I got a little carried away and baked about 2,000 cookies. It was fun, it was for a good cause and I was into it. Until about the last hundred. Around the last 100 I hit a lightly floured wall and just got so sick of my recipes. I was making mostly Chewy Molasses, Mexican Hot Chocolate and Eggnog Snickerdoodles. And Orange-Cardamom Snowflakes. Those are all so good, and so pretty. So I got to dreaming about a way I could put a twist on one of my most dependable recipes. And these Chewy Chocolate Espresso Cookies are the result.
Dramatic enough for a special occasion but simple and quick. This is a great beginner project if you want to try your hand at cake decorating but don’t want to buy a whole bunch of equipment or take a class.
These bunny sugar cookies couldn’t be easier. Use store-bought cookie icing to frost, then sprinkle with sugar to make them fuzzy. I’ve used simple pink and white but you can mix and match any pastels you like to get the perfect assortment.
Best Bunnies Ever:
I’m a sucker for family traditions. Somewhere along the way I picked up the belief that if you faithfully repeat the same holiday events, music and recipes year after year your kids will grow up with happy memories of childhood. I think in my kids’ case, the best I can hope for is Stockholm Syndrome but at least I’m trying. Bunny sugar cookies are my Easter tradition, no exceptions. Now that the kids are a bit older I’ve given up on elaborately planned Easter baskets and sugar-sweet Easter egg hunts in matching outfits. But you’re going to have pry the bunny cookies out of my cold, dead, lightly floured hands. I know you probably think you don’t have the time or creativity or whatever to decorate Easter cookies, but I really think you do. Continue reading “Bunny Sugar Cookies-Simple Iced Cookies For Easter”→
I looooove coconut macaroons. I never really understood the french macaron craze, but I am all over traditional coconut macaroons. These moist cookies are usually made with sweetened shredded coconut, egg whites, vanilla and sometimes sweetened condensed milk. I love the originals but wanted to come up with something a bit richer and more custard-like and less sweet. And more chew while we’re at it! After some tinkering and sampling and tinkering again I’ve managed to make Coconut Custard Macaroons that are crisp and carmelized on the outside and moist and rich on the inside. Not too sweet with just a hint of spice and salt. Great texture and not too dense. Heaven! I passed these out to some school moms at our mother-daughter pajama night last weekend and the baking enthusiasts raved about these.
I’ve been tinkering with the proportions in this Rosewater Buttercream recipe for years. I first made it as part of a lemon curd filled white cake for Easter. It was delicious but the buttercream was too sweet, a bit grainy and the rosewater flavor overwhelmed the delicate flavor of the cake. I had all but given up on making this recipe “blogworthy” but then I was helped by some divine intervention.
I know I said that the Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies were my baby. But now I have a new baby and it’s these Chewy Molasses Cookies. At first I was worried that I wouldn’t love the Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies as much once I posted these, but it turns out there’s enough love in my heart for both. My heart grew, as did my waistline. Continue reading “Chewy Molasses Cookies”→
Every year I try to make something really special with the first spring violets. For the last few years I have attempted to make a violet curd but it always failed, losing its amethyst color and turning gray when I heated it. And since there are a limited number of violets in my yard/neighborhood, I really only get one shot at it a year!
Every year I make violet jelly just like my mom taught me when I was a girl. But because the season is so brief and the color of the violet tea is so divine, I’m always looking to make something new and different with the foraged flowers. Last year it was Violet Lemonade, the year before that was Violet and Elderflower Gummies.
During all those walks around the neighborhood gathering violets and dandelions for jelly, I started to notice that baking inspiration literally grows on trees around here. There are lilacs, redbuds and magnolias galore. They all have edible parts but I was all flowered out. Then I happened to see a post from Once Upon A Weed about spruce syrup and remembered there’s a spruce growing in the parkway just a few blocks from here. It’s about 40 feet tall and absolutely covered in itty-bitty spruce tips. Continue reading “Caramelized Spruce Tip Syrup”→
