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Orange Whiskey and Maple Caramel Sauce

When I was in the Netherlands a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to bake and shoot with Renee Kemps, a fellow blogger I'd met at the Saveur Blog Awards. At the awards, she and I hit it off right away, mostly by camping out at the food table during the ceremony and helping ourselves to copious amounts of Wilma Jean's fried chicken and tequila shots. We then realized that we would have an opportunity to continue our adventures — it just so happened that a few weeks after the awards, I would be flying to Amsterdam, where Renee currently lives, for my sister's wedding. We excitedly made plans to bake and shoot together.

The initial plan was to make a traditional Dutch baked good; Renee was insistent that we make stroopwafel cookies (that is, an incredibly thin waffle sandwich pressed together with thick caramel syrup). But, well, that just didn't happen. We ended up with these shortbread-like sandwich cookies instead, along with the best caramel syrup I've ever made:


You can read all about our (mis)adventures over on Renee's blog and why we ended up with the cookies that we did. Also, if you haven't checked out her blog already, hurry over! Renee shot all the photos for this post (those callused and veiny rock-climber hands in the photo are yours truly), and, as you can see, is a crazy talented photographer and the well deserved winner of this year's Saveur's Best Food Photography - Editor's Choice Award. Not only is her blog visually stunning, but her incredibly sweet and kind personality just radiates through all her posts!

So get your butt over there:


And for now, I'll leave you with this quickie recipe for orange, whiskey, and maple caramel sauce:
get the recipe »

Available link for download

orange thyme upside down cake

When I started this blog a few years ago, I had no idea that I'd become part of this crazy community of folks all across the world, all brought together by one thing: a love of all things related to food. And this love has bled into my offline life in weird and wonderful ways. To wit — last summer, a fellow blogger and myself doggedly spent hours trying to hammer cookie dough in between two wire racks to make stroopwafels (spoiler alert: our method didn't work at all). And this last weekend, I spent my Saturday night with another close blogger friend figuring out the best way to fix a $300 Le Creuset pan, getting wayyy too excited when we finally managed to do so.


In some ways, I'm lucky to have been accepted as one of them. Because in real life, I'm not exactly sure if I would have even fit in at all. I've written about this before, but the blogging community is full of the nicest, sweetest folks ever. So nice that I kinda feel like a jerk around most of them. In fact, I know I'm the asshole in the group. Despite what this blog may have you believe, I'm really not as happy and sunny as I am here in real life. In the offline world, I swear a lot. I'm short tempered and get easily pissed off by lots of little things. Like people who don't take off their backpacks on crowded public transportation systems during rush hour, or the fact that Creed didn't get nominated for a "Best Picture" Oscar.

So I try to compensate for it in other ways. On Hummingbird High, for instance, I try to be the best version of myself — optimistic and friendly, relaxed and laid back, confident yet polite. But since those attributes don't come easily to me, I find myself looking up to the bloggers who are the epitome of those qualities.


One of those bloggers is Adrianna from A Cozy Kitchen. Her corner of the internet is where I want to be, always. The company is sweet, the food is beautiful, and there's a cute corgi frolicking about. Her cookbook, The Year of Cozy, embodies the very values I was talking about above. Because not only is it filled with her tasty recipes, it also offers creative DIY projects and fun tips on how to live a happy, healthy life, encouraging folks to have different adventures and make new friends.

Adrianna actually sent me her cookbook a few months back, but like I said — being the jerk I am, I could only get around to baking something from it now. And I really wish that I could've found the time much earlier, because her recipe for this orange thyme upside down cake is just perfect. Take advantage of those blood oranges, yo. 'Tis the season.




Some baker's notes:

• Blood oranges can be bitter to begin with, but they can turn extra bitter during the baking process. If bitterness is not your jam, I recommend with going with a variety of navel oranges, clementines, and satsumas instead. Since those oranges tend to be sweeter than blood oranges, I recommend cutting down the sugar in the topping from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup instead. Make sure to peel the oranges before you even start slicing them — it makes your life a lot easier. Believe me, I learned the hard way.


• The original recipe called for making the cake in a cast-iron skillet, but since my cast-iron skillet is fairly new, I thought it would be under-seasoned and ill-equipped for the job. So instead I used a 9-inch cake pan and found that it worked quite well. Be sure to use a 9-inch pan with high sides (at least 3-inches), and one without any patterns on the bottom (or else you'll end up with a cake like mine, whose top is faintly imprinted by my cake pan's fluted bottom). 

get the recipe »

Available link for download

orange is the new black M Gemi

Shoes: M.Gemi (in 7 colors- love the pink! // also love these flats). Denim: Frame. Blazer: Jcrew (old, similar). Top: Jcrew. Bag: Gucci. Sunglasses: Karen Walker. PS you can shop M.Gemis Private Sale now here! Thank you to M.Gemi for partnering on this post.

Available link for download