Lemon-Blueberry Muffins

Scott and I recently spent a very relaxing week in Maine with some friends.  We were on a small island on Penobscot Bay within walking distance of a little shack that sold lobster and crab rolls, ice cream, and huge slices of wild blueberry pie.  It was such a perfect, peaceful setting that we barely left the island.  Mostly we just sat around reading books and playing board games, went for an occasional walk, and took naps in the afternoons.  After a rough morning of reading, who doesn’t need a nap?  Pin It

Anise Thumbprints with Chocolate Ganache

Hi there!  I know it has been a while since I've posted.  We have been alternating between crazy busy and just busy this summer, and I've fallen out of the habit of writing up what little baking I've accomplished.  I do have a little backup of recipes to share with you and this recipe is one of my favorites.  Just looking at the photos for these made me wish I had tucked a few away in the freezer.  I made these for a surprise birthday party for my parents back in June, and everyone enjoy them.  I’m sure you will too!
Pin It

Slightly Salted Soft Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oops!  Where did May go?  I’ve only baked about three to four times since the middle of April and most of it was recipes that I’ve either shared before or didn’t have time to photograph or write up.  These cookies, however, are the exception.  I was incredibly pleased with the way they came out, especially since I made the recipe up in my head while I was lounging in the corner nook of the couch in the basement and pretending to watch tv.  I think they will be my standard soft chocolate cookie from here on out, much in the way the Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (with Rye Flour!) recipe has become my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies.  What I love about these cookies is that they taste exactly the way their name sounds.  There is a hint of saltiness, an abundance of chocolate, and the texture is perfect.  I made them to bring to a meeting at work, and everyone who tried them liked them.  If you’ve been daydreaming about soft chocolate cookies, look no further than this recipe!

Pin It

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.

Pin It

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!
Pin It

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!
Pin It

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. 
Pin It