Peanut Butter Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

There is a little bunny that lives between our house and our neighbor’s house.  Well, technically, it lives in the neighbor’s woodpile, but it seems to spend most of its free time in our yard.  Luckily it is only eating weeds and plants I’m not really particular about.  Whenever somethings scares it, it dives into the woodpile through the chain-link fence.  I don’t know what it is going to do once it is too big to fit through the fence.  Maybe it will wait at one of the gates looking up at us until we come out and open both of them so it can pass through and get to the woodpile?  Regardless, it is quite cute.  Sometimes it will just sit contentedly next to the tree and the hole into the woodpile; other times it hops all over the place.  We’re quite fascinated by it, and when we haven’t seen it for a while, I start to worry that the neighborhood fox has gotten it, but then it magically appears again.  Ahh, the wildlife dramas of suburbia.

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Nutmeg Tea Cakes

 

I’m so glad that it is finally warming up here!  I’ve already made iced tea twice and spent a large portion of this weekend outside in the yard taking care of things that should have been done ages ago.  Like finally cutting back the dead mums, (carefully) yanking out the dead iris leaves from last year, and planting a few (albeit small) bushes.  Would you believe that this year’s irises are already a few inches tall?  I should have cleaned those dead leaves up earlier.  I’m really excited about those bushes though.  Now our house/yard doesn’t look as naked.  I also found a little volunteer cilantro plant in the garden so my vegetable garden is already off to a good start!
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Strawberry Sandwich Cookies

How has it been two weeks since I last posted?  I’m slacking off here and I know it.  The past few weeks haven’t resulted in much baking, although I do have a small handful of nice recipes to share with you once I finally get around to writing them up!  These cookies are delicious.  I made them to bring to my cousin’s high school musical, All Shook Up.  Maybe you remember me mentioning seeing him last year when I posted the Chocolate Orange Chunk Cookie recipe?  Anyway, this year he was absolutely phenomenal!  I wish you could have come too because I think you really would have enjoyed it.  I was singing the songs to myself for at least a week afterwards.  I won’t say these cookies are better than the play, because they’re not.  They won’t make you laugh so hard you cry or give you an earworm, but they will make you glad that strawberry season is right around the corner.  Happy baking!
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The Very Best Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies

And we’re back!  Sorry for that little break there.  I’ve been doing a hodge-podge of things over the past few weeks like spending an awesome weekend on the outskirts of Shenandoah National Park in an old farmhouse, eating Peking duck, seeing friends from college, and curling up on the couch with a book that was totally not worth it.  In between, I had a few mediocre baking moments.  The baking ideas were good, but the recipes just need some more work before they are worth sharing.  The recipe for these cookies, however, did not require any tweaking.  They are vanilla cookies at their finest. 
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Cardamom Pistachio Brownies

I’ve been meaning to share this recipe with you for at least a week now, but things got busy.  We went to Portland, OR for the long weekend and I decided it would be more fun if I avoided the computer for a few days.  We got to see some friends, eat maple-bacon waffles and donuts, complete a 12-mile in and out hike to a waterfall, and visit Cannon Beach.  I was particularly excited to go to the beach since we used to pile into the car, put on the Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack, and drive there for long weekends when I was a kid.  It was on those drives that I perfected the art of sleeping in the car. 
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Buttery Orange Shortbread

All week I’ve been thinking about what I was going to share with you in this post.  Of course, now that I am sitting here, I am drawing a complete blank.  We did a bunch of different things in the past 7 days.  We saw the boys (not once, but twice!), took a quick midweek trip to Pennsylvania to see my Dad get an award (congrats Dad!), went bowling (next time the girls will win every game!), and even went for a hike (yes!).  In between all of that, we squeezed in a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica.   Now, before you think I am crazy for falling into the sci-fi drama trap, I should tell you that we are only watching it because of a skit in Season 2 of Portlandia. 
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Raspberry Almond Thumbprints

I will be quick about this because there are still things I’d like to get done this evening before the next episode of Downton Abbey starts.  Yes, I am planning my evening around a TV show.  I’d bet a batch of these cookies that I’m not alone in my evening plans.  Of the cookies that I made for the holidays, these were my favorite.  I’m a real sucker for almond and raspberry combinations, and these cookies definitely hit the mark.  As an added bonus, they are light, fluffy, and beautiful.  You won’t be disappointed if you make them!  So, now that you have the details on these awesome cookies, I am going to return to my exciting task of cleaning out my closet.  Enjoy (the cookies and Downton Abbey)!
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