December 2013 – Long Distance Baking

New Year’s Eve 2012 was spent in Boise. With sparkly dresses, fishbowl drinks and below freezing temperatures (I think it was about 10 degrees…) … [Read more…]

For the first time since starting this blog…Kelly and I were together! And we’d been practically counting down the days. We had a list a mile long of things to do! Such as: go running, go to hot yoga, shop, bake, maybe do a video post?, coffee date, drink wine, look at Christmas lights…it goes on. Want to know how many of those things got done? Two. Starbucks and wine. Pretty typical if you ask me! Granted it was mostly my fault as I was only in town roughly 48 hours (though if we ever actually … [Read more…]

I cannot believe that Christmas is over. It always comes and goes too fast! Fortunately, I come from a large family and we extend Christmas- we celebrate with 4 days festivities. … [Read more…]

To be honest, I really didn’t know that royal icing was “fancy” or that many people rarely or never use it. We just called it “frosting” and it was the only way I knew how to frost cookies! Royal icing will dry into a smooth, hard finish that looks very professional. Any little bumps or imperfections will smooth out perfectly. Maybe this is why Mom let my sister and I decorate her cookies as children…because she knew we couldn’t mess up with this icing…hmmm… … [Read more…]

Is anyone else super behind on their holiday baking?! I don’t know where the time went! Sugar cookies are a classic. For any holiday! We used to make these every year growing up. The recipe is from my Aunt Jacki and to be honest, I don’t know where she got it. But this is the one recipe I’ve given out more than any other. Kelly visited me for New Year’s last year and ate sugar cookies at every meal I think! … [Read more…]

I don’t understand the red velvet craze but it seems every time someone mentions red velvet, eyes glaze and ears perk up. … [Read more…]

Two things have confused me about the name Gingersnap: why are they called “ginger” when it’s the dark molasses that gives most of the flavor, and why “snap” when they are so soft and chewy? Turns out…not all gingersnaps are the same! I found I’m actually in the minority for loving a soft cookie. There are some die-hard “if they don’t snap they’re not gingersnaps!” folk out there. There are also some ginger fanatics who grate fresh ginger or even use diced ginger in their cookies to get a more … [Read more…]

Things I love about baking at my parent’s house: KitchenAid mixer!!! Giant butcher block island. Double oven. Always having every ingredient I can possibly think of. Surround sound kitchen speakers and XM radio. Things I don’t love: I can never, ever, find anything. Once my sister and I left for college Mom and Dad moved into a new house and I’ve yet to figure out the cupboard situation. This results in a lot of talking to myself (which luckily you can’t hear over my music) and a lot of running … [Read more…]

Have you guys heard of Giving Tuesday? I just learned of it today…and I love the idea! We have Black Friday and Cyber Monday, days full of spending money on material items we don’t really need, it’s only fair we have a day to give back! Aka Giving Tuesday. … [Read more…]