Valentine’s Sugar Cookies

Thanks to one-too-many snow days, I was able to find enough time to make a batch of Valentine’s sugar cookies. I’ve been trying for a long long time to perfect the sugar cookie baking and decorating process, and I’ve spent way too much time collecting recipes, buying books and reading blog after blog for all […]

Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

Christmas cookie-baking is in full swing at my house, and this is a new recipe that everyone is just lovin’.  You’ll need one can of Solo Almond filling: and one can of Solo Raspberry Cake & Pastry Filling: Both of these items should be available in the cake-mix aisle at your grocery store. Print RASPBERRY […]

Wedding Dress Sugar Cookies

The past three months have whizzed by quickly, and I’ve been knee-deep in preparations for my son’s wedding on May 10.  Aside from searching for a dress, and trying to starve myself a size smaller*, I managed to make these wedding dress cookies as a favor for the recent bridal shower.  With the help of […]

Gingerbread Snowflakes

As the snow was falling from the sky yesterday, these gingerbread snowflakes were adorning my kitchen table.  I sat there for hours, my pastry bag filled with royal icing, having too much fun decorating each and every one.  I had baked the cookies a couple of weeks ago, and stored them (undecorated) in the freezer.  […]

Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti

A very snowy Saturday found me in the kitchen yesterday…alone…for my annual baking marathon.  “Little a” was planning to join me, but the doom-and-gloom weather forecast kept her home.  I was sad, but a marathon is a marathon and I was moving forward. I’ve made this chocolate biscotti before, but never with Andes Peppermint Crunch […]

Raspberry White Chocolate Bars

This is one of my all-time favorite holiday cookies.  The recipe for this heavenly bar cookie comes from Land o Lakes.  Seedless raspberry jam, white chips and a shortbread crumble are sprinkled atop a partially baked shortbread base, and then the pan is returned to the oven for final baking.   The directions specify using […]

Chocolate-Dipped Stamped Shortbread

I know…I know.  I’m leap-frogging right over Thanksgiving and making a beeline for Christmas.  Couldn’t help it, though, because I’m anxious to share my first 2014 Christmas cookie.  It’s a deliciously crisp and buttery shortbread cookie with a thin layer of dark chocolate beneath. I bought this Birkmann cookie stamp a few weeks ago at […]

Italian Amaretti Cookies

Here’s the story: 1.  Went to a Baptism…party followed at the house. 2.  After a delicious dinner…dessert time…HUGE tray of Italian cookies baked by “Grandma”. 3.  Ate a half-dozen of these gems…TOTALLY needed the recipe. 4.  Stalked “Grandma”.  Got her alone (very important), complimented her gorgeous cookies, took a deep breath and asked for the recipe. […]

Almond Creme Macarons

Thanks to my friend, Teresa, I learned how to bake up a macaron that looks, well…, like a macaron!  These French cookie gems have become wildly popular in the past few years and they have a well-earned reputation of being delicate and finicky to bake.  Much has been written about them, and expert bakers everywhere […]

Communion Cookies: For Celia

Celia is a beautiful, little, 7 year-old girl who warmed my heart with her “ooooooh’s” and “aaaaaaah’s” when she came to my house and saw Daniel’s Communion Cookies.  (“You should have a bakery!!” she exclaimed.*)  And…she just couldn’t wait to share that she, TOO, was receiving her first holy communion on May 11!!  Of course… […]

Daniel’s Communion Cookies

My exceedingly handsome nephew, Daniel, received his First Holy Communion last Sunday, and this was my contribution to his party celebration. I am having SO much fun with my new textured rolling pins…they make the sugar-cookie-decorating process much easier for me.  Don’t get me wrong.  I still love the look, taste and feel of royal […]

The Nieman Marcus $250 Cookie Recipe

Raise your hand if you remember the ages-old urban legend about the woman who, while dining at the Nieman Marcus Cafe, asked to purchase the recipe for the cookies she was enjoying for dessert.  (ME!!!)  I have to admit that, not having been a Nieman Marcus shopper, then or now, I honestly believed it, along […]

Wedding Dress Cookies / Ring Bearer Pillow

I am SO excited to share these cookies with you because I tried a new technique and I was totally thrilled with the results!! My goal has always been to perfect the piping, coloring and flooding of royal icing onto sugar cookies.  With each new attempt, I felt I was one step closer to getting […]

Chunky Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you’ve been sticking with your New Year’s resolution to diet, exercise and avoid decadent sweets, then read no further.  These irresistible peanut butter cookies are sure to derail your efforts and lead you astray.  But, if you’re a bit like me and believe that there’s still plenty of time to whip into bathing-suit shape, […]

Valentine’s Blondies

I just love all of the holiday colors that M&M’s puts together, and who could resist this pink, white, and red Valentine’s combo?  Obviously, not me.  Since blondies don’t seem to get nearly as much press as brownies, I thought I’d give them a shout-out and top them with all that pretty candy. I used […]