Carrot Cake Pancakes with Maple-Cream Cheese Drizzle

So my new obsession is watching Bobby Flay's show on The Cooking Channel... Brunch at Bobby's. I love brunch food but I rarely go out for brunch or even make it at home. But this show made me crave something unique to make for brunch.

I love carrot cake on its own, so carrot cake pancakes seemed just too perfect. I made a few tweaks to Bobby's recipe based on my tastes and what we had available. Here is Bobby's original recipe. I made the batter and the drizzle and Brian cooked them up.

Carrot Cake Pancakes with Maple-Cream Cheese Drizzle

Pancakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons pure cane sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (but like Bobby, I always use more than it calls for)
1 cup finely grated peeled carrots (about 3 medium carrots)
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon powdered ginger
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts, plus more for garnish
Cooking spray or melted butter

Maple-Cream Cheese Drizzle:
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
4 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions

For the pancakes: Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, powdered ginger, baking soda, and sea salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla in a separate mixing bowl. Add the carrots and orange juice to wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold in the pecans and mix until just combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.

Heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat. Coat the skillet with cooking spray or brush with melted butter. Spoon 1/4 cup mounds of the batter onto the skillet, spreading with a spatula. Cook until the tops are covered with bubbles and the edges look cooked, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip the pancakes over and cook until the bottoms are lightly browned, about 1 minute. Repeat with the remaining batter. Keep the cooked pancakes warm in the oven on a baking sheet, if desired.

For the drizzle: Combine the cream cheese, maple syrup, butter, and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment until combined, about 2 minutes. Add in the heavy cream while mixing to get drizzle to a lighter consistency.

To serve: Stack the pancakes on a plate and drizzle (or slather) with the maple-cream cheese drizzle. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts or pecans.

Pomegranate Sunrise

In celebration of it being Cinco de Mayo today, I was inspired to create my own version of the classic Tequila Sunrise. It reminds me of summer and vacation and just relaxing... I modeled my drink after this sweet, fruity summer cantina staple... I call it the Pomegranate Sunrise.

What I love about mixology is that you don't have to use exactly what is called for and you can easily substitute things you don't care for or don't have on hand for something that you do. I don't keep tequila on hand, mostly because I don't make a ton of margaritas, but as Ted Mosby would say, kids.. don't drink tequila.

I don't have tequila, but boy do I have coconut rum... Usually I keep orange juice on hand, but Brian wanted to try the tangerine Cuties juice and it is a nice substitute. It adds more of a sweet, smooth flavor with no pulp.

Start by adding ice to your cocktail shaker. Then add one measure (about 1.5 fl. oz) of the coconut rum and 3/4 cup of tangerine or orange juice and shake away!

Have a tall glass with ice ready to pour the mixture into. Now is the fun part... in the classic recipe, tequila sunrises call for grenadine syrup. But once again, I don't have that and it's not my taste. But I do have pomegranate syrup...

This next step needs to be done slowly and carefully to be effective. Slowly pour about half a measure of the pomegranate syrup into the bottom of the glass and allow it to settle. The goal is to get the fun color variation that the sunrise is known for.

After it settles, garnish to your liking. Some suggestions are an orange slice or a cherry. I had some drink umbrellas, so I thought those were very fitting and reflective of vacation and summer. Don't forget to use a straw so the color variation doesn't mix together as you drink it.

Bathroom Organization

This past weekend I was not only spending time with family, but on Saturday I cleaned and organized the house hardcore. This included the long overdue bathroom cabinets...

We have two sets of cabinets in our bathroom. One set is the typical under the sink variety with two small drawers on either side. The other ones are actually kitchen cabinets I found at Goodwill and painted a cheery yellow.

I generally like to keep everyday items in the cabinet under the sink and I use the yellow one more for storage and items I don't use everyday. First I'll give a bathroom organization tour and then I will provide some of my storage tips and things to think about to customize your own system.

Now to show you my bathroom!

I'll start with under the sink. I do my makeup and get ready on the floor in front of a long mirror in our bathroom, so I built my system around that. I previously kept my everyday makeup in a large makeup bag on the floor with no real system. My brushes and eyeliners were in jars on a shelf that I couldn't reach from the floor and they often got put on the bathroom counter after I was done using them. I moved these jars inside the cabinet where I could reach them better. Instead of the big bag for my makeup that I couldn't tell what was in there, I divided up my makeup into where it is applied to the face. Eyeshadow is in a separate candle jar, lip colors are in a jar, brushes and eyeliner each have their own mason jar. Things like foundation, blush,  and other face products like primers go in a small plastic bin. I also keep my daily-use palates and compacts in this bin because they fit best in there and are very accessible.

I used a turn table to easily store hair and skincare products within reach. These are ones that I might not use everyday, but still need access to at a moment's notice. The wicker basket (which is really a magazine rack) holds my styling tools like my flat iron, curling iron, and blow dryer when not in use. The medium plastic bin holds most of Brian's items and also some miscellaneous items like peroxide, etc. There's also two empty candle jars in front to hold cotton balls and q-tips, eliminating the ugly and bulky packaging.

The yellow cabinet holds more of the occasional use items that I still need access to quickly. The top shelf holds nail polish. You might notice that I don't use bins for my polish collection. I tried containing my collection, but I find that my polish multiplies quicker than I can keep up with, so I just try to keep it all on the same shelf. I also have a makeup bag with all of my manicure odds and ends like nail files, separators, and polish stickers. To the other side of the top shelf I have some body sprays and perfumes. The second shelf has items that I use pretty frequently but not everyday like pore strips, lip colors, extra cosmetic wedges and spare razors. I put my "going out" makeup in the pink and gold makeup bag.. these are all the glittery things that are definitely not for everyday. The blue bin holds extra cotton rounds and hair clips. The bottom shelf is where the most action is. I have a confession... I'm a shampoo and conditioner hoarder. I am obsessed with Organix products and refuse to use anything else. So the bottom is where the stash is along with body wash, extra shave cream and some extra styling products.

Lastly, the linen closet that is steps away from the bathroom holds several bins of occasional use items... there's a bin for extra makeup bags, extra shaving items, travel size toiletries, and sun care items. It helps to use this space for a little added storage.

The key to organization is to stay organized. If you implement a system that you can't maintain, it's pointless and frustrating. You need to make sure your system work for you and your routines. Here are some quick suggestions for when you decide to create your own system:

• How often do you use the item? Think of what you use daily and what you use less often which can be in storage. Are there things that you may not use everyday, but on a frequent enough basis that you want to get to it easily?
• Where do you get ready for the day? Think of your morning and evening routines and where you need to store your everyday items that you need to be accessible? Do you get ready in front of your bathroom mirror? Or do you prefer your dresser mirror? One of my friends actually gets ready at the kitchen table while her daughters eat breakfast. It really doesn't matter where, it's just what works best for your life. 
• The right storage containers and systems make a world of difference! A must to maintain a system is to have a place for everything so there is no question where something is or where it is supposed to go back. Some helpful storage solutions I've found to be helpful include small baskets and plastic bins, empty candle jars, mason jars of all sizes, turn tables meant for spice storage, and makeup bags.

Well, that's the tour of our bathroom organization system. I hope my tips and tour inspire you to rethink your storage and offer some solutions for any trouble-areas you didn't know what to do with. Let me know what you think or if there's other areas of the home that you want to know how I organize!

Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter this weekend! I spent my day with my dad's side of the family.

I offered to make the dessert and my grandparents requested a cheesecake of some variety. Even my grandpa who is not a big fan of chocolate said it was okay to have some chocolate in there. So I made a chocolate cherry cheesecake. It was a big hit and everyone was asking for seconds!

I adapted this recipe from The Ultimate Turtle Cheesecake from the Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cookbook. I did make the Turtle Cheesecake for Christmas this past year and that is a great one too. Here are my tweaks to the recipe:

Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake

24 Oreo Cookies, finely crushed
6 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
3 pkg. Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 can cherry pie filling
Chocolate syrup, to drizzle

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Mix cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottom and two inches up sides of greased 9-inch springform pan.
3. Drizzle chocolate syrup over crust. Set aside. 
4. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.
5. Bake 1 hour 5 min. to 1 hour 10 min. or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate four hours.
6. When ready to serve, drizzle chocolate syrup over top. Add cherries on top of each slice before serving. If desired, drizzle more chocolate on top of cherries.

This is a pretty simple and buildable cheesecake to make. I like that it's not a ton of different ingredients like some cheesecakes and it is very adaptable. You can add whatever toppings you want or can add in different ingredients to the cheesecake part.

Also, a couple notes: I added the cherries on top of the entire cheesecake before cutting into it, which is very messy... so next time I would slice the cheesecake first and then add the cherries. For the Oreo crust I used the ones with the mint filling simply because that is what we had and I was not about to buy more Oreos just to make this... but it turned out really great because my family said that it was good with the mint.

I'm looking forward to using this basic recipe again for other variations. What kind of adaptations would you like to try or see me make for another time?

Cupcakes and Kittens... New Beginnings

It's been about a year since I last posted in my blog Hipster Housewife. Life was also very different one year ago. I worked at the company next to my dad's business and did a lot of blogging in my free time at work. I was engaged to the love of my life and we were searching for the perfect apartment to call home. We have lived in our homey Germantown apartment for 9 months now. We also have two little kittens running around, or at least until nap time. We got Alice and Zooey from Brian's sister Amy and her husband Camron. 

Suspicious and excited, I asked my mother-in-law one day if they were getting us a kitten for our wedding. Smiling, she said no, and didn't let on that they were getting us not one, but two kittens. Now they are almost one year old!

Another huge life change - we got married! It's still a little weird to think about, but it's a very good weird. It was nothing short of the best day of my life.

Brian still works at the same place but I have been on the move with jobs. I quit my high school job at a grocery store after seven long years; I worked at Kohl's Corporate editing the online ads, thinking it would lead to bigger and better things, but it just didn't pan out; I was laid off twice at other jobs in 2013, which really took a toll. But 2014 is already my year - I landed a full-time, permanent (which was soooo exciting after working temp jobs) receptionist job at an awards company that is ten minutes from our apartment. It has been such a relief knowing I now have stability in my work life. 

Now my next venture is a creative one: a new blog. It's called Cupcakes and Kittens. It revolves around my love of baking, especially all the cupcakes I bake. I make lots of desserts for events and gatherings, so I will be sharing the recipes of course, but also my tips and their story.

Another hobby of mine is organizing. I love taming the chaos of everyday life and making my family's or someone else's life easier by integrating an organized system. 
And I can't forget the latter of Cupcakes and Kittens... Our kittens Alice and Zooey are little troublemakers, but they are pretty darn cute, so I'll be sure to share some kitten cuteness on here too.

So please follow my blog, like Cupcakes and Kittens on Facebook, follow me on Pinterest, and also on Twitter. Also, I love receiving feedback, so please drop by and let me know what you think! Thanks and see you next post on Cupcakes and Kittens!