The holidays would not be complete without making and decorating Sugar Cookies. As you can tell from the image above, I decorate cookies like a 5 year old. Actually, a 5 year old could probably do a lot better. I still draw stick figures for people. I didn’t do very well in art class.
Claudia received this recipe from a coworker (Stacey) a few years ago. It’s very simple and makes great tasting cookies. We prefer thicker, chewier Sugar Cookies. But you can easily roll this dough out to make thinner, crispier cookies.
I can always tell when the holidays are upon us. My evenings become jam-packed and I spend my Sunday’s in the kitchen with Claudia. I’m talking 6 hours this past Sunday! It was pretty fun. My feet were killing me by the end of it though. I honestly don’t know how Claudia can stand in the kitchen for hours on end making dozens upon dozens of perogies at a time. She’s Superwoman. Somebody buy her a cape!
Last Christmas we ended up featuring a lot of the holiday baking items I enjoyed growing up. Today’s blog is no exception. These cookies are my Dad’s favourite – and for very good reason. They literally melt in your mouth. Literally. This is no joke people. They are the softest, most delicate shortbread cookie I have ever tried. And they are delicious and super, super simple to make.
Today is National Cookie Day! Did you know that the English word “cookie” is derived from the Dutch word “koekje,” which means little cake? Neither did we. You can’t say you don’t learn something when you visit this blog!
Every year I sign up for Food Network’s 12 Days of Cookies, where I am emailed a new cookie recipe every day from December 1 – 12. Seeing a new cookie recipe in my inbox makes me extremely happy. Not only does it allow me to try new recipes by celebrity chefs, it also gives me new ideas for my holiday baking. The recipe I am featuring for National Cookie Day is Paula Deen’s Loaded Oatmeal Cookies. I received this recipe on Day 3 of the 12 Days of Cookies. These beauties are soft, chewy and have the perfect mix of spices that make your taste buds dance. The brown butter icing on top of each cookie is also to die for.
I love baking. As you can tell, I post more dessert recipes on this blog than mains, soups and side dishes. Part of it is that I’m a better baker than I am chef. The other part is that they are just so darn pretty.
I have been on a huge pumpkin kick this past month. Since Claudia’s famous pumpkin pie has already been featured, that leaves me to find other pumpkin-related desserts that can compete. I think I found a serious contender. This recipe was adapted from a recipe posted by The Deutsch Girl on the Tasty Kitchen website. These sandwich cookies are super simple to make and absolutely delicious. The perfect mix of warm spices and sweet cream cheese. They also freeze extremely well, which is good if you can’t manage to finish all 24 cookies this recipe makes!
Ever since the I got back from vacation a week ago I can’t stop thinking about pumpkin. Maybe it’s the cooler weather or the leaves changing red, yellow and orange. It could also be the fact that Starbucks is now serving their delicious Pumpkin Spice Latte that has made me obsessed with making anything and everything pumpkin.
Since I have featured 2 of my absolute favourite pumpkin recipes with you already – Pumpkin Scones and Claudia’s Pumpkin Pie – I had to find a new recipe that me and Claudia enjoyed enough to share. Enter Silvana Nardone from Every Day with Rachel Ray and her Cheesecake-Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes. Because there is cream cheese baked inside, these are probably one of the richest cupcakes I’ve ever tasted. And they are absolutely, positively delicious! If you want a substitute for pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake this Thanksgiving, these babies are by far your best bet. Your family and friends will love you for it.
You may think the title of this post is a little, let’s say, aggressive. There are a million different chocolate chip recipes out there, and how could I possibly possess the one for the best chocolate chip cookies in the world? Well, I have proof…sort of. You see, ever since I was a little girl, Claudia made this particular cookie recipe. You can actually see me helping out in the picture to the right of this post! Every time I would bring these cookies to school for a snack, my friends would go insane. They LOVED Claudia’s chocolate chip cookies. Who could blame them? They are moist, chocolatey and absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, they are also adapted from the NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® cookie recipe and not a guarded family secret. I could have made millions! Regardless, these cookies and this recipe continue to be a fantastic childhood memory. Oh, and the cookie dough isn’t half bad tasting either. But you didn’t hear that from me.
A few weeks ago I babysat my best friend’s 4-year old daughter, Julia. I figured there was no better time to make my favourite childhood recipe than with one of my favourite kids. Julia is probably one of the smartest 4-year olds in the world. She also was nursing a broken elbow, so I figured she needed some fun (and sugar). Baking with kids takes a lot of patience…and clean up. I had a blast, but as you can tell, the photographs came second in this baking experience.
I frequent food blogs a lot. Some people zone out in front of the television after a long day at work. I zone out in front of my computer reading my favourite websites. Other people’s creations almost always inspire me to experiment in the kitchen. (more…)
I love pastry, especially dense ones like coffee cake. This time of year, I especially love berries. There is nothing better than baking with fresh berries that are in season. This recipe is not a Claudia classic, but one that I felt was worth blogging about. It is adapted from Cooks Illustrated. The dense, lemon flavored cake mixed with delicious plump blueberries is a great dessert to feature in the hot summer months. It’s also extremely simple to make.
It’s been 1 year since the start of our blog. We would like to thank each and every one of our readers for sticking around and supporting us. Your comments and blog, Facebook and Twitter visits mean the world to us. Here is to many more years of cooking with Claudia and sharing her recipes to the world.
…And of course it wouldn’t have been a true celebration without Claudia’s Skor Cake 🙂
The original goal of this blog when it was first conceived was for me to learn and document all the amazing recipes that Claudia had in her cookbook. This blog recently turned 1 year old, and I think we’ve done a pretty good job at showcasing some of her best work. However, every now and then Claudia and I come across some fantastic recipes from others that we feel require some showcasing as well. My boyfriend’s Mom is also an amazing baker. There are countless recipes of hers I would love to get my hands on and feature. However, I’ve been told by her that the only way that will happen is if I marry her son. Fair trade off, right?
This Chocolate Zucchini Cake is one of my boyfriend’s favourite recipes from his Mom. He loves this cake so much that he requests that I bake it for him each year for his birthday. I can’t complain…it’s absolutely delicious. If it wasn’t for Claudia’s beloved Skor Cake, I’d be requesting Chocolate Zucchini Cake for my birthday as well.
