Sunday 19 January 2020

The Best Gluten + Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies



 WOW.

What do you even say when your hiatuses are as long as mine? I AM WILDIN' I AM SORRY!


The past year has held so much action. Business things with The Perfect Bite - employment changes, heartache (yeah, again, I know - I know), loss, grief. You name it.

And sometimes I feel super self-helpy and I can wake up and cross things off of all of my 'lists' and feel like I am moving in the right direction - and other times I feel like that one time Andy from The Office went on that sail and forgot all the AHA moments he had on the boat after he came back.

Actually, I am mostly that version of Andy. 😢😃


In the winter around Christmas I was super looking forward to kicking up the business momentum - only to have major kitchen issues and have a complete shut down.

So my only outlet has been a bit of a rough patch WHICH IS WHY I AM SO EXCITED TO BE HERE WITH A NEW RECIPE FOR Y'ALL.


I am going to try and not talk as much.

How am I doing? TERRIBLE? Seems about on pace for 2020 let's do this. 




 Gluten free cookies always have this issue of being too soft, I feel.

Or hard as rock. Good for abs, bad for cookies.

These are nicely crisp around the edges and soft in the middle.

If you put them in a container they will soften over time though!

So if you want that crispy chewiness then freeze the scooped balls of dough and just bake as needed.

Baking hacks, y'alllllll.

I added toffee bits to these BUT they are not dairy free I do not believe. I keep everything in deli tubs marked with tape (as seen) in the bakery so ...I cannot remember the exact ingredients.

So in keeping with the whole dairy free thang just omity-omit those bad boys. Or don't. I assume you know your body better than I do?

Read on for the recipe 😋






Tuesday 6 November 2018

Cookies, Cakes & Catch-Ups 15: SO MUCH CAKE!





Hey Internet!

What the heck is poppin'?!

I feel like I am out of excuses for why posts are taking so dang long - I am still as overwhelmed with business things over at The Perfect Bite as ever  ALSO I am expanding to offer some cute new things that I think I will maybe detail in another post? It will be a line of hand-crafted/hand personalized items. What does that mean? WHO THE HECK KNOWS! But I am excited to offer more gifting options as the primary purpose of my business is in events. Like Halloween. See spoopy cookies below.



Why not just open another business because I am already drowning in work WHICH has then lead to me accomplishing nothing. Is anyone else this way? If someone gives me a million tasks I have no issue. If I have to decide those tasks myself I instead choose to re-watch the Office for the 100,000th time because Pam and Jim are real to me. I have no regrets.

Also something fun is cakes. Would you like to see them? Would you like me to make videos of me making them? I have wanted to take that leap forever and so I decided to film some videos. Where are they - you ask? LOLOLOLOL.


They all turned out pretty dreadful, actually. It took me an entire day to film 20 minutes. After editing I barely had 1 minute of usable footage. Is that what is supposed to happen or am I a special breed of old and technologically defunct? COOL.

ANYWAYS CAKES!






I realized that the most pinned items from this blog were a couple stand-out recipes that got shared on some high-traffic pages. And one other cake. My Kinder Egg Explosion Cake from this post. SO I may as well share them here, too!





 Fun fact I thought this was a Cardi-B party... But that is a short form for the couples name. Good thing I didn't announce that when the cake was picked up haha






This cake was my first time working with fresh flowers on a cake. YES I KNOW WHAT?!?!? WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG?

I was terrified because I didn't know what to do and I read so many articles about how fresh flowers are covered in chemicals and doo-doo and god knows what else.

So I bought a florists book and decided to take the time to do it properly because I am literally always at Indigo or Homesense (I like to divide my time evenly so nobody gets jealous). Et voila. I now do fresh floral cakes.. lol



I like GOLD. A LOT!

I also like flowers. A LOT! I know it's wrong but if it's themes I like working with I am just happier about how the cake process goes in general.


I love fondant cake toppers. Unless I forget to make them ahead of time - then I hate them because they are floppy disastrous messes. SO LESSON LEARNED. If you want your fondant accessories to stay hard (lolololol) then you need to let them dry! Lots! The longer the better! If they need to be flexible like to form to the curvature of a cake - then they will crack if they have dried too long. #droppingcaketruths. 









 MORE CAKES TO FOLLOW!

Monday 16 April 2018

Lemon + Berry Protein Muffins




HI!


IT HAS BEEN A LONG ASS MOTHER FREAKIN' TIME SINCE I BLOGGED A RECIPE!

But here I am. This is my unofficial official quasi maybe probably return to blogging.


I had written about my transition into baking as a full time business in previous posts - but then a whole lot of dramatic life events happened and I kind of temporarily lost my mind (lol but not really but kind of) AND got a part time job to help keep me alive when business wasn't as consistent. And biggity bam - a whole lot of time went by in sort of a blur where I felt carried through the days by some force not of my own will.


It's difficult when life happens. But what I learned is that you have to 'fake it until you make it' in those moments. Action creates motivation sometimes - and not the other way around.


Why am I back? WELL. I think that I have a lot more to offer with blogging now. I have the experience of a business under my belt, experience at a bakery - and just plain old EXPERIENCE - that I would love to share with other people to help them out both in and out of the kitchen.


PLUS - I track my macros pretty consistently and find that eating can be an annoying struggle when I am trying to get in more protein at the expense of other macro-nutrients. Creating recipes that are healthier and also delicious has always been what this blog was about - but now I have so much more to offer to you!






ALSO --- I am not *super* thrilled with the macro-friendly options out there in the world. If you follow me on instagram (@Summerbakes88) then you will know I am going to start doing reviews. Lord knows I spend a crap ton of money trying different snacks - some healthy - some not! And I think I have a pretty good palate for criticisms ;)


A lot of the protein options out there are BLECH. JUST UGH LIKE WHAT. Sorry Lenny and Larry but I am lookin at y'all.




You will always have more control over food when you make it yourself. Don't like lemons - cool! Don't add that. Hate blueberries? No problem! Add another fruit. Trying to gain weight? Add in some chopped nuts/seeds and make them a bit more nutrient dense!


SO PROTEIN MUFFINS - That is after all why you are here - these are just a tweak on my gluten free muffin recipe - and ooooweeeee Rick! These are delicious. So soft and moist and rich. I DON'T CARE IF YOU DON'T LIKE MOIST THEY ARE OK!

Fruit and chocolate chips aren't integral to the recipe at all - so you can swap those items out. I have posted the macro breakdown in the recipe below!



Tuesday 7 February 2017

Cookies Cakes & Catch Ups 14: All Things Pink & Pretty






This is going to be one heck of a catch-up folks. It has been a hot minute since I had the time to blog a new recipe which, honestly, has been really upsetting for me because creating new things is a huge part about what I do!

But now I am starting to realise when you run a business the 'what you do' part becomes a lot broader and more demanding than what you set out to do in the first place! haha 


The Perfect Bite Bake Shoppe  has just been taking up most of my waking (and sometimes sleeping) moments as I try to pursue the business full time and access as many resources as I can to get there! A lot of that process has been super discouraging and frustrating BUT I also know that every single day since beginning that journey every day has been different for me. Whether it is full of challenges or making new connections it has been amazing and I would take all the frustrations in the world to just get a piece of that joy. 

I am also currently working towards renovating our basement unit to pass the proper provincial and public health codes to become licensed -- which would be AMAZING but is still pretty expensive with all the proper permits, licenses, cost of rennovations, etc. 


That also means I don't have a permanent space to bake out of - so life is a bit crazy when you factor in the fact that you know...LIFE IS LIFE and there are always other obligations that I will have as a result. 


Basically I wake up each day and immediately am like LOL WHAT IS LIFE WHAT I DO WHERE AM I HOW I DO DIS?!

ANYWAYS ENOUGH WITH THE BLAH BLAH BLAH. 


I thought I'd quickly touch base and share some of the cakes and tings that have been poppin' on my end. I have been lucky enough to have so many cool ideas that my clients would like -- and trying new things is always fun. 


Like ice cream cone drips:




S/O To @ Happily Ever After Decor for the gorgeous photo! These girls know how to STYLE! Please check them out on IG and Facebook they're the sweetest.




This geode cake snuck into the newspaper with me for my feature article which was so cool! Made me feel like a legit baker! haha




Check out @Lolafawn on IG where she reigns as QUEEN! This French Bulldog is basically everything.


I was super terrified to tackle doing a cute little pup on a cake. However - it is situations like that where I absolutely must tackle new things or else I will never get comfortable!






I made the ultimate floral buttercream wreath cake for my boho chic loving mama <3 I was soooo intensely focused on this cake because you know how much I love my mamushka!


SPEAKING OF WHICH! We starting watching Bates Motel and now we are addicted to it. Anyone else in love with Sheriff Romero??


Anyways I have been loving buttercream flower cakes and thank goodness my clients agree and are happy to keep supplying the need for my obsession!!!







That last cake means something so special to me because the lovely woman who found me is someone I knew longggg ago (along with her daughter who the cake was for) and during such a difficult period of my life. She found me through the power of google and I could not be more stunned at the power of the internet to bring people together. So happy they found me <3


Sunday 20 November 2016

Healthy Gingerdoodles (Ginger Molasses Cookies!)

Fun fact:

I found 3 new gray hairs this week.


YES THIS WEEK!


And I am SURE they are new because I have to blow dry and straighten my hair and I am lazy AF and only go through the bother once a week. 


So these little bastards are new and I am sure of it.
Hopefully you have been keeping up to speed with my goingsons (not a word) on IG/FB -- if not the links are around somewhere -- I am sure you'll find me ;) So you will probably have a clue as to why my delicate black strands are fraying and graying at the speed of light.






IF NOT DON'T WORRY BECAUSE TODAY WE ARE HERE TO DISCUSS THESE:






I was so excited with how bakery-esque these turned out. Even without using butter/sugar/dairy -- these cookies turned out so luxurious. Slightly crisp around the edges and chewy on the inside.


SO LOVELY!


If you don't love molasses I would stick to my normal doodles. The snickerdoodle.


However -- especially for the holidays -- these cookies are perfect.







My goal has always been to make my healthier treats look just as good as the 'normal' ones.


Not that weird discoloured dry and kinda crackly uneven thang that most GF goodies have going on. You know what I am talking about?!






I love the slight crackled tops. While you don't have to toss them in sugar (makes them not refined sugar free anymore) it does add to the texture in a nice way. Plus the sugar caramelises a bit and adds to the crunch along the edges.





I promise these are easy to make, too!