SMiLes by Meg

Tag: breakfast

Hazelnut Crumble Cake

This weekend, I’ve reached the end of my funemployment traveling and am spending some much-needed time with my college roommate, Cate, her partner, Jonathan, and their corgi puppy, Giles. Cate was a baker before I ever thought to start this blog, and last time I was visiting her I gave her the cookbook Sweet by Ottolenghi, which we baked out of together. At that point in time, we were hosting a brunch and wanted to make a Rum Raisin Cake. I asked Cate if she had everything we needed to make it, and she assured me that she did.

Pop Tarts

I’ve been craving Pop Tarts since taking the ferry up to Alaska. They had them on the boat, but I couldn’t justify buying them, since we had plenty of snack food already. But it put the idea in my head, and every time I walk by them in the store I think about getting a box, before I remember I already have oatmeal at home. Finally, I decided the best way to be able to justify having Pop Tarts around would be to make them myself.

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

I have a confession to make: my sourdough starter experiment failed. For three days, it looked perfect – everything was bubbling away just like it should. And then I had to fiddle. The book I bought here, Alaska Sourdough, didn’t really give much guidance when it came to sourdough starter upkeep. I like having directions to follow, and don’t do well with “just let it be for 2 weeks.” I’m the kind of person that has to constantly push around anything I’m cooking on a stovetop. So I felt the need to at least give it a stir once a …

Flourless Coconut Cake

This post is going to be a buzzer-beater. I made it yesterday, finally at home in Duxbury enjoying summer vacation, and then spent today moving into a new apartment with my mom’s help. There is nothing like moving into a new place – full of fresh starts and exciting decorating opportunities. And, of course, a new kitchen! But in all my excitement, I definitely was a bit rushed in baking this last night. And maybe had a pretty catastrophic baking fail. I do not blame the recipe – this one was all me. So if you do try this post, …

Walnut Halvah Cake

Fun fact for my Instagram followers (@smilesbymeg): while 76 of you took the time to watch my Instagram story in which I made this cake, only 24 of you could bring yourselves to like the post itself. I’m not really sure what that says about my respective video/photo editing abilities, but I think it means I have to work on my food photography. Also, despite now having posted 7 different Ottolenghi recipes, I still haven’t been selected in his #IBakedOttolenghi compilations. Further proof that my food photography needs work. Looks like I have my project for post-bar-exam life!

Cheddar Scones

I just got back from New Haven, where, after spending last week celebrating my graduation from law school, I spent this weekend celebrating at my five year reunion from college. And next week I get to celebrate my birthday! So many reasons to make baked goods, so little time. If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that my favorite cake of all time is Claire’s Lithuanian Coffee Cake with extra buttercream frosting, which is something you can order at Claire’s Cornercopia, a New Haven bakery. But since I’ve made that before, I decided to …

Zucchini Walnut Bread

My last recipe from my Cambridge apartment! And, unfortunately, it’s going to be a short post because I’m very much still in the middle of packing. When I was picking this recipe, I was looking for a quick bread, mostly because it was graduation week and I didn’t want to be spending a ton of time on it. And I needed breakfast food that would last awhile. So I looked back through the breads I had made in the past, and was surprised to find that I had only made zucchini bread once, a long time ago, with chocolate chips …

Carrot Bread

What do you do when your boyfriend asks you to pick up his root vegetable CSA? Google carrot recipes, thinking you’ll be able to get through them quickly, and realize that even carrot-based recipes don’t use enough carrots to make a dent in your bag of produce. Guess that means I’ll have to make carrot cake for Easter! (Also, if you can think of any other carrot recipes, any at all, please send them to me. Doesn’t have to bae a baked good!)

Sweet Potato Waffles

This week’s recipe is inspired by Zoe’s, a diner in Cambridge, and some sweet potatoes I needed to get use. Zoe’s has sweet potato pancakes, which they serve with brown sugar butter, and which are amazing. Erik and Emil, though, have a waffle iron, so I thought I could try something a little different from the breakfast item that inspired these. Over breakfast, we did have a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of waffles vs. pancakes. While I agree that pancakes are the superior breakfast food (someday soon I’ll post my dad’s recipe – they are the best …

Cinnamon Rolls

I’ve been promising Erik cinnamon rolls for a couple of weeks now, and since this is one of those rare weekends during which I’m actually in Cambridge, it seemed like the right time. Now, these are not to be confused with cinnamon pinwheels, which I’ve made before. Those are more of a cookie than pastry. Cinnamon rolls, on the other hand, are a yeasted dough (more on that later), and are meant to be a lot cakier. And they’re meant to be iced, but since Erik was calling the shots, we didn’t go that route.