Candy, Cookies, Dessert, Frozen Treats, Snacks, Summer, Sweet

national ice cream month: monster cookie ice cream sandwiches

Did you know? July is National Ice Cream Month! To celebrate, and to beat the heat, I’ll be bringing you recipes for frosty, sweet treats all month long! From popsicles with an unexpected ingredient, to a frosty little ice cream cake, stick around cause this month’s sure to be tasty! I’ve eaten my fair share of ice cream sandwiches. Those classic little rectangular ones are … Continue reading national ice cream month: monster cookie ice cream sandwiches

AmandaJuly 5, 2015September 13, 2015Leave a comment

Cookies, Dessert, Sweet

german chocolate tea cookies

When I’m not making all manner of cakes and retro cafeteria pizzas at home for fun, I’m making donuts at my day job. Do you realize the number of times someone has said to me, “Time to make the donuts”? It’s endless. I’m pretty much just like that guy, waking up at 3:30 AM so I can sleepily make my way to work and create donut goodness … Continue reading german chocolate tea cookies

AmandaJune 7, 2015September 13, 2015Leave a comment

Cookies, Dessert, Snacks, Sweet, Winter

salted milk chocolate chip cookies

How long do you generally leave your Christmas decorations up? Me, I usually take them down the first weekend of January. That means my house is now comparatively drab without the sparkly silver garland, the glow of Christmas lights around every window, my little decked-out artificial tree, and the pretty ceramic angel figurine my mom gave me that she’s had literally for decades. This is usually my least favorite … Continue reading salted milk chocolate chip cookies

AmandaJanuary 11, 2015September 13, 20152 Comments

Candy, Cookies, Dessert, Drinks, Fall, Holidays, Snacks, Sweet, Winter

last-minute christmas treats!

Christmas is just a few days away! Are you ready?

There are some people who finish their holiday shopping by August. They’re the super planners, the people who make copious to-do lists, whose vocabulary doesn’t include the word “procrastinate”.

Then there’s another sort of person. One of those people who waits til Christmas Eve to finish their shopping. Someone who ends up rushing around at the eleventh hour in search of the perfect gift, only to be met with empty shelves at the store. Yep, I’m talking to you! What if you could quickly create the perfect gift that your friends and loved ones would absolutely adore? Good news! I’m here to save the day.

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AmandaDecember 21, 2014September 13, 2015Leave a comment

Candy, Cookies, Dessert, Fall, Holidays, Snacks, Sweet, Winter

pumpkin-gingersnap s’mores

Happy belated Halloween! I hope you all had a fun, safe time filled with piles of candy!

The days after Halloween always usher in sort of a strange time. Now that trick-or-treating and ghosts are out of the way, it’s time for Christmas, right? Nope. There’s still a while yet. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, here.

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AmandaNovember 2, 2014September 13, 2015Leave a comment

Cookies, Dessert, Fall, Holidays, Macarons, Sweet

pumpkin spiced jack-o-lantern macarons

Going out trick-or-treating for Halloween candy was something I looked forward to every year as a kid. I always hoped to get lots of fun size Snickers bars, and always scoffed at the ever-present rolls of Smarties candies that would accumulate in my pumpkin shaped pail. Come on, those things were barely even candy!

These days, living the life of a gal who’s pushing 31, my trick-or-treating days are long behind me. That doesn’t stop me from still carving jack-o-lanterns to set out in my front yard, watching John Carpenter’s Halloween every year (and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown — it’s a classic!), and occasionally buying a mixed bag of Halloween candy to ~~snack on~~ hand out to potential trick-or-treaters.

The older I get, the more I embrace those nostalgic Halloween traditions. Living life as an adult, I get the added perk of making my own classier, grown up-friendly Halloween treats, like these adorable pumpkin spiced macarons! Yes, pumpkin spice is everywhere, but I promise you, these actually taste like real pumpkin and spices!

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AmandaOctober 19, 2014September 13, 20151 Comment

Cookies, Dessert, Frozen Treats, Sandwiches, Summer, Sweet

chocolate-buttermint ice cream sandwiches

You know what the best kind of sandwich is? An ice cream sandwich. It’s only fitting that I’d end my National Sandwich Month series with one!

I’ve never met someone who would turn down an ice cream sandwich, even those little rectangular storebought ones with the chocolate cookies that stick to your fingers. I’d be really suspicious of a person who’d turn down one of these, made with soft, crumbly chocolate cookies and smushed with Jeni Britton Bauer’s outstanding Savannah Buttermint ice cream!

I don’t know how long I’d been dreaming of having the Jeni’s Ice Cream cookbook. On occasion, when my money was burning a hole in my pocket, I’d pick up a pint of Jeni’s at my local AJ’s store. $12 a pint is not exactly a cheap snack, but ohhh, it was so worth it. But! — Now that I have this book in my possession, I no longer have to shell out tons of money for probably the best ice cream I’ve ever had in my life. I can make it at home now! It’s the perfect ice cream for sandwich-making.

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AmandaAugust 31, 2014September 13, 2015Leave a comment

Cookies, Dessert, Frozen Treats, Holidays, Snacks, Sweet

s’mores ice cream sandwiches (you’re killing me, smalls!)

What comes to mind when you think of your childhood summers? Maybe going swimming with your friends, staying up late (cause hey, school’s out!), barbecues, family trips to the beach? I grew up in rural southern Arizona so I didn’t have a lot of options as a kid when it came to fun summer activities. Most often, I think of summers depicted in movies, and no movie better captured that ideal childhood summer than The Sandlot.

How could you have a better summer than these kids? New friends, plenty of baseball, chasing your crush, fireworks on the 4th of July and neighborhood block parties with the smell of grilled hot dogs in the air — summertime perfection. The Sandlot was a favorite of mine as a kid, and I still love it 21 years after it came out. It’s a classic summertime movie!

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AmandaJune 29, 2014September 13, 20153 Comments

Cookies, Dessert, Holidays, Snacks, Sweet, Winter

pistachio snowball cookies

One thing I always associate with Christmas is almond extract. More specifically, almond extract flavoring some old fashioned spritz cookies that my mom would make with her awesomely vintage cookie press. Have you ever seen one of these things? They’re pretty rad. Of course you can buy newer, less sturdy options, but my mom’s was the real deal with all metal parts. It belonged to my grandma when my mom was just a little kid in St. Louis.

Every Christmas season, my mom would grab the cookie press from its ragged cardboard box and she and my sisters and I would make red and green spritz cookies flavored with almond extract. Even if we halved the batch, it’d still make what seemed like a mountain of cookies! We’d be snacking on green Christmas trees and red (well, pink) wreaths well into the new year.

While those spritz cookies hold a nostalgic place in my heart, I think it’s high time I graduated to a more sophisticated sort of Christmas cookie. Enter the pistachio snowball cookie!

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AmandaDecember 14, 2013September 13, 2015Leave a comment

Candy, Cookies, Dessert, Holidays, Snacks, Sweet, Winter

crunchy little peppermint meringues

What do you think of when you think of Christmas time? I think of my mom’s homemade cranberry bread, twinkly little lights around the windows, Mickey’s Christmas Carol on TV, and Nat King Cole singing “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…”.

I also think of all things peppermint. There’s no better time of the year to break out the peppermint extract! Any other time of year, and you’ll just look like a weirdo. Since it’s December, you’re safe for the time being.

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