Cupcakes For Any Occasion

I found myself on an emotional roller coaster this last weekend.

Ok, that’s a little dramatic.

Ok fine, that’s ridiculously overdramatizing things. Thanks for calling me out.

I found myself feeling moments of cheer and moments of sadness.

There. That’s more accurate.

The peanut butter filling. It's mostly peanut butter and powdered sugar. And really does taste like the inside of a reese's. I should know. After rolling an entire pan of balls out (balls!) and throwing them into the freezer to harden, I kept sneaking them. Which means we ended up with two cupcakes without the peanut butter center. Whoops.

On Saturday I attended a house party. I love house parties. Because usually I know quite a few of the people. I save money. And inevitably, the roommate and I will get control of the music and make poor song choices the rest of the night.

Party rockin’ in the hoooouuuusssseee tonight…

I poured in the batter (it was super thin) and my roommate plopped the peanut butter middle in. Go team!

But this wasn’t the most cheerful reason to have a party. It was a going-away party for one of my favorites. A college friend. A close confidant. A running buddy. A champagne brunch kid. A shoulder to cry on when I’m sad and one to punch when he pisses me off (don’t worry- I’m much too weak to do any harm).

His decision to move back to the area where he grew up was not a popular one in our group of friends. We all used the words “stupid” and “big mistake”. But that was mostly out of selfishness and we know he wants to end up there and we’ll have to support that decision if we like it or not.

Perfection! I suggest, if you do the toothpick trick to test for doneness, poke the side. Otherwise, you just get peanut butter all over your toothpick. Not that I would have done that, or anything.

Whatever. He’ll be back.

And then there’s the flip side.

Another guy friend, also a college friend and champagne brunch participant, was celebrating his birthday over the weekend and at the same party.

Buttttteeerrrrrrrr! When making buttercream from scratch, it's very important to whip the butter before adding anything else. Makes it a little lighter. Also, I cut mine with a little bit of milk (skim, because that's what I have around). Makes it a wee bit healthier (possibly a stretch of my imagination) and easier to work with.

And I love me some birthday celebrations.

Birthdays are your one special day. Or your one special week. Or, in my case, my one special month… 

And they should be reason enough for a big celebration. And what’s a celebration without cake? I don’t let that happen. Because I want you to know, as my friend, how important you are to me. And for some reason or another, I tend to think the only way to convey this message is through buttercream or chocolate. Or both if you’re lucky.

Never skimp on the icing. NEVER. Also, invest in some decent food coloring. Wilton makes the BEST dye for bold and bright colors.

So I was browsing the interwebz one day, I ran across these from Love in the Oven. My instant reaction was a double take and “say what now?!?!”

Chocolate. Peanut butter. Buttercream.

My roommate felt the same way. We rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

I switched out the chocolate cake recipe for one from the Hershey’s website I had used before. This was done because it’s good cake and I also didn’t have the sour cream needed for the original recipe. It’s all about working with what you’ve got, ya know?

Also, we went with plain vanilla buttercream. Just in case other people weren’t as nuts about peanut butter confections as we are. So considerate, right?

Done and done and done.

Cut the tip off of a ziploc bag. Throw in a big scoop of your two colors. Pipe on like you normally would.
Word to the wise- pipe colors that would look ok if they mix a little. It's going to happen as you're squeezing the bag.

Sure, cupcakes may be an odd thing to tote along to a keg party. And birthday candles are a weird thing to have handy in your purse.

But when have you ever known me to be completely normal?

I am so sorry for really sucking at not cutting through it very well. But you get the point. Chocolate cupcake. Peanut butter filling. Plenty of icing. Perfection.

Planning for St. Pat’s

I was on the phone with my little bro over the weekend.

This is a pretty big deal. Mostly because I hate talking on the phone and prefer texting. And some because it takes about 10 “I’m going to call you” texts back and forth before we actually do.

There were several reasons for the call.

Firstly, I needed to wish him a Happy Birthday and, as his big sister, facebooking him just wasn’t going to cut it.

I've had this recipe in the back of my mind for a while. However, the deciding factor was the "good buy" I got at Target had an expiration date coming up. Talk about just under the wire...

Secondly, we needed to discuss the logistics of his upcoming Chicago trip.

That’s right. My brother is coming up to visit me. All weekend.

My mom is freaking out.

I like to think I’m a really cool older sister. Who’s always a lot of fun and can always thing of something silly to get into.

Maybe that’s why she’s freaking out.

The original recipe calls for white cake mix, marshmallows and white chocolate chips. I was limited, so I subbed yellow cake mix, semi-sweet chips, and the rest of the white chocolate chips from an earlier recipe. The lack of marshmallow cut back on sweetness- a good thing since not all the boys I hang with have the same sweet tooth I do. Oh and there were sprinkles. Duh.

Luckily, since my bro decided to come through over St. Patrick’s Day, there’s plenty of shenanigans to participate in.

Seriously Mom- stop freaking out.

I also used a 9x13 instead of a 9x9 pan. Still thick enough to make them a good size.

But anyway, I’ve never really been big into St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not Irish. Nor was I an engineering major. Most years it was a miracle if I even remembered to wear green. It’s not really my favorite color.

This year is different. Chicago gets really into it and there are a lot of traditions I want to participate in.

I chose to use simple buttercream icing to top the blondies off. Because I love it. But, if it makes you feel better, I cut some of the fat by swapping out some of the butter for skim milk. I personally think it makes the icing easier to work with and it's skim milk- so it's healthy. Obviously. Also, dye the icing green. If it's a treat for the holidays, the calories don't count.

Like watching the river be dyed green. This requires getting up early. I’m bribing my brother with pancakes in order to make this happen.

There may also be a parade involved, but rain keeps slipping in and out of the forecast, so we may just skip out on that one to secure a spot in line to the nearest Irish pub.

Because that’s the festive thing to do. And if we insist on celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, we have to do it the correct way. Go big or go home.

It’s going to be a great weekend. And since I don’t get to see my brother as often as I used to, I’m really geeking out about his arrival.

As in, I’ve texted/facebook messaged/annoyed him every day this week.

Add more sprinkles. Because it makes them way more festive. Which is what we're shooting for.

I don’t care. Because I’m his sister. And that’s what I’m supposed to do.

These cake batter blondies far exceeded my expectations. And as a girl who’s a bit of a dessert snob, that’s saying something. Also, as a girl who prefers brownies/cookies over cake, this was a perfect balance. Because you get the texture of a cookie. Plus icing.

What more could a person ask for?

My friend and I taste tested these the night before for quality control... we decided they go well with a dry white. Or good enough...

These were made for the champagne brunch last weekend and were a big hit! I also made sure we brought a veggie tray. To balance everything out.

I once again stalked Cookies and Cups for the recipe. Just in case you feel the urge to whip up something delicious. She does good work. Promise.

Plus, the recipe is easily customizable. Throw in anything you want- the possibilities are endless!

Not kidding guys- these were so easy and so good. Make them.

The only mistake I made? Not leaving more than just one behind for myself for the next day.

So you have two takeaways from today’s post:

1. Always save a few cookies/bars behind for yourself. Being selfish is ok.
2. Call your sibling. Like now.

Mizzou Cookies

Today started just like every other Saturday I’ve had in the last month or two.

Get up a little before I naturally would. Coffee. Oatmeal. DVR.

Run.

Scratch that.

Work up some nerves.

THEN run.

No wait… let me download another song (Blister in the Sun by Violent Femmes).

THEN run.

Obviously I’m a little weary. Meh.

Sugar and butter. What will it not make better? Seriously.

But all went well. To be on the safe side, I took two breaks to drink some water and assess the situation. But everything seemed well. And I ended up running 6.2 miles in total.

We’re approximately 2 miles behind according to my training plan. But whatever. Does anything really ever go to plan?

Moving on…

After that whole thing, my morning isn’t over. Oh no.

Searched out a candy botique to score the yellow-only M&M's. Yes. I'm a Mizzou nerd.

There’s champagne brunch to think about. Well. It’s champagne “whatever”. The game is at 3:00. People start to arrive at 2:00. Clearly this is past the brunch window.

But it’s a big rivalry game (Screw KU!). And things are still going down.

Plus it’s too late to start changing the name now, don’t you think?

Two things I have never put in standard chocolate chip cookies before. I was nervous. And read the recipe 5 times before actually doing it. Just in case I was seeing things...

And also, we’re still drinking the ‘pagne.

We can’t completely mess with tradition.

The recipe called for refrigeration of the cookie dough overnight. Yeah. A whole bowl of cookie dough. Chillin'. In front of me. For a whole day. THIS was rough.

Along with our tradition is food. Lots and lots of food. My roomie B and I took care of the chicken artichoke dip, a massive amount of mac and cheese, some drinks, and these:

Cookies and Cups is a new blog obsession of mine and she writes in the post that these are Her Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies cookies of all time. Or at least up until that point. I haven’t contacted her to get an update, though. So they may be named incorrectly.

But she was right. They were pretty freakin’ good. And may even be the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve personally made up until this point.

Like WOAH.

The lemon juice made me scratch my head. The cinnamon made me a bit weary. The refrigerating overnight made me nutty.

But this was no lie. They were over the top. I had been sneaking cookie dough like there was no tomorrow, but my roommate was the first to try out the finished product. A little crispy on the outside. But soft and chewy on the inside.

Everything to look for in a cookie.

Mine aren’t nearly as pretty as hers. It’s possibly because I didn’t have shortening, which makes the cookie a bit lighter in texture, and had to substitute butter.

There hasn’t been a complaint yet. So let’s just keep that secret between me and you…

I found a way to combine baking and mizzou pride. Dangerous.

Seriously. Somebody needs to stop me.

But until then, excuse me, I need to go cheer my team on to victory.

GO MIZZOU!

A Little Love?

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

In all honesty, I’m not a huge fan. Never really made much of a celebration of it. Even when I had a boyfriend, we always ended up just meeting up with friends at a party or bar after dinner. We couldn’t even spend more than 2 whole hours by ourselves. Looking back, this should maybe have served as a warning sign…

And I’m a girl who enjoys flowers more on days when they’re not expected. I’m reminded of the days way back in high school when girls literally threw tantrums because their arrangement wasn’t delivered at the right time. Or only had 6 roses vs 12.

Seriously?

One year, the day was spent traveling in a car with 3 full-grown dudes on our way home after a long weekend in St. Louis. Fine dining happened at Taco Bell that night.

I even broke up with a guy on Valentine’s Day once.

Probably not my finest moment.

What? He started it…

Let’s get back on topic.

Valentine’s Day?

I could care less.

However, the one reason I will still observe it from year to year is that it’s a holiday where overdosing on chocolate is totally acceptable. And encouraged.

That, my friends, is something I can get down with.

Chocolate.

Yesssss…..

Plus, this gives me an excuse to bake things.

I accept the drug in any and all forms.

I actually wanted to make the cookies last week. But with a case of the sniffles, I decided to wait a few more days in order to not give away germs along with dessert.

Thoughtful. I know.

As usual, I was stalking Picky Palate and all the drool-worthy food she posts about when I stumbled upon double chocolate covered pretzel peanut butter cookies.

Say that 10 times fast.

I've been off the peanut butter kick for a while. This is my first reconnection with it in over a month. It's safe to say- I missed you!

I love the long names of all her cookies. It only goes to show how many lovely things you can put into one dessert if you really try hard enough.

M&M's, white chocolate and pretzels. A lovely combo of sweet and salty. Which could be a metaphor for a relationship if you'd like it to be...

Obviously, I switched in M&M’s for half of the white chocolate chips the original recipe called for. Because why not add one more devilish thing?

Peanut butter. Chocolate. Candy. Pretzels. White chocolate.

All my vices working together in perfect harmony.

The batter was delicious, too. Yes, I tried it. And yes, I live dangerously.

It’s beautiful.

Notes? The cookie is like a brownie. It’s super rich. And may give you a tummy ache if more than 4 are consumed in a sitting.

Or at least I assume it would. Because it’s not like I would have done that… or anything…

The only shot I got before packaging and shipping (most of) them off.

These are one reason why I run as much as I do.

Worth it.

So go make these for your loved ones. Because even if I’m not the biggest romantic in the world (or at all), I still like to let friends and fam know they’re special.

Or just go ahead and treat yo’self.

You probably deserve it.

How To: Survive a Long Weekend of Sports

Hey there kiddos.

Pour yourself some coffee and pull up a seat. Today we’re going to talk about sports. Specifically how to survive an all-day celebration of the #4 (Mizzou) and #8 (KU) rivals playing each other. And then how to rally for the Super Bowl.

Really, it’s all about prep work. Starting as early as the night before.Carb loading. It’s not just for long runs.

Actually, it mostly is. Because you’ll need to get up to the alarm at 7:15 to make sure and start pumping coffee and some cereal in your system to kick-start the day and also to fuel a run before the sport shenanigans.

Run 6.7 miles. You’re starting to creep up there into the higher mileage. You don’t know if it was the early bed time or the coffee or just that you’re pretty awesome, but it was an easy run. 8:41 pace, so not quite the pace you’re hoping to hit in a few months, but still. Easy breezy.

Fuel up with more coffee and, for the love of God, take a shower. Head to your host’s house with a bottle of champagne and the donut version of Andrea’s cinnamon sugar muffins. Don’t coat them in cinnamon and sugar, cut back on the nutmeg and add icing instead. Because, that way, you get to use sprinkles. And everyone loves sprinkles. So clearly this means everyone will also love you. Double win.

Champagne brunch starts promptly at 1:30 because you’ll need to get to the bar super early to secure a table.  It is a big rivalry game, afterall.

Turns out you’re going to suck at getting to the bar early, but are still able to secure a table in the corner. Perfect size for two buckets or so of beer. Keep the buckets filled the entire night.

Jump up and down and dance your butt off when Mizzou wins.

Mizzou won.

Just making sure we’re soaking this information in.

Wake up the next morning. Wonder how you’ll be fully functional by kick-off, but a nice long walk and three cups of coffee oughta do it. Because if your heart isn’t racing, there’s something wrong…Another donut will help, too. The smartest thing you did all weekend was to save one back for yourself before packing the rest of them up to take to brunch. Pat yourself on the back.

Slowcook Sunday didn’t happen yesterday, but Megan more than made up with it by providing endless amounts of edibles covered in cheese and/or buffalo sauce.And there were brownies that arrived later. Because you wouldn’t attend a super bowl party that didn’t include dessert.

Dinner is literally buffalo chicken dip and brownies. To balance it, and make yourself feel better, dip mostly carrots and pea pods into the dip.

Totally healthy. 

Just smile and nod.

Leave before it’s over. Because your bed is calling. And so is an early morning workout that you will desperately need, and look forward to in a sick and twisted way. It’s possible you will sweat a combo of buffalo sauce and bud light. Don’t be surprised if the person next to you is doing the same.

Your workout is most likely not great. 2.1 miles on the tread before you sigh and take it down to a walk and then do the stairmill for another 20 minutes. Kudos for getting out there, but better luck tomorrow.

Because sometimes that’s just how you’re gonna wrap up a long weekend.

Time for you to pour another cup of coffee and go about your day.

Carry on…

Here We Go Again

Sometimes I just never learn.

I love wine. I love sweets. I love boys.

Can’t stop until I get enough.

And enough rarely ever comes.

Except with the wine. Over a bottle is just excessive. Truth.

The other two? Gimme gimme…

What? I can’t help it…

Bread is also a close runner-up to my list of loves. Remember that.

I’ll address one thing- and that’s the love of the sweet stuff. I often joke that it would be nice to have Paula Deen as a mother-in-law. Or at least a friendly neighbor. Pecans and butter in EVERYTHING! Weeeee!

A few months ago, I spotted her recipe for baked french toast casserole. Then I spotted it again. And again. I took it as a sign. This shiz has GOT to be made.So I asked my mom for the opportunity to bake this as a substitute for the cinnamon rolls this year for our Christmas brunch. And stopped by the store on the way out to the parent’s house to pick up half and half and bread.

My mom had the pecans and butter covered. Maybe she has a little Paula Deen obsession, too?The nice thing about this dish is that it is made the night before. So the morning of Christmas, there was no mess and more time to focus on other important things- like opening presents!

The not nice thing about this recipe?Um.

Well. Put a pan under the casserole dish. Because there’s a good chance the egg/milk/sugar mixture will bubble up. Up and over. And onto the bottom of the oven.

This will proceed to make the oven smoke. And smoke some more. And when you open the oven to check what’s going on, that smoke will billow out and terrify you that Christmas brunch will be ruined.I promise it won’t be ruined. And will still come out delicious.

However, you might just have to crack a window or two and turn on the kitchen fan. Just to make sure that pesky smoke detector doesn’t freak out on ya.A small price to pay.

Obviously, after a fabulous brunch dish such as this, along with that 2/3 of a pecan pie I consumed on my own, and whatever other christmas cookies/candy, I was ready to get back to my routine.

More specifically, the gym.

The Shred was done a few times at my parents’ house, but I wanted cardio back into my life. NEEDED, to be honest.

So as soon as I was back at home and semi-unpacked (or at least the car was unloaded), there was a trip to gym. Nothing crazy because the drive yesterday was exhausting, but 20 minutes on the stairmill and 25 on the elliptical.

It was logged in the running journal my dear friend Danielle gave me a few months ago for my birthday. Sure it’s not a run, but it counts. Don’t tell me otherwise. Because you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to break this out. I’m a total nerd like that and love me a good planner.

There’s a plan to log an actual run into the running journal today. An actual run. Wow. It’s been well over a week since that happened.

It should be hilariously exhausting.

Stay tuned…

Friend Festivities

This is it.

My last day at work for the week. And of 2011.

Let’s all take a minute and be super excited for me.

Ok. Thanks everyone. But that’s enough.

Let’s talk business.

The shopping is done. The bags are *almost* packed (let’s not kid ourselves, this is a 3-day process). The perishable food has been eaten. And the baking is done.

That last part was a struggle. But thankfully, Mon took some time to stop by and help me and Bailey with my balls.I made fun of Mon for being like a child during arts and crafts by kneeling on the chair. No less than 5 shorty jokes are made every time we hang out.

She takes it well. And at least I didn’t make balls jokes this year. Made enough last year, so you can refer to this post if you’re in the mood for such things on this fine Thursday morning.

This year my baking wasn’t nearly as extravagant. But after last year’s all-day ordeal, can  you blame me? This year was kept simple with two things. The cake balls (which were just white cake and buttercream dipped in chocolate/vanilla candy coating) and Lazy Man Cookies.

I received these cookies through Sweet Swap Round 2 from the Skinny Architect and could not stop talking about how good they were.

She actually made a variation on her first round and called them Lazy Woman Cookies. So what did I do? I made a weird combination of the two. So if the lazy man and the lazy woman got together and reproduced, this is what you’d get…

Lazy Baby Cookies? Lazy Offspring Cookies?

Uh… We’ll work on the name later…

Lazy Cookies (how about we just eliminate gender/age altogether? How very politically correct of me…)

2 cups crushed graham crackers
1 cup melted butter
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup peanuts
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Mix together the melted butter and graham crackers.

Press into 9×13 pan. Layer rest of the ingredients on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.BAM. You have cookie bars. Sure, they’re not Christmas-y in the traditional sense. But they’re cookies and they’re baked the week of Christmas. We’re gonna call it what we want.

Or maybe just add some sprinkles. For dramatic effect. And drizzle chocolate on the top. If you’re feeling frisky.Clearly I was. Not unusual.

And if you add some Christmas cupcake liners, these lazy kids will be ready for a paaar-tay!We also exchanged gifts. Mon knows I need a sign for when I’m not feeling so frisky (hardly ever, but it is known to happen).I have issues with communication from time to time, so I will now wear this when things are going downhill. Boys take note.

Clearly, we all walked away with a pretty sweet stash:Yeah, I’m a Bears fan and I gave my roommate a Green Bay snuggie.

What can I say? I’m an awesome roommate…

My boo, Annie, came later on in the night to socialize and extend Holiday wishes to everyone as well. Very much a wonderful little Christmas celebration of friends.

Ok guys, I gotta go do this thing called “work” right now and try to get all my stuff taken care of before the Mizzou vs. Illinois game tonight! Being as how the Bears have pretty much lost me at this point and NBA hoops are just barely taking off, my focus is now on my #8 ranked Mizzou Tigers. Holla’!

Have a good one!

Portion Control

It’s something I think 95% of us have issues with from time to time.

And I salute the other 5% of you.

Because if something is that good, rarely do I ever want to stop.

You can never have too much of a good thing… right?Yeah you can.

Like on Saturday. Miller Lite is a good thing.

12 hours of bar hopping where it’s the sponsor of the pub crawl?

Not a good thing.

It’s safe to assume it was part of the reason I spent most of my Sunday being lazy and not moving from my couch.However, I did move a few times.

Not only to start up the crock pot, but also to grab one or two of these cookies from the mind of Cookies and Cups (Yes, I am introducing yet another baking blog and you’re going to like it).

Several trips to crab cookies, actually.

This chubby hubby cookie bar recipe has been on the top of my “to make” list since… I dunno… forever. So when it came time for the latest of the Blogger Sweet Swaps, I was already prepared.

Too prepared. I made a double batch. Just in case. Ya know?

But to answer the question in your head- yes, I always have a massive jar of pretzels around. $4. Target. BAM.

This was unneccessary. A recipe and a half would have been fine. Or even just a normal-sized recipe. I could have easily just had one or two and sent the rest on.

Nope. I said “let’s double this shiz”.Little did I realize this would require me to unwrap a bag and a half of Reese’s mini peanut butter cups. Next time I’ll think to get the regular-sized ones. Less work…

Oh crap. I just remembered I still have that other half of a bag in the pantry. Um…

Anyway…

Sure, my work friends were happy. As was my roommate.  Hopefully my Sweet Swap partner, Jessica, is, too.  The sweet/salty combo is fantastic. Adding pretzels or some sort of “crunch” should now be a standard for any baking venture I have. And the caramel- oh my geez.

It’s like a puddle of caramel, people. A big and amazing puddle.

If you’re scared of knives like I am, you can also bribe your roommate to cut the squares for you. Or at least still be in the same room in case you lose a limb in the process.These cookie bars are now in the top 5 favorites of things I’ve ever baked. It’s a bold statement, but is very true. Mostly because I’m a sucker for anything cookie-based. I’m a girl of simple taste when it comes to sweets. Boys take note.But my poor stomach. It couldn’t keep up with my sweet tooth. As much as it wanted to. Because these are hefty cookies, my friends (cut them small- trust me). And after the 10th or 12th one?

Ow.

Portion control.

I need a better grasp on what this concept is.

I also need to realize there is no real reason to ever double a recipe of anything.

Lesson of the day…

Attention Shoppers…

… you get “nice Amy” for about an hour. Give or take 15 minutes.

After that?

Watch out.

After deciding to skip out on all the Black Friday “fun”, Mon and I realized Christmas was coming no matter what and it was time to put a dent in our shopping lists.

Teaming up also made us feel a little less terrified.

Because let’s face it- malls are no joke at this time of year. Even the desire for a pretzel is going to cost you 10-15 minutes in line. And time is money, people!

So on my last day of Thanksgiving break, I woke up bright and early thanks to the ol’ alarm clock and was off to Woodfield Mall just outside of the city to meet up with Mon as soon as the doors opened.

We snagged a few deals. Dodged and swerved around the crowds. Laughed in sympathy for the parents in line to see Santa Clause with their crying babies (yes- laughing in sympathy is a real emotion).

Shopping really is a cardio workout. And if you saw our haul, it would be called strength training as well.

There was also recharging to be done at the Nordstrom Cafe. Both mentally and physically.

Mentally may have included crayons and puzzles they leave out for the kids.After three hours of shopping, the maze is WAY harder than you’d think.

Stop laughing. Mazes use the side of my brain that lags a little behind.

I’m also bad at giving/receiving driving directions. Let’s just blame it on being a girl.

We also fueled up as to not require a hoveround for the rest of the trip.My soup kick continues full speed ahead with broccoli cheddar. The weather is chilly. The soup is warm. Sensible.

Mon went for shrimp salad.

We chowed. Because shopping was exhausting.

And now I have this to deal with:Gift wrapping and a tree ready to burst out of the box. Not sure what the random shoe and my clutch is doing over there. Clearly they wanted in on the holiday party.

The tree isn’t going up for a little while longer. The roomie and I are putting it up together and both agree we’re not ready for it just yet.

Maybe after all the digesting of Thanksgiving food is said and done.

Which could take a while. I had a lot of pie…

Good grief, I love pie.

And holiday baking.

Just thinking about Baking Extravaganza 2010 gets me all jittery with excitement.

Because Christmas cookies? They are fantastic.

I know you agree.

So surely you’d want to join in on a little baking fun, right?

Right.

Jess and I both agreed- it’s time for the Holiday Edition of the Blogger Sweet Swap! So pull out the best of the best of your Holiday Favorites and let us know you’d like to join in on the fun!

Rules:

1. Each participant should send approximately a dozen of whatever treat they choose to make. (12 cookies, brownie pan to serve 12, etc). Of course, you are allowed to send more, but please keep the minimal to 12.

2. Pairs will be finalized and notified by next week Monday or Tuesday and the delicious treats should be shipped by December 12th or 13th. We just ask that you be respectful of others and try to get them out before, or as close to that date as possible.

3. Tell Amy & Jess how much you love them for organizing this fantastic operation. This one is optional, but strongly encouraged.

*Disclaimer- the organizers of this bake swap are merely responsible for matching the participants, and are not responsible for the items shipped.

So if you’re interested in joining in, email me  (secondcityrandomness@gmail.com) or Jessica (ssh.jessica@gmail.com)  before Friday, December 2nd so we can get you on the list to be partnered up!

And with that, I shall let you go on your way. Have a good one!

Dessert For The Holidays

As mentioned yesterday, I spent Thanksgiving dinner with my friend and her family.

They’re wonderful. And because they’re wonderful, I feel the need to find a way to thank them for everything. Because they invited me to dinner, I offered to bring a little something to add to the table.Pecan Pie Bars…

In my opinion, pecan pie is one of the top three foods of the holiday. Right up there with povatica and stuffing.

The corn syrup and sugar combo and I have a fling from Thanksgiving to Christmas every year.

After that? I need my space. Sorry. I don’t seem to do well with long term relationships. It’s me, not you.Unless, of course, we’re talking about wine and chocolate. With them? I’m in it for the long haul. We’re very happy together.

Anyhoo. What was I talking about?

Oh yeah- pecan pie.

Normally, I’m a purist when it comes to pecan pie. But the only cookie/bar recipe to be found was one that included chocolate chips.It was frustrating. But then again… it IS chocolate. Who am I to complain?Thank you, Brown Eyed Baker. This one is a real winner.

A few tips, though:

1. Make the day before. That way, you can refrigerate the pan before cutting- makes for a way prettier end result.2. Take all but one or two to the party. Otherwise you’ll end up with dessert liners all up on your coffee table and have no clue as to what just happened in less than 15 minutes.3. Do counterbalance your pecan pie deliciousness with a little somethin’ somethin’ in attempts to look like a responsible grown adult:My choice was a chicken artichoke wrap with black olives and a little mozzarella. Veggies in general are a good way to battle the bulge of holiday spirit. Just make sure, if it’s a Friday and you have intentions of welcoming in a male visitor, that you pick ones that won’t make you feel bloated. And definitely don’t add onions. Even if they would have been delicious.

That’s what I would do anyway…

4. Also, if you intend to have a male visitor, maybe leave a couple lying around along with the cinnamon roll sugar cookies left over from earlier in the week. It makes you look all domesticated and all that.

I mean… that’s what I would do. If I were in that situation…

Happy Holidays…