My Valentine
Loves Chocolate
My favorite desserts have chocolate. That’s just who I am! Try these easy chocolate desserts for your special Valentine.
Chocolate Cake with Creamy Frosting
Happy Valentine’s Day from me and my littlest grandson!
Oatmeal Cookies Fully Loaded
Filling this recycled tin with delicious Oatmeal Cookies for the family … A great little hostess gift for my daughter’s cookie monsters. These are hearty but light cookies that happily satisfy the sweet tooth. Butter rich, loaded with nuts and dried cranberries, Oatmeal Cookies are a delicious treat. Give this recipe a try. You’ll love it!
Vermont Maple Syrup Baked Apples
Vermont is one of my favorite places this time of year. So this recipe just seems fitting! Yep, for this recipe I use pure maple syrup from Vermont, one of the only three ingredients. When ingredients are few you opt for the very best! I must admit I’ve never been to Vermont except through the stories of a very close friend and the many movies with Vermont as the backdrop. And who hasn’t heard Willie Nelson’s version of Moonlight in Vermont.
Enjoy this really simple dessert or breakfast that makes up in minutes for a crowd or just one. BTW, World Market has quite an assortment of pure maple syrups. I haven’t ordered from here yet but check out The Vermont Country Store. Looks amazing!
Chai Spice Almond Biscotti
If you’re not into biscotti for the same reason I haven’t been over the years then you haven’t tried these. All biscotti are not equal. This homemade version is so good you’ll want to gift a sampler to your special friends … Or maybe not! I had some expert help from Michael Chiarello or at least was influenced by a once baked biscotti cookie recipe of his. But true to the biscotti my recipe is twice baked. Instead of anise seed I used chai spices, here. I just happened to have some gray salt from Chiarello’s store (now closed?) in Yountville, California. And if you’re looking for crystallized sugar try here.
Hot Chocolate Bar and More
Making It Easy for the Holidays
We Love our Hot Chocolate! Are you into making things festive yet want it to be easy? If you haven’t put together a Hot Chocolate Bar you’ve gotta give it a try! Oops, you’re not into Hot Chocolate … Tea and Coffee work too! Even a Dessert Bar.
Here are some easily purchased items that will help you put together a Hot Chocolate or Coffee-Tea Bar in minutes. I’m sold on Dean & Deluca’s Hot Chocolate on a Stick … How easy is that! And don’t you just love these Pioneer Woman Jumbo Mugs!
Hot Cocoa Goodies
Holiday Mugs
Teas and Chocolate
Tea Mugs Chocolate
French Press & Coffees
Easy Gingerbread and Hot Chocolate Mix
Tomato Soup Cake
Spice Cake made with applesauce I can understand. Or Pumpkin, here. But with Tomato Soup! I’m not sure who decided this was a good idea decades ago. But if it becomes your birthday cake at 10 and you long for it each year and you’re now 71 I’d say that’s a pretty good indication Tomato Soup Cake is tasty. The question is, are all Tomato Soup Cakes alike. Nope! While many can say they can’t taste the soup I’m not sure I can’t in certain recipes. In this recipe the spices are healthy measurements. Yes, I believe certain spices are healthy too. Here I mean plentiful. Enjoy this spice cake recipe. Add nuts and raisins or not. We prefer it that way but it holds up if your pantry is bare.
Apple Season Recipes
It’s Apple Season! Some of my favorite Apple Recipes for you to try. Make your own applesauce for the baked recipes with this ingredient. So easy. Just peel, core and roughly chop cooking apples. Place into your medium saucepan with a bit of water-just enough water to barely cover the bottom. Simmer until apples are applesauce consistently. Add a pinch of salt if you wish. No sugar needed. Perfect! Enjoy!
1. Apple Pie Pastry 2. Apple and Cranberry Chutney 3. Apples Brats & Hot Mustard
4. Apple Empanadas 5. Apple Dessert 6. Spinach Apple Banana Smoothie 7. Breakfast Bar
8. Old Fashioned Apple Pie 9. Special Apple Muffins 10. Best Coffee Cake 11. Apple Dumpling
12. Easy Delicious Dessert 13. Easy Apple Muffins 14. Pork Chop Recipe 15. Apple Spice Cake
16. Perfect Tasting Juicy Pork Chops 17. Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies
Tortilla Mini Quiches
Extra flour tortillas? Here’s some ideas! First, try this quiche. Quick, tasty and a great presentation for the holidays ahead. Make these tortilla bowls separately, too. Perfect for serving chopped avocados, sliced green onions, and work for sour cream and salsa if plated first. Or use them to serve a side salad with your favorite Enchiladas. How festive is that! (Check out our Mexican Food Category. We love love love Mexican Cuisine.)
Try this Easy Delicious Dessert too, Fruit Burritos. Perfectly Vegan!
Apple Spice Cake with Caramel Topping
Late Summer and Fall is Birthday Season here, one birthday after another. My guys definitely have favorite cake or pie requests. My daughter, not so much. I’m always on the lookout for new recipes that just might satisfy everyone. One birthday celebration and one birthday cake might work for all. They’re aging nicely <smile> and sharing is now a really good thing. Everyone agrees my apple pie is pretty hard to beat for any occasion. So, an Apple Spice Birthday Cake sounded like an excellent substitution. I’ve been saving this Bake From Scratch Fall 2015 Issue. Yep, the cake on the cover became my choice! Let me tell you a bit about this recipe. It’s simple, few ingredients … Great presentation … Great spice and apple taste! The downside … The cake is a bit heavy. I’ve only baked this recipe once and I must admit I was a bit distracted by a sweet little 3 year old. So, were the measurements right on? Hmm. As for the frosting it’s tasty and rich. For two 9 inch layers it’s much more than enough. This Apple Spice Cake with Caramel Topping is definitely worth a try!
Halloween Spider Treats
Max and I had such fun making these. If legs are missing, well, it’s Max’s fault. <wink> This knock off (Cupcakes by Anne Byrn, “Spiders”) treat is very cute … But tasty? The Rice Krispies go tame and the semi-sweet chocolate is just a lil too semi-sweet for the kids. I’ve traded out the chow mein noodle legs for pretzels for that salty sweet taste. Changing up the semi-sweet to milk chocolate is certainly an option. But it seems to me this might be better with melted marshmallows to help form the body and melted chocolate chips poured over the top to give the dark spider look. Since I haven’t tried the marshmallow version I’ll stick to the more chocolate version. If nothing else, this is great fun and so Halloween!