Put this on your weekend baking list...

My dad and my sister were here this week...we were celebrating my dad's 70th birthday. (Yay, Dad!)

We had plans to go to a Willie Nelson concert, but at the last minute, it was postponed. 
Willie!  How dare you?!? ;)  (How can anyone stay mad at Willie Nelson?)

Anyway...the week was still a whirlwind.  So much so, that I have no new recipe or cookies for you.

I did, however, make this:

It's a Triple Coconut Cream Pie.  The recipe is from Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen.  If you have the book, make it TODAY.  Ok, or tomorrow.  I followed his recipe to a T, no changes with the exception of omitting the white chocolate garnish.

In lieu of a new recipe, how about a recipe rewind?  Whip up these salted butterscotch bars over the weekend.  My son offered to PAY me to make them again.  See if you can get some cash from your kids, too.

{this recipe was originally posted in 2012, here.}

How often does your child offer to pay YOU to make something?  It really doesn't happen often, um, ever, around here.

A few weeks ago, I volunteered to provide a tray of blondies for an event.  Now, if your house is like my house, all sweets must be "tested" before leaving the premises.

Kiddo was 2 bites in and announced,

"I will PAY you to make more of these."

Ok. Deal.  What do you think I should charge?  $2?  $10? A promise he'll come home every weekend when he's away at college?  A promise that he'll let me choose his bride, her dress, and spend every holiday and birthday with us, forever and ever, amen?

Yeah, that ought to do it.

Kiddo is right about these...they are one of our new favorite recipes for spring.  Heck, spring, summer, winter, or fall. (Are you singing James Taylor right now?)

The dangerous thing about these bars is...they are SO easy to make.  You won't even need your
mixer....just a bowl and a spoon.

Now, you will be using Imitation Butter Flavoring. 

I know, it sounds a little scary.  I'm not asking you to drink it straight up.  You'll use a teaspoon.  And, if you cut your blondies into 24 squares, you'll only consume 1/24th of a teaspoon in each one.  You can do this.

Here's the recipe...you don't even have to pay me.

Salted Butterscotch Blondies

ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 cups dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. butter flavoring
1 & 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
3 eggs, lightly beaten
12 ounces butterscotch chips
1/4 tsp. flaky sea salt

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a 9x13" pan.  Set aside.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat.  Once melted, pour the butter into a bowl and stir in the sugar, salt, baking powder, vanilla and butter flavoring until combined.

Stir in the flour, and then the lightly beaten eggs.  Stir until thoroughly combined.  Stir in the butterscotch chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with an offset spreader.  Sprinkle on the flaky sea salt.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.

{adapted from The King Arthur Flour's Baking Companion}

 Happy Weekend! 

I Just Blogged to Say I Love You (Vol. 11)

1. I have to start with these tacos.  (It seems like I am constantly talking tacos.)  These babies from Picky Palate were the BIGGEST hit.  Kiddo was literally bouncing in his chair as he scarfed them down.  So good, so easy.

2. Bars, bars, bars.  I love all the bars.  (Different from the bars I loved in college.) ;) This dark chocolate chili almond is my new favorite.

3. If I'm not obsessing over tacos, I'm probably eating pizza.  I was just gifted this pizza cookbook, and I can't wait to dive in.  The crust recipes alone had me drooling, but the recipe for pizza sauce made with beer totally sold me.

4. Why don't my kitchen mistakes turn out as delicious as this one?

5. I had the pleasure of meeting the author of this book series at an event here before Christmas.  His books follow a police chief in a small town in France.  The books are utterly charming...and between solving crimes, there's a lot of great food...and romance, too.  Good reads. ♥

6. Cake Topper necklace.  Kate Spade always seems to know what I need. (I use the term "need" loosely.)

8. Speaking of cake, this one just bowled me over.  How gorgeous is that!?!

9. Cake must be followed by ice cream, right?  How about sundaes involving croissants, wine, and the cutest PINK cherries you've ever seen?

10. So, this happened.

11. Can I get an amen?

Have a happy week, you guys! ♥

Wake up and smell the...Nutella.

I am not a morning person.  I love mornings once I get up and get moving, but actually *getting up?* Not a fan.  Give me my quilts, and pillow, and snuggles, please.

Because I'm a little slow going, easy breakfasts are my friend.  This one is going to be your friend, too.

This baked Nutella oatmeal comes together in a snap, bakes up quickly, and will be sure to start your day off on the right foot...morning person or not.

The recipe also has a secret ingredient...

...no, not this.  I do use this in the recipe, but you can substitute any milk.

The secret ingredient is...

...yep.  Baby Food.  Baby food prunes to be exact. 

Don't be scared.  The prunes keep the baked oatmeal from drying out and they also add sweetness without adding extra sugar.  The sugar in the Nutella is the only sugar in the recipe!

Baked Nutella Oatmeal

1 egg
1/2 cup baby food prunes
1 cup unsweetened vanilla coconut almond milk (or any milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup Nutella
3 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Grease a 9"x13" pan.  Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together.  Stir in the oats, baking powder and salt.


Pour into the prepared pan.  Smooth into an even layer.


Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until baked through.  Let cool 5 minutes before cutting into squares and serving.



Cover and refrigerate leftovers; reheat in the microwave.

{Feel free to add a few chopped almonds to make the oatmeal prettier.  If you want to be really decadent, drizzle some Nutella over the top.  Mmmm...}

Take that, mornings.

Pizza, my love...Homemade Cornmeal Pizza Crust

Pizza...I will eat you in a box.  I will eat you with a fox.
I will eat you in a house.  I will eat you with a mouse.

You get the point.  I LOVE me some pizza. 

Every Friday night, we have family movie and pizza night.  I usually make the pizza, but I use a frozen crust.  Pizza crust is so easy to make, though, I'm not sure why I ever buy it. #lazy

This is my new favorite: Cornmeal Pizza Crust.  If you like that little crunch that cornmeal gives on the bottom of your pizza crust, you'll love it mixed into the dough.

 

Homemade Cornmeal Pizza Crust
{makes 2}

2 & 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
1/2 cup cornmeal, plus more for pizza stone
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 & 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 TBSP olive oil, plus more for pizza stone
1 cup warm water

Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, mix all of the ingredients on low until combined.


The mixture will look rough. Don't worry.


Dump out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes.  Use more flour if the dough starts sticking to the surface.  After kneading, the dough will be smooth.

Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with an oiled piece of plastic wrap.  Place in a warm area and let rise for 45 minutes.


Remove the plastic wrap, knead the dough one or two times to release the air, replace the plastic wrap and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Coat 2 pizza stones (or cookie sheets) with olive oil and sprinkle with cornmeal.  Divide the dough in half and stretch each half to make a circle.  The cornmeal in the dough will make it a little more susceptible to tearing...just pinch those areas together.

Place the toppings on the pizza (here I used pesto, roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts, ricotta, and parmesan, + pinch of red pepper).  Place one pizza stone on the very bottom oven rack and one in the top third.  Set the oven to 450.  Bake for 8 minutes.  Rotate the pizzas and bake for an additional 6 minutes, or until the crust is golden and cheese is melted.


Pizza.  I will eat you here or there.  I will eat you anywhere. ♥
 

Wanna Neck?

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Have you ever looked at vintage valentines?  Oh my gosh...they are THE best!  Of course, the illustrations are darling, but they have the best puns!


So, this is my version of a punny valentine: Wanna Neck?


My child assures me that "no one" knows what "necking" means.  Which just confirms my suspicion that kids these days don't watch nearly enough Happy Days reruns.

When Mr. E, king of the puns, came home from work, I had finished the giraffes, but the hearts didn't have wording on them, yet.  I was SURE he would be able to guess the pun.

Guess, I told him...guess the valentine pun!  Want to know what he said?

"Giraffe-ter my heart?"
Giraffe-ter my heart. Really.

We could not stop laughing.

Our family is weird.  But, you knew that from these cookies already.

To make these giraffe valentine cookies, you'll need:

• giraffe cut-out cookies 
• royal icing, tinted with AmeriColor Super Red and Deep Pink
• couplers and tips (#2, #1)
• disposable icing bags
• squeeze bottles
• toothpicks
• black food coloring pen

Use a #2 tip to outline the giraffe with pink icing.  Add a tail and horn.

Before thinning, reserve some piping consistency red icing for later.  Thin the pink and red icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  (Reserve some of the white icing for piping details later.) You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin.  Count of 2-3 is good.  Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed.  Pour into squeeze bottles.


Working 6-8 cookies at a time, flood the outlines with the thinned pink icing, using a toothpick to guide to the edges and pop large air bubbles. 


Starting with the first cookie filled, drop dots of thinned red icing onto the pink.  Drag a toothpick down the center of each dot to make a heart.
(Wipe the toothpick after each drag for a "clean" heart.  If you look at the hearts, you can see where I forgot to wipe the toothpick on a dot...there's a line down the top.)

Let the cookies dry at least 30 minutes.


Use a #1 tip to add a mane, heart on the tail, hooves, detail on the face, and heart on the horn.

Let the cookies dry uncovered 6-8 hours or overnight.

The next day, add the eye with a black food coloring pen.

Happy ♥ Day!  

Made with Love: Stamped Almond Shortbread Cookies

I let out a little squeal when I first pressed this stamp into my cookie dough.  How *cute* is that?


Let me tell you about the cookie recipe first: almond shortbread.  The recipe is simple and straightforward...and it contains no eggs or baking powder that might make the cookie too poofy to hold the impression from the stamp.

The cookies may be simple, but don't be fooled; they are fabulous!  Buttery, almond-y(?), and slightly salty...my husband declared these some of his favorite cookies ever.  Even it you don't plan to use the cookie stamps, I beg you to try these, just flattening out the dough with a glass.


The stamps are from World Market.  I picked mine up at my local store, but they're available online, too.  Yay! (Update: you can also find similar cookie stamps on Amazon.)


You can see that the cookies do poof a bit in the oven, but I still think you can see the imprint just fine.  If a little poof bothers you, (a.) please don't look at my midsection, and (b.) try replacing some of the butter with shortening.  I baked these right after stamping, and also tried popping them in the freezer for 10 minutes prior to baking...the freezing made no difference.

Stamped Almond Shortbread Cookies

{makes 15}

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
electric pink food coloring
2 & 1/3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, plus more for dipping the stamps

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment.  Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, salt and sugar together until fluffy.  Beat in the almond extract and pink food coloring.


{You'll want the dough to be fairly bright at this stage, as the flour will mute the color a bit.}

On low speed, add in the flour, mixing until combined.


Spoon some flour onto a plate for dipping the stamps (or the bottom of a glass) before pressing into the dough.  Use a pastry brush to brush off the excess.


Roll the dough into 2" balls.  Press the floured stamps into the balls of dough.


Trim off the excess if desired.

Bake for 12 minutes.  Let cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

{Adapted from King Arthur Flour Essential Shortbread}

♥Made with Love♥

Chocolate Almond Cherry Biscotti...don't try to resist them.

This picture pretty much sums up my loves in life: red + white, hearts, valentines, polka dots, cherries, almonds and chocolate.




{Raise your hand if you'd like to see heart-shaped everything year-round.}


I love biscotti. If you've never made them before, they bake twice.  For the first bake, the dough is shaped into a log.  Then, the baked dough is cooled a bit, sliced, and baked again.  This ensures cookies with a great crunch.


{Anyone else see that heart-shaped almond?  While we're on the subject...has anybody seen Drew Barrymore's new book, Find It In Everything?  I think I must buy it.}


The cookies are crunchy and chocolatey.  Chock-full of chopped almonds and sweet dried cherries, they're dipped in melted semisweet chocolate to make them extra special.

Perfect for dessert, perfect with a cappuccino, perfect for breakfast, perfect for packaging and giving this Valentine's Day.

Chocolate Almond Cherry Biscotti...you'll love them.

Click over to Imperial Sugar for the recipe.