Chocolate Macaroon Bars

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! It certainly doesn't feel like a Monday, and I'm perfectly okay with that. I'm also at peace with a few more days of indulgence. This is one of the few times when it actually feels "normal" to bake a ridiculous amount of...everything.

Joyeuses Fêtes

Wishing Everyone an enchanted, safe, food-filled holiday season! ♥

Bocca di Nonna with Chai-infused Ganache

Can you believe that it's already the 22nd?! (Wasn't Thanksgiving Halloween just last week?)

It's okay, really. Everything will be fine. And as soon as I can locate the source of glitter that's Everywhere (on the kitchen counters, on table tops, in the utensil drawers, in my hair, on the cats, inside coffee cups...), things will be even better.

Know what also makes everything better? Cookies. Especially sandwich cookies. Especially sandwich cookies that sandwich a layer of ganache.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cinnamon-Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Since my previous attempt at a layered carrot cake failed, I decided to make cupcakes instead. Unlike other pans, the muffin tin rarely throws batter-filled fits over issues like depth and diameter. (Yes, cake pans, I'm eyeballing you.)

Cupcakes have kind of become the baker's pet of my cake world.

They're adorkable.

almond lime glacier cookies

Is there anything more lovely than the fragrant marriage between almonds & limes? Maybe; especially if you're a chocolate fan. But sometimes you need something refreshing, perky and light. These cookies are fluffy, edible pillows of bliss. They receive their almond love via a healthy dose of extract, but the next time I make this recipe (and there shall be a next time!) I might use almond meal in place of cake flour. Whilst preparing the cookies, the limes spoke to me in their adorable limey way; they said they'd fallen madly in love with almonds + wished to see more of them in the future.

Who am I to deny a cookie, or true love?

If you are craving a little bit of summer in the middle of the holiday rush, I think you will adore these spritely cookies. (It goes without saying that I could live on limes and lemons all year round.)

vanilla honey caramels

Despite the fact that I've made it several times, I still get antsy when it comes to making caramel (this has little to do with the errant scars left on two fingertips.) What scares me more than molten lava burns? Drama.

Cinnamon and Plum-Tea Madeleines (Tuedays with Dorie)

This Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was actually one of last week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipes. (The other was a honey almond fig tart.) This week's recipe options include ice cream and plums. Confused? Probably not. I am. But I didn't have any coffee today (my default excuse for everything lately).

Dark Chocolate and Walnut Toffee

If you're feeling a bit lethargic from all the holiday decorating, shopping, cooking, baking, card-writing, wrapping, ribbon-curling (+ screaming!) - I have just the recipe. You don't even need an oven, just a willingness to patiently watch butter and sugar transform into luxurious molten toffee.

I don't know about you, but I find butter transformation therapeutic.

Red Velvet Brownies

My views on fate and destiny are somewhat skewed, in that I tend to believe in them only when it's convenient to do so. But, when I can muzzle the logical half of my brain (not an easy task), part of me likes to believe in fairy tales, happily ever afters, and soul-mates. These brief lapses in reason may not last long, but they visit just often enough allow for wishing on stars, stray eyelashes, and birthday candles. :)

brown butter cranberry shortbread bars

The good; this recipe.
The bad; a cake, lost.
The ugly; overflowing batter. Everywhere.

This weekend I attempted to make a basic carrot cake. Apparently my cake pans are not "deep" enough to accommodate carrot cake's lofty standards. (I blame the shallow pie pans they've been spooning with for the past few months.)

Luckily my oven was already a hot mess and the cake batter spillage merely added to its edgy, artistic appearance.

Goat Cheese Brownies

Oh goat cheese, not only do you shine in appetizers and entrées, now you've stepped into the sometimes discriminating world of desserts...way to shatter that glass ceiling (you too, bacon).

When I found this recipe in Better Homes and Gardens, I had to make it, immediately. I love recipes that call for an ingredient that's way out of left field (or is it "from" left field? I'm terrible with sports adages). Black pepper, chili powder, butternut squash etc...the line between savory and sweet is only as thick as we want it to be.