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Sweet Snacks

Breakfast/Brunch, Sweet Snacks

Cranberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Here’s a quick and easy recipe, if you are still looking for something to add to your Christmas morning breakfast or brunch: Cranberry Chocolate Chip Muffins! Festive and cheery, sweet from the chocolate and tart from the cranberries, just a dusting of sugar at the end before baking to have a crispy topping. They come together in under 20 minutes, and take another 30ish to bake, they are great straight out of the oven.

PS: The ones in the photograph are “over-stuffed” because the muffin liners were so big, so I had to bake them for about 5 minutes longer. If you are using the regular sized muffin liners, then 20-25 minutes should be enough time in the oven.
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22. December 2016
Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Savory Snacks, Sides, Sweet Snacks

Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread

While this recipe isn’t necessarily Christmas-y, here I am making it making it as part of a Christmas Gift Basket. Not surprising, most of the things that I give for Christmas (besides The Cookies … capital T, capital C) are food or food related. But this recipe would work just as well in the late summer when zucchini and rosemary are at their peak. While it is sweet, it’s almost border-line savory as well, so might go well with soups and stews as well as eggs and bacon for breakfast.
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20. December 2016
Breakfast/Brunch, Drinks/Cocktails, Sweet Snacks

Hot Chocolate “On a Stick”
(Cinnamon Spice, Coconut and Irish Cream)

Another quick idea for stocking stuffers: Hot Chocolate on a Stick (you can do lots of flavors but I happen to make Cinnamon, Coconut and Irish Cream). When I was in Germany recently, just about every chocolate shop seemed to have these and they seemed like a cut idea. Note that the chocolate can be a little tough and can seize up on you if get it too hot, so be careful!
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17. December 2016
Cookies, Sweet Snacks

Ginger Maple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here is another “Autumn Cookie” that could actually double as a Christmas Cookie. I seem to be experimenting a lot with these sorts lately. Ginger and cinnamon make it at least sort of like a Christmas Cookie, though I do associate maple more with the fall (don’t really know why though). At any rate, really simple and homey. Do beware that they spread a lot because of the maple syrup.
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26. November 2016
Desserts, Sweet Snacks

“Fallen Leaves” Spiced Apple Pie

Here is my unsolicited piece of advice for fruit pie baking: cook the fillings separately. There are lots of reasons that this is a good idea, but most importantly, if you are baking a two crust pie (top and bottom), pies have a tendency to dome; that is, you fill them full of raw fruit and then when the fruit condenses in the baking process, you have a top crust that sits above (or collapses on to) the pie. If you cook the filling ahead of time, then you’ve already removed much of the water from the equation. Another bonus of cooking the filling separately is that you can do it up to a week in advance, so you aren’t pressed for time on the day of, or the day before, the holiday. Fair warning though, you will need double as much fruit than if you use raw in your pie. For example, this 9-inch pie used a full 14 medium sized apples (my non-pre-cook recipe uses about 8 apples).
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21. November 2016