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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.
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Quick and Easy Doughnuts
I’ve never posted this recipe, but only because it isn’t really a recipe. You don’t have to mix anything. You don’t have to knead, proof or tip-toe around rising dough. These are totally no-sweat, easy-peasy doughnuts. You buy a can of biscuits. You pour some oil into a pan. You drop the biscuits into the oil, and watch them sizzle for a couple of minutes. Then you burn your tongue because you can’t wait 2 blessed minutes for them to cool. And then, you feel guilty for…
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Chocolate Buttercream Cake
I love chocolate cake. Good chocolate cake might be my very favorite thing, ever. So when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. The first thing I noticed was that there were a LOT of ingredients, far more than any chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever tried before. I would strongly suggest pre-measuring your ingredients so they’ll be ready to add as you go along, and take the time to buy or cut the parchment circles for your cake pans. You’ll thank…
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Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
I’ve grown up around a lot of amazing cooks. Both of my Grandmothers rocked the kitchen, my mom and my mother-in-law are both awesome, and even my husband knows what he’s doing in there. In fact, two of my most treasured posessions are recipe books full of my Grandmothers recipes. My mom is practically famous for her chocolate chip cookies, and she made them all the time when we were growing up. You’d think that I would’ve watched her make them, but honestly – I didn’t…
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Honey & Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
Whoa. Hello there, ginormous picture! I’m trying something a bit different. I had this thought occur to me a few days ago that maybe my photos were too small for the design of my blog. And then, I became a bit obsessive about it, and couldn’t stop thinking about it. So I made them bigger. Quite a lot bigger, actually. And now they look enormous and I don’t know if I like it. So, I’m going to live with it for a few days and…
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The Ultimate Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
So, yeah. This might be a bit over the top. It’s also messy, frumpy, and haphazard. But really, who cares? When it comes to chocolate and peanut butter, you just can’t go wrong. You just can’t. And honestly, I love a cake that looks homemade. I love soft, fluffy frosting, irregular and imperfect frosting techniques and drizzles, garnishes and sprinkles… Do NOT offer me a cake covered in fondant and shaped like some cartoon character. It reminds me of the “bleedin’ armadillo groom’s cake” from…
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Caramel Pecan Apple Pie
So, you really can’t go wrong with apple pie. Am I right? Even bad apple pie is usually pretty tasty. Or maybe I’ve never had bad apple pie? Aaannnd, now that I say that, I’m envisioning really bad apple pie, so I guess I could theoretically imagine an apple pie so bad that it might not be worth the calories. But this one? For Pete’s sake, it’s covered in a crumb topping. And then. THEN. That crumb topping? It’s topped with toasted pecans and caramel…
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Fresh Squeezed Lemonade
So, this isn’t really a food recipe, but it’s super hot outside, and I had four pounds of lemons in a pretty bowl on my kitchen counter. (Am I the only one who decorates with lemons? They’re my favorite centerpiece and kitchen decor item.) And, since I recently discovered my Grandma’s old juicer I figured a big pitcher of fresh-squeezed lemonade was in order. It REALLY hit the spot after a few hours of working in our gardens. I’m a lemon-person anyway (obviously, hence the…
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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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Soft Pretzels
I am in love with these. I want to marry them and buy a house on the beach with them, and grow old with them. They are soft, buttery, salty, chewy…completely conducive to and encouraging of addictive behaviors. Don’t even try to be well-behaved and take just “one bite” of these. I made the mistake of delivering these to some low-carb dieters and let’s just say they weren’t very happy with me. But, I make no apologies for these. They are quite possibly my favorite recipe…
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Biscoff Truffle Brownies
Three awesome things happened yesterday. One, I got up at 7:30am (which is like sleeping in around here) and made some cinnamon rolls. Then, I took A NAP. Like, a NAP. On the couch. In the middle of the morning. And my husband took care of the girls and I slept, and it was FAN-tastic. I felt well-rested for the first time in months. Or years. Nearly eight years, to be precise. Secondly, I bought a new cake stand and I’m kind of in love…
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Easy Creme Brulee
I won’t make you listen to any more stories about my rough week. If you remember from a recent post, my daughter starts 1st grade tomorrow. And since I don’t have a time machine or (apparently) the ability to will time to slow down, I have put on my best happy face and hopefully hold back tears until I’m out of the school parking lot. OK, one more story. But technically, this isn’t a story, it’s really just information that you need to know…
