Malted Chocolate Frosting

This.  Frosting.

Slather up a few layers of chocolate cake with this stuff and you have a little piece of heaven. You can even eat it on graham crackers if you can't wait long enough for a cake to bake.

Read More

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

I've spent the last few days in bed with a huge box of tissues and my trusty little bottle of Nyquil.  I am dying to get up and bake, but baking is 95% less fun when you can't smell or taste, and also nobody wants a sick person to bake for them.  No one.

Luckily I have lot of recipes photographed just waiting to be edited and posted so hopefully there will be lots of action here this week. 

Also luckily, I just started watching Lie to Me on Netflix and while this is supposed to be treadmill material, this week I'm cheating.  So I have something to keep me company while I'm stuck in bed.  By the end of this week I'm going to be an expert on facial expressions and will probably be qualified to work for the FBI.  There are benefits to being sick after all.

Read More

Snickerdoodle Bread

When I first made this bread, people kept asking me what in the world was in it.  And I was like, Ummm.  Cinnamon.  

And sugar...

And I didn't mean to look at them like they were idiots, but really, I couldn't figure out what they were asking.  Turns out I'm the idiot because it finally dawned on me that what they were wondering about is the cinnamon chips. 

Truly, the magic of this bread is found in those cinnamon chips.  You could put those things in mud pies and they'd taste good.  I am a total convert, and the possibilities are endless.  I love them in this moist bread but they are equally wonderful in cookies, mixed into hot chocolate, or eaten by the spoonful from the bag. 

Totally your choice. 

This bread is a great starting point though. 

Read More

Frosted Pumpkin Spice Cookies

A few weeks ago I made a bunch of pumpkin treats for the kids in Chase's class to sample.  These cookies were by far the hit.  They are soft and fluffy and the cinnamon cream cheese frosting puts them over the top. 

Read More

Apple Pie Bread

The perfect way to celebrate the onset of the Thanksgiving season?  

Apple pie masquerading as bread. 

Usually I am weird about apples in baked goods, but they are amazing in this bread.  The caveat is that it needs to be eaten the day it's made.  Day-old baked goods made with apples taste like tin cans.

Sorry.  It's a fact.

Eating the loaf in one day won't be a problem, I promise. 

I love to use Braeburn apples for baking because they have a nice crisp apple flavor that really comes through.

Happy November!

Read More

Caramel Apple Freeze

Happy Halloween!!

My kiddos are out of school today, so we are spending the day playing Halloween games, getting free Jamba juice and cupcakes, trick-or-treating at daddy's work, and generally causing havoc. 

Wish I could send them to school tomorrrrrrow...  (Dude.  Seriously the one day of the year I do NOT miss teaching.)

Since I am genuinely concerned you may not consume enough sugar today, I thought I'd introduce you to my friend, the caramel apple freeze today.  These taste just like those Caramel Apple lollipops that are popular this time of year.

Are you doing anything fun to celebrate Halloween today?

Read More

Graveyard Grub

How is Halloween week treating everyone? We have been having a lot of fun carving pumpkins, watching Halloween movies, telling scary stories, and eating candy.  Last week I did a Fear Factor night with the youth at our church and it was awe.some. They bobbed for strawberries in a tub of water filled with live fish, dug through piles of worms in dirt, transported dog food with their mouths, ate sardines, and licked Nutella out of diapers. 

I LOVE teenagers.  Seriously they are hilarious.  Also they do chores for their parents which is kind of awesome.  I need to get me one of those.

In the meantime I am loving my little boys. This graveyard grub is a spooky spin-off of regular old muddy buddies, and my boys LOVE it.  It's creepy and gross, and looks like it came from underneath the ground.  Immediate hit, for sure.
  
{For regular old muddy buddies, you can omit the candies, and substitute 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar for the Oreo crumbs.}

Hope you love it as much as we do!

Read More

Peach Crisp

 

It's not peach season.  It's pumpkin season.  I get it.  But this recipe can't go unposted.  This is one of those recipes that I've made 3 times intending to photograph it, but it always disappears before I can get my camera on it.  The bottom crust has a buttery toffee-like taste to it, and the peach layer is gooey and peachy and sweet.  Top this with vanilla bean ice cream and you have pretty much the perfect dessert.

This crisp is SWEET. I love it the way it is, if I just have a small bowl, but you can also cut the sugar down a bit if you prefer.

Read More

Pooh Corner Peanut Butter Chocolate-dipped Sandwiches

October always makes me pine for Disneyland. Disneyland is just magical in October, completely decked out for Halloween and full of villains, pumpkins, and yummy treats.

I love Disneyland so much that our retirement plan currently consists of moving to a tiny house near the beach, hubby working the Jungle Cruise, and me working at Marceline's or Pooh Corner (my life's ambition, if we're being honest).

If you don't know these places of which I speak- click the links above.  And get a napkin for your drool.

Since we can't be at Disneyland right this second, I made this copycat of Pooh Corner's Peanut Butter Sandwiches.  I get one of these every time we visit and they are worth the 5 or 6 dollars they cost.

Looking for other Disneyland treats?  Check out these Tigger Tails or these Mickey Pops. 

Read More

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

The weather here has finally turned rainy and cold.  I hate the cold by itself, but I LOVE rainy days.  They remind me of living in Brussels and they make me so nostalgic for Europe.  Plus they are the best excuse for curling up by the fireplace with cocoa and a good book. 

And a cookie or two of course.

Read More