Think what a better world it would be if we all-the whole world-had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap.
~ Robert Fulghum, author
Imagine if we could do that, just like when we were kids. I agree with Mr. Fulghum, the world would be a better place. The only question is… Continue reading
If you’re looking for buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookies with a nutty crunch, look no further than these cream cheese shortbread cookies flavored with toasted walnuts and orange. The addition of cream cheese transforms these from the traditional sandy and crumbly shortbread to lighter, softer cookies. For an even more cake-like texture, roll the dough into balls instead of using a cookie cutter. Continue reading
Forgive me for being a bit repetitive, but I can’t seem to stop myself from baking almost every pumpkin treat I see on Pinterest. Today, I baked snickerdoodle cookies that have gone through a seasonal makeover with the addition of pumpkin purée, nutmeg, allspice, and ground ginger. Another ingredient I added is maple sugar, an intriguing new item in my pantry I recently found at Trader Joe’s.
Aaaaah! It’s finally starting to cool off here in Southern California, which really gets me in the mood for fall baking. I look forward to this time of the year, when I can relax with a cup of hot cocoa and a sweet treat. A couple of weeks ago, I featured a pumpkin coffee cake, and this time, I have a pumpkin cookie recipe to share with you. If you are a fan of soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookies, you will definitely like these. They are tender and fluffy, almost resembling mini cakes.
I have always loved reading catalogs from my favorite stores like West Elm, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, and CB2. To this day one of my guilty pleasures is leafing through pages looking for food styling inspirations and new props to use for plating. I’ve been busy lately, but yesterday I finally had a time to relax with a cup of coffee, a cookie or two (or three) and my pile of catalogs. Naturally, I found a few things I want so I folded down the page corners and left the catalogs conspicuously on the coffee table in the hopes my husband would get some hints for my upcoming birthday. I wonder if it will work? Continue reading
I have been lucky to visit New York City on a regular basis and my fondness for “The Big Apple” has been well-documented on this blog (here, here, and here). Every time I go, I am armed with a long list of restaurants, and I eat often in order to check off as many as I can. Undoubtedly, new restaurants get added to the list; however, there are a few places that won’t get crossed off no matter how many times I go.
How many of you use Pinterest? Don’t you just love it? I use it most often to keep track of the many recipes I find on the internet that I would love to try. However, I keep “pinning” these delicious-looking recipes, but I never seem to actually make any of them. Well, today, I decided to peruse my “Recipes to Try” pinboard and picked out a very popular one, these Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies. I was intrigued by the combination of flavors. Sounds good, huh? Continue reading
I have a confession to make. I have never eaten what is perhaps American’s favorite flavor combination – peanut butter and jelly. While I love peanut butter, and I like all sorts of jams and jellies, I have never understood the cult-like obsession America has with this pair. In fact, the combination was utterly unappealing to me, and the more my friends tried to get me to eat it, the more I pursed my lips shut, folded my arms tightly and stomped my feet in defiance. Continue reading
This recipe pairs two of my favorite ingredients, meyer lemons and pistachios, in these soft, chewy cookies. They’re lemony, nutty, and very refreshing. They’re the perfect cookies for Spring. These Pistachio-Lemon Crinkle Cookies are addictive, with a great combination of tartness from the lemons and the sweetness from the powdered sugar. So quick and easy to make, you’ll be eating delicious cookies in less than an hour. Continue reading
If you’re a fan of Andes® Crème de Menthe candies as I am, then you’ll love these cookies. They are deliciously minty and chocolatey at the same time, perfect with a glass of milk. For those of you not familiar with these after-dinner treats, they are small rectangular candies consisting of a layer of mint sandwiched between layers of chocolate that come in a distinctive shiny green foil wrapper. While I rarely think to buy them, it always brings a smile to my face when I get them with the check at the end of a restaurant meal or find one on my pillow when staying at a hotel. Continue reading
The thought of making decorated sugar cookies has intimidated me for years. The whole process seems so laborious – making the dough, cutting out shapes, making the royal icing in a multitude of colors, and then actually decorating the cookies. This year, however, I wanted to give a special Valentine’s Day treat to Audrey, a friend’s 5-year old daughter. She loves cookies, especially sparkly ones. So, I decided that I would make heart-shaped cookies for a sweet little girl. Continue reading
While reorganizing my pantry, I discovered that I had a bag of Ghirardelli White Chocolate Chips that, really I don’t remember buying. I don’t use white chocolate very often, but since I found I now have a bag that is only a few months shy of its expiration date, I wanted to bake something with it. First of all, what is white chocolate, anyway? It is a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids, lecithin, and vanilla. Technically, it is not really chocolate because it does not contain any chocolate liquor, which is the smooth liquid paste which comes from grinding the cacao beans. It is this liquid paste that gives chocolate its flavor and color.
I have learned so much about cooking, and baking, in particular, since I started this blog. One of the things that I particularly enjoy about food blogging is that it forces me to be more creative and to seek out recipes that use ingredients in a way that is new to me. This is one of those recipes that intrigued me enough to give it a try. Continue reading
I am not normally a made-from-scratch cookie baker. For many years, I’ve been buying frozen cookie dough from my nephews’ school as part of their fundraising efforts. When both boys moved to different schools, the fundraiser ended and with it went my ready-made cookie dough supply. Now, I am “forced” to make cookie dough myself. I don’t really have any go-to cookie recipes aside from my Snickerdoodle Cookies so I’ve been testing out recipes I’ve seen on different blogs and websites. So far, I’ve discovered a couple of keepers, like the Pistachio-Tangerine Cookies and the Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies that I featured in previous blog posts. Continue reading
I have one more pistachio recipe to share and I think it’s a good one! I wanted to use some leftover pistachios to make a variation of the Russian Tea Cakes, which are usually made with walnuts. A quick search for a recipe on Google yielded a similar cookie, Pistachio Snowballs, from Dandy Sugar which combines pistachio with tangerine. This is a new flavor combination for me and I was immediately intrigued. Serendipitously, I had a couple of tangerines that I bought last week for a recipe I ended up not making (and frankly, don’t remember). I love it when I find a recipe to make and I have all the ingredients at hand.
daisy's world 