i'd rather be baking

How are you spending your month of March?

I’m drinking way too much coffee, painting my nails every week, typing away like a crazy person, definitely not straightening my hair, and loving fresh flowers. I am also killing eight zillion ants, going to Starbucks on Fridays, wearing yoga pants on Saturdays (without fail), and rearranging curtains and rugs. I’m looking for new things to hang on the walls. I’m feeling the need for a sewing project.

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So, I made cinnamon rolls almost exactly this time last year. I guess my brain craves cinnamon come cold weather and dreary skies. Those cinnamon rolls were good, but these are (without a question) so, so much better. They’re the best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had. I don’t say that lightly.

Kyong Millar, the sweet owner of my favorite boutique in Salt Lake City, graciously shared this recipe with me a few months ago, and I finally made it when we had some friends visiting just before Christmas. I couldn’t believe how good they were — satiny soft pastry wrapped around rich filling with the perfect vanilla-infused glaze on top. I dreamed about these cinnamon rolls for the next month until I had a chance to make them again and people, they are still so dang good.

This time around, I decided to make a half-batch of rolls, and made little miniature cinnamon rolls rather than big full-sized ones. Some late-night crazy brain and over-zealous dough rolling may have gone into that decision…but I’m totally happy with it! If mini cinnamon rolls means I can eat twice as many, I’m down.

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Apparently it’s that time of year again, in which I can’t get enough fruit. We paid a visit to our favorite fruit farm (again) this weekend and picked bunches of berries — raspberries and blueberries this time. Honestly, I don’t even like blueberries that much, but these little guys are amazing. Ryan loves blueberry scones and I love lemon anything, so here we are.

To be fair, these are more lemon than blueberry, which is completely fine with me. They made the house feel all buttery and cozy this morning, and made me want to put on my favorite Lululemon tank and some sweatpants and go back to sleep. I resisted, but the impulse is still there. Just saying.

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It’s that time of year again. Berries of all kinds are getting cheaper and prettier and I end up making multiple fruit-related impulse buys every week (I know, I really live on the edge), but for me the main food event of the summer is cherries. I love them dearly and though one can occasionally find some at a fancy market at odd times of the year, there’s something so different about true summer cherries. I fully understand that their growing season is short and that the growing process is tedious and difficult, so when I see their gorgeous crimson hues in the markets come June or July, I can’t help but bring home as many as possible.

I can very easily eat myself sick on fresh cherries alone, but I love the magic they create in the oven just as much. Desserts baked from fresh cherries are worlds apart from anything made with cherry pie filling from a can (although that’s tasty, as well). They make everything velvety rich and delicious, and need so little embellishment!

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I tend to forget about grapefruit (and citrus in general) until it’s winter and nothing else is in season. This year it’s taken me almost the whole winter to remember that I love grapefruit, and now I can’t get enough! It probably helps that I’m itchy for spring and half a grapefruit provides such a lovely bit of pink.

I’m cheap, so I didn’t even buy the Ruby Red ones, just plain old Texas grapefruits, and I bought the five-pound bag because they’re cheaper that way. I told you! But still, I just can’t get enough.

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