• Christmas cookies, Day 6: World peace cookies

    This is a perfect time of year to wish — like all good Miss America candidates — for world peace. These cookies are so named because Dorie Greenspan’s neighbor believes a daily dose of them would ensure world peace. I can’t disagree. We have a magical Giant near us (the supermarket, not, like, Grawp) that […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 5: Chai shortbread

    On the fifth day of Christmas cookies, I give to you: easy, low-calorie shortbread. Ba-dom dom dom. Since the macarons from Day 4 are so high-maintenance, I wanted to give you a recipe that doesn’t require a lot of time in the kitchen. These don’t look super Christmas-y, but the spices are very festive. If […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 4: Macarons

    We can’t all afford Blair Waldorf’s fabulous clothes. But you CAN make some of her favorite French macarons (if you are patient enough). These are different than (yummy) coconut blob macaroons. In fact, I am not entirely sure I had ever tasted one of this kind before. But they turned out surprisingly good, thanks to […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 3: Boom chunkas

    So, are you getting in the holiday spirit yet? Baking any cookies? Going to cookie exchanges? Getting tangled in your Christmas lights? Yelling at people who take your space in the Nordstrom parking lot? Anything? Someone (ahem) got rid of our artificial Christmas tree — and the indoor lights were in the box. So we […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 2: Lemon bars

    Lemon bars don’t necessarily scream “Christmas,” but they are so good that it doesn’t really matter. These are simple to make, don’t take that long and taste way better than the boxed stuff. I promise. The first step is making a shortbread base. You will need cold butter for this (which means you don’t need […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 1: Jam thumbprints

    Well, the weather outside is frightful. But cookies are quite delightful. So, to help you stay warm and toasty, I bring you: 12 days of Christmas cookies! The first day of Christmas cookies is devoted not to a partridge in a pear tree, but a type of cookie I love but only make around the […]

  • Cookie-baking tips

    I have been baking a lot of cookies lately, getting ready for Eat Swim Shop’s 12 days of Christmas cookies (Get excited!!!). But I know some of you have probably already started baking, so I wanted to give you a few cookie baking tips. **If you if you need a good cookie recipe before Tuesday, […]

  • Cheesy quesadilla pie

    So, remember the brunch situation for which I baked 9,000 gooey cinnamon rolls? I figured that wasn’t going to be enough for the four of us. Especially since two are burly men. They need protein! Anyway, I attempted to make some pigs-in-a-blanket… and most of the blankets rejected the pigs. It was really quite pitiful. […]

  • Cinnamon rolls

    Let’s pretend that you are sick, it’s 10 p.m., you have already baked two kinds of cookies and you need to make something brunch-y for one of your best friends and her husband. Do you: A. Look in the fridge, note the presence of eggs, cheese and bacon, and go to sleep B. Go to […]

  • Cranberry sauce

    There are a lot of foods I love at Thanksgiving: sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, pecan pie. But perhaps my favorite is cranberry sauce. No, I am not talking about that Jell-O-esque stuff that comes in a can, I’m talking about actual cranberry sauce. Made from actual cranberries. I don’t want to hate on […]