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Cooking with Bitters

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Originally published in The Tartan 12/7/15 I walked through the door to Wigle Whiskey for their holiday bitters demo with a couple misconceptions. First, I thought I was about to get free drinks, yet I had to pay a reasonable six dollars for the most delicious whiskey cocktail I’ve ever imagined (The Burgundy: white wheat whiskey, apple cider, cranberry tea, and mulberry spice syrup, with a dusting of cinnamon on the surface). And second, I thought bitters were only for drinks. Demo leader and head of bitters distribution for Wigle Allison Burns proved me oh so wrong. Allison stood behind her table, full of crackers, cheese, yogurt, soup, and bitters. She shouted “Remove bitters from your bar cart!” to anyone that asked. “It’s an extension of your spice rack!” My small mind couldn’t handle this rupture in reality. Prior to this life-changing experience, the only ideas I had about bitters were of that Angostura bottle with the confusing paper that doesn’t actually fit, and classi
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Impress friends with delicious snack dip

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Originally published in The Tartan 10/5/15 I’m of the firm belief that a solid offering of snacks has the potential to elevate an awkward red Solo cup “rager” to a nice cozy evening with friends. That’s why when I throw a party, I like to put out some noms. It shows friends that you care about their experience in your home, and it’s always good to put food in the tummies of the people who hold the fate of your furniture in their hands. An assortment of dips is a really great way to feed guests. It’s more effort than simply putting out a few bags of chips, but it’s way more delicious. A simple Pinterest search is enough to show you the mouth-watering range of dips out there, from savory to sweet, from a simple three-ingredient delight to a complicated layered delicacy, depending on your budget and time constraints. But with these three dips that I made for my birthday party, I didn’t have to spend that much money and I pulled them all together in the hour before the party began.
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Mississippi Mud Cake (again)

Originally Published in The Tartan 4/6/15 April 1 came and went this week. To most, it means April Fools’ Day, a day to screw with your friends and have fun. But for me, it means my Grandma’s Sue’s birthday. She would have turned 66 this year. I’m still not very good at talking about how much I miss her. So instead, I want to celebrate her the best way I know how: a cake. I’ll forever associate this cake with Grandma Sue. It was one of her favorites, and for a good reason. It is delicious and it’s her recipe. When she passed away, her recipe card got added to my mom’s book, and we’ve been making it for as many occasions as possible ever since. The bottom layer is a rich chocolate pecan cake. Then as soon as that comes out of the oven, it gets a generous spread of marshmallow fluff, which just melts into the warm cake. And finally on top is some of the sweetest chocolate frosting you’ll ever taste. I wish she could be here today to eat cake with me and see that I’ve grown out of my moo
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Peanut butter rice krispies

Originally published in The Tartan 3/29/15 This week’s article is dedicated to all those out there with a sweet tooth who will be celebrating Passover next week. Back in high school, I would celebrate “Cupcake Wednesday” every week with my friends at lunch. Each Tuesday night I would sit down with Martha Stewart, Betty Crocker, and some of my blogger best friends to find the perfect cupcake to bring in the next day. Except, I always forgot about Passover each time it came around. My friend Abby London was always left without a cupcake, and I felt so bad! This year, even though I won’t be around to actually give her a special treat, I’m dedicating this recipe to her. Just because leavening is off the table doesn’t mean that dessert has to be, too. I found this recipe when I fell down the rabbit hole of Pinterest. I like that it’s not only a really fun, unexpected flavor that brings back memories of elementary school packed lunches, but it’s also really quick and easy to make! The gis
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Puppy Chow two ways

Originally published in The Tartan 3/1/15 This week’s sweets are brought to you by the letter N for nostalgia (also maybe nachos and newspaper). When I’m in The Tartan office each week, I inevitably run down to Entropy to grab some chips or popcorn to munch on while I work. It’s all just part of my process, because I’m a genius and geniuses just have those. But I’m getting pretty tired of potato chips, Doritos, and Smartfood popcorn while I swig from my gallon-sized jug of Arizona iced tea. It’s delicious, but I need a change of pace. Maybe something sweet. Something I can still mindlessly munch on. And ideally, something easy. You know what’s all of those things? Puppy chow. If you’ve never heard of puppy chow, you are in for a treat. Depending on where you come from, you may know it as muddy buddies, sweet minglers, or white trash. It doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s still perfect. Classic puppy chow is Chex cereal coated in a delightful chocolate peanut butter mixture, then t
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Heartwarming gooey butter cookie dough bars

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Originally published in  The Tartan  2/23/15 Photo by Abhinav Gautam Have you ever been mindlessly scrolling through pages and pages of food on Pinterest when one dish jumps out at you? You pin it on your "omg yummy" board and definitely plan to make it for that one party coming up in a few weeks. But a few weeks isn't soon enough. You need it. You literally need it right now. You can't stop thinking about it because it is the stuff of dreams, the nectar of the gods, the greatest good of all. Maybe that's never happened to you, but it's a feeling I know all too well, and it happened when I found these gooey cookie dough butter bars. Yes. Gooey butter. And cookie dough. Baked together into a tasty dream bar, and with a generous dusting of powdered sugar on top. It's got all the buzzwords. So maybe you just had your first midterm and it didn't really go well. You'd like to eat to forget. You should make these. Or maybe you went to the EOC las
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Pie that's almost as cold as your heart

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Originally published in The Tartan 2/15/15 Photo by Lula Banker If you’ve been following the progression of the cupcakes I’ve written about so far this semester, you’ll probably notice that I’ve now done two different recipes that are appropriate for Valentine’s Day romance. That’s beautiful and food is romantic, but bottom line is I’m single. I’m not going to be sharing yummy cupcakes with anyone, and I know there are plenty of other singles out there in the same place as me. This recipe is for you guys. The theme of this week’s dessert installment is “eat your feelings.” Some haters may try to tell you that this method isn’t a healthy coping mechanism (those are the same kind of people who tell you not to eat raw cookie dough or cake batter. They don’t know what’s best for you). But Valentine’s Day is not far gone, and I’m here to be an enabler. So my gift to you is a frozen chocolate peanut butter pie — sinfully creamy with the perfect balance of sweetness and richness. As soon
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