chocolate crinkles

A sweet friend of mine gave me this book recently and I've been dying to make something from it. The book is filled with the cutest illustrations of directions in a fun, nicely designed layout. Just my kind of book if you ask me (my friends know me oh so well)! I decided to make crinkles which I had never heard of before but reminded me of a traditional cookie I make during the holidays. Much to my surprise, the crinkles turned out to be more of a cake-like-brownie ball, even my not sweet loving fiance had a few. Needless to say, I can't wait to make another sweet treat from the cookiepedia.

Crinkles

Ingredients:
6 oz bittersweet chocolate. finely chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
powdered sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 325. Use a double broiler to melt the chocolate and butter slowly. Beat eggs and sugar until thick and smooth. Add the vanilla and melted chocolate mixture. Sift flour, powders and salt and gradually add to egg mixture. Cover dough with plastic and let chill for 2 hours. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Rolls 1 inch balls or dough and toss in powdered sugar. Bake for 8-10 minutes rotating half way. Cool the sheets 5 minutes before transferring to cooling racks. Enjoy!

the sweetest tags

As you may know I'm a sucker for sweets so it only seems fitting that I've found a sweet little bakery to spend most my days in know and boy do I love it! I wanted to share my Valentine's tags I designed for the shop's sweet treats. A super simple design that says exactly what it needs. If you're in need of some treats either by stopping in the shop or by mail, Sweet and Saucy Shop is the place to get them. 

photos from melody brandon

french toast in a cup

I think it's safe to say that anytime you are constantly busy and have a million things to do, a sickness gets you. I've been hit with the weirdest sore throat ever, so basically I've been laying low and browsing the web to keep myself from going insanely bored. On a pinning spree the other night, I came across this brilliant idea and thought it sounded more than magnificent for my ailing throat. 2 minute french toast, BAM! 

Basically all you need is 2 pieces of bread, or enough  to fill your cup of choice, cube the bread, but a pad of butter at the bottom of the cup, fill with bread. In a separate bowl, mix one egg, 3 tablespoons milk and cinnamon, mix well and add over bread mixture. Let it sit there and soak into the bread for a minute. Next, into the microwave for a minute and add increments of 10 seconds after that until it's cooked to your liking. Add syrup and you have quickie french toast! 

plentiful peppermint

Leftovers are abundant over the holidays and although I can't complain about them, there comes a time that you do need to find ways to use those babies. Well I did exactly that. This white chocolate peppermint popcorn seems to do the trick for leftover candy canes and I can't be more excited to try it. I don't know about you, but anything with mint and I'm in! 

oh nutmeg

Even though the holidays are over, I still have a large box of cookies left over that I can't seem to part with. Holiday cookies are one of my favorite things and I suppose it's something that I like to savor a little after the holiday madness is over. One of the more fun cookies to make is what my family calls nutmeg logs. It's kind of like playing with play dough, you get to roll the dough out into long strips and cut them into little logs. You then frost them with powdered sugar frosting and scrap it to look like wood. Check it out for yourself.

nutmeg logs

sift 3 cups flour and 1 tsp nutmeg. cream 1 cup butter and 3/4 cup sugar. blend in 1 egg and 2 tsp vanilla.  gradually add the ingredients and mix well. shape dough into long rolls about 1/2 '' diameter. cut into 3'' lengths and place on un-greased baking sheet. bake until light brown 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees. cool and frost with powdered sugar frosting. mark frosting with fork to resemble bark. sprinkle with nutmeg. 

sprinkle wonderland

Yesterday you could've called me master cookie maker. Like I've said before, every year I dedicate one day to making all of my grandma's traditional Christmas cookies and let me tell you my house smelt amazing. One of my favorites that I make are spritz cookies. Half of the reason they are so fun is because I dye them red and green before really decorating them, so they already have some cookie character.

Grandma's Sprtiz Recipe

Mix 1 cup soft butter, 2 1/3 cup sugar, 3 egg yolks, 1 tsp vanilla. Work with hands. Add gradually 2 1/2 cup sifted four. Chill dough and run through a cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate with candies and sprinkles.

Bake until set but not brown. Temp 400 for 7- 10 minutes.

* If you want colored dough, before chilling dough, half the dough and drop a few drops of food coloring in each pile and mix until desired color.

three ingredient cookie

Last night, the chilly temperature outside made me ready to get warm and bake up some treats. I had a bit of a different sweet cookie idea in mind (peppermint meringues) until I was gathering my ingredients and my man peeked his head in the kitchen and said COOKIES, that sounds good! (he's not the sweet type, ironic I know) So I compromised because it's rare that that he craves sweets and experimented with a 3 ingredient peanut butter cookie. Yes, only 3 ingredients, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup peanut butter, and 1 egg. Definitely the easiest and tastiest peanut butter cookie ever. I would recommend these for the outside cookie of a make your own ice cream sandwich.   

If you're looking for more of a Thanksgiving treat, try these pumpkin sandwhich cookies, I'll be making them this week too! 

inside out caramel apples

There is something so appealing about eating caramel apples as the seasons change. With the weather in flux and certain fruits not in season, apples are regularly available and especially tasty during this time of year. When I see rather large size apples, the first thing that comes to mind is making caramel apples which I'm sure can be messy. Surprisingly, I have never really made them on my own, ergo trying a different version didn't turn out the way I planned (I used store bought caramels and melted them down, couldn't cut the apples after the caramel hardened). Although I think these inside out caramel apples are the best idea because there is never enough caramel on those apples, let's be honest. 

wonka-like chocolate cups

Over the weekend I found myself glued to the TV once I found a pastry chef challenge show where they had to recreate their version of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. You know the uber famous scene where all the kids come in and everything is edible! From the huge gummi bears to the chocolate waterfall and the tulip cups. That scene (and movie, really) is basically every kids dream and I had to see what the teams had created. One of my favorite ideas that I saw one team make were chocolate cups. They used small balloons dipped in chocolate and chilled to make the cup. GENIUS! Add ice cream or whatever you choose and you have an entirely edible sweet treat. 

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mr oreo & mrs brownie

My latest sweet creation married two of my favorites, brownies and oreos. I'm not quite sure why I've never tried mixing these two before but thank goodness for left over oreos. I decided to whip up this treat over the weekend because 1. sweets always make a good present for friends and 2. it was a gloomy day and baking almost always makes me feel better. 

I simply followed a normal brownie recipe and then after researching a few oreo brownie recipes, I decided to toss my crushed oreos in a tablespoon or two of flour (to prevent them from sinking to the bottom) and bake. I waited for them to cool then cut in small squares. Easy as that! For a nice package, I put the brownies in parchment and plastic wrapped with baker's twine, a tag made from a TJ's bag with "eat up" stamped on it.

nutella muffins

Yesterday morning I was craving something sweet for breakfast. I quickly went to my go-to sweet finder lately, pinterest and found multiple recipes with nutella, SOLD! I whipped up this recipe and was pretty pleased with the results, a sweet filling treat to start the morning off right.  

salted caramel

When it comes to sweets, if there is ever an option to choose between flavors I always go with the salty sweetness that is salted caramel. It has definitely become one of my favorite tastes for sweet treats. Lately, I have found some very enticing recipes and can't wait to try all of them, you should too! 

 salted caramel and chocolate pudding pops : recipe

salted caramel madeleines : recipe 

salted caramel french macaroons : recipe

banana fana fo fana

Frozen bananas are the ultimate reminder of summertime not only as a kid, but as a sweet-loving adult too. They seem to make the perfect semi-guilt free late night treat when craving something a little sweet. So I decided to tackle them for myself the other night. I grabbed some bananas, chocolate chips, graham crackers, peanuts and got to work. I must say, I was impressed with the graham cracker topping. 

My advice would be to freeze the bananas over night before dipping them. After I already dipped them I thought, I should have added some nutella in the chocolate mix, guess I must try it again!

sweet and salty

 The other night, I had the most insane craving for popcorn which I don't normally want unless waiting for the latest blockbuster in a movie theater. After I devoured a bag of popcorn, naturally it got me thinking and I've never put my own spin on a popcorn treat. Ergo my latest sweet treat, caramel corn popcorn balls drizzled with nutella. I originally followed this recipe and added the nutella, just because!

These treats were ridiculously easy and quite tasty. Perfect for a last minute need for something sweet!

grandma's secret weapon

Over the sun-drenched long weekend, I thought it only fitting to bring out my grandma's secret weapon for our dinner with friends. Of course it's a dessert because thats what my grandma did best and it doesn't disappoint one bit, especially in the ingredients department (it only needs 3) Imagine a combo between a cherry cake, pie and cobbler...

Grandma's secret weapon aka easy homemade cherry cobbler

All you need is a can of cherry pie filling, a box of yellow cake mix and a stick of butter. Empty the cherry pie filling in baking dish, sprinkle yellow cake mix all over the top of the pie filling, smooth it out, melt 2/3 stick of butter and drizzle over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until crust is light brown. Serve warm or cold and for an extra kick add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It's the simplest and most delicious dessert.

sorry there are no photos of this tasty dish, but before I had a chance to snap some photos, it had been devoured.

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happy birthday america

Happy 4th of July friends! Hope everyone has a safe and fun day soaking up the sun and barbecuing all-american style. In honor of your birthday America, here's an amazing red white and blue cake! oh and it looks like a flag!

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DIY {Fourth of July}

With Fourth of July only a few days away, I figured it was only appropriate to share some fun DIY's for my favorite patriotic holiday. It's always fun to prepare red, white and blue accessories, party decor, and yummy treats to enjoy while doing the 'all-american bbq' with friends.

glitter star headband

chocolate dipped pretzels

white chocolate covered strawberries with sprinkles

firework paper craft table decor

1, 2, 3, 4

rekindling my love

I first discovered Nutella when a friends sister started to promote it through the youth crowd in my neighborhood many many years ago. My second and most memorable experience with the chocolately spread was during my traveling adventures to Europe, where it was a main staple in my diet during that trip. As of lately, I have since rekindled my love affair with this yummy hazelnut cocoa spread and can't wait to try it in more recipes.

nutella sandwich cookies

my favorite anytime snack, nutella on toast

my newest pairing, nutella with fruit even green apples

a fun wallpaper

Just last night, per the warm summer weather that has already arrived in my apartment, I was craving a s'more and thought why not with nutella? Basically it was the best s'more I've ever had!

( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 )

wildflower love shower

This past weekend I had the pleasure of baking treats and designing a simple yet sweet couple shower. It was exciting to see everything go from ideas to execution so smoothly. Not to mention I fully enjoyed putting everything together from, making all the paper goods (cupcake toppers, banner and sweet treats sign), to picking out and arranging the pretty flowers (daisies, spider mums, hydrangeas, and eucalyptus), to baking my famous peanut butter cupcakes.

I love the wildflower spin these florals took. By simply putting the flowers into mason jars I wrapped with twine and string, it gave the tables a super homespun and sweet feel.

A simple bunting banner that hung above all these yummy sweets.

cupcake topper flags with the beatles uber famous 'love is all you need, all you need is love'.

I am a huge fan of peanut butter in cup cakes. I tried it once on a whim and now think that everyone should have one, because you'd be silly not to. Reason 1: peanut butter is a flavor that most everyone loves from their childhood and almost always brings back good memories. Reason 2: without a doubt peanut butter and cake, make great friends! Then top with homemade chocolate frosting and YUM!

sweet meringues

I have my grandma to thank for my love of all things sweet. She was the one that taught me how to bake and how to appreciate the hard work that goes into making the sweet morsels that you enjoy later. There was one cookie in particular that was my favorite and surprisingly because it had the least ingredients. The famous brown and whites, mostly egg whites, sugar and chocolate chips. The catch is, baking them in the oven overnight, so the build up of these cookies was what I think made them taste twice as nice.

As I passed the cutest little french bakery the other day, close to my house, I was delighted to find an array of flavors of a similar cookie, meringues. I couldn't help but want them all, but I chose these three... mint & chocolate chips, vanilla with cocoa, and strawberry.

I must say those meringues are very pretty cookies and I have decided that my next baking project is making real meringues (not my grandma's version) with this recipe. The best part about these cookies, besides feeling like a kid eating them because you have a face full of crumbs, is that they literally melt in your mouth. A sweet snack to be paired with a nice cup of tea.