• Tiramisu Macarons

    While I was making these the other day, my Mom called me, and asked what I was doing.  I told her I was making Macarons, and she said “Macaroons?”  No…MacaRONS.  Different.  Then, I tried to explain to her what they were – kind of like a meringue sandwich cookie, though with an almond-flour base…but I’m still not sure if she knew what I was talking about. So, here you go Mom.  MacaRONS.  (Mack-uh-RONs).  I’m very confident that I didn’t do a good job explaining them…

  • Easy (Like, Really Easy) Cheese Danish

    I’ve made exactly eleventy-bazillion things in the past couple of weeks that my darling children absolutely refuse to eat.  Now, some of the dishes – Coconut Curry Lentils over Jasmin Rice, and Bruschetta with Avocado and Garlic Tomato Salsa, and even a couple of new varieties of Hummus – ok, I can understand those might be a little much for their young taste palates.  But seriously, if I have to make one more peanut butter and jelly sandwich as a dinner time alternative, I might…

  • Mini Peach Cobblers

    While we were out and about yesterday, my husband and I both noticed that things are finally starting to turn green – the pastures are now more green than brown, the trees all have little buds on them, and daffodils and hyacinths are starting to poke out of the ground. SPRING! Spring is finally, finally, finally here. {I should note that I checked the weather earlier, and we actually have a slight chance of snow tomorrow morning, but I’m just going to pretend like that’s…

  • Easter Candy Cookies

    My girls have been begging me to make chocolate chip cookies for a few weeks now, but my dessert menu has taken me in other directions.  With Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and now Easter, it always seems like there’s been something else to make. Then, when browsing my Pinterest boards, I found these cookies that I’ve wanted to make for a LONG time, so I decided I’d made them wait long enough.  Easter candy cookies!  Basically, they’re really big, chewy, fat chocolate chip cookies…

  • Vanilla Latte Cupcakes

    There are three things that make these super-star cupcakes. One:  they’re cupcakes.  Duh.  Two:  they are infused with a sweet-coffee reduction, and three:  they’re topped with a sweet, stabilized whipped cream and homemade caramel sauce. Wait, is that four things?  Doesn’t matter.  If you love coffee, and heck, even if you don’t – YOU. HAVE. GOT. TO. MAKE. THESE.

  • Orange Sweet Rolls

    My to-do list today looked something like this:  clean the pantry for an upcoming photo-shoot.  Organize the mess on top of my desk.  Finish the laundry.  Go to the grocery store.  Decorate for Easter.  Put away the 2T clothes still in Mia’s closet *sniff*. See how productive I am in my head? Know what I actually did?  Yup.  I made Orange Sweet Rolls.

  • Giant Chocolate Muffins

    Can you justify eating a cupcake for breakfast? I can. It’s easy, really.  You just call it a muffin.  I mean, it doesn’t have frosting, so clearly it isn’t a dessert – and everyone knows that muffins are perfectly acceptable breakfast fare.

  • Irish Apple Cake with Irish Whiskey Caramel Sauce

    The weather was gorgeous outside today.  Sunny, nearly 70 degrees, no wind – and my kids played outside.  We went for a walk.  We didn’t wear jackets, and we didn’t come in until almost bedtime.  These things, along with the fact that college basketball tournaments are on TV and St. Patrick’s Day is a mere three days away can really only mean one thing – SPRING IS HERE! Well, almost.  Still a week or so away but whatever.

  • Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

    When I was growing up, our small town had an AMAZING little restaurant called the Old Ice Cream Shoppe.  It was in an old house that had been remodeled into a small-ish restaurant, with little wire tables and chairs, cute local decor on the walls and counter where you’d place your order for food or ice cream.  It was located just about two blocks from the elementary school, and stayed open late during the summers which made it the perfect spot for a treat after…

  • Meyer Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake

    I’m back!  I didn’t really go anywhere, but life just got busy.  I am definitely a creature of habit and need my routine to keep me in check – so four snow days, a bridal shower, a gymnastics meet, a sick kiddo (who is scheduled for tubes in her ears on Friday – insert Momma-panic attack here) – and a stressful few weeks at work really have me out-of-sorts. Normally, I bake when things get stressful, but dang-it, I just haven’t had time!  I think…

  • Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes & A Bridal Shower

    Last weekend my sisters and I hosted a bridal shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Abbey.  Since it was a late afternoon, Sunday shower with impending bad weather, we kept the menu light and desserts simple.  The theme was “From Miss to Mrs” and it turned out to be an adorable celebration!

  • Brownie Tart with White Chocolate Biscoff Ganache + giveaway

    A week or so ago, I received a promotional shipment from Biscoff…a CASE of their cookie spread!  After I got my face out of the first jar of it – I mean seriously, it’s amazing, on a spoon, right out of the jar – I decided I really needed to figure out how to bake with it, and STAT.  Otherwise, my diet for the week was looking bleak.