I love granola. I think I get it from my dad.
Especially when I make it myself and control the ingredients.
Category Archives: Sweet
Chocolate Spice Valentine’s Day Decorated Cookies
Ok. . .a tiny, chocolatey, Valentine’s break from breakfast. . .although these would make a wonderful breakfast. These cookies are fantastic.
Once you add the frosting they are near to perfection. Iced sugar cookies are nice. . iced chocolate sugar cookies are THE BEST.
Valentine’s Chocolate Cinnamon Almond Biscotti
Guess what? You’ve got less than a week to Valentine’s Day. (And these biscotti will keep until then even if you make them right this second. They are like the cracker of the cookie world.)
I used to work in the holiday/gift “industry”. V-day was our biggest holiday and by now I would have been up to my eyeballs in pink and red hearts, ribbons, vases, etc. I do not miss the frenzy. Working all night, being too busy to even drink a few gulps of water, fielding last minute dudes who forgot the holiday until that very second, and once I was even seriously hard-core cussed out by some lady who was pissed I could not break a $100 bill for a $6 sale. People are nuts!
For years it was an unheard of luxury for me to actually celebrate vday. I was too exhausted, hungry, annoyed by crazy people, etc.
These days I get to celebrate as I choose. As leisurely as I want. It might mean making chocolate biscotti to share with a loved one. (It always means making a chocolate cake for my dad.)
Brown Sugar and Almond Oatcakes
February is going to be a month of breakfast. Yup. . .I am going to focus on only breakfast blogging. Surprising because for about the first 30+ years of my life I didn’t really eat breakfast. Not that I didn’t like a good breakfast from time to time (or a sausage McMuffin to soak up a few to many cocktails) but I was busy and didn’t make time for morning food. Plus eating before noon made me feel yucky.
In my old (healthier) age, all that has changed. I always eat breakfast now. Usually nothing too giant. I’m not downing plates full of pancakes and sausage every morning, but some sort of sustenance in the a.m. is a good thing. Read the rest of this entry
Stuffed Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
It’s our niece’s birthday. Happy 16th, V!
A few lucky folks in her life may get her to share a cupcake with them.
I was tapped to make the birthday girl’s cupcakes. Several hours of my weekend were devoted to making 2 kinds of yummy cupcakes. I’ll share one today and we’ll talk about the other later.
Almond Cake
Almond cake doesn’t sound fancy. It’s not really. It’s easy to make with things you may already have on hand in your pantry.
BUT.. it tastes fancy! I made this a few weeks back for my aunt’s birthday. It is dense and chewy and buttery and nutty and fantastic. My own birthday is in a few days and I just may have to make it again for myself. It’s that good. (Except there are so many other things on my ‘to try’ list. . .choices, choices.)
Brown Sugar Panna Cotta
How was Christmas? Are you still full? Exhausted? Paper cut from all the unwrapping you did? Yup. Me too.
Now on to New Years Eve. (But I am so tired!)
Planning to party big for New Years Eve? I have no New Years Eve plans. Unless you call being cozy on the couch with Tim in our pajamas by 8pm plans. There may be some champagne. Possibly pizza or Chinese take out with left over Christmas cookies. Possibly this sinful Panna Cotta. Possibly me, asleep on the couch by 9pm.
Pecan Pie
A few quick words on pecans. Pecans are delicious. I adore them.
Most pies are yummy. (Maybe not minced meat or even pumpkin for me, actually.) Sweet and savory pies. I still have a memory on my tongue of a spaghetti pie my mom used to make when I was a kid. Yum.
Pecan pie is one of my favorites. (Right behind coconut cream pie!) Usually I only eat pecan pie once or twice a year, though. It’s a holiday pie for me. And for years I have made it the same way.
I modified my regular recipe a little this time around with mixed results. As much as I love pecans I think this pie had a few too many of them. I enjoy the glop as much as the nuts in this pie and with this many nuts there wasn’t enough glop. But that’s an easy fix. . just back off on the pecans a bit.
Brown Sugar Spice Cookies
I mentioned yesterday that lots of cookies were baked in our kitchen recently. This is one of the other cookies Tim and I spent our day baking and decorating. They are fantastic. A delight with or without icing. We used the same icing as we used on the sugar cookies.
I know some people are big fans of gingerbread. (Dad) These are not exactly gingerbread cookies. Just nice spice cookies. But festive and tasting of the holidays, none the less. (And by “tasting of the holidays” I do not mean pine trees. Not delicious I assume. I promise not to try it, Tim.)
Iced Christmas Sugar Cookies
Aren’t the holidays exhausting? So much to bake, cook, wrap, decorate, mail, buy, etc. .. ..and still try to find time to enjoy the holiday in your own way.
I bake a lot. (ya think?) Sometimes I get so involved in holiday baking and candy making that I have way too much to even distribute to friends and family. Sometimes I spend so long in the kitchen in a single day that my feet hurt as though I have been wearing high heels in a 5k. (Probably not a good idea, by the way.) Sometimes my jeans feel too tight cause I have eaten enough fudge to choke an elf.
Sugar Coated Sarah 