Indigo Scones

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

2025-02-28T20:58:00.003-06:00

Well, hello there. Here's me, casually showing up roughly 4 years since my last post.

But I did not come empty-handed. The recipe is nothing new, but it needed a little facelift. These were also needed by some lovely ladies I spent Galentine's with recently, so I figured I would take the opportunity to pull out my old DSLR and capture my handiwork.

Almond Cookies with Cranberry Glaze (Gluten-Free!)

2020-12-23T17:19:00.004-06:00

I've been in an absolute baking frenzy this week since I finished finals. I am finally in my senior year (after many many gap years) and am finishing strong with a couple of whopping 18-credit semesters. One down, one more to go! Almost thereeeee.

These cookies are a fun, easy project for sure. I love that they don't use a mixer and have some lovely, fresh flavors that shine amongst the usual gingerbread/sugar cookie whatsit found at Christmas.

No-Churn Raspberry Buttermilk Ice Cream

2020-04-06T16:33:00.001-05:00

I'm just going to slip on in here after not posting for the entirety of 2019, don't mind me. However, like a lot of us lately, I suddenly have infinitely more time on my hands! I am seeking reprieve and some sense of normalcy by diving into some lazy baking recipes, and I'd love to share this in case you need something easy and sweet too.

Lingonberry Cream Buckwheat Torte (Heidjertorte)

2018-12-27T22:31:00.004-06:00

"Distance means nothing when your kitchen smells like home." -Luisa Weiss

In her book (which I've loved and read a few times) "My Berlin Kitchen," Luisa is talking about distance in the physical sense. She traveled a lot, and making familiar dishes in different kitchens brought a sense of familiarity to her.

I agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly, and I think it can apply in a more abstract way as well.

Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies {Christmas Style}

2018-12-17T15:19:00.002-06:00

I'm sitting in a dirty laundromat spending a good chunk of my day off making sure that I have clean clothes for a few solid weeks. There's an old dude that keeps coughing and producing some crazy vocal yawns that at first sounded like some kind of a stroke. After the 50th one, it's not as startling.

Towards the front we have the homeless crew that frequent this place during colder times. They cycle from going in and outside, filling the place with the scent of old cigarettes. I'm perched in the middle of everything with my laptop on my lap, watching colorful loads twirl around in the wall of dryers. Some people have paperbacks and newspapers to pass the time, others just sit on their phones or stare at the running machines.

Earl Grey Chocolate Lavender Banana Muffins with Caramel Gloss

2018-09-10T18:21:00.002-05:00

I've just finished up the latest series of the Great British Bake Off and having watched the last episode today after getting virtually no sleep last night, I gotta say--I bawled like a baby. Every single one of them was so endearing to me and even though I was vying for someone else most of the time (don't worry, no spoilers here!), the winner really did earn their spot. God I love that show.

Simple Mini Ice Cream Cake

2018-05-18T19:02:00.001-05:00

For a long time in high school I prided myself on making just about everything I could from scratch. Whether it was pizza dough, ice cream, or even freaking chicken alfredo (noodles and all), I was pretty determined.

Mascarpone Tart with Cranberry Cider Compote & Pecan Crust

2017-11-22T15:11:00.001-06:00

This Thanksgiving is a little strange. Back in the day, I'd be going to one of my grandparents' house and feasting with my family and crazy sisters. But now there's only one set of grandparents, and this year half of my family isn't even going there/doing anything for the holiday. I could be making the trek, but instead I'm going to my significant's Thanksgiving...

I guess that's the thing you do when you've been dating for a spell, but it's my first holiday away from "home", if you will.

Just a Li'l Wedding Cake

2017-11-16T19:51:00.001-06:00

Emma and I didn't have the smoothest of sisterhoods. Remarkably different personalities and behavior traits when we were young caused a good amount of clashing—especially when we shared a room. Her walls were always painted black, mine had every color under the sun. She liked the dark light-blocking curtains, I liked lava lamps and was outside as soon as the sun was up. God, I bet she hated me for that.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

2017-09-02T20:19:00.003-05:00

There's something funny about this past August. Things were all topsy-turvy, and somehow things were also just the same. Right now it's averaging 70 degrees and things are weird and chilly in my drafty li'l apartment.

Chocolate Stout Cake with Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream

2017-07-08T12:37:00.002-05:00

I'm tired. I got my wisdom teeth yanked, I work 6 days a week, and I helped my significant other with moving all the things last week. I have approximately zero social energies. Things have just been one thing after the other here, and this lil cake is right in the thick of it.

Cinny Buns

2017-04-12T16:01:00.003-05:00

Cut, wrap, stamp, repeat. Spending 5-6 hours every day watching everyone else around me bake, this is what I would wake up at 6:00 AM to do. Package the goods.

Everyone has to start somewhere, obviously, especially in any kind of kitchen. I didn't have much on my resume, besides some gaping semesters in my post high school career and some caramel apple and fudge experience.

One-Bowl Cocoa Brownies

2017-03-08T19:40:00.005-06:00

It had been a bad day. If I remember rightly, there was rain and cold and the dreariness of another schoolwork-filled day.

Mid-afternoon, I shoved aside algebra and flipped onto my back, staring at the delicately painted ceiling of our family room. Hands digging into the plush green carpet.

Blackberry Soufflé for Two

2017-02-08T14:27:00.003-06:00

I can't believe how little I've dabbled in the souffle world. After my first experience with it in this old blog post, you'd think I'd be trying a new recipe every week or something. But yeah, no, 4 years have gone by and I totally forgot that souffles/puddings/puds were even a thing. Mistake, you guys, big mistake.

Mini Vanilla Tin Can Cake, and a Blogiversary

2016-12-16T16:10:00.002-06:00

Bad and good boyfriends, up and down hormones, driving across the country, 2 different college campuses, tiny kitchen apartments, bad and good days, this blog has been around for a lot of milestones and life changes.

5 years ago today I created something that I honestly had no idea could've lasted so long. Indigo Scones has pushed my creativity, patience, and organizational skills. And I couldn't be happier with it.

Extra Dark Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

2016-10-24T21:59:00.001-05:00

I thought I'd found it. I'd been to every advisor, run through every career test, and taken a wide variety of classes. Walking down the stairwell of a library, I sent a group text to my family, trying to be happy with the announcement of my double major after so many undeclared semesters.

Seconds after I reread the text, I stopped walking. None of it felt genuine, none of it felt like me. I saw books I didn't want to read, people I couldn't seem to fit in with or relate to, and so so much quiet stress bouncing around the numerous floors of the building. Students in literal cells surrounded by books cramming their brains with something, all in an effort to make it in this world.

I don't even know what making it means anymore. A good job? High-paying salary? A resume? A degree?

Roasted Parmesan Acorn Squash with Golden Smashed Potatoes

2016-10-03T21:29:00.001-05:00

I saw a lot of my summer through rose-colored glasses.

But now, autumn is telling me that as beautiful as those rose-tinted moments were, everything was not as it seemed. That's the thing about seeing the world through a tinted lens, it's short-term, and more often than not hides a fairly black and white reality.

Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango

2016-06-21T16:34:00.002-05:00

I'd forgotten how much I like the process of things. Things meaning food, and the making thereof. I feel like coming out of school I was a directionless, lifeless mess that needed a solid month of detox. Finals and life happenings whooped me real good.

This meant that my kitchen suffered a little bit. I had just dropped a solid amount of money on a new computer, I was spending a couple of weeks working 2 jobs while I was working on putting in my two weeks as a barista, and then I spent a lot of time stressing out over how on earth I was going to make a living off of tips by shoving burgers at people's faces. Also, do I know where or whom I'll be living with once my lease ends in August? Nope. Sure don't.

I'm figuring it out.

Salted Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

2016-04-29T13:16:00.001-05:00

I'm winding down fast, folks. I love school, learning, and all that fun stuff--but the tail end of this semester is absolutely relentless with all of its decisions, expectations, and unpredictable happenings. Caught in these situations, I tend to overeat and feel very numb. Class notes are a thing of the past, and even scrolling through happy Pinterest things doesn't appeal to me. I have projects on projects and I'm not doing anything. Whoops. Enter Spotted Cow and Gilmore Girls, and lots of sweet potato fries.

But between these bouts I'm generally pretty productive. Sunday night, for example, I spent on the 3rd floor of the library, and I mean literally cross-legged on the floor, studying until I couldn't physically see and the place was closing.

Balance, balance.

Malted Milk Rice Krispies

2016-03-09T11:34:00.001-06:00

FRIENDS. I'm writing I'm writing I'm not writing a paper, I'm not writing because I have to, I'm not writing to be persuasive or grammatically correct or to utilize my critical thinking skills I'm just WRITING. I'm writing because I want to talk to you and I want to wax poetic about things like rice krispy treats.

I missed you.

Dark Chocolate Banana Breakfast Bars & 4 Years(!!)

2016-01-04T11:09:00.002-06:00

I'm in a pretty solid melancholic trance these days. New Year's and Christmas, old face new faces, first semester at a new school finished with still no clear path in sight, the ups and downs involving matters of the heart. I'll admit it, I'm pretty rocked. I'm watching my parents build the house they've always wanted and will probably grow old in. I'm watching my little sis navigate her life and take care of a dog that managed to steal my heart freshman year of college when I ran back home to meet her sweet puppy face. My older sisters never cease to amaze me, watching their respective journeys over 2015 has been fantastic. I'm so glad for them and who they are.

And me? Considering the fact that this time last year I was a hot mess living in my parent's mobile home looking for a job, daydreaming about hot desert suns, and having panic attacks while filling out my college transfer paperwork, I'd say I've come pretty damn far.

M&M Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake

2015-12-02T17:54:00.001-06:00

It seems conflicting that while I am pushing myself and doing my darnedest I still feel more lost than ever. It seems like poor timing that I should lose all interest in school during the time when I really need to be studying the most. It seems unfair that I still have no specific direction and yet everyone keeps asking about how that's going.

The life of an INFP am I righttttttt

The New Digs

2015-10-08T20:29:00.003-05:00

I have seen a lot of shoes lately. A lot of bodies, a lot of backpacks. Students numbering so many that we stop traffic between classes. A part of one giant horde of people, in one very spread out university.

The picture above is from a photo project I had to do for class last month. We got to play around with a digital Panasonic and this is one of my favorite images that my partner captured. Photo credit goes out to my girl, Maame, she did a great job.

I want to say that I'm really sorry I don't have any new recipes for you, but I promise that I have lots of things to write about. I didn't know it was possible to really get homesick for a blog space, but it is. And I've been homesick for all of you, because pretty much nothing these days is familiar.

The Ellen Brain Bar (DIY Energy Bars)

2015-07-23T17:57:00.003-05:00

If you were to rewind about 6 months ago, you'd find a very cold and nervous Ellen standing outside the front door of a coffeeshop at 6:15 on a Sunday morning in the middle of a snowstorm. After slipping and sliding my car to the side streets to park, I remember trudging through snow-drifted sidewalks and not being able to remember where the back door to the cafe was. It was my first day on the job. I finally had a job, and I couldn't find the dang door. I had to go in there and make people coffee. I had to learn how to write all the drinks shorthand. I had to learn how to really wrap a wrap for, like, another person.

Dairy-Free Double Chocolate Banana Cake

2015-06-22T18:30:00.004-05:00

"What are your academic interests?"

"Career field you could see yourself in?"

"Have a major lined up by the end of sophomore year."

"Oh, Journalism, you must really love writing and the news."

"When are you opening your own bakery?"

"What's your passion?"

"What makes you happy?"

I wiped off my palms for the 10th time as my well-meaning temporary advisor guided me through the sign-up process. The entire day was devoted to getting transfers acclimated, and all around me I felt the vibe of uncertainty pulsing as we all tried to navigate our way around a new system. Every time I turned a corner in the Union, I felt more than saw the memory ghosts intent upon making the day harder than it already had it to be. My hands shook and I dropped a lot of things. I came out with too many papers and enough anxiety to fill a five-gallon bucket.