Irish Soda Bread (with Irish Whiskey Butter)

This week definitely has a theme... St. Patrick's Day! So far, I have made bangers and mash, corned beef and cabbage, corned beef hash, Irish apple cake, and this Irish soda bread. It's been a fun week. And wow! This soda bread is delicious! I can highly recommend this recipe. It's easy and quick to make, as …

Irish Apple Cake

This week, most of my cooking and baking has centered around St. Patrick's Day. Why only celebrate for a day, when you can try out Irish cooking all week? It's such a fun holiday! On Monday, I decided to try out this recipe for an Irish apple cake. It's super dense and packed with apples …

Candy Cane Cookies

These cookies are another classic. My mom made them every year, with help from my sisters and me. We had a lot of fun shaping them and the resulting cookies were delicious, like peppermint flavored sugar cookies. They are also adorable and wonderfully festive. So, I couldn't miss making them this year. I began by …

Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle Cookies

One of my absolute favorite holiday traditions is the arrival of the Starbucks holiday drinks. I am a huge Starbucks fanatic, and my holidays are never complete without plenty of peppermint mochas. I'm one of the crazy people drinking peppermint mochas as soon as they come out, no matter what the weather or how long it …

Classic Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

This year, I've made quite a few different kinds of Christmas cookies, both classic and new. But, the Christmas season just wouldn't be complete without some classic cut-out cookies. They're just so wonderfully Christmassy and traditional! I have many fond memories of making these with my mom and sisters when I was a kid, helping …

Chocolate Cherry Cookies (My Favorite!)

If you don't know this about me already, you should know that I'm a huge chocoholic. The darker and richer the better! Give me a dark chocolate, fudgy cake with rich, dark chocolate ganache and I'll be a very happy person! (Add raspberries and I'll be even happier.) If you are the same way, then you'll …

Penuche (or Brown Sugar Fudge)

Fudge is just wonderful! It's so rich and soft. Yesterday morning, after making mincemeat pastries, I was ready to try out another new recipe. Around Christmas, my mom used to make this penuche, or brown sugar fudge. I remember loving it as a kid. I had never made fudge before and really had no idea what …

An Attempt at Mincemeat Pastries

I'll start out this post by addressing the inevitable objections to mincemeat. Yes, I know that it may sound weird, using meat in a dessert. I will also say that today's mincemeat (the stuff you buy in a jar at the grocery store) is pretty much just dried fruits and spices. I think it's sort …

Soft Ginger Cookies

One of the best parts of Christmas has to be the way the house smells. Between the candles, the tree, and the baking, I remember the house smelling amazing when I was a kid. Apparently, smell actually has great power in recalling memories. So, I guess it makes sense that I have such a strong …

Peppermint Butter Cookies

On Wednesday, I made a small batch of Rosenmunnar, or Swedish thumbprint cookies. Last night, I was thinking up possible variations on such a wonderful, buttery cookie. I decided that I should use the base cookie (without the jam) to make something else. That is how these cookies were born. I had been dying to do …