Falling into Nostalgia Again: Apple Spice Cookies

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One of the times I miss the US most is the first week of fall, when that first bite hits the air in the mornings and people start pulling out scarves and boots from the backs of their closets and the leaves haven't quite turned yet but you can tell they will be soon.  This time of year always brings the nostalgia pretty hard, and usually I cope with it by taking long walks in the park with the BF, stopping for coffee and a snuggle, and, of course, baking.

This year, the BF just happens to be abroad – back in the States, actually – for a sort of med-student study-abroad program.  I've been handling the separation pretty well, due mostly to being run off my feet with work, book stuff, and general back-from-vacation admin, but when the leaves started turning I did start to pine a bit (no pun intended).  Still, I was determined not to mope (or eat my feelings any more than I'm already wont to do); I may not be able to take long, chilly walks with my guy, but I can still bake, dang it!

Easy Friendships and Easier Dessert: Pistachio and Blueberry Biscotti

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I have a great girlfriend in London who is that wonderful combination of nice (without being too nice), hilarious (without being too catty), and understanding (without letting me get away with too much moaning), and best of all, she gets along famously with the BF.  Instead of glazing over the way I do when he talks about medicine too much or tells a story for a little too long, she is always rapt and encouraging – is it any wonder he loves her almost as much as I do?

Given how awesome this friend of mine is, of course she has a standing invitation to our flat for dinner, and when she moved a mere 20 minute walk down the road the invitation was reiterated with even more vehemence.  Now, unfortunately, she's a very busy gal, so we don't have her over as much as we'd like, but she does come round relatively often, and when she does I always make sure we finish the meal with something sweet and satisfying, and preferably something that packs well so I can send her home with a doggie bag.

On Compromise: Budgeting and Backup Banana Bread

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Life has been a wee bit stressful lately.  I picked up more work and was finally able to break away (hey, better late than never!) from the financial help my parents were giving me when I was in school, but it wasn't until I got my first amended paycheck, post-tax-gouge, that I realized just how much of a cut my monthly budget had taken.  I have to admit, it knocked the wind out of me, and it's taken me a good month or so to begin to think I'm capable of managing.

But I am capable, and I will manage, and it feels so good being completely responsible for my own finances, and completely independent, that I don't think I could go back, even if my parents had a windfall and suddenly wanted to throw money at me like there was no tomorrow.  I love the sense of pride I get from earning my own keep, and if the trade-off for that is a much tighter budget and a restricted social life, so be it.  Everybody makes sacrifices and compromises in this world, and as long as I can afford to stay in my lovely flat and spend time with my lovely boyfriend and bake delicious comfort foods, then I'm doing pretty well I think.

Travel, Family, and Meyer Lemons – Does It Get Any Better?

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Look at that.  Just...look at that.

Now do you understand why I checked out for so long while I was gone?  I know, I know, there are bloggers far better than I, who schedule posts to go up while they're away – there are even some bloggers, like the Energizer Bunny Pioneer Woman, who write and post while on vacation!  Alas, I am not one of these bloggers.  I am weak, and as much as I may know I should write a post while I'm home in SF, I cannot resist the temptation of an offer to walk along Crissy Field instead.

However, I am not entirely useless – I also cannot resist an opportunity to bake, and the overflowing bowls and bags of Meyer lemons in my mother's house were just that.  Her trees in Napa were heavy with fruit, and she was running out of ideas for what to do with it.  So I bring home for you: Meyer Lemon Quickbread (and some bad phone pics, sorry).

Slapdash Baking with Delicious Results: Banana Nutella Pecan Muffins

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I wasn't going to write a post about these muffins... They weren't anything special, as far as the process went, just something I threw together to get rid of some old bananas and buttermilk and feed a friend who needed comfort food in her life.  I didn't even plan on adding the nutella until the last minute – as is often the case when I make spur-of-the-moment baked goods, I was ad-libbing the whole time.  For once, I was baking to eat, rather than baking to blog.

Hence the terrible photographs.  I didn't take any pics until after we'd tried the muffins and declared them delicious – moist, banana-y, and chocolatey, with a nice crunch from the pecan bits – and multiple Facebook friends had read my status update and demanded the recipe. 

Ain't Nothin' Wrong with a Classic: Chocolate Chip Cookies

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 Can it be?  Can it really be possible that I haven't ever posted a recipe on this blog for that most classic of classics, the chocolate chip cookie?  How can that be so?

Well, I guess it doesn't matter how the omission came to pass – the important thing is to rectify it.

So Easy It's NUTS: Spiced Almonds for Snacking

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This recipe was inspired back in November by a friend of a friend, who showed up at a pub quiz I attended with a gallon bag full of holiday-spiced almonds, which she'd made herself.  I had a cold, so I didn't want to be reaching into the bag all night, but I wanted to try them to be polite, so I had my friend Sophie tip a few nuts into my palm.  And then a few more, and a few more... all I can say is, thank god for that cold and my reluctance to pester Sophie, or I would have eaten the whole damn bag!

I asked the girl how she'd made them, and she basically listed a bunch of spices, some salt, and an egg white as the ingredients.  I wasn't paying enough attention to write the spices down, but they were your baking basics: cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe some cloves (which I tend to skip).  The minute I got back to London, I bought a jumbo bag of raw almonds – I was all set to make my own amazingly addictive roasted nuts.  And then I put the nuts away in the cupboard, in the midst of a tidying frenzy, and I promptly forgot about them.

An Easy, Healthy Dessert: Baked Apples

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I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions.  If I had to guess, I'd say my hesitation is born of cynicism, which is in turn born of too many resolutions made and broken.  I try to make year-round changes, because for me the pressure of 'this is your one shot this year to make a change' is just asking for a massive (and early) failure.

That said, I'm fully aware that the clean slate of a new year is a helpful motivator for a lot of people.  And what's the most common resolution, in my experience?  Lose weight!  Or just eat better and be fitter (sort of my constant resolution).  And in support of that, and of all y'all who tire of my constant butter and sugar assaults, I give you baked apples!

Old Favorites Remembered: Gram's Deviled Eggs

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One of my favorite treats when I was growing up was my grandmother's deviled eggs (and her chocolate chip cookies, and the Mexican brownies...).  She used to bring them sometimes when she drove to visit us, and I just remember my mouth watering as she peeled back the cling film from the plate and set them on the kitchen table.  The minute I was given the go-ahead from my mother, I'd dart forward like a small rodent and grab an egg, stuff it whole into my mouth, and bite down into the rich, soft, yolky center.

My mouth would fill to bursting with contrasts: firm white and silky yolk; smoky paprika and sweet relish; spicy mustard and cool bland egg.  I was convinced I could eat a whole plateful by myself, if I'd been allowed to be so glutinous.

Buon Natale di Roma!

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Ciao, tutti!  I'm on a much-needed vacation in Rome right now, but I couldn't neglect the blog during the bakingest season of the year, so I'm leaving you with this recipe for fabulously easy, majorly impressive homemade biscotti.

I made these guys for a dinner party back in early November (more on that to come, as it was my first time doing a full-on dinner for a vegetarian-inclusive crowd), and everyone was so surprised to hear that I'd baked them from scratch.  I just brushed off the oohs and aahs with a shrug: no biggie.

Healthifying a Craving: Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

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My cravings aren't always butter-related.  Often I crave sushi, or heirloom tomatoes, or noodles.

But if we're going to be really honest here (and I think we should be – this is a safe space for honesty and cravings), I have to admit that the majority of my sudden desires involve copious amounts of sugar, egg, flour, and yes, butter.

New York, New York: City Cravings and Cold Sesame Noodles

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The BF and I are headed to New York this evening; I have a one-week layover on my way to a good friend's wedding, and he's coming along for the first two nights in one of our favorite cities in the world.  I'm so looking forward to it.  No work drama, no book stress, just pastrami and sushi and bagels and central park and wide sidewalks and all the other things I miss so much when I'm away from NYC.

One of the foods I crave heavily when I haven't been to the city in a while is cold sesame noodles.  If you've never tried them (and chances are if you've never been to New York, you haven't, as I've never seen them anywhere else), you should.  They're salty and peanutty and cool – a wonderful summer lunch dish, although I made these on a chilly day and they were just as satisfying.

Cinnadoodlesnaps!

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Y'all know how much I love cinnamon, right?  Have we talked about this before?  Oh, yes, we have.  A lot.  So I ask you this: how is it possible that I never tried to make gingersnaps with cinnamon taking the lead?  HOW?

Okay, it doesn't matter how.  We'll just chalk that up to yet another brainfart on my part.  The point is, dear people, I've now tried it...and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back.  The cinnamon, oh, god, the cinnamon has me swooning.

The Lazy Baker Strikes Again: 'Baked' Brownies For Slackers

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The other day, I wanted a snack, but our cupboards were bare.  This is a very dangerous situation.  When we're out of snackables, I usually just eat way too much of everything else (random cold potatoes leftover from dinner, old candies from Christmas stockings, toast with butter and jam at 5pm), but occasionally I'll get up off my butt and bake.  But it has to be something easy and quick, because when I get snacky it usually means I'm either hard at work (scoff) or bored and lazy.  Enter: the lazy version of the 'Baked' brownie.

This recipe, in its original form, isn't even that involved.  But I was looking for super low-maintenance baking.  I toyed with using a one-bowl recipe from Allrecipes, but the reviews were either fantastic or abysmal, and I wasn't really up for taking the chance.  So I went back to this post from Brown Eyed Baker, for the brownies from the book 'Baked', which has been getting a ton of buzz around the food world – especially for the brownies.

Indecision Baking: Banana Fluffernutter Muffins

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I have a bad habit of changing direction in the middle of projects.  I do it when walking (suddenly decide to take a different route), I did it with my book (and as a result have been busy rewriting the first 3 chapters almost entirely), and I do it with baking.  A lot.

These muffins are a perfect example.  See that pear up there?  The one with all the brown splotches?  I was totally going to use that.  I was going to make healthy muffins, with bananas and a pear and low-fat yogurt instead of butter or oil.  I had the best of intentions.  But then...

Think you don't like olives?

Pin It Well, think again!

Both my father and the bf claim to hate olives.  Usually when we go out to dinner with my parents, bowls of marinated olives are left entirely to my mom and me, the salt/vinegar lovers.  But a few years ago, my parents were visiting London and we went to a restaurant called Pied à Terre for lunch.  The food was very good, and the service was pleasant, if a bit obsequious, but what we still talk about to this day were the olives. 

Continuing the Workplace Takeover: Chocolate Peanut Butter Puffs

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Now this is a stroke of genius.

Shop-bought puff pastry, peanut butter, and chocolate chips; a pizza cutter (or sharp knife) and a rolling pin; an oven.  Add a half hour's attention and minimal energy (and, more importantly, minimal dishes!), et voila: Chocolate peanut butter puffs!

Homemade potato chips, or: How you know you're truly a master procrastinator!

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In case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of controlled by my cravings.  That's one of the dangers of being both anti-dieting and home all day.  You end up making all kinds of random things in pursuit of a craving. 

Well... in pursuit of a craving while also trying to outrun a deadline.  Yeah, yeah, I was supposed to be writing my book.  But I needed salty crunch!  Don't judge me.

Carrying on the Thanksgiving-with-a-twist theme: Pecan Pie Muffins!

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These little babies are the business.  For serious. 

I was never really a pecan pie gal.  I was much more about the pumpkin (as I would think might be obvious from the wealth of pumpkin-related posts on this site (and there are more to come!)).*  Pecan pie was just a tad too rich and sweet for my tastes, not that that stopped me from eating it.  I just didn't eat as much of it...

More my thing: easy 'donut' muffins

Pin It After last week's challah trials (and tribulations), I needed a pick me up.  Something easy.  Something delicious.  A guaranteed success.  Enter: the donut muffin.