We got the year started off right with a recipe from my “new” Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book. It is full of recipes that I can’t wait to try, but we started with the Butterscotch Brownies. They are simple, chewy, and good in all the right places.
I really love old school cookbooks. I get lost in the little stories and history behind the recipes.
Also, thank you to my panda, who got me this sweet chalkboard plate for Christmas. I am still figuring out how to write neatly with the chalk.
I received some lovely whoopie pie pans for my birthday. I had super grand plans for some holiday whoopie pies. I wanted to make these chocolate ones, but rolled in gold sprinkles, and these gingerbread ones, with the crushed peppermints. In my head, they were going to be beautiful.
Instead, the tiny whoopie pies baked to look like tiny muffins, I had to cut the tops off to make them look right, and I got frustrated and filled them with some leftover frosting instead. Not quite what I had in my head…
But after all that, its kind of hard to mess up a cookie/frosting sandwich. Tasty mistakes.
My reasons for making a pie were threefold:
I wish I could say that it was equal part all those reasons, but I won’t lie. It was mostly because I wanted to make a perfect pie crust.
I know. I could weep with joy. It turned out exactly right. The pecan part of the pie wasn’t too shabby either.
I made these cookies as a gift for the guy’s family for turkey day. We ate them over the weekend dipped in coffee with whipped cream on top. They were buttery, and crunchy, and you should probably make them soon.
Pre-Thanksgiving preparations at our house include baking cookies. The turkey cookie cutter waits all year for this moment to shine.
Instead of doing different colors of frosting for the turkey tail, we smashed some candy corns flat, and used them as tail feather decoration. What beautiful little turkeys. Happy Thanksgiving!
I am not super adventurous with pies. I like the apple/peach variety. Pumpkin of course. Lemon meringue, but without the meringue part. Just the basics.
A friend suggested a strawberry rhubarb pie. I have never tried one. I am not really even sure what rhubarb is, but I do know that the leaves are poisonous (thank you, Martha Stewart). Rhubarb to me equals pink celery.
But guess what? Strawberry rhubarb pies are yummy. Just the right amount of not too sweet. If you are still in need of a Thanksgiving dessert, and for some reason don’t want to go classic, I would recommend this delicious strawberry/pink celery combo. (I used this recipe from smitten kitchen.)
I got the baking itch the other day. I saw these german chocolate pecan pie bars on pinterest. I thought: I like german chocolate cake. I almost like pecan pie. I like desserts cut in bars. Might as well give them a try.
1. I have never toasted pecans before. Yay me. 2. Is that enough butter?
These bars are super rich. Yummy, but they will definitely kill you. I cut mine into tiny pieces, because I don’t want all my friends to get fat.
I have had a mild, if not severe, donut infatuation for a while now. I have played with some of the baked kinds, but really, the money is in the actual fried in oil kind. We bought a huge jug of oil several months ago, but I have been scared to try it. Because according to all moms on earth, oil is hot and it will burn me.
But guess what? It really wasn’t that bad. I prepared this recipe here (but I think we will try a different recipe next time). I am guessing that unless you burn them, bits of fried dough dipped in cinnamon sugar are by definition delicious.
It said not to crowd them in the oil, so we gave them plenty of space. They don’t like friends, since they know they are going to be eaten very quickly.
I actually made the dough twice because I thought I messed the first batch up, which I didn’t, so we ended up with 5,000 donuts. Towards the end of our double batch of dough, we got a little creative with our shapes. The snail shell one turned out the best.
My soul is soothed by most molasses/ginger based cookies. The smell of baking cookies reminds me to feel very grateful for being warm and cozy, and to pray for those that are not so much. (recipe here)
I have already made pumpkin donuts this season. I wanted to make something else that was still fall themed, and I found these apple doughnuts with caramel drizzle. But then, I took out all the things in the recipe name, and made pear donuts instead. I love a good pear, and it was torture for me to wait for the pear to be ripe, and then save it for the recipe. I tried to make them for breakfast, but I had bad timing, so I had to make them for dessert. They were so good fresh from the oven. I think they would make really good muffins too, since they weren’t too sweet.
guy and his girl 