language, especially in school, especially as an introvert who doesn't like talking in big groups, especially classes, is weird. There are moments every day where I feel pretty fluent. Moments when my Hispanic residents are on the phone with their parents and I actually comprehend the conversation. Moments when I'm writing an essay and thinking in Spanish and it just flows.

But. There are also moments where I just feel (for lack of a better term) like such a freaking white girl. Which I am (mostly Swedish and German. that's about as white as it gets.). Moments where mi profesor asks me a question and all I can do is blush and mumble "qué?" Moments when I'm lost in class, or one of my group mates (who are all Hispanic and actually bilingual) speaks so fast that it just sounds like a blur to me. Or sometimes I fumble the present tense. It's great. My pronunciation gets weird sometimes, and as someone who has spent my entire life in the south, the fast, staccato rhythm is hard for me.

Language learning is weird, and it gets weirder when you transition into classes that trust that you're competent in the language, and focus on just teaching you literatura y cultura. Your ideas and thoughts actually matter more than the proficiency with which you communicate them. This is intimidating. Learning how to BS an essay about literature in a second language is weird and funny and makes me feel a lot more fluent than I probably am.

So why learn Spanish? It started because I was dead set on med school at U of Miami, and in Miami, you'd better be able to habla. At some point, I actually did fall in love with the language, and more than anything, I'm honestly in love with the idea of being bilingual. The idea of being able to communicate effectively and relate with more than one group of people is so appealing to me, which is why I love culture classes so much. Maybe that's and idealized version of things, but I like it, so I'm sticking with it.

También: I thought about writing this post in Spanish, but I have a little bit (okay a lot) of fear of judgment when it comes to my proficiency. So instead you get a post in English with awkward uses of Spanish vocab. Sorry.

S'more Stuffed Giant Cookie
Ingredients
2 sticks of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 3/4 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips
3 milk chocolate bars
3 graham crackers
1/4 cup mini marshmallows

1. Stir together the butter and sugars.
2. Add in the eggs, vanilla, soda, and salt. Mix until smooth.
3. Stir in flour.
4. Gently fold in the chips.
5. Press about half the dough into a 9-inch round pan.
6. Add a layer of graham crackers, then another layer of chocolate bars. Top with the marshmallows.
7. Carefully spread the rest of the dough on top.
8. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Top will be dark golden, middle will be gooey. Enjoy!
   
   
   

A Birthday Cake for Mom

Hi Mom.

I know you'd probably prefer I celebrate your birthday with fewer carbs and a little less sugar. I could've made a nice salad with steak and quinoa, topped with some strawberries (good idea, we'll revisit that one). If you were going to eat a cake, you would've preferred carrot. But I thought something new could be fun.

Dusted with cocoa powder

So instead, we have a perfectly moist chocolate cake topped with peanut butter frosting, not too sweet, but salty, with crunchy little granules of sugar. And I drove it down to Tarpon to surprise you and eat dinner by the sponge docks. Happy birthday, Mom.

This makes me weirdly aware of how rarely I take horizontal pictures

Fun fact: I'm a terrible example as a baker, which means I don't actually measure ANYTHING. Unless I'm making something really finicky, I kind of just eyeball everything. Oops. It's worked out so far.

Chocolate Cake and Peanut Butter Frosting
cake
I used this recipe

frosting
1 stick salted butter
2/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1. Microwave the butter and peanut butter for 45 seconds. The butter will be pretty much all melted, and the peanut butter will be stir-able.
2. Stir in both sugars and the salt until smooth.
3. Spread on cooled cake or eat with a spoon. Enjoy.
   
   
   

The Blog is Back!

I made pie. And it looks a mess, but that's okay because I'm mostly just excited to tell you that I'm back and I love food and cooking and sharing food with the people I love.

So, this summer I ended up disappearing because I was studying for a cute and fun little test called the MCAT. Ha. No. I did study for and take the MCAT (no score yet), but it wasn't cute or fun. I think the test went well, but getting to test day was mostly filled with frustration, crying, and too much coffee. (oh yeah, if you follow me on Insta you know that I like coffee now. not sure what that's about, but.....).

Anyway, here's some thoughts on the MCAT, medicine, and life in general. 

If you saw the hot freaking mess I was during Spring semester, you're probably wondering how and why I ended up studying for the MCAT anyway. Well, here's the thing. I never really stopped wanting to be a doctor. I had an exceedingly rough Fall of my junior year, and emerged with a new major and a whole lot of sadness in my heart. Basically I felt like I'd failed at being a biochemistry major and a premed and was, honestly, worn out and tired of spending every second of my life in the library with anxiety and exhaustion clouding my brain. Science, particularly medicine, had come to symbolize everything I wanted and couldn't achieve. 
In a lot of ways, I stopped thinking I could do it. But it never left my mind. Thinking about doing something other than being a doctor, while exhilarating at first, terrified me in more than a "fear-of-the-unknown" kind of way. It hurt a lot.
Finally, after a semester of watching my wallow, my mom gave me a piece of mom-wisdom in a Mexican restaurant, and I cried and decided to try again. The mom-wisdom? "You're selling yourself short if you just walk away from this and don't even try. There's no reason why you can't be a doctor as a psych major." Thanks Mom.
And then, something amazing happened: I realized that I actually like science. I actually love the human body. I love knowing how metabolism works. And, weirdly, I kind of love studying (when I'm not caffeine crazed and hyper-emotional). I was studying because I wanted to, and taking the MCAT because I wanted to. And it felt so good. I remembered why I wanted to be a doctor in the first place.

On test day, I walked into the testing center feeling more peaceful than I would've thought possible. The test was my victory lap at the end of 4 long months of hard studying. It was the cherry on top.

And so, pie. I made it awhile ago, I know peaches aren't really in season anymore. But please appreciate it anyway. I'll have something a little more seasonally appropriate soon.

Blueberry Peach Streusel Pie
Ingredients
crust:
12 graham crackers, pounded into crumbs
1 stick of butter

filling:
4 peaches, cut into chunks (I didn't peel them)
3/4 cup blueberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp corn starch
juice of 1 lemon

streusel:
1/2 cup oats
1/2 stick of butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

1. Melt the butter and stir in the crumbs. Mash into a greased pie pan, making sure you get the sides. Put into the fridge while you make the filling.
2. For the filling, gently combine the fruit with the other ingredients. Let sit for 5 minutes so the fruits can release a little juice.
3. Add filling to the pie pan.
4. To make the streusel, melt the butter and stir in the other ingredients. Scatter on top of the pie.
5. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. If the top starts to burn, cover it with foil. We ate this with whipped cream, but vanilla ice cream would be pretty amazing too. Enjoy!

Birthday Cake Popcorn

Colors. Sweetness. Salt. Chocolate. Joy. In my opinion, these are all lovely things best served with sprinkles. Is that a weird thing to say? Probably. I'm gonna roll with it. But anyway, all those words can describe this popcorn too. It's a fun one. It's cutesy. 

I made this one night to eat while watching How to Get Away with Murder. If you watch it, please come talk to me because I have a lot of feelings about it. I finished both seasons in about a week and a half. So good. And wow, Viola Davis. I totally understand why she got an Emmy. So much raw emotion. This recipe is sunny and happy to offset the darkness and sadness in the show. It works out.

Birthday Cake Popcorn

Ingredients

6 cups freshly popped popcorn (you can use microwave or pop it yourself)

1 stick salted butter, melted

8 oz. white chocolate

1/3 cup yellow cake mix

1/2 cup M&Ms

sprinkles

1. Toss the popcorn with the butter and salt to taste. Spread on a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Melt the chocolate carefully, either in a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water, or in a microwave.
3. Once chocolate is melted and smooth, stir in the cake mix.
4. Pour cake mix over the popcorn and sprinkle with M&Ms and sprinkles.
5. Let cool and enjoy.
   
   
   

Bubble Bread

Hi there. Welcome back to Kimmie's Kitchen. Here's more of Carbfest 2k16. I'd apologize, but I'm not sorry. Not at all.

Did you guys watch the Tony's on Sunday? I don't ever watch award shows, but, like any good theatre nerd (even one who hasn't touched a stage since 2013), I was in front of my best friend's TV on Sunday night cheering every time Hamilton won. All eleven(!) times. I also cried during pretty much every speech. I'm not kidding. Especially Renee Elise Goldsberry and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Wow.

My current oven situation

But anyway, on to talking about this bread. It's so good. I'm a little embarrassed to call this a recipe, but here we are. It's basically monkey bread with chocolate, and if you're anything like me you'll agree that chocolate always improves food. This is the perfect thing to bake and then take to a friend's apartment late at night. That's what I did with it anyway. I highly recommend doing the same. 

Also, you can totally bake this in the little ovens we have in Infinity Hall. It's doable, I promise. As evidenced by the above photo. 

Bubble Bread
Ingredients
1 can refrigerated biscuit dough
16 unwrapped Dove chocolate promises (or you could use Hershey's kisses or any other little chocolate chunks)
4 tbsp salted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

1. Cut each biscuit in half. Roll each half into a ball around a piece of chocolate.
2. Blend together the sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll each ball in butter then in the cinnamon sugar to coat thoroughly. Stack in a loaf pan. Repeat until all balls are coated and stacked.
4. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. If the top gets too brown, cover with foil and continue baking. Enjoy!

Ombre Smoothie Stacks

Look, I have friends! 

I feel like a lot of my recent posts have started with me talking about how excited I am for summer. This one won't be an exception. It's still summer, this recipe is summery, and I'm still excited. So there. Happy summer. Enjoy a colorful smoothie stack.

Fun thing about this: I made it in Infinity Hall at UF, the lack of kitchen can't stop me. All you need is a blender, lovelies. A freezer helps get a pretty stack but it isn't required. We give you ice, which is a pretty key ingredient. You can handle this recipe, even if you live in the land of no kitchens. You know you wanted to buy a blender anyway (or even one of those cool Magic Bullet things).

Speaking of UF....I'm starting my senior year (or maybe it's already started, summer semester is confusing). WHAT? I honestly still have days where I wake up and have to remind myself that this is COLLEGE. It's weird because I don't feel adult or anything and I definitely thought that would've happened by now. But instead I'm just here, living my life. Maybe when it ends, I'll suddenly understand? But guys, I still feel 17 and I still feel just as much awe that I'm actually in COLLEGE. Please tell me I'm not the only one.

Ombre Smoothie Stacks

Ingredients

honeydew layer

2 cups honeydew, cut into chunks

8 oz vanilla yogurt (I used low fat)

1 cup ice

pineapple layer

2 cups pineapple chunks

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 cup ice

watermelon layer

1 cup watermelon chunks

1 cup ice

1. Blend each layer individually, starting with the honeydew.
2. Pour into glasses and freeze as you make each additional layer. When you pour the upper layers, be careful, but when they mix a little you'll get to see the ombre, so don't stress too much. Enjoy!

Rice Krispy Treat Milkshakes

Iiiiit's SUMMER TIME. And guess who's excited?! That's right. Me.

Um, I hope you're ready for milkshake recipes. Because I sort of love them, and they're finally weather-appropriate.

This particular milkshake is a little weird. It has actual cereal in it. I love the taste and the texture it adds. You could make this with the chocolate krispies too, but I don't like them so much. Instead I always ate my rice krispies with chocolate milk. Probably basically the same thing. But I had a preference anyway.

These were fun to decorate. That's going to be my new thing. It's inspired by this restaurant in NYC that I've been following on Instagram. Their handle or whatever is blacktapnyc, and you should definitely go check them out. Also go visit and then ship me some of their food. Thank you so much.

Rice Krispy Treat Shakes
Ingredients
2 cups vanilla ice cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup rice krispies + more to top and rim
1/4 cup marshmallow fluff + more to rim
whipped cream

1. Rim the glass by spreading fluff around the rim, then rolling in rice krispies.
2. Blend together the ice cream, milk, fluff, and krispies until mostly smooth. It's okay if there are a couple bits of krispies left.
3. Pour into a glass and top with whipped cream and rice krispies. Enjoy!