Just for Fun: 50 Shades of Grey Necktie Cookies

Fifty Shades of Grey ties, huh? I debated whether or not to do this post, mostly because it feels like a Pinterest fail waiting to happen. But what the hell, if you're even moderately crafty, you can make these grey tie cookies without too much trouble. They certainly won't look like they came from a bakery where someone with real artistic skill is decorating your cookies, but that sort of fits the bill with these 50 Shades of Grey tie cookies, doesn't it? Everyone slags the book and yet millions have read it. This Friday theaters will be at capacity with people who want to see Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele brought to life.

ByMichelleFebruary 8, 20150Comments

Dessert Recipes

Made: Cake Merchant’s Vegan Double Chocolate Cookies

Premise : Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies gone vegan. Recipe: Cake Merchant’s Vegan Dark Chocolate Olive Oil Sea Salt Cookies Tweaks: I used slightly less granulated sugar (er, no I didn't measure) since I was using Pacific Foods' vanilla almond milk, which is sweetened. I also used mini chocolate chips to give these a better shot at…

ByMichelleJune 11, 20140Comments

Travel

Flying to New York for a Froyo Break

I blew through New York City a couple of weeks ago, rolling in on a Red Eye Tuesday morning, and jetting out on Wednesday evening. Road warriors, I do not envy you. The red eye is a killer. Even with my short legs and an open row --3 seats worth of luxurious space -- the shuteye I got was somewhere just north of dozing. I checked into the hotel, flipped on the TV, and after a shower, I looked down onto the street below at what I can only describe as an oasis. Green letters emblazoned at street-level. In my best Homer Simpson voice, I said (it even may have been out loud), “Mmmmm. Coffeeeeee.”

ByMichelleMay 14, 20140Comments

Baking Dessert Recipes

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Miso Buttercream

Toying with chocolate chip cookie recipes has started something dangerous. It’s not the just having cookies around…it’s the dough. The current wisdom calls for aging the dough in the fridge for 24-36 hours. But unless you hide it in the back of the fridge, it’s impossible not to nibble. And this is only the first go – a chocolate chip cookie with red miso buttercream.

ByMichelleFebruary 18, 20140Comments

Baking Dessert

Carrot Cake Cookies for January (and All the Year Through)

It’s the first Monday in the new year. Gyms will be packed, kale will be in short supply and you’ll be able to get a drink at your favorite bar as everyone is trading gin for juice (mean green, that is). Look, we all should have eaten fewer M&Ms and had one less hot toddy,…

ByMichelleJanuary 5, 20141Comment

Dessert Recipes

Fig Ice Cream Sandwiches with Speculoos Cookies

"Slightly Gingery. The Ed Sheeran of cookies,” says the sign at Trader Joe’s. Can you guess? Speculoos, aka biscoff cookies. Now, I’m late to the biscoff cookie crazy. I’ve never really flown Delta, which is where a lot of people first encountered a 2-pack of those cinnamony, gingersnappy cookies. Long known in Belgium, those little cookies have been one of the positives airline passengers can point to about flying in the last few years.

Gingersnaps have been a favorite of mine since childhood, thanks to little purple bags of Pogen's cookies. But I never paid much mind to speculoos. I mean, I’ve had a packet of them in my cupboard for the last several months, just languishing. So when I bumped into this blueberry mascarpone tart with a speculoos cookie crust, a light flicked on in my head. Speculoos cookies would be perfect for ice cream sandwiches.

ByMichelleSeptember 7, 20130Comments

Baking

Soft and Chewy Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Miso Cookies

It always makes me laugh that instant ramen is (dis)regarded as college food. It’s the savior for the days when you’re so broke you drink Keystone Light and survive on a 33 cent pack of noodles. You couldn't possibly eat it because...you like it. But as with so many foods from my childhood, maybe initially…

ByMichelleAugust 19, 201310Comments

Baking Dessert Recipes

Butterless Cowboy Cookies

While I’ve been waiting for stone fruit to really come in full force, I’ve been baking cookies. It started with some gluten-free peanut butter oat cookies from this month’s mailer from PCC, our local market. Then, the Spice Cookies from Jerusalem. Now, Cowboy Cookies…oats, pecans, chocolate chips, a little coconut. This time, with olive oil instead of butter. There are worse ways to pass the time.

ByMichelleMay 29, 20137Comments

Baking Book Reviews Recipes

Tasting Jerusalem: Hot Cross Buns in Cookie Form

My love for hot cross buns is well documented in the pages of this blog. But I only ever seem to think of them around Easter, when really, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be enjoying sweetened yeast buns with just a hint of spice, currants and candied fruit any ol’ time. Which is what made these Spice Cookies my first choice for this month’s baking theme for Tasting Jerusalem. You get the flavors of hot cross buns, the spice, the currants, the citrus in cookie form. And while it may seem slightly odd to be making spice cookies in the spring, because the truth is they do taste like the holidays, I couldn’t resist.

ByMichelleMay 13, 20133Comments

Dessert Recipes

Fit for a Cookie Craving: Date Walnut Spice Cookies

You're surviving on Pinterest, aren't you? These first few weeks of January are hard. You're back to eating the way you should, getting more exercise, but you're eyeballing that lasagne with the stretchy cheese, living vicariously through images of pizza dip and cream cheese brownies. I see it in your pins! You know what, I'm right there with you. Yesterday, I wanted a bag of Doritos like nobody's business. And after dinner, I've been finding myself wanting a little something sweet. Not a full blown dessert, just a little something. These little spice cookies fit the January agenda -- sweetened mostly with dates and applesauce, spiced with a little cinnamon (and high in fiber!).

ByMichelleJanuary 10, 20130Comments