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Sugar Cookie Bars
****I’m on Facebook! Click {here} to follow along, and Welcome!**** Last weekend I had big plans to make sugar cookies for a friend of mine, but I ran out of time. I made the dough but knew if I baked them that I wouldn’t have time to decorate them. Instead, I wrapped up the dough and froze it for future use. Well, turns out I couldn’t stand having cookie dough in my freezer. I wanted to use it. So I did. So there. There’s a…
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Caramel Cupcakes
Can I just tell you how hard it is to find a recipe for caramel cake? Not yellow cake with caramel frosting, a CARAMEL flavored CAKE? It’s difficult. Very, very difficult. So difficult that I spent 90 minutes sitting on my heiney saying mean things to my laptop when I couldn’t find what I wanted…90 minutes that should’ve been spent baking because my girls were in bed asleep and the house was quiet. Grrrr. The wasted 90 minutes eventually led to a midnight trip to the…
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Funfetti Scotcharoos
I honestly can’t remember the first time I had scotcharoos. I know it was at least a decade ago. My mother-in-law sent them home with my husband and I’m pretty sure I ate the entire box of them before my husband even realized what was going on. They’re yumzos. Scotcharoos seem to be a pretty common Midwestern potluck/picnic/party food. I’ve had them prepared a gazillion different ways, cut into different shapes, sizes, some with too much chocolate, some with not enough, etc. etc. Of course, everyone’s…
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Blueberry Muffins with Maple Butter
Isn’t it funny how food can take you back in time? My freshman year in college, my husband and I still lived at home with our parents and traveled back and forth to the neighboring town to attend classes together every morning. (Yes, we were super cool.) On our way to class, we frequently stopped at our local convenience store/gas station and grabbed something to eat and drink for breakfast. I used to get a blueberry muffin and chocolate milk, warming the muffin up in the microwave and trying…
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Mini Doughnuts with Honey Vanilla Glaze
When it comes to doughnuts, I might be the pickiest person out there. I don’t like Krispy Kreme, grocery store, convenience store, pre-packaged or even most bakery doughnuts. To be a good doughnut, they have to be fried, glazed doughnuts. You know, the old fashioned kind with the light batter and the flaky glaze that gets all over everything when you eat them. The kind I like are super hard to find…there are only a handful of doughnut shops that I’ve ever found that still make them…
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Just Cherry Pie
It’s just really been a strange week. We were supposed to be in Mexico, celebrating not only our anniversary but my husband’s birthday as well. Because we were planning to lay on the beach and drink fruity drinks to celebrate, I didn’t plan the usual birthday celebration with dinner, guests, dessert and gifts. I feel bad that my hubs kind of got the short end of the birthday stick this year, but promised him that we’ll celebrate his birthday on our rescheduled trip. So, in…
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Apple Pie
I’ve mentioned before that I was practically raised on pie. Every holiday (and sometimes just Sunday Dinner) during my childhood involved at least two pies, but more like five or six, of every variety you could possibly dream of. My favorite summertime pie is apple…mmm…warm apple pie with cold vanilla ice cream. Heaven on a plate! My mom makes the best apple pie I’ve ever had, but when I ask her how she makes it she says, “Oh, you know, a little of this, a little of that.” …
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Cinnamon Rolls
Ahhh…cinnamon rolls. I’m not sure that there’s anything better than a really good cinnamon roll, but in my opinion a good one is really hard to find, and a good recipe is even harder to find. My biggest problem with most cinnamon roll recipes is that the bread part of the roll is usually bland, and the only cinnamon flavor you get comes from the filling itself. This recipe, however, has cinnamon in the dough itself, so the bread is flavorful too. But, if I’m…
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Fudge Cupcakes with White Chocolate Filling
If you know me at all, you know that I am absolutely terrified of severe weather. Growing up in the heart of tornado alley is not a good place to be when you have such a phobia, trust me. I have many (traumatic) memories of my childhood, crying on the ball field while a storm approached, hiding in a laundry basket in the basement because there was a tornado watch, hailstones breaking through double-pane glass in our living room…and the list goes on. Yesterday, we…
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Butterfly Cupcakes
This past weekend we celebrated my baby girl’s second birthday with two family parties. For me, it was a busy weekend of cleaning, cooking and keeping the girls entertained but it was all worth it. I loved just watching how happy my girls were to be surrounded by everyone who loves them. It wasn’t about the presents, the food or the decorations. Especially in the wake of the tornado destruction in Joplin, MO and Reading, KS, I found myself counting my blessings. It was a…
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Oatmeal Cake Cupcakes
Today is my Dad’s Birthday! The whole family is headed out to celebrate with an early dinner at one of his favorite restaurants. And though I know we’ll have dessert at the restaurant, I couldn’t let his birthday go by without baking for him, could I? =) Dad’s favorite cake is a recipe of his mom’s, her amazing Oatmeal Cake. That cake is awesome, it’s a spicy, coarse-crumbed cake with an ooey-gooey boiled coconut frosting. For some reason, it didn’t work as a cupcake. I tried, but it…
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Caramel Pecan Brownies
Chocolate. Caramel. Pecans. Oh, yes. See how they look all gooey and fudgy? That’s because they ARE gooey and fudgy. Don’t make these unless you have a large glass of cold milk nearby…you’ll need it. These are one of those treats that make you talk with your mouth full – you know, when you take a bite of something amazing and you automatically forget all about manners and mumble a garbled, “oh my gawd,” or “oh, wow…” Or is that just me? It’s probably just…
