Jun 28, 2010

In a Baking Frenzy For My 1 Year Anniversary!

Today is my blog anniversary! One year ago, Brandon set up a blogger account for us to share our cooking adventures with friends and family. Our first post documented our favorite spicy Thai chicken dish and a fruit cobbler. It was a slow first six months, with sporadic posts, but when I took over 6 months later it really took off. I'm so happy with how far it has come. I loooooove all you readers and appreciate your loyalty!

In the past year I:
Thank you sooooo much to all of you that have been or recently become readers! I appreciate each and every comment so much!! I'm glad you guys have found me and hope you continue to follow my future shenanigans!

To celebrate my anny, I went on a cupcake baking mission. I had a surplus of two things in my refrigerator: strawberries and ricotta. Yes, these two delicious items could be incorporated to make Strawberry Ricotta Cupcakes. I'm a huge fan of Joy the Baker's blog because she whips up some delicious looking treats. Her recipe for Strawberry Ricotta cupcakes caught my eye so I gave it a try.

The batter that my roomie and I were lovin' probably more than the actual cupcakes:
 
Ready to go in the oven after I ate half the batter:
Before being topped with home made (!!) icing:
Images from a crime scene aka my kitchen:
Pretty little cupcakes!

The cupcakes were extremely delicate and fell apart...right into my mouth. They were almost as light and airy as angel food cake but had a rich flavor from the ricotta. They were definitely a nice change from your typical dense cupcake.

And the baking doesn't stop there. Another lover of all things cooking and baking is my friend Allison from Pennsylvania. Allison has two blogs: One Day at a Time where she cooks and bakes freely with no recipes and The Sunday Flog that features her huge, delicious family dinners. A couple weeks ago, I won her giveaway for two dozen cookies of my choice -- home made by Allison! I was so excited to get my package in the mail, but even more excited when I saw what she made me.

S'mores cookies!
My fruit bowl turned into a cookie bowl:
My "initials" cookies in my favorite color.  (Somebody shortened Xtina to X and my last name starts with an O):

Go ahead and check out Allison's blogs. She's fairly new to the blogosphere and I think you guys would love the treats she makes. She has some really great recipes and maybe soon she'll do another cookie giveaway! :)

Happy Monday! 
XO

47 comments:

  1. OMG...i have a friend coming up from CHS to NYC...can you PLEASE PLEASE send some of the baked goods up with him?...and cookies too, i want a smores!!!

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  2. Happy anniversary! :) It's always nice to celebrate something you put a lot of hard work into...

    And those smore cookies you received look just amazing.

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  3. christina! thank you so mcuh this is great! i am so glad you liked them, and it looks like they arrived safely (for the most part). eek the white icing looks so shakey now!! i'll have to work on that. :)

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  4. Congrats on your blogiversary! All your treats look delicious!

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  5. Happy blogiversary!! I'm having fun checking out all those old posts of yours :)

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  6. happpppppppppppppppppppppppppy blog birthday!!!! What a great way to celebrate. I'm seriously making those cupcakes (or making the batter at least ;)). And the cookies are so freaking cute. Hope you're having a good Monday

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  7. Happy blog anniversary!! Those cookies look like a great way to celebrate!!

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  8. Shooooot... Been looking for a good cupcake recipe! This would have been helpful a few days ago Christina! Geeze! Kidding...Happy anniversary, doll! Now over to your pal's blog to scope that out! :)

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  9. I haven't clicked out of reader in a bit b/c I've been too busy but I LOOOVE your new layout. Too cute!

    Happy one year! no better wayt o celebrate it than with cupcakes!

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  10. X, I am soon to be visiting NY and do not want to show empty handed. I hear in New York they particularly prefer green cookies with 'XO's on them, or s'more cookies. Any idea where I could find these locally? Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I'm really running out of time. Thanks again! I always turn to your blog for food advice!

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  11. Whoooo! Happy bloggie birthday! I loved clicking through the recap of this past year! Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies?! Yes please!

    Those cupcakes sound scrumptious! Ricotta makes baked goods so tasty. :-)

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  12. Happy Bloggerversary! I am totally drooling over those cupcakes. Cupcakes just happen to be my favorite food incase you were interested in driving some of those up to Philly. :) Hope you had a happy day!

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  13. omg, smores cookies are theeeee best!! happy aversary to you, xoxoxoxo.

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  14. those cupcakes look delish and those cookies are too cute!

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  15. Happy Anniversary to you, Happy Anniversary to you, Happy Anniversary Dear X-O, Happy Anniversary to Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! And many smoresssssss! :)

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  16. Happy Blog Anniversary!!!!
    I love those cupcakes, especially the pink frosting and the initial cupcakes are cute too. I didn't bake for my Blog's birthday so maybe I need to bake now to make up for it. Or maybe I just want an excuse to make and eat pink cupcakes haha.

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  17. I love the cookies! I've been a little obsessed with the idea of monogramming lately. I want to monogram my bags... jackets... shirts... but cookies are good too!

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  18. I love baking! looks like you do to ;) those cookies look awesome.

    Dana :)
    http://happinessiswithin.wordpress.com/

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  19. OMG I love ricotta.... I need to try these cupcakes out stat!

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  20. Happy Blogaversary! YUM! I love strawberry cupcakes!

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  21. HAPPYYY ANNI LOVELY!!
    im thinking we need to meet ASAP

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  22. Happy first blog anniversary! It must feel good to have gotten through the first year with such success.

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  23. Happy 1 Year. Yum!

    You rock!

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  24. Wow Happy Blog Anniversary love!!!!!!!!

    I love the cupcakes yu made, I love them especially because they are PINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Oh you are so lucky for winning a doctor krackers giveaway! You are going to love them!!!

    Have a great day!

    THose cookies look amazing too! Will have to check out her blog!!!

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  25. omg.. getting caught red handed has a new meaning!! lol

    i love the pink cupcakes especially, such a pretty little treat <3

    treats to treat ur bloggie birthday! i love that!!

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  26. Happy blog birthday! Those cupcakes look like a delicious way to celebrate!

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  27. Happy blogiversary yo! I am such a sucker for all things pink! I want one of those cupcakes just for the frosting! See you menana!

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  28. Happy blogiversary! I desperately want s'mores cookies.

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  29. HAPPY 1 YEAR!!! Congrats and WOW you have done a lot in a year. Glad to see you celebrated in style...naturally ;)

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  30. One year! You must be getting pretty serious...12 months is basically like marriage. And I loveee the cupcakes! And the stained hands. Been there.

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  31. Yay! I love reminiscent blogaversaries!

    Those delicate pink cupcakes sound and look delish!

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  32. christina! girl, you have done a lot of really exciting and fun stuff in the past year....i am going to come back and read them all, but i wanted to say, i am coming over for cuppies and those sugar cookies! delish! glad you are enjoying life to the fullest! my kind of gal! xo

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  33. happy blog anniversary! we just had a charleston trip. sad vickery's is closing! looking forward to following your blog!

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  34. Happy blog anniversary girl! Today is me and my husband's 2nd wedding anniversary. So I'm celebrating this day with ya!

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  35. Those are amazing looking baked treats!! I thought I was already floored by those gorgeous cupcakes (sprinkles!! and pink!!) but then you had to say s'more cookies!! WOW. Ahhh your blog is a lucky one! :)

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  36. Happy Blogiversary! I think your hands are cuter than the cupcakes! Haha just kidding! Everything looks amazing! You should seriously hold a bake sale. You'd make millions...for charity, maybe? NATURALLY MORE IS MY FAVORITE PEANUT BUTTER TOO!

    Meg

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  37. Happy Blogiversary!!! Those cupcakes look great! Ricotta is probably good in anything.

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  38. Congrats on your one year babe!! Those sweets all look so good! Thank god they're not at my house or I wouldn't FIT out the house by tomorrow haha (:

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  39. Happy blog birthday! I seriously want to make those cupcakes now... or at least the batter yum! Smore cookies! What a brilliant idea! Yum!

    xo have a fabulous day girly!

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  40. Strawberry ricotta cupcakes sound so intriguing! What did you use in your frosting? My recent berry confection was blueberry crumble bars and my fingers were just a little purple afterwards. ;)

    Also, those adorable XO cookies are so cute! I like how they are your initials.

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  41. HAPPY BLOG BIRTHDAY!!
    wow lots of exciting things have happened to you! so jealous you got to go to Italy - that is my dream place!

    love the xo cookies!

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  42. Wow---what a year!! Happy Anniversary :)

    I am sure you were absolutely loving those cookies, too adorable.

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