Wild Blueberry with Toasted Crumbs Ice Cream

Whoa. Summer is just flying by, isn`t it?! I think I am in denial that it`s already near the end of August. My summer classes ended the last week of July and I had two weeks of break before classes started again today. Let me tell you, those two weeks went by so quickly, I thought it was still the beginning of August!

As I mentioned in the previous post, my summer classes were intense. Like, it really was! I was constantly working, without any time to bake. We also had some heat waves in California, which led me to avoid the oven. I really miss baking, but when I`m inspired to bake something, my body is too tired for my mind to convince it to bake in the heat and then do all the dishes afterward.

So, before September arrives and summer comes to an end, I wanted to share with you one of my FAVORITEST ice creams I have made at home. No really, this ice cream is just quite amazing and blows most ice creams out of the water. All thanks to Jeni. Her ice cream base provides this smooth and thick, but not too thick, consistency that I love about ice creams.

Blueberry Lemon Custard Tart

This post is coming at you all terribly late. I had planned to post this before July 4th...but as you can see, it is already the 15th.

I think I mentioned earlier that I was going to attend graduate school? My program started this summer and it has just been crazy. Like, really crazy. Exciting, but still crazy hectic. I go to school twice a week and have classes from 9am-7pm! I only have two short breaks in between classes, but it`s not even enough time for me to eat lunch! I`m also working part-time on the days I don`t have classes, so I haven`t had time to bake, which makes me sad. I spend my Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays doing all the homework/readings. If you didn`t know already, you have a ton of reading in graduate school. I mean, of course I had reading in undergrad, but not THIS much.

Anyway, that is the reason I haven`t had a chance to share a lot of recipes lately. I recently enrolled for my Fall quarter classes and I think it might just get crazier! I`m literally at home all day doing homework. Even my Instagram hasn`t been updated as often.

Strawberry Fan Cookies with Lemon Glaze

I`ve been pretty inspired by all fancy sugar cookie decorations I have been seeing on Instagram lately. But, I`m lazy when it comes to baking sometimes... I know from experience how time-consuming decorating sugar cookies can take, thus, deterring me from actually making them. One day...

These cookies aren`t exactly sugar cookies, more like butter cookies, but you make them in a similar way. You cream together butter, sugar, flour. Let the dough chill, then you roll out and cut out shapes. Luckily, there`s no need to make 50 different shades of royal icing to make these cookies look cute. After you cut out the shapes, you place a little dollop of strawberry jam in the middle and fold up the two bottom sides together to seal, kind of like a flower bouquet! I was gonna called them strawberry bouquets too, but decided to keep the original recipe name instead.

I actually made these cookies for Mother`s Day since they looked like mini flower bouquets to me. My mom also loves lemon flavored desserts, so I added the lemon glaze to give a little acidic punch to each bite!

Green Tea Crunch Ice Cream

I don`t think Southern California has decided what weather it wants to feel like for the past months. It`ll be cold and gloomy for 2 weeks, then hot and sunny the next week. Well, I guess it doesn`t matter to me, because when it comes to ice cream, I always help myself to some.

On a whim I decided to finally buy the Jeni`s Splendid Ice Cream At Home book. You know how there are days, okay, for me, there are many days, where I just feel like buying something. I`m sure it`s unhealthy, but it is what it is. Some days, I want to buy large size milk tea boba. Others, I want to buy cookbooks.

Anyway, Jeni's recently opened a location in Los Angeles and I`ve been dying to go. I have yet to go since it`s over an hour drive away from me. One day I decided to go before dropping my sister off at UCLA, but sometimes the world is mean, and the shop was closed because they had a recall. Oh well, I guess I will just stick to making her amazing ice creams at home! (It has reopened now, though!)

Baked Coffee Cake French Toast

I`m going to start this off with the fact that my dad loved this. He said it twice in the span of an hour. Did you know how happy I was when he said this?! VERY. My dad bakes and likes sweets, but he rarely likes anything I bake because it`s too sweet for his liking. Whenever any of my parents say they like something I make, I always take note.

So, I don`t know if this applies to other Asian families, but in my Chinese-mixed-Vietnamese family, compliments aren`t given frequently. Sure, there are some, such as when my sisters and I get straight "A"s in school or land a job, but it`s gotta be of some importance you know? Especially, my dad, who doesn`t compliment often. When he said this baked French toast was good, he didn`t say it looking at me, but at the food! Although, I must say, as the years have gone by since our childhood, this has changed. My mom and dad praises pretty often now. I bet it`s because they missed my sisters and I while we were in college! They even praise my parallel parking skills. Haha!