No Grilled Onion

A good friend of mine just had a little baby girl. To celebrate I wanted to make her and her husband dinner and dessert their first week home from the hospital.  I can’t imagine a brand new mom wanting to cook!

So while at a friend’s house I picked up a book called How To Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson and what I found inside made my mouth start to water. I’ve made two very easy recipes and both have turned out amazing! I highly recommend buying this book if you like to bake. I have heard that she is a great chef as well and I will definitely check out her cookbooks at the bookstore when I go to buy this lovely dessert cookbook.

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Lemon Cake


What a fantastic way to top off our intimate and beautiful Christmas dinner.  This delicious cake is worth all the effort.  Fine Cooking (Holiday Baking Issue) is quickly becoming one of my favorite magazines for great sweet treats.

Making lemon curd from scratch can be tricky, but don’t let it intimidate you; it is worth mastering. Prepared canned lemon curd might tempt you but will it be as freshly tart and sweet as the one you make yourself? NO! So at least give the home made version a try.

This cake takes a bit of time, but can be made ahead and your guests will feel really special that you went to all that extra trouble–just for them! Enjoy~

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Cinnamon Rolls

Christmas morning I wanted to make homemade Cinnamon Buns for my mom and sister. Cook and I had made some amazing rolls a few months ago, but they had to rise overnight and I didn’t have the time to make them the night before.  So, when I came across a recipe in the holiday baking issue of Fine Cooking magazine that was easy and manageable, I was sold!

This delicious recipe was a real find. The dough did NOT have to rise.  I made it in the morning at the very last minute.  All the ingredients are probably already in your pantry so you can whip it up any time you wake up with a craving for something warm and cinnamon-y and fresh from the oven!

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Here’s a go-to fall (pumpkin) recipe when you are bringing a dish to a friend’s party or having friends over for afternoon football or a casual movie night. Up front I’ll tell you there is a twist.  Besides being crowd pleasing, your guests will enjoy guessing the secret (and surprising) ingredient!   Kids will definitely love this recipe which you can make even when time is tight!

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Cook and I were in the grocery store and he kept talking about pumpkin pie. I only ever eat pumpkin pie one day of the year, Thanksgiving. I kept telling him to just be patient and I would make him a homemade pumpkin pie from REAL pumpkin, not the stuff in a can. Well, trying to tell Cook to be patient is… let’s just say by the time we were at the checkout, we had two baking pumpkins in our cart!

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Long before Starbucks created a hole in my pocket with their pumpkin spice lattes, I had already fallen in love with anything pumpkin flavored during the fall season. Pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving are a personal favorite… and boy do I have a great recipe for you that uses FRESH pumpkin. Ahhh, I digress… that is another post.

One of my best loved recipes for September through November is pumpkin bread. It is so easy and very versatile. From this recipe you can make bread loafs, muffins, cupcakes, bars… and the list goes on.

Last night Cook and I decided we would make pumpkin bread, but couldn’t find a typical bread pan… and from the picture you can see that Cook improvised!

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It is cold and dreary outside. All I want to do is curl up with my book, drink some tea with the perfect tea cookie… shortbread. BUT it can’t be just any shortbread. Anyone who knows me, knows how I feel about chocolate… everything is better with chocolate! So, me and mom jumped into a recipe I have wanted to make for years…Chocolate Shortbread cookies!

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It is a dreary day outside… (always seem to bake on dreary days!) and me and the cook have been working on our computers all day and it is about time for something sweet. So, we turn to a favorite chef on the food network, Ina Garten, for some help. Not too long ago, my mom sent me a recipe that she saw on one of Ina’s shows on the foodnetwork and we thought today would be a good day to try it. Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes… yum!!!!

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