Pumpkin Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

I’ve seen so many people make beautiful cookies with royal icing, and I’ve been wanting to practice my skills for a long time.  I always put it off, though, saying that I wouldn’t be good at it, it would take too much time, be too frustrating, etc., but this time I made myself do it [...]

Dirt Cupcakes

I wanted to make one of my classes a treat for being so well-behaved.  In South Carolina, second year teachers have to go through an evaluation process to get our professional teaching license.  That means several unannounced observations throughout the year.  I had my first one recently, and my kids were so well behaved that [...]

Cherry Fudge Brownie Torte

For the longest time, I never liked cherries, but I’m starting to come around a little bit.  This dessert  appeals to me more now than it would have a year or more ago.  It’s a pretty simple dessert, consisting of a brownie made in a springform pan and the topping.  Out of cheapness, I used [...]

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cake

Everyone knows that I’m a big fan of chocolate and peanut butter, and I was in the mood to bake with it one night.  I also wanted to try a chocolate-peanut butter frosting.  I’ve tried and loved a peanut butter frosting recipe, but I wanted to try a recipe where they were together.  I’ve had [...]

Apple Spice Cake

I love baking with apples, and think that they are really good in cakes.  The apples give the cake a lot of moisture and add a great depth of flavor, especially with spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.  Bon Appetit’s October 2009 issue had several apple desserts, and I knew this would be worth trying.  [...]

Black Bean and Corn Salad

I was thinking about a side dish for a Mexican meal one night and after looking at the ingredients in my pantry, I came up with this black bean and corn salad.  It has many of my favorite ingredients and flavors and they go so well together.  It’s just spicy enough and makes the perfect [...]

Nutella Bars

I love Nutella, and I’m always excited to see another dessert idea to use it.  I’ve been on a chocolate and marshmallow kick lately, so these seemed like the perfect way to satisfy my Nutella craving.  I made them into bars instead of a tart, just out of personal preference.  I also used honey roasted [...]

Mongolian Beef with Broccoli

I’ve been making this dish for about six months now, and it’s become one of our favorites.  I can’t believe I haven’t included it in the blog until now!  Usually when I made it we are in such a hurry to eat it that I don’t get to take a picture.  Last time I made [...]

Allspice Crumb Muffins (TWD)

I actually made these a long time ago.  We were going out of town, and I made these as a snack for the road.  It was a last minute trip, and I searched my cookbooks for something easy to make that didn’t require a trip to the grocery store.  As soon as I saw these [...]

Pumpkin Pie Bars

I’ve been all about pumpkin lately, and I was so excited to see this recipe.  It’s a lot like pumpkin pie, but in bar form.  It starts off with an oat-flour crust, which is pre-baked before you add the filling.  The filling is very similar to a filling that you would use for pumpkin pie, [...]