Hello again! It’s been a minute, huh?

I haven’t posted here since July 2018, and Molly hasn’t posted since April 2019. Oops.

I’ll catch you up on everything if you want to read in between the pictures, or you can just skip to the bottom and get the recipe for these Cappucino Ice Cream Sandwiches!

A lot has happened in the time I’ve been away! I attended and graduated college, and I really don’t know how Molly was able to post so much while she was at college! The actual learning part of my college experience left… a lot to be desired. But, I was still able to fill my time with meaningful things that made living in LA worth it. For the first three years, I was giving a lot of my time to marching band (which honestly took up about as much time as a full-time job, even if it was more play than work), and being a Section Leader for the Most Improved Section of the Year in 2019 (not to toot my own horn, *ba dum tss*).

The day of my graduation was also the two year anniversary of me working at Milk Bar here in LA. While it is not the most glamorous job, I do have moments (especially looking back on this blog) where I realize it is kind of a dream come true. One of the first posts on this blog (in October 2012?!?) was when Molly spent days working on Milk Bar cakes for a birthday party, which is when I first read Christina Tosi’s cookbook, and from then on there are countless examples of us baking through the books. Our profile picture is even a picture from the Momofuku class we took!

I have a distinct memory of the day I decided I wanted to return to this blog, and it was when I was in a work orientation with Christina Tosi and it came up that I was working there because I’d been baking the book since middle school. (That was a chance for me to flex that I’ve met Christina Tosi in a work meeting setting, but also to say that Milk Bar has been a very inspirational bakery for my own dessert creativity.)

The point is, I’m enjoying my time working for a company I’ve supported for many years (both a blessing and a curse because now I don’t know if I could ever go back to paying for things now that I get free desserts from work). But, even more importantly, I now have my degree in hand, which means I have loads more free time, and I couldn’t be more excited. (And I will hopefully never have to write a proof again. I will only be proofing dough from now on.)

In support of trying to find a “real” job in a creative industry, I’ve decided I’m going to dedicate all that new free time to returning to creative hobbies that I’ve given up on amongst the stress of school. I’m going to devote time to reading (I have a lot of books to catch up on), which you can see me do on that Goodreads sidebar. I’m going to devote time to doing my own animations and VR work. And I’m going to come back to this blog! I’m going to bake and cook as much as I can, and write and take pictures and generally get those creative juices flowing.

I remember having a dream in high school of having this blog take off and become the sweetest full-time-job gig ever (pun intended). As much as the idea of baking for a living and getting cookbook deals still sounds like a dream, that’s not really the motivation here. (What’s funny is that in our hiatus period, Molly’s post got featured in one of those Buzzfeed roundups we so desperately wanted to be included in back in the day.) The motivation for this blog now is just to share recipes and kitchen escapades with family and those who read this, practice taking photos and editing videos, and generally creating content and putting things out there.

Another goal I have for the next year is to… eat a lot of food around Los Angeles and appreciate the city as much as I can in my post-grad-free-time life. I’ll keep sharing food recommendations around LA, and I’ll update my Goodreads as much as I can.

This is, I realize, a very aspirational post, but I’m feeling hopeful!

That is all for now!

Enjoy the recipe for these Cappucino Ice Cream Sandwiches that have helped me keep cool as LA starts heating up!

Cappuccino Ice Cream Sandwiches

Author: Audrey

Description

Coffee oatmeal cookies sandwiched around vanilla ice cream make a great summer treat.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup almond butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons instant espresso or coffee powder

1 cup chocolate chips

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, cornstarch, baking soda, salt and instant espresso powder.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, beat together butter, coconut oil, amond butter, and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the butter mixture with a spatula. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating on medium speed until mixture is fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract. Stop the mixer and add the dry ingredients, all at once to the butter mixture. Beat on low speed until just combined. Stop the mixer, add the chocolate chunks and fold together with a spatula until well combined. Cover the dough and refrigerate for about 45 minutes (or longer).

Just before you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Scoop cookie dough by the heaping tablespoonful onto the prepared baking pans. Bake for about 12 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the oven, allow to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled, store in an airtight container and put them in the freezer.

Once frozen, match up cookies of similar sizes and scoop your favorite vanilla ice cream (or cool whip) and sandwich the cookies. Dip the sides in a bowl of mini chocolate chips, if desired. Place back in freezer for about an hour. Then enjoy.