We’re going out for dinner tonight to celebrate Father’s Day with dear friends. As I thought about a small gift for the dads, I couldn’t think of a single thing (within my budget 😉 that might thrill them. And then, as Oprah would say, my “aha” moment. Why not bake them some man-hearty cookies! It […]
My friend asked me to make red velvet cupcakes for her birthday party. The theme for the party was simply “red”. Everyone wore red, all the food was red, all the wine was red (rose, actually, cuz it’s summer finally!), all the decorations were red — you get it. But, it being summer finally, it […]
Michael is my dear, sweet 7-year old nephew who has a smile that lights a room, and who received his first holy communion on Saturday. He was oh so handsome and oh so happy as he journeyed down the long church aisle with his fellow communicants…each little girl glowing in her stunning white dress, and […]
My mom celebrated a great big birthday on Friday…her 85th!…and we gathered on Saturday for some party fun! I brought along the cake and, (can I tell you?), it was sooooooo delicious!! I regret not taking a photo after it was sliced, but let me tell you about it. Truthfully, it tasted like one big […]
Pink makes me happy….and that’s all I’ll say in defense of the color of this frosting. (and maybe I’ll admit that I wasn’t paying close enough attention when I dipped the toothpick into the gel food color before I added it to the frosting.) Anyway…..it’s what’s INSIDE that makes this cake so very special. Take […]
These brownie pops are such an easy and fun way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! You start out with a fudgy brownie mix. (I know…I know. Some of you shudder at the thought of using a prepared mix, but there are times…many times…that I find mixes to be perfectly fine. And this is one of […]
Who doesn’t love these cookies? I think they’re a great break from good ol’ chocolate chips, and they’re just as easy to eat by the handful! I follow the Nestle’s recipe printed on the butterscotch morsels package, but I substitute 1/2 cup butter-flavored Crisco for one stick of butter. I also add two extra tablespoons […]
Butter + sugar + flour + almonds + raspberry jam = delicious. The little twist with these Linzer Cookies is that you add a tablespoon of freshly grated lemon zest, which gives them a tang and complements the sweet raspberry filling. Making them is a bit labor intensive (actually, more than a bit), I admit, […]
This past Christmas, Little a gave me one of my all-time favorite gifts. Presented in a small, decorative holiday box were five little bottles of gel food color, five little pots of gorgeous luster dust, and one little pot of hot pink disco dust! The gel colors were a great addition to my colorful collection, […]
I’m not exactly sure how I stumbled upon Bill Granger’s Coconut Bread recipe but, since I am a HUGE fan of coconut, I just had to give it a try. It is tasty, lightly sweet, and bakes up beautifully. You can find the recipe here. The only change I made was the use of Mounds […]
Really, I can take-or-leave oatmeal cookies, and they are not the first cookie to come to mind when I have time to bake. Until now. The recipe for these cookies comes from the book BAKED – New Frontiers in Baking, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. I have wanted to own this book since it […]
Nothing screams “New York City” louder than a black-and-white cookie, so why is it so hard to find the perfect recipe?? I have done extensive internet research, asked culinary school graduates, and I even attempted to interrogate a deli-clerk about the secret icing (until her boss came flying out of the back room with fire […]
…except these little mice! I made them with the daycare children as a gift they could share with their familes. They are called Christmas Eve Mice and they’re pretty easy to make. Just dip some stemmed maraschino cherries in melted chocolate, add a Hershey kiss face, place on the pillow of a double-stuffed Oreo cookie […]
Includes recipes for Mocha Cookies, Frosted Cranberry Drop Cookies, Gianduja Bells, Cashew Brittle, Mandelhoernchen, Cranberry, White Chocolate, Pistachio Biscotti, Raspberry Almond Shortbread Thumbprints, Italian Christmas Cookies, Molasses Sugar Cookies, Spritz
The truth? These cookies are lots of work, but they are totally worth the effort!! For me, it was a two-day event. I cut and baked the cookies on one day, and frosted and decorated them the next. I used the No Fail Sugar Cookie recipe (minus one teaspoon of baking powder) and my favorite […]