A couple of my teachers spent a lot of time writing me letters of recommendation for college, so I decided to thank them with a note and some homemade cookies. We had just gotten the latest Bon Appetit magazine that had some holiday cookie recipes in them. I saw the recipes for “Chewy Ginger-Rye Cookies“…

This year for Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to make most of the desserts because my mom had surgery on her ankle, and was unable to be upright. We had some dinner guests coming over (3 Korean students from the University of Utah that my grandmother knew) so the pressure was on. I made the…

I made a new friend Esther this year who lives a vegan lifestyle. She is also my teammate for PF debate, and we had a debate social where people brought in treats like chips, salsa, soda, and store-bought cookies. There is another kid on debate who is also vegan. In the past, I only ever…

Tarts with fresh fruit are a lighter tasting treat that we make in the summer. This one has a sweet shortbread crust, raspberry-basil compote, vanilla pastry cream, and fresh peaches. The tart doesn’t work if the fruit is not ripe. The glaze on top was a melted apricot rose jam from Amor spreads. We always…

A favorite bakery of mine in San Francisco is Miette Bakery in the Ferry Building near Fisherman’s Wharf. I almost always get a chocolate cupcake with mocha buttercream there, but their cookies are really good as well. We bought the Miette cookbook and have made several recipes that have been amazing. These chocolate chip walnut…

These raspberry macarons might’ve been the most crowd-pleasing macarons to date. My mom was hosting her department picnic at our house with a lot of international students and faculty. People from India, China, Japan, Korea, Czech Republic, Iran, Vietnam, Western Europe, and the US seem to all liked these raspberry macarons filled with French raspberry…

Peaches are in season for about a month in August at the farmer’s market in Utah. We buy as many as we can and eat them raw, make them into ice cream, or bake them into pies, cobblers, and crisps. Although generally, I don’t like pie, peach pie is an exception, especially with added blackberries…

My family often volunteers to feed people less fortunate than us. I went with my mom’s church group in 2016 to provide and make dinner for homeless youth at Volunteers of America (downtown Salt Lake City). I made chocolate chip cookie dough at home (we swear by Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips) and brought the dough…

I made these for dessert for some guests that came over for dinner, Jamie and Dave. They have been friends with my family for over 15 years. Jamie is a youth pastor and got into Princeton for graduate school, so she and her family left Salt Lake City this year. We had them over for…

With my growing concern about our world’s plastic waste problem, I had started using those beeswax wraps you can buy at organic stores. They’re pretty expensive, and I wanted to have more variety of shapes and sizes. With a giant bar of beeswax leftover from making canelé, I thought I could make my own. We…