Learn how to make madeleines - the delicate, buttery French cakes with the iconic scallop shape. So much better than the Starbucks version! A perfect shelter-in-place baking project. There's a lot of mythology surrounding madeleines. Most famously, it was a bite of these little cakes - or are they cookies? - dipped in tea that triggered a ...
Bloody Mary with Dill Pickle Vodka
Skip the lines and brunch at home this New Year's with a restaurant-style Bloody Mary made with homemade pickle-infused vodka. My husband is not much of a drinker. In fact, when we go out to dinner with friends, he is inevitably the designated driver. Wine, beer, cocktails -- they just doesn't do much for him. (I myself enjoy wine and never ...
Edible Gift: Jam-Swirled Marshmallows
Beautiful jam-swirled homemade marshmallows are the perfect edible gift for the hot chocolate lovers in your life! Homemade marshmallows are satisfying to bite into, melt in your mouth and burst with flavor. They are are so superior to store-bought versions as to be almost a different food. I love one and cannot abide the other. Indeed, once ...
Quick Pickled Cranberries
Fall for fresh cranberries this holiday season! This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FallforFresh #CollectiveBias. November is the season for Ocean Spray® Fresh Cranberries in the store, as I did at my local Walmart this week, I always buy at least two bags: one to use ...
Homemade Truffles for Valentine’s Day
Don't look now, but it's almost Valentine's Day. You may be thinking."Great! Forget my new year's resolution to eat healthier. I'll take all the chocolate, please." Well, what if you could have your chocolate and eat it too? (Wait, of course we are going to eat the chocolate. What else would we do with it?) Today, I'm going to give you a recipe ...
Edible Gift: Ancho Chile Pecans
Tis the season...to think about edible gifts! In fact, I feel like that's all I've been thinking about lately. In early November, I did a presentation on edible gift ideas at the local suburban library and demonstrated how to make Salted Caramel Sauce and Rum Vanilla Extract, both recipes from my book, Food Swap: Specialty Recipes for Bartering, ...
Edible Gifting: Parmesan Thyme Crackers
I am a big proponent of giving edible gifts. Homemade gifts of any kind are both personal and unexpected. They show love and thoughtfulness because they take precious time to make. Edible homemade gifts have the advantage of not cluttering up people's homes - because they will be consumed! -- and anyone, even the least crafty among us, can make ...
Chocolate Orange Yogurt Truffles
Chocolate orange truffles made with Divine Chocolate dark chocolate and Stonyfield yogurt instead of cream? These may be decadent but I feel no guilt whatsoever! Valentine's Day is right around the corner, but you still have time to make your beloved a homemade gift. And what could be more romantic than chocolate? But what if your ...
Edible Gift Ideas
Christmas is in less than a week and you are out of ideas. Or money. Or both. But you still have a long list of people who need gifts, from the day care teacher who likes your kid the best to the UPS guy who never tells your husband about all the packages from Zappos. So, get in the kitchen and start making some edible gifts! Edible gifts have ...
Cookie Dough Truffles
This is a story about what it is like to be the child of a food blogger. The other day, at the grocery store, Zuzu spied a jar of edible cookie dough from The Cookie Dough Cafe in the dairy aisle. She begged me to buy it because she had heard about this company's products from some of her favorite You Tube stars. I, on the other hand, had never ...
Chocolate Bark with Dried Apricots, Golden Raisins and Pumpkin Seeds
Today's recipe post is sponsored by Sun-Maid in conjunction with my work as part of Kitchen-PLAY's #TeamFreshSummit. As always, all opinions are entirely my own. While at PMA Fresh Summit in Atlanta, I had the opportunity to visit the Sun-Maid booth and learn more about this 100-year-old, farmer-owned cooperative. Is there a more iconic ...
Ancho Chile Smoked Salt Caramels for IFBC
On Friday, I will leave for Seattle and one of my favorite weekends of the year: the International Food Bloggers Conference. I am so excited to spend time with my fellow food bloggers in one of this country's best food towns. Among the activities and sessions that I am most looking forward to are a pre-conference excursion to the Sur La Table ...
Edible Gift Idea: Caramels
Despite putting up jars upon jars of jams and pickles all summer long, I still find myself scrambling at this time of year to make gifts for the friends, neighbors, teachers and coaches who have touched our lives in the past year. If you are in the same boat, be sure to tune in to Fox 32's Good Day Chicago on Monday December 8 at 9:45 am when I ...
Last Minute Gift: Thyme-Infused Sea Salt Caramels
I was running around Oak Park yesterday taking care of some last-minute holiday errands when I ran into one of my canning students. She pulled me aside to ask if I had any last-minute edible gift ideas. Apparently her son thought the gift that she had picked out for his teacher was not going to cut it. I could have acted all superior and claimed ...