Peppermint Cookie Krispy Treats

Although I haven't blogged for awhile, I did do some baking around the holidays and I took photos so I could post them someday. These Krispy Treats were one of my favorite new recipes of the season. Inspired by the Peppermint JoJo's at Trader Joes, they are the perfect holiday treat.  Super fast and simple enough that your kids can help you make them.

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Peppermint Bark Buddies

Sometimes I make recipes and then post them two months later.

Honestly, it has been a busy few months and I needed a break to reevaluate my priorities and how I was allocating my time.  I feel like my kids will only be little for so long, and I don't want them to look back and remember me as always being in the kitchen and on the computer or constantly fending them off from treats that have yet to be photographed.  (Seriously, they hate that.)   I am slowly trying to rearrange the way I do things to make this a more positive aspect of my life and my children's lives. I am trying to get back to baking for them, and for other people, not for a blog post that sounds fun to write. 

I really did miss blogging.  I like to share pieces of our lives and treats that make us happy, but I am such a perfectionist that it was making me crazy.  Here's to being sporadic, imperfect, and a better steward of time in 2014.

Hope you all had wonderful & safe holidays surrounded by family & friends.  

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Maple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Some days I fail at life.  Last month Chase missed half his school Halloween party because he's on a year-round system and I forgot his track was on an early out schedule for the day.

 Never mind that the rest of the school and all of the buses were on a regular schedule for the day. (What!?)

This post is kind of like that. Today I'm posting an instagram photo to introduce you to these rolls.  That's right.  Instagram. They were SO good, gooey and nutty, that they were gone practically before I could blink.  Life fail.

Whatever though.  The point is that you need these in your life whether they were taken with a DSLR or a cell phone camera.  You won't judge me, right?

There is a TON of filling in these and that means that a lot of the brown sugar and nuts melts down to the bottom of the pan and makes the most delicious, sticky, toffee-like, mixture underneath.  Add the maple frosting and these rolls are a little piece of Autumn heaven.

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French Silk Coconut Cream Pie

Oops.  Sometimes I find pictures I took a few weeks a year ago and forgot to post.  This marriage of chocolate and coconut cream pies comes from Dorothy at Crazy for Crust, and was a big hit at our Thanksgiving table last year. 

If you have problems deciding what kind of pie to have, this recipe is for you.  Not that I'm limiting you to eating a single flavor of pie or anything.  But honestly, it's way easier if you can knock out two flavors in one pop. And then you have even more room for 5 other kinds of pie.

Thanksgiving is alllll about the pie.  Can I get an 'Amen'?

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Gooey Apple Coffee Cake

I may have to rename November "the season of brown".  I just noticed everything I've posted lately is BROWN.  It is the curse of Fall baking.  Usually I try to stagger my posts so that colors are equally distributed on the picture bar at the top of my blog, (I totally have problems), but this month is seems like everything I have is brown.

Brown can be delicious though right?  

Brownies.  Brown butter.

What about brown sugar glaze?  

This coffee cake is moist and gooey and has a delicious brown sugar glaze drizzled over the top.

Totally breakfast-worthy. 

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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!

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