• 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 […]

  • Hummingbird cake

    As I mentioned before, my grandmother died recently. She loved to cook and bake, and one of her favorites was hummingbird cake. I wanted to bake one in her honor — though unfortunately I don’t know any Carmelite monks to give it to, like she would have done. Instead, I gave it to a bunch […]

  • Orange chocolate chip Halloween cupcakes

    I usually wait a few days before posting things I’ve made (sometimes even longer), but I had to go ahead and show you these cupcakes I brought to work for Halloween. They are not difficult at all (though they are definitely easier with a microplane grater) and you still have time to make them for […]

  • Upside-down apple corn muffins

    The other day, my friend/co-worker Heidi sent me a grilled cheese slide show. She obviously knows me very well. This came shortly after Isabel told me she had received her first copy of Sunset magazine in  the mail and that Tyler Florence is all over it. Those two things together led me to realize Sunset […]

  • Extremely advanced gourmet dessert

    Sorry that swimming post was depressing. Let’s try something a little more cheerful. As you may recall, I recently made PB&J bars for a Navy football tailgate (or tailgater, as they call it). The midshipmen thoroughly enjoyed them, and apparently asked if I was making them for the next home game. Unfortunately, I learned this […]