Lately I've been feeling like a muffin manda. Maybe it's the fact that it's warm and summer and berry season, or maybe it's my undying love of breakfast foods (aka breakfast breads), but I have been trying every muffin under the sun. Until now. I've finally filled the muffin recipe void in my life.

I remember having high expectations before trying a Cronut for the first time, thinking, yeah, I'm sure it's all hype. And then I remember biting into it. And in that moment of custardy-butter fueled bliss, I remember thinking, no way. No way does this thing exist. The last time I had one of those moments was at Poilane in France when I bit into an apple tart. And excuse my french, but Cronuts are f!cking awesome.

If I had to choose between snickerdoodles and brownies... I just couldn't. This hybrid is for all those people who love the cinnamon-sugary goodness of a snickerdoodle, and the fudgey, dense, gooey, buttery deliciousness of a brownie. There are no words for how good these snickerdoodle blondies are, just the silence that comes when everyone is chowing-down on the most wonderful confection out there. Addictive? Yes. Worth it? Totally.

I somewhat weirdly equate spring with.... pancakes. Nope, not flowers, not sunshine, but pancakes. These cornbread pancakes, topped with easy, fresh, three-ingredient strawberry jam, are SO freaking good -- and, not to mention, vegan and gluten free. Yep, my kind of spring recipe.

I have gathered that, like many things, New Yorkers dig coffee and are also very polarized about who brews the best cup. For every coffee snob out there, there are just as many people swearing by the 99-cent instant-ready from the corner bodega. As a new coffee devotee, I decided to accept the self-imposed challenge to find the city's best cup.

I ate 30 cookies last night and I lived to tell the tale. What's makes these cookies all the better is the fact that the recipe is (A) really easy to make [4 ingredients and 10 minutes, what up] and (B) really tasty. I also made these at the perfect time, because that whole mecury-being-in-retrograde thing is wrecking havoc in the most mellow-dramatic way possible.

So once I decided to make this cake for my boyfriends parents. And then I ate half the cake by myself. HALF. Half. It's really that good, and it's really not that bad for you!

Join the adventure in finding the best brunch nyc has to offer! Part deux of the brunch files-- let's go. Cafe Mogador has been around for over 30 years, and I was a late-comer to this party, turning up my first time in August. I've been a mogi ever since (it's like the yogi of brunchers. I made it up).

Tea is awesome. Tea tastes good, it's good for your body, and it's just goood for your soul. The world of loose leaf tea is both magical and daunting: it leaves a lot more room for error, but if you do it right, it's the bomb. There are a lot reasons why you should make the jump to loose leaf tea.

Soooo, it's freezing cold. Do you want the indulgent deliciousness of a hot chocolate? Yes. Do you want something that's not packed with heavy cream, and is actually vegan and dairy free? Yes!  Do you want a marshmallow topping that's made without corn syrup and preservatives and all that yucky stuff? Definitely, yes. Well, you're in luck.

All I need is a beach and I'm a happy person. I can't think of a better day than reading on the beach, swimming for hours in the waves, and having a coconutty drink in the late afternoon. I escaped the winter cold over Christmas & New Year's to head down to the Dominican Republic.

Join the adventure in finding the best brunch nyc has to offer! I brunch a lot, and I've talked about why brunch is the meal of the gods. So, I decided I needed to start documenting these awesome places individually. Since Egg Shop is the elusive great white buffalo of brunch spots (meaning, to actually get in, you have to have all of the stars align and then also have a little new york magic wafting in your direction), I decided to start this series with my visit.

Happy 2015! Here's to a month of hopeful holiday detox. I get it-- people love juicing. But I live in NYC, and it's pretty chilly these days, so I need something spicy and warm, but also light and satisfying. This vegan, anti-oxidant packed salad is all of those things!

Rewind to last New Years Day, 10 am. Everyone wakes up, everyone is hungover, everyone is hungry. Where do we go? A french restaurant. Who made this decision? Someone who hates me. And everyone else-- because strange, ornate fish dishes and straight butter at 11am are the enemies of hangovers.