braided lemon bread

I enjoyed braiding the bread (which is filled with homemade lemon curd and cream cheese filling.) It was a hit at this brunch for my sewing class, but I found the bread/filling ratio to be a little bread heavy. If I made it again, I'd maybe reserve a small amount of dough to adjust that. Recipe by Smitten Kitchen.

holiday brunch with monday sewing ladies

chocolate dipped almond macaroons

valenscones

smitten kitchen's rolled chocolate cookies which taste like brownies, man oh man

angel food cake with berries and lemon cream

walnut thumbprint cookies with lemon curd

I liked this thumbprint cookies with toasted nuts and whole grains recipe from the New York Times. I made it for a New Year's Day gathering, using walnuts, whole wheat flower, and semolina flower (aka, what I had on hand). Basically they are health food, if by health food you mean half butter. I had lemon curd in the freezer to fill most of the cookies and used spiced apple butter for the rest. I think raspberry jam or cherry preserves would also be great.

I would make the cookies a bit smaller next time, since at the size the recipe specifies they are big enough to fall apart into a crumbly jam cookie goo ball after you take the first bite. (A tasty jam cookie goo ball, but I think one bite cookies would work better.)

smitten peppermint hot fudge

nut butter with cinnamon and vanilla

 

lemon cream with shortbread crescent, lemon curd, and blueberries

caramel hot chocolate

I'm sure that, like me, you sometimes find yourself with ganache, caramel sauce, and milk in the fridge all at the same time. Fear not, gentle reader! You can put these three items together and make a tasty caramel hot chocolate.

I heated 2/3 cup skim milk in a small pot on medium heat and stirred in two or three tablespoons of ganache until the chocolate melted and the hot chocolate was steaming, but not boiling. (For a thicker drinking-chocolate style, use four tablespoons.) I poured the hot chocolate in the mug and stirred in about a tablespoon and a half of caramel. I could have topped the hot chocolate with whipped cream and then added more caramel on top, but that seemed a little decadent.

inaugural tart! (shortbread, lemon cream filling, and blueberries)

This recipe came from Fine Cooking. I used one 9.5" tart pan instead of eight small ones, which gave me leftover dough. (I turned it into little shortbread heart cookies. Some commentors on the dough recipe found it heard to work with, but mine rolled out and behaved beautifully. I would recommend rolling it out on parchment paper for an easier flip into the pan.) I doubled the filling recipe and had about a cup left over. The original recipe was for a mixed berry tart, but the birthday girl in this case specifically requested lemon blueberry. She also kindly sent me the photo of the finished tart at the end of this post, since I left my camera at home.

apple cake with apple cider caramel frosting and pecans

cinnamon rolls

almond macaroons

lemon pot de crème

snickerdoodle gooey cake bars

It turns out, I am just not a gooey cake lover. I do love snickerdoodles, so I thought this recipe from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook would be the perfect one to win me over. "It's like fancy cinnamon toast," I thought, with one regular cake layer, one gooey layer, and then a crust of cinnamon sugar on top. The bars were tasty, but I think snickerdoodle cookies are superior in terms of texture and buttery tasting-ness. And cinnamon toast is of course the perfect special breakfast food (thanks, Dad!)

apple cider caramels

cranberry crumb bars with mulling spices

Also smitten.

chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies

Well, these are just ridiculous, in the best possible way. From Deb's gorgeous new cookbook!