I should probably start by saying that these cookies were the most spontaneous thing I ever did. No jokes. I'm not a spontaneous person at all. But it snowed yesterday, and nobody warned me. I know, someone should have said something. So I find myself getting home from work with a couple of inches of snow on the ground. All of my grand plans for the evening were cancelled. Instead, I slowly drove home, had some soup, and crawled into bed with my laptop. Honestly, that's the only place to be when the weather is so nasty. Suddenly though, I realized that I haven't posted anything on this blog since Sunday, and that was only a link to my guest post elsewhere. Which means that I decided it … [Read more...]
Pecan Pie Topped Mini Fudge Brownie Pies
Let's talk about decisions, shall we? I don't know about you, but I for one, hate making them. I'm talking about literally the smallest decisions there are. Like in the ice cream store when they ask if I want chocolate, vanilla or mixed. Um, so I know I don't want plain vanilla; my love of chocolate is just too strong. But as between chocolate or mixed...I don't know! How should I decide? And when the decisions get bigger, oy. Don't get me started. I hate decisions. That's why this dessert is so darn awesome! Say you just finished a humongous meal, like, the biggest one of the year. It's time for dessert, and you don't have much room. Imagine choosing between a fudgey chocolatey dessert … [Read more...]
Homemade Cherry Pie and a Lattice Crust Tutorial
When I was growing up, there was a store my family frequented that had an amazing bakery section. They baked everything fresh on premises, and it was all super delicious. My parents still shop there often, and they never leave the store without a loaf or two of their amazing homemade bread, or maybe a couple of bagels. There's one treat we often used to buy from this bakery that stood out in my mind above all else. Their cherry pie never looked very elegant. It was wrapped in saran wrap that often stuck to the top a bit, and the "lattice" crust was made from a cutter, not an actual lattice. But nobody could care about that, because it was just so delicious. We didn't get this pie often, and … [Read more...]
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake
Let me tell you a story about a recipe that almost never was. No, that isn't right. Let me tell you a story about a recipe that was almost never shared. Here's what happened. I had a couple of graham cracker pie crusts that had to be used up before Passover. I also had a couple of packages of Tofutti cream cheese in my fridge. Are you seeing a pattern? Yep, I knew I was going to be making cheesecake. Non-dairy cheesecake, to be precise. As I said, I had more than one crust, so I decided to go against my golden rule and double a recipe the first time I tried it. It came out of the oven looking gorgeous, so I was totally excited. My father was around, so I offered him a piece. And he … [Read more...]
Tiny Pecan Pies and a Pie Crust Tutorial
Until a couple of months ago I was absolutely terrified of making my own pie crust. Any and all desserts that involved pie crust started with one out of the freezer aisle in the grocery store. Then one of my coworkers asked if he could order a pie as a treat for his family for Rosh Hashanah. My first instinct was to say no, after all, I had never made a pie crust, and didn't want to try it for the first time on a customers. But as I have mentioned before, I never like to turn down a customer, so I did some research, and I said yes. I explained that it was going to be my first time making a homemade pie crust, and he agreed. I spent a long time searching the internet for advice and … [Read more...]