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!

Strawberry Apple Crumble Pie

I must confess, I made these pies for Pi day back in March. And I`m posting them in May. Normally, I feel too lazy to bake pie for Pi day, but when I found out this year was extra special because it was 3.1415 (this year added to the irrational number perfectly!), I knew I had to bake pie!

It was a coincidence that I had fresh strawberries and thought I would make some strawberry and apple pies! Since I decided at the last minute to bake a pie for Pi day, I didn`t want to worry about chilling pie dough and then roll it out...so I used Joy's recipe for a crust that you make and simply press into the pie pan. Honestly, I have been meaning to try the crust recipe since I got her book years ago. Better late than never!

Even though I made these for Pi day, they`ll be great for the upcoming Memorial weekend! And definitely for the 4th of July. If you`re attending a BBQ or potluck event, pies are great for sharing. The fruit filling brings out a great summer vibe.

Berry Syrup for Berry Milk + Strawberry Lemonade

I guess I have been on a kick to recreate things I eat lately because this post came about when I bought berry milk from a little shop and it blew my mind. I realize it`s not really anything new...I mean flavored milk like strawberry, banana, and melon milk are pretty darn popular. It just never occurred to make them at home!

This little shop was a drinks and ice cream shop. At first, I was like, um, I`m not paying $4 for strawberry or berry milk...but I didn`t want anything else from their menu so I went for the berry milk. After a few sips I just knew I had to make this or else I would have to spend $4 each time I wanted some, which quite frankly, is every single day.

It actually took me awhile to perfect it. I mean, each time I made the berry milk, it tasted good, but not excellent. Life`s too short not to eat excellent food, right? Fed up that I couldn`t make it amazing, I went back to the shop and bought a bottle of strawberry milk. I let my mom try it because it was so good and she was like, "It seems like they added sweetened condensed milk!" My eyeballs grew big. It made sense though. It was a Vietnamese store and Vietnamese iced coffee is known for having condensed milk instead of milk and sugar! I rushed to make it immediately. It helped that I already had the berry syrup made!

California Roll Crunch Sandwich

I`m so terribly relieved I`m done with my exams for graduate school. Let`s hope I pass so I don`t have to retake them again! I feel so excited to start graduate school and start another chapter of my life!

Now, I`m feel to bake, bake, and bake! Today, I want to share this awesome recipe for lunch. It`s rare that I post a non-sweet recipe. Yet, this recipe required a croissant (totally a baked good) and the use of an oven to toast it. I have an addiction with baked goodies and the oven... ;)

Sometimes for work I only have 20 minutes to eat lunch because I drive to different locations throughout the day. As much as I would love to save money and make my own lunch to bring on the road...it`s not practical for me. I don`t have anywhere to keep my food, except my car. No refrigeration. Just the heat from the sun, shining into my car. I definitely do not want to eat a soggy or warm salad for lunch. So, I go to this South Korean bakery chain called Paris Baguette. They have these AMAZING pre-made sandwiches. Can you guess which one is my favorite?


Yup. Their California roll crunch rolls. I took my first bite and wanted to melt in my chair. It was just SO GOOD. It`s like eating a sushi sandwich. I loved the crab salad inside, the cucumbers, the lettuce, and oh, the avocado!

Lemon Snowball Cookies

You know those recipes you have tucked in your memory that is on your forever-long baking list? Yes, those recipes you want to make, but never got around to. I know I`m not the only with these to-bake lists! These lemon snowball cookies/Russian Tea Cakes/wedding cookies/butterballs have been on my list for awhile. Gosh, with all those alternative names, you know it has to be popular!

Despite my undeniable love for peanuts, cashews, pistachios, and all sorts of nut butters, I prefer them to not be in my cookies or brownies. As a lover of lemon flavored desserts, I knew it was meant to be when I discovered lemon snowball cookie recipes. In hipster slang, I was like, YASSS, because "yasss" was even a thing.

Ginger Lemon White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I`ve been stressed out lately with studying, graduate school stuff, and just life that cookies are a must! Who doesn`t love a good cookie, right? Chocolate chip cookies, as classic drop cookies, are simple and easy to bake often. Growing older, I have learned to appreciate more "adult flavors" and wanted to try ginger lemon as drop cookies.

As a lover of all lemon-flavored desserts, I knew I was going to love these! My first encounter with this ginger-lemon flavor combo was when I tried the ginger lemon cupcake from Sprinkles Cupcakes. Yeah, I totally fell in love with that cupcake! I`m devastated they no longer offer it in their menu anymore. I need to learn how to make them! I transfer that love into cookies, because I can bake cookies way better than cupcakes.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate Ganache

It`s Hearts In My Oven`s 3rd Blogiversary!!!!! YAYYY!! Sorry for all the exclamation marks, but I`m just so excited! :D My little internet space turned 3 this past Sunday. Of course, as tradition, I baked cake to celebrate! :)

I`m always excited every year for this, because I get to dream up, bake, and eat a yummy cake until I get a food baby. Who am I kidding, I always have a food baby! Haha! This might be a baking/sweets blog and cake does show up, but not cakes that take too much time. Bundt cakes, sure. Those are 1 pan, simple glaze or frosting cakes. But, cakes with more than 1 layer and frosted all pretty...well, I don`t have too much time for those. The baking, chilling, frosting, and more chilling process is a lot of work. Also, I don`t have enough people to eat the whole cake (my parents aren`t too fond of cakes).

This year, I knew I wanted to bake a chocolate cake as I discovered that I am a chocolate cake fan, but only if the cake is actually good. No, really, Lynna? It`s because a chocolate cake from the grocery store does not cut it with my taste buds. For the past 2 blogiversaries, I`ve made a lemon cake and a berry cake. Both were lighter flavors so I wanted to change it up a little. Plus, the Brown Betty Cookbook hasn`t disappointed me yet! I`ve loved everything I baked from it!

Mini Blueberry Coffee Cake Bundts

I`m back with some blueberry coffee cakes in cute little bundt forms! I had a large box of fresh blueberries and was dreaming of sweets studded with these beauties.

There are many reasons why these coffee cakes are the bomb. For starters, they are made with brown butter. There`s also blueberry yogurt in the batter. They each have a layer of streusel running through the middle, just like regular coffee cake! Then, they`re topped with some blueberry glaze to enhance their blueberry-ness! Total win.

I`ve encountered coffee cake recipes where the streusel is in the middle, while others have the streusel as a crumb topping. I decided to go with the middle, since I add streusel on top of basically everything, without the coffee cake inspiration.

Originally, I wanted to zest some oranges into the batter, but when I went to bake these, I had none. However, the next day when I photographed them, I did! I adorned each little coffee cake bundt with blueberries and orange zest. Completely optional, but they do look pretty.

Blueberry Streusel Muffin Cookies

Since Spring is swiftly approaching in a few weeks, I can finally share this recipe. I don`t know about you, but I always eat blueberry muffins with streusel toppings. The streusel topping on muffins are my favorite part about eating muffins. Why not just make cookies that taste just like those muffin tops?

Even though blueberries aren`t in season yet, don`t fret. These cookies are made with frozen wild blueberries. Fresh fruits are always favorable to many, but personally, I love baking with frozen blueberries more than I do with fresh blueberries. Wild blueberries, especially, since they are smaller (less water content) and they still have the blueberry taste.

It may not be the season for sweet, plump, fruits yet, but you can get a little sneak peak of them with these delicious cookies! I mean, streusel + cookies! Do I need to say more? Nope.

Mini Sponge Cakes

Going along with my Asian-inspired sweets recipe from last week, I decided to post another popular Chinese bakery favorite: sponge cakes! I seriously grew up eating these. When I was a child, people would gift my grandma with so many of these paper-lined cakes, I was always overjoyed to get one.

These tend to be sold in a more old fashioned kind of Chinese bakeries. I`ve been to several nicer Chinese bakeries and I never see them sold. However, those small mom and pop shops in Chinatown are sure to have many. They are pretty tall, about 4 inches. And, they`re so soft and sponge-y. It`s like biting into sweet, cushy clouds. I don`t have the correct pan to get the right shape, but they look like this, in case you were wondering!

These cakes are just fantastic. You know how I know? I made them THREE times in ONE week. That`s how you know they`re good. I was sad to discover this recipe only yields 6-8 cakes, depending on the size of your pan. I wanted to gift them to my extended family and friends for Lunar New Year, but my parents kept eating them!

Traditional Mini Egg Cake with Coconut Whipped Cream

For those who celebrate this joyous holiday, Happy Lunar New Year!!! It`s going to be the year of the ram/sheep! It will officially start on Thursday, February 19th, this year. Growing up as a Chinese Asian American, it never occurred to me why my parents didn`t really give much thought to New Year on January 1st. I used to beg them to allow me to stay up so I can do the countdown with my sisters, but they said, it`s just another day. I guess, they`re not party people and people partayyy for New Year. Haha!!

As rich and ancient as Chinese history goes, there are a lot of Chinese New Year traditions, which varies greatly depending on the location. Did you know, in China, people get like a whole week off (probably more) to celebrate the new year? I was totally shocked when I found out! I was like, uh, in America, only the 1st is considered a holiday. Of course, people celebrate only on New Year's Eve. Well, Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days. Can you imagine all the food and festivities going on throughout these 2 weeks? It must be crazy awesome.

Okay, anyway, this mini cake has nothing to do with Chinese New Year. It`s NOT a traditional cake eaten during Chinese New Year, so don`t get confused. I leave all the traditional Chinese baking to my dad. Sometimes, I like playing around with some Chinese cake recipes, though. I made these months ago for my dad`s birthday because he loves Asian/Chinese cakes way more than the sweet "American" cakes you and I frequently eat. I thought, it`ll be a good opportunity to share an Asian recipe this week with the holiday.

Dulce de Leche Bourbon Brownies

There are probably millions of brownie recipes out there and I sure have a lot of brownie recipes on my blog, as well. We, as humans, just can`t resist chocolate. Once in awhile, the chocolate craving is intense and can only be satisfied with a pan of brownies, you know?

Yes, Valentine's Day is totally and completely a commercialized and heavily marketed holiday. Products, such as those cards children pass out in classrooms, are produced for the sole purpose of this holiday. Even bloggers, like me, are part of this marketed holiday with our posts on Valentine's Day treats for your love ones. I may contribute towards this in a way, but I don`t want you for your money. Nope. I just want you to enjoy fantastic food! So, even though this holiday is probably produced from economists trying to make money, sweets are involved and I love sweets! It`s just another excuse for me to make (and eat!) a special treat. And, I get to share these recipes with you! :)

Chocolates are popular and great gifts for Valentine's Day. I`d say homemade chocolate desserts are an even better gift! The addition of bourbon and dulce de leche in these brownies make them extra special and decadent.

Chocolate Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies

Well, the first month of 2015 just zoomed by.Valentine's Day is next Saturday!! I`m not sure why I sound so excited, I`m not really that excited. Haha! However, it makes me exercise my brain by trying to think of something cute to bake for the occasion. I`m always down for baking cute treats, if you can`t tell already.

These cookies aren`t as easy as the red velvet s'mores cookies or this fantastic banana berry bread pudding, but they have adorable heart cut-outs which makes them worth the extra step. I`ve never made sandwich cookies before. Not sure why...I think it`s because I find them a bit too much? Since, you`re basically eating two cookies with a filling, or frosting, in between them.

I went with chocolate, since chocolate cookies tend to have this bitter-less-sweet taste to them from the cocoa powder and melted chocolate. It`s not too sweet, which I love about these. Plus, the dulce de leche is just divine. You can make your own dulce de leche, or buy the 14oz can one.

Red Velvet Oreo S'mores Cookies

I debated between two recipes to share with you this week and I guess the Valentine's Day theme game was just too strong. I baked some cupcakes for my sister last week, as it was her lovely birthday, and wondered if I should dedicate a post and recipe for her birthday. Ah, well, I decided I should post all my Valentine's day recipes first! Plus, I did a post for her last year and the cupcakes are fit for Spring, not the middle of Winter.

In hindsight, I should`ve added Valentine-themed sprinkles and jimmies on top of these cookies. But, the idea just didn`t occur to me until now. So, totally do that, if you make these! In my book, any red colored food (or any luscious sweets, really) is fit for Valentine's Day. Hey, what can I say, I love me some sweets. ;)

The beauty of these cookies is the fact that they`re not complicated cookies. You don`t need to make a billion different colored royal icing to outline and fill sugar cookies. These red velvet Oreo s'mores cookies are simply drop cookies with a little pizzazz.

Banana Berry Bread Pudding with Banana Bourbon Sauce

So, I`m not sure why, but I really want this new Exploding Kittens card game that was introduced to the world today. Before you freak out, it`s not really kittens, being mistreated at ALL. I`m not sure if any of you know what The Oatmeal is, but it`s been around for ages, and the creator is part of this new project (along with two other XBOX game industry people).

I saw it this morning and have been wondering ALL day whether or not to join the Kickstarter campaign. It`s been exploding (hah, so pun-ny) with success. When I saw it earlier today, it was short of $500k, but now it has reached almost $1.5 MILLION! Say, whatttttt? Okay, I think I might just join. Haha!

Okay, on a totally unrelated note, Valentine`s day is a quick 4 weeks away. I`m sure all the blogs are talking about it already or will soon. (I`m months behind on my blog feed.) If you have a special somebody, you might be brainstorming or preparing for what you`ll do...

Banana Crumb Cake

If you love bananas, I`m sure you`re not new to baking with them. I love eating them and I love baking with them, so I have many banana recipes. Luckily for me, my "little" cousin also LOVES bananas. Their family loves banana bread, so I`m constantly sharing new banana bread recipes with them to taste test.

It was my cousin`s birthday and he requested banana cake. At first, it was a brownie he wanted. Then, the day before his birthday party, he called me and decided he wanted a banana cake instead. I had to giggle inside my head. Kids! I love their thought process. Thinking to myself, I knew he was most likely referring to banana bread, not banana cake. Yet, I didn`t inquire any further. I mean, if he says cake, I`ll bake him a cake! Plus, I felt a cake was more birthday-worthy compared to a banana bread loaf.