030213 Whole-Wheat Date Bars

These are very delicious date bars...reminds me of the fig bar recipe. The whole-wheat adds a nice crunch! The recipe is a bit involved but worth the effort. Multiple dough chilling and you have to take out the food processor for the date filling - serious clean-up time.

022413 Peppermint Meringue Sandwiches with Chocolate Filling

This recipe was a bit more involved than I expected. I added a tad of cream of tartar to help stiffen the meringue. The ganache was a bit runny - maybe I needed to use better quality chocolate (?). So, I improvised and concocted an apricot filling since the ganache just wasn't staying put. Not bad. I skipped the red food coloring, too. Probably won't be repeating this cookie recipe....

021713 Chocolate-Ginger (Leaves and Acorns)

I used a heart cookie cutter since I didn't have any leaves or acorn cut-outs. Easy to assemble and dough is pliable. However, I'm not a fan of ginger or molasses - so this recipe won't be revisited. The cookies taste like a chocolate ginger snap...interesting.

021013 Cassis Crisps

This recipe was a pleasant surprise!! I used Chambord raspberry liqueur in place of the black-currant liqueur......and the cookies were excellent!! There's a subtle hint of raspberry with every bite and the cookies are just a tad on the soft side...very nice! I will be making these again in the near future...not too sweet and perfect with tea/coffee.

020913 Chocolate Malt Sandwiches

Pretty easy to assemble once the not-so-common ingredients are gathered. I had to make a run to the store for Creme fraiche, half-half, cream cheese .....I actually had malted milk powder. The cookies puff up in the oven and then flatten out. The filling is a bit on the sweet side....making it a must to have a glass of milk or cup of coffee with the decadent cookie.

012613 Fig Bars

Oooohhh! These are excellent!! A bit involved to assemble but well worth it! I used Calimyrna figs from TJs. My cousins Lori & Erin helped me out in the kitchen. Quite a bit of refrigeration stages but I suggest making the fig filling while the dough is chilling. The fig filling is delicious and fills the kitchen with a wonderful aroma! I made this recipe 2 weeks in a row and plan to make it again....

011913 Pistachio Tuiles

Though easy to make, you need to work fast with these cookies once they're removed from the oven. On my first 2 pans, I didn't flatten the dough enough - cookies were a bit thick. When I did spread the dough before baking, I still didn't get that lacy look. I may over processed the nuts to where it thickened the batter too much. Not too fond of the flavor; overall, I'm not a fan of tuile/french lace cookies. To me, they're too sweet, sticky and tricky to form.

011213 Springerle

I traveled far to make these cookies. I found the springerle rolling pin in Solvang during the Christmas holiday. I was so excited to make this recipe - it's quite different in that you have to let it set for 24hours before baking them at a low temp for another 1hr. To my dismay, these cookies came out terrible....in taste & texture. They were as hard as rock and the anise flavor didn't appeal to me. They did turn white but my picture impressions were not very deep. I would attempt the recipe again if it didn't call for large quantities of ingredients (I halved the recipe, too). Very not happy on how these turned out....invested quite a bit of time.

010613 Mini Black-and-White Cookies

Easy to make recipe - I used buttermilk powder w/ water. Next time, I would use <1T of dough to make cookies (mine came out a bit too big). The dough was a bit runny and I ended up scooping the dough onto the cookie sheet. Lastly, these were somewhat hard to frost- messy trying to decorate with 2 colors of frosting (I"m sure it'll come easier with practice).

123012 Truffle Brownies

Very decadent cookie....need a tall glass of milk with this recipe. The ganache was a bit runny, even after refrigeration. The brownie is very easy to make....just a bit to sweet to enjoy w/o something to wash it down with. You can tell by the picture that it was a bit messy to enjoy. Not sure I would repeat this recipe....