Poinsettia Cookies

Tis the season! Cookies and Poinsettias! So why not Poinsettia cookies? This recipe comes from a cookbook I’ve had for a long time called Short+Sweet by Gale Gand. What caught my eye was a way to make pinwheel cookies, using pastel sugars and popsicle sticks. A cute idea for kids’ parties or any summer get-together. But the note about poinsettia cookies really caught my attention, and I knew this would be a great Christmas cookie. The dough is straightforward: cream cheese, butter, and an egg yolk creamed together. To this, mix in flour and baking powder. Once all the dry

Moscato Truffles

The month of December brings a whole ‘nother level of busy to our lives. In addition to the typical hustle and bustle, we are expected to attend holiday parties, plays, buy presents and bake cookies. Time is at a premium, which makes this recipe for holiday truffles a life-saver. Or, at least a time-saver (So dramatic!) These no-bake treats can be made the night before and kept in the fridge. No one needs to know how little effort they required. The original recipe comes from delish.com. When I read the reviews, it seemed that more than half the people had

Pie Crust

Tis the season for holiday baking! There’s a good chance you’ll want to make a pie for either Thanksgiving or Christmas (In my case, both) For many years I used pie crust from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. It was reliable, and while it wouldn’t win any awards, it was at least decent. Then, something changed. At first I thought maybe I got a bad batch. I bought some more, still it wasn’t right, something had changed with the texture, the look, even the smell was different. Every time I opened a package, I didn’t like what my

German Chocolate Cake

November 9 is the anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, a pivotal event in world history. It seems only fitting to mark this occasion with something German. My first thought was to make a sauerkraut meal (“Crickets, crickets. . .”). Then, I switched directions and got a much more enthusiastic reaction: German Chocolate Cake! (“Massive applause, standing ovation!!!. . .”). Ironically, this cake has nothing to do with Germany. In fact, it’s named after its English-American creator, Sam German. But we’ll go with it, anyway. I found this recipe at recipe-me.com and I like the way it came

Snickers Pie

With Halloween approaching, get ready for the fun part: leftover candy! If you’re serious about trick-or-treating, there are going to be extras. No one wants to be THAT house, the one that ran out of candy. For shame! So, stock up, hand out the Twizzlers FIRST, and ration the Snickers bars because you’ve got to try this recipe: Snickers Pie, found at thekitchenismyplayground.com. To start, you’re going to need 1½ cups of chopped Snickers bars. That equates to about 12 so-called “Fun-sized” bars. For the record, I think the LARGE candy bars should be called “Fun-sized,” don’t you? More candy

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp is the perfect dessert during apple season! All the tastes of apple pie in a fraction of the time. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream and prepare for the applause!

Strawberry Shortcake Roll

Today’s recipe delivers all the wonderful flavors of strawberry shortcake: fresh strawberries, whipped cream and shortcake, in one package. I found this recipe on crazyforcrust.com and to my great distress the cake looked like a complete failure at one point. In the end, I snatched victory from the (hungry) jaws of defeat. Normally I wouldn’t post a recipe before getting it right all the way through, but people from the neighborhood Bridge Club are clamoring (“Clamor! Clamor! Clamor!”) for the recipe, and I am here to deliver! The aforementioned Bridge Club, is not named for a card game, but it

Red White and Blueberry Crumble Bars

Here’s a red, white and blue version of a simple berry-crumble bar. I found this recipe years ago on Allrecipes.com, using blueberries. The notes said that any berry would work, so I thought why not strawberry? Better yet, why not both? By making this half blueberry and half strawberry, you create red, white and blue all in one 9×13 pan. (I’m counting the neutral-colored crust as white here) Simply mix up the dough ingredients and pat half of it into a 9×13 pan. The berries are mixed with some sugar and cornstarch and then added to the pan. The rest

Sula and Spice

and everything nice!

dessert