Walnut Rolls

I am super excited to share this recipe with you!  I've been working on it on and off again since the beginning of February, so it is great to finally have a product that is blog-worthy and relatively fool-proof!  I made this recipe over the weekend at my parents' house.  Lots of people were coming for the weekend (18 to be exact!) so I got there Thursday night to secure a bed and bake this bread.  Just kidding!  I really got there early so I could spend the day with my mom. 
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Toasted Oat, Plum, and Pecan Cookies

I made a variation of these cookies for an awesome wedding that we recently went to.  I had a special request for a diabetic-friendly cookie, and my mom sent me a few potential recipes to try out.  I'm going to share something with you now that I never thought I would:  I actually like dried plums.  I imagine that some of the food purists out there are saying, rightly so, "Did she just call a prune a dried plum?"  Yes, I am completely guilty of trying to make one of the ingredients in these cookies sound more appealing. 
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Chocolate Orange Chunk Cookies

I have had chocolate orange cookies on my mind ever since my page-a-day calendar had a recipe for non-chocolate cookies with orange zest in them.  You know those Terry's Chocolate Orange Balls, right?  They're the candy that are shaped like an orange and when you whack it on the table, it magically separates into segments of orange-flavored chocolate that are molded to look like orange wedges.  This recipe is for their cookie equivalent, sans whacking. 
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Homemade Samoas

Home. Made. Samoas.  Yes, you read that correctly!  I'm so excited to share this recipe with you!  If you have been waiting for a reason to add a candy thermometer to your kitchen collection, grab one of those prolific Bed Bath & Beyond coupons and head to the store and get one today!  These cookies are quite possibly the best cookies I have ever made. 

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Cardamom Ice Cream

This winter I have been on a bit of an ice cream kick.  For a few weeks, we were able to eat homemade ice cream every night if we wanted to.  Even as I write this, I'm thinking of flavors that I want - no, need - to try.  When I first received our ice cream maker as a wedding gift, cardamom ice cream was the first flavor I made.  I'm not really sure why I started with cardamom, but it was amazing. 
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Roasted Chocolate Banana Cake

There's not too much to say about this cake except that if you like bananas and you like chocolate then you should try this out.  I had never thought much about roasting bananas beyond a campfire banana boat (i.e., bananas slit open stuffed with chocolate chips and marshmallows, wrapped up in foil, and dropped in a campfire) until Scott mentioned how America's Test Kitchen had a recent episode about banana pudding made with roasted bananas.  I've been making this cake for a number of years, and it seemed like the perfect candidate for a roasted banana intervention.  It only took one try, and I'm completely hooked...
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Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

I love making to-do lists.  It's not unusual for me to have several of these lists floating around the house in various stages of completion.  Each item has a little box next to it so I can check off each thing as I complete it.  I get a lot of satisfaction from ticking off each item and knowing that I can move on to the next thing.  It makes me feel organized and helps me prioritize the important things in life (like baking) over the less important things (like picking up the pinecones that blew into the yard).  I should let you know that I am not a list purist - that is, I am not above adding something that I have already completed just for the pleasure of checking it off. 
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