Take Back Thursday Gingerbread Delights #TBT

Since Chrismas falls on Thursday this year, I thought it would be fun to re-use my favourite Christmas cookie recipe today and show you how I decorated my gingerbread cookies this Christmas. I'm just posting early since I know I'll be a little busy tomorrow!  

This year I bought a reindeer cookie cutter and created little reindeer and Santa combos to munch with milk, eggnog, or whatever our hearts desire tonight. And, if there are any left, Santa will get some too! 

Enjoy your holiday tomorrow! Best wishes from my home to yours! 

Tangy Chocolate Christmas Cookies

To me, chocolate is the king of desserts and cookies are the king of Christmas desserts. So that means that chocolate cookies must top the list, right? I like to think so.

This Christmas I felt like making a few new cookie recipes in addition to my tried and true favourites,  just for the fun of it. And clearly that meant trying a new chocolate Christmas cookie.

I taste tested my way through a few different recipes, a really tough job, and finally create this recipe - one so good that it will be pulled out all through the year! These cookies are tangy, rich, decedent, and pretty healthy too because it's almost all chocolate and that's dairy!

So let's get down to the recipe for my new Tangy Chocolate Christmas Cookies! You have to try these!

Grinch Cookies!

I love everything about about Christmas, but watching a Christmas movie while munching on homemade cookies would have to be my very favourite holiday activity. And to make this year's favourite activity even more festive, I made a new cookie that's inspired by one of my favourite holiday movies, the Grinch Who Stole Christmas!

I've enjoyed matcha tea, a powdered green tea, in lattes for awhile but adding it to a batch of cookies is the perfect way to naturally dye my cookies a delightfully grinchy green. And simple pink piped hearts, three sizes too small, adds to the Who-ville experience in a way I know every single one of you will agree.

So get out your mixing bowls and cookie sheets to bake up a batch of what I think is going to turn into everyone's new holiday favourite - Grinch Cookies!

Spoon Worthy

I love pumpkins in every shape and form. Pumpkin patches, jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie, Cinderella's carriage, and pretty much pumpkin anything. But when I eat pumpkin treats, I really love when said treats are sprinkled with cinnamon.

Today's recipe are Pumpkin Spiced Cupcakes frosted with plenty of Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting. This frosting is so yummy that I coined a new phrase, spooky worthy. It's definately tasty enough to dig into a bowl of it with a spoon.

Crazy Ingredient Challenge - Beets and Eggs!

Beets and eggs are two of my favourite foods so hearing that they were chosen for August's Crazy Ingredient Challenge's ingredients made me very happy. And even more than two of my favourite foods, this month's ingredients allow me to do one of my favourite things - bake!

I dabbled with ideas of what to make this month, coming up with recipes I thought were unique like Gnocchi with Beet Greens and Fried Shallots or Tie Dye Devilled Eggs, but I was craving to bake and I really wanted to eat chocolate cake.

So, in the end, I decided to revamp one of my favourite recipes and make it beet-friendly. I think it turned out earthy and amazing. Read on for my Beet-iful Chocolate Brownies and check out everyone else's recipe too!

Flavour Explosion

Whenever I bite into a tart dessert, I feel happy. Lemon, lime and rhubarb are pretty much heaven to me. I just love the feeling of wanting more and light, bright, tart, fresh flavours always seem to make me want more.

This summer I've made a lot of rhubarb desserts, but this time I wanted something a little extra rhubarby. I wanted a rhubarb cake with a rhubarb sauce. I wanted it all. And since I had plenty of rhubarb, I could it all to myself as a little treat.

Ready for flavour explosion? Read on and discover a cake and sauce recipe that unlocks my heart.

Sex Tape and a Giveaway #BedroomSpice

One of my favourite kind of dates is watching a movie with my sweetie. I love snuggling up on the sofa with snacks and laughing along as a great movie plays and I am always on the lookout for what to watch next.

On July 18, 2014 Sony is releasing what looks to be a seriously funny movie, Sex Tape. Just watch the trailer to see what I mean! In the movie, the two main characters try to spice up their relationship by making a "romantic" video and that video somehow gets uploaded to the Cloud and gets shown to all their family and friends... I can't even imagine that happening!

Luckily the ways I keep the magic alive are a little more tame. I love packing a picnic full of my sweetie's favourite foods and taking it somewhere romantic. Or spending the weekend hiking and camping in a tiny little tent. And if we just snuggle up on the sofa with a new movie, making a Spicy Chocolate Sauce for ice cream sundaes with a movie never hurts. I always serve mine with cinnamon flavoured kiss jujubes too!

MasterChef Hopeful

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be chosen to audition for MasterChef Canada in Vancouver, BC and I had such a fun time. My dish held up well over the terrifically long day and tasted great, I wasn't as nervous as I had been last year, and I met a lot of lovely people.

Last year my food turned out great too, I made a Pimm's Cup Upside-Down Peach Cake, but I knew I didn't win a seat on the show. I stood in front of the judges full of nervous laughter, shaking knees, and every single thought in my head poured out my ears as I walked through the doors. This year, anything is possible and I might be one of the lucky ones.

Want to know what I made? It's a combination of a lot of great dishes I've made before. I called my dish Chocolate and Orange Profiteroles. It was pretty yummy.

Sailing Snacks

I love going sailing on a sunny Sunday afternoon and while I am may not be the most knowledgeable sailor in board the boat, I do have a very important job. I am the snack-tician. 

A tactician plans the course of the race and it's their job to anticipate any problems that might arise. A snack-tician's role is even more important because it is their job to plan out snacks prior to the leisurely sail and ensure that there are enough goodies to enjoy for the entirety of the sail. 

But what makes the perfect snacks for sailing? That's a tough question. It needs to be finger food so it can gobbled up quickly. And it needs to be clean because where you put the napkins on the boat? And really, my stomach gets upset on a boat so having something to comfort it wouldn't hurt. 

That's when I had the perfect idea, gingerbread cookies, shaped like sailboats for a little extra cuteness.  They're finger food, clean, and the ginger would help anyone's stomach if needed. 

Banana Boat Fun #SummerWithChex

Summer is finally here and, for me, it wouldn't be complete without plans for camping. And camping wouldn't be complete without plans for lots and lots of s'mores overflowing with marshmallows and chocolate.

When we went camping last year, I somehow managed to forget graham crackers and I didn't remember until I was sorting through our food to get ready for dinner. Luckily I am pretty resourceful (plus I always seem to pack enough food for an army) and figured out a new dessert to make our camping treat complete. 

So what did I do? I just took some of the Chex cereal and a few of the bananas I had planned for a breakfast and created delicious, Banana Boats. I love that Chex is gluten free and a little healthier than graham crackers, so this year, I am not sure if I will even bother to add graham crackers to my shopping list for camping. My Banana Boats were that good.

Chocolate and Cherry

Sometimes I wonder what I like more, chocolate or cherry. Chocolate is rich and I usually get happy with just one or two little pieces, but cherries are healthy so it's ok to eat a big bowl of them. It's a hard call to make what option I should choose.

Luckily today's post combines the best of both worlds. That's right, the shortbread recipe I am sharing today is full of chocolate and cherries. No more deciding which option I'll get to enjoy because I get both in one deliciously easy to whip up cookie.

And can you imagine these shortbreads as ice cream sandwiches? I'm drooling just thinking about it!

Rhubarb Makes Life Delicious

Could anything in life be more delicious than coming home from work to a homemade Rhubarb Custard Tart? Creamy custard with chunks of tart rhubarb hidden beneath a buttery crumble is about the best thing I can of think right now, especially if it's made by someone with just me in mind.

Serving dessert at a dinner party is lovely. And I have to admit that I spend quite a few minutes deliberating which dessert to make every time friends come over. But serving dessert to your family just because you can, well that's just plain delicious. 

This Rhubarb Custard Tart is from Life Made Delicious truly makes me happy - both to eat and to share with you. 

Vanilla and Butter

The words "vanilla" and "butter" are two of my favourite words of all time, especially when I know that I'm going to be eating them in the near future. It's interesting to me that neither of those two ingredients are tasty if served to you on a spoon on their own, but both taste like magic when put into a dessert.

Last weekend I was baking a pie for Easter dessert and realized, after I returned from the grocery store, that I didn't have enough shortening to make my pastry. I had always used all vegetable shortening in my pastry so was immediately disappointed that I'd have to go back to the store. Then I remembered that my mom uses part shortening and part butter in her pastry and her pies always taste much better than mine. I tried a new recipe of part shortening and part butter pastry, and I'll never be going back to my old ways. 

The pastry paired perfectly with Chatelaine's Vanilla Rhubarb Pie. I changed up the presentation and filling a little, but the basic idea is the same.

Peep Show

This month Dawn from Spatulas on Parade challenged us to use Peeps and lemon to make something delicious in the Crazy Ingredient Challenge. I love lemon and use it in almost everything, but I had never even tried a Peep before this challenge.

Since I knew that Peeps were sugar dusted marshmallows, I knew I would be making a dessert. I couldn't even fathom the thought of trying to stuff those little guys into a dinner. And what do I think of when making a marshmallow dessert, rice crispie squares!

I decided to "fancy up" my idea a little and used puffed quinoa in place of rice crispies and I added a few additional treats in place of Easter sprinkles too. I think this recipe is worth keeping, crazy ingredients or not!

Bunny Love

Who doesn't love cookies? To me cookies symbolize a holiday because I always have some delicious little buttery morsels at Christmas, Easter, and other celebrations. While I might make a batch of chocolate chip cookies now and then throughout the year, I tend to choose to bake an easy cake rather than individual little cookies more often.

But considering how much I love cookies, I think that should change. And I think you might tend to agree with me when you see how perfect these Linzer Cookies came out. They're so much easier than you would ever guess!

Berry Delicious Pudding

Easter is one of most "egg"-citing times of the year and a time I "carrot" very much about. I love spending time figuring out what will "turnip" on my table for Easter dinner. And I am always the first one awake calling out to everyone to "lettuce" see what the bunny left for us.

This year I think I've found the perfect quick treat for my Easter dessert. It's almost as much fun as my puns and takes mere minutes to make, especially if you choose to skip the step of making your own edible dirt and substitute a cup or so of Chocolate Cheerios pulsed in a food processor.

I can't wait to dig into a bowl of this "Dirty" Chocolate Pudding with Chocolate Covered "Carrot" Strawberries so I know I'll need to make another batch for Easter. Chocolate anything doesn't even last a day in my house! 

Carrot Cupcakes for Easter

I love baking up a storm for Easter but usually choose a carrot cake because it's seems fitting to serve carrots on a day filled with bunny love. This year I wanted to do something different and decided to make something cute for Easter that resembles a carrot cake, but tastes more like what the bunny might hide instead of what he want to nibble on after hiding all of the Easter eggs.

I headed off to my local candy store, came back with a few bags full of fun, and got really excited about my idea. These Chocolate Carrot Cupcakes are inspired by a photo I saw on Pinterest, but I made them my own by using decorations that were easier to find and a tried and true chocolate cake recipe from my recipe box!

Dulce de Leche Apple Cake

Dulce de Leche Apple Cake. How have these words never left my lips before?

I'm not ashamed to admit that those words actually only left my lips because of Duncan Hines Apple Caramel Decadent Cake Mix, but I'm happy to say that my homemade version was much better than the surprisingly delicious boxed version.

That's right. Today's recipe is homemade version of a Duncan Hines mix. It's full of apples, almost as many as a pie in fact. It's full of dulce de leche, almost too full if that could be possible. And it's a cake that I am proud to serve for breakfast or dessert. Or for a midnight snack. Or lunch. Or pretty much whenever.

Read on for my Dulce de Leche Apple Cake recipe!

Shamrock Cake for St. Patrick's Day

I don't know what it is about holidays, but I love to create something special for each and every special occasion. Every couple of weeks I think about what occasion is coming up and start planning what I can make for it.

St. Patrick's Day is coming up soon and of course I've been planning for it. My mind wanted to follow the rainbow to the pot of gold last weekend and I ran with the crazy idea I came up with. I am really excited to share this recipe with you because it's really cool and tastes great too.

Read on for my new recipe, Shamrock Cake with Irish Cream Buttercream!

Red Carpet Cookies and a Giveaway! #ChexRedCarpet

I love watching the Oscars and the count down to the show on March 2 is already on at my house. I know a few of you might think that it's a little early to be thinking about the Oscars, especially with the Olympics still being on, but I need time to plan.

Every year I love to create fun food to serve while we watch the Oscars that is themed around at least one of the movies up for an award. This year is no different and my movie of choice of Gravity. I loved Sandra Bullock's performance and I loved the adrenaline that came from watching the movie - there wasn't much about it I didn't like.

Well there was one part I wish had been different, but I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it yet....

At first I thought I might just get a few astronaut ice cream sandwiches. That would be easy and fun. But after tasting one, I knew that could not be only themed treat I'd serve. They are fun to think about, but I wouldn't write home about how they taste.

So I racked my brain a little more and came up with a new approach. Instead of serving something that astronauts might eat in outer space, I'll serve something that resembles something in outer space - a moon to be exact.

I know you're going to try these easy Chex Moon Cookies so read on for my recipe. And also read on for an opportunity to win a great prize pack - perfect to use the next time you're serving a special dessert.