Sugar and Spice Snickerdoodles

Pumpkin Pie Spiced Snickerdoodles

I have always been a huge fan of  snickerdoodles. They are easy and just so delicious that they rarely last more than a day.  Snickerdoodles are the first cookie I learned to make as a child, so they have a special place in my heart. And as you know from previous stories I have shared with you all, I used to like to "play" around with recipes and change them up. It really shouldn't be much of a surprise that one of my first cookie recipes it one that has been changed and "updated" over the years. These are my favorite snickerdoodles!

The Perfect Last Bite

My mom's birthday was on September 1st. I wanted to make something really special and I had bookmarked this cake nearly a year ago. My mom loves lemon and you know I have blueberries. But this year the time didn't work out, I got called in to work on the day I was supposed to make her cake. So I had to find something to whip up fast for our family dinner/birthday dinner.

Sweet and Spicy Cupcakes

Welcome friends… I am back and tan (in a slightly raccoon-y pattern)  and ready to bake, 

I have so much to tell you from my vacation and SITS Bloggy Boot Camp. But unfortunately that isn't going to happen today… I still have 721 pictures to sort through along with at least 100 business cards and 15 pages of notes from Bloggy Boot Camp.  But instead of all that I thought I would tempt you with a bit of Cinnamon and  Honey Cupcakes with divine buttercream. (Honestly the buttercream is so amazing and truly luscious that I would most likely skip the cake in favor of a spoon.) But check out what my friend Katrina has deliciously decided to do with buttercream. It is breathtaking and this would be a perfect buttercream to make with it. Check it out here. Oh you are in for such a treat!!! 

A Tale of Two Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes along with smore's brownies, blueberry muffins , and chocolate chip,  pecan, banana bread for a friend's birthday. I heard these cupcakes were the hit of my gift basket. 

These cupcakes are a party in themselves!

Welcome Home Cookies Part #2

So the calamity of cookies continues. So a few days before dad's surgery I made another double batch of these delicious cookies. But I was in a hurry and tired  so mistakes were make, big mistakes. I used white sugar instead of brown sugar.  I didn't want to toss out all that butter and sugar so I continued on with the recipe (after a few choice words).  


So I baked the cookies and although they weren't what I was expecting (they were fluffy and cakey) but they were still yummy and I hate to toss out ingredients.  So I packed off a few to Courtney from Misadventures in Cooking and the rest were divided between work, friends and the overnight bag for the hospital.  Check out Courtney's post about me here!

Welcome Home Cookies: Part #1

Did you see the awesome post about me at FTLOB? Check it out here to learn something special about me and check out the giveaway. 

I am dedicating this post to the rocking Courtney from Misadventures in Cooking. She shares her cooking and baking triumphs and tribulations on her blog.  I need to share my cooking calamities more since they are not so few and far between lately. My family has certainly had our share of tribulations this week. My dad's surgery on Thursday was crazy, after an hour in surgery he had some blood pressure issues and they stopped surgery. He is fine and feeling good at home. The surgery is rescheduled for the end of May.


So I am so glad to be home. Moving sucks but I love my new place but with everything that has happened in the last 2 weeks, I haven't finished painting or hanging pictures. But it looks great and Sookie and I are feeling very at home. But the last few weeks have been a crazy mixed up calamity of events, starting with these cookies. 


These cookies were the first thing baked in my new apartment and oven. They turned out delicious and super  awesome despite the fact that I  bought the wrong kind of chocolate chips, I got bittersweet 60% dark chocolate baking chips. But after my momentary freak out (it was 11 pm, no way was I running to the store) I decided to change up the recipe. Instead of 1 1/2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips I added 1 cup of white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the bittersweet chocolate chips.  They turned out super yummy and the cookies didn't last 3 hours at work. LOL that is why I have no pictures of these freaking delicious cookies, so I used this picture from Martha Stewart. This was the first batch of cookies. Check out part #2 on Thursday. Enjoy!

Keri's Chocolate Coma x 3

I had a blast baking with my cousin Keri. Normally my dad and I are the ones making all of the latkes (potato pancakes) but this year I also got to help Keri with making a salted carmel.  Although we had a problem with the candy thermometer, the carmel came out delicious. The cupcakes were divine, chocolate cake filled with salted carmel and topped with dark chocolate butter cream. I could have devoured more than a few cupcakes, but I was good only ate 1 cupcake along with 1 piece of candy and 2 of Keri's chocolate covered coconut macaroons (recipe to follow).

Keri 

We all agreed that the cupcakes were delicious the first day, but they were even more rich and gooey on the second day.  I really can believe Keri pulled these awesome cupcakes off with a broken candy thermometer and no piping bags.   Enjoy these sinfully delicious cupcakes and macaroons!

Food in Disguise

A sweet treat for brunch

We disguise food all of the time. According to pop culture, frog, snake and alligator taste like chicken. There are forty thousand chicken recipes to make chicken taste like something else. There is garlic chicken, lemon chicken, butter chicken, etc.  But it is still chicken (or maybe it is alligator)! As we prepare for the fall festivals, holidays and all of those rich feasts I have a somewhat healthy and absolutely divine treat for you.