Can you believe we are just days away from 2015? Before I go on about this heavenly dessert I couldn’t help but think (sitting here at my kitchen table with my laptop, nibbling on roasted pumpkin seeds) about how the year has quickly flown by. Do you all feel the same way, or is it just me?
Archives for December 2014
Chocolate Peppermint (Brookie) Cookies
In case you have a little more baking muscle in you and not quite tired of sugar just yet (me? never) I have a chocolate peppermint cookie, more like a brookie recipe for it’s brownie like center, that I had to share with you before Christmas.
I have always admired chocolate peppermint bark at Williams Sonoma from afar, which pushed me to create my peppermint bark marshmallows, but that wasn’t enough. It never is, is it? I had to create something chocolate/peppermint in a cookie form.
Olive Oil Cake
Oddly enough, and usually the case, I have food on my mind while running. I know, the thought of food meandering in my head while working up a sweat to “Eye of the Tiger” does seem unconventional, and well, odd but I just can’t help but think of food, even on a run. Lately more about sweets than savory. Then again, it is December, the unofficial month of sugar, where there is more sugar in my kitchen than usual.
Gingerbread Waffles
I love lazy weekend days like today after an intense week of holiday activities …
Since dreaming about the flavor of gingerbread for well over a week now, I thought what would be more perfect than gingerbread waffles this morning with a cup of hot chocolate, of course, and topped with homemade marshmallows. As if there was any other way.
Peanut and Cashew Brittle
If you are looking to give a homemade food gift this year, but don’t have too much time, this is the perfect gift to give. A sweet, slightly salty, buttery nut crunch (yes, all that in one!) that is one of the easiest, and quickest candies to make. Who doesn’t love candy, especially when it’s homemade?
Chanukah Sugar Cookies (gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, vegan)
It’s that time again for the joys of baking and the glorious cookies it brings. The perks of being in the kitchen. So many things to bake this month. We will worry about calories another month … right?!This is a sugar cookie recipe I make every Chanukah. It’s my youngest sons’ favorite cookies, mine too. We both love sugar cookies. Okay, I really haven’t met a cookie I didn’t like, neither have they (!) but for Chanukah, we bake sugar cookies. 🙂
Baked Sweet Potato Doughnuts with Maple Glaze
I will admit proofing dough (twice) then frying for a good long time is not something I look forward to doing after my big batch of latkes earlier in the week, even though it is customary to fry doughnuts for Chanukah. Although, I wouldn’t mind eating them (along with the rest of the gang) if a doughnut fairy (or is it donut?) came to make a batch of course … so with no fairy near, I decided to bake these sweet potato doughnuts – that’s right my friends sweet potato – nothing like you ever had before. Seriously.
Zucchini Parsnip Latkes
I cannot imagine Chanukah without frying. It’s just what we do. The symbol of Chanukah, without getting all technical here, is about the miracle of how one day of oil lasted for eight days. And so, to commemorate the holiday, we traditionally fry things in oil, reminding us of all the miracles of Chanukah. When Chanukah (and Christmas) are over I usually hope for the miracle of losing the extra pounds. But that’s another story …
Peppermint Bark Marshmallows
It’s December and the holidays are near, which means the legendary flavor of peppermint (and chocolate) is all around us in just about every sweet product. The hard part, with all the wonderful treats I see, is that rarely can I bring home something for my family to enjoy. Every ingredient label reads “contains wheat, dairy, soy, egg”. So when the holidays (and holiday gifts) come around my kitchen goes into overtime mode after the little guys go to bed. Aside from the flavor combination of peppermint and chocolate that we know and love, there is one other important component to the holidays of early winter …
Scallion Egg Piroshki (Galette), in honor of my Grandmother Dina
This recipe is in memory of my grandmother, who would make this for most of our big family gatherings. I think she knew they were my favorite. I was pretty transparent about it as I would run into her house straight for the kitchen, barely a hello, looking for scallion egg piroshki (meaning “dough with filling” in Russian also known as a galette, in French) fresh out of the oven. It was my most favorite thing she would make. That and her crescent walnut cookies coated with tons of powdered sugar. Hers tasted a hundred times better than mine. Though she made it with gluten, that’s not what made it different. There was something she did with the scallions. They were always so incredibly soft and coated with egg. Nobody in the family has the recipe, unfortunately, so I had to settle for guessing.