speculoos popsicles

continuing on with my variations on the theme of speculoos,

i give you: speculoosicles!

they're like fudgesicles but way tastier and better for you.

here's out to make them:

you'll need

1/4 cup of speculoos spread

1 cup of unflavored greek yogurt {fat-free for xtra points}

6 speculoos cookies {or these from trader joe's}

clues

in a small bowl, combine speculoos and yogurt.

spoon into popsicle molds and stick in popsicle sticks.

freeze for two hours.

obliterate cookies in a blender or food processor until you have crumbs.

remove popsicle molds from the freezer and soak them in warm water for a few seconds {it'll help the popsicles come out and the cookie crumbs stick}.

dip the popsicles in the cookie crumbs and wrap in plastic wrap.

freeze until you want to eat them.

-yeh!

homemade sno-balls

my favorite thing to do when i'm at a bodega waiting for my friends to make a beer selection is waddle on over to the hostess/tastykake shelf and give a little squeeze to the sno-balls. a little pillsbury-esque giggle is usually the sound effect i make for this action. as a texture obsessor, the hostess sno-ball has got to be the most texturally pleasing object i've ever met. maybe this lends insight as to why boys like boobies so much? idk.

when sno-balls appeared on my chrismukkuh list mum was kind enough to buy me some, which is when i realized how terrible they actually taste. the cake is dry like sand and there is only a pea-sized amount of frosting on the inside. no wonder hostess is bankrupt. but the idea is spot on: sugar inside of sugar inside of sugar coated in sugar? HELL YEAH. so i made my own and they were outstandingly messy but delicious and just as fun to smash as the store-bought kind. so if you're feeling nostalgic and also gastronomic {and if you have butt loads of time and your cleaning service is coming tomorrow} make these! 

step one: the cake

make a batch of chocolate cupcakes using magnolia's recipe.

let them cool,

and then trim around each cupcake, removing about a quarter inch from the circumference.

set aside.

step two: the marshmallow

make a batch of marshmallows using alton brown's recipe,

but instead of greasing and dusting a rectangular pan,

grease and dust a cupcake pan, and add a cup of shredded coconut to the dusting mixture {powdered sugar + cornstarch}.

once you're done whipping the marshmallow, work quickly and fill the cupcake pan half way, and then press a cake into each cup so that the marshmallow rises around the cake {do this one at a time so the marshmallow doesn't set before you get the cake in}.

step three: the frosting

make half a batch of vanilla butter cream frosting using magnolia's recipe,

put it in a piping bag,

and then fill those puppies up while they're still in the cupcake pan.

step four: flip over the pan and enjoy!!!

-yeh!!!!

speculoos

can we talk about speculoos spread for a second?

and how it is totally the answer to all of life's questions that nutella doesn't address? ok, that's mean. this yummy gingerbready spread isn't the second choice. it is the really awesome exchange student, that unbelievable restaurant that doesn't have a website, your favorite green pants that are just a teensy bit too casual for casual friday. it is spunkily unpretentious, it's probably never had a commercial in the u.s. before {but then again it wouldn't know because it doesn't have a t.v.}, and its texture is so welcoming and smooth.

the fellows at the wafels + dinges truck introduced us about two years ago. at the time i wasn't sold, i don't know why. {maybe i was a judgmental go-with-the-flow butt face}. but in march, when i was in france, i bought a jar of it because i hadn't seen it at any stores in new york-- and it was love at second tasting. then tout à coup it was at whole foods, and gristedes, and now trader joe's. officially, no one has an excuse not to have some.

here are some things i like to do with it:

-put it on bread

-eat it with a spoon or fork

-stir it in greek yogurt

-tell mum to make rugelach with it

-at midnight, turn on gossip girl, and spread it on the entire batch of peanut butter brownies that i'm about to eat.

{learn how to make the above speculoos swirls here}

everyone, screw yr resolutions and buy lotsa speculoos.

-yeh!

honk honk sugar

one day i will stop pretending like life after hong kong

doesn't exist. but today is not that day. today i am dreaming

of black sesame gelato that is rich but not too sweet,

that is a little bit smokey and filled with full black sesame seeds,

and that makes you pray you won't immediately run into maestro or your kindergarten best friend and her entire family {that actually might have happened} before you have time to floss, 

lest you have a massive black speck in your teeth.

...and i am also reminiscing over the egg custards 

that cost the equivalent of about 50 cents,

that i ate on a boat. that were extremely eggy tasting.

and, of course, the little cake from ms. b's that was 

worth every bit of the embarrassing amount that i spent on it.

{it is not every day that a boutique cake shop has a vertical 

garden on the exterior.}

the sweets that i ate in honk honk were never too sweet.

they always kept their distinct flavor.

even their 16 handles equivalent {where i got 

blueberry mochi on black sesame, almond, and taro yogurt}

kept it's tasty integrity. 

it was subtle... and fascinating...

-yeh!!!

sweet places i lurved:

xtc gelato: marry me, black sesame gelato

australia dairy company: sweet warm {almondy??} egg custard

ms. b's cakery: go, if even just to look and drool