Pixelated Crumb

Have you ever had just what you need fall into your lap? Just before Christmas I needed to make a dessert to bring to a dessert potluck at work and, being short on time, I hadn’t figured out what that would be. I had a vague sense of what I wanted–something chocolately, but ideally with some red highlights to add some festivity–but above all else, I wanted something quick and simple. Being a working mom has really put a crimp in my baking style. And just when I was nearly out of time, a Facebook friend posted about a recipe for choco-mallows from the King Arthur Flour website. So there it was. A recipe that delivered the chocolate I was craving and it was already vetted by my friend who’s an avid baker (seriously, she makes a triple batch of cupcakes at the drop of a hat). Oh, and it is beyond simple to make.

It’s a great recipe any time of year, but holidays are always prime time for yummy treats and I know that Valentine’s Day is often a time when people who don’t often cook or bake want to make a special effort to show their love, so this seemed like a good time to share the recipe. Skip the pre-packaged candies and make your own!

If you can put ingredients into a bowl and stir, I promise you can make these. And you don’t even have to turn the oven on, so you don’t even have to worry about burning them! It’s about the easiest dessert there is after opening a box of brownie mix.

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I’ve got a growing number of chocolate peanut butter treats appearing on this site and there is one primary reason for that: my husband. Now, I’m in no way saying that I don’t love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, but whenever I want to do something nice for Joseph, I tend to think towards the chocolate and peanut butter spectrum because he loves this combo.

Joseph was recently out of town for a few days for a conference and I wanted to have something nice for him when he returned, and these peanut butter brownie bites seemed like the perfect thing. They’re easy to make and they certainly met the chocolate and peanut butter criteria. I made sure I had all the ingredients I needed and was all set to make them. But then we were walloped by a huge snow storm.

I was just a few weeks into my third trimester in all it’s glory (oh, the back pain!!), and our neighbor, knowing I was home alone, did all of the shoveling and even cleared our car off for me. I was so overwhelmed by her generosity that I headed straight to the kitchen and made her one of my very favorite cookies, the perfect chocolate cookies from Cook’s Illustrated. Now, I try to be a nice wife, but frankly, that was the only baking I was up for that day, so I just made sure to save a couple of cookies for Joseph. He didn’t complain, but I was still eager to try the peanut butter brownie bites. Continue reading

One of my very favorite Christmas cookies is a meringue – the Forgotten Meringue, a vanilla meringue with chocolate chips – and I was excited to try another recipe out this Christmas. I figured I really couldn’t go wrong with chocolate, almonds, and a Dorie Greenspan recipe.

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By far the most popular recipe on the site is the one for chocolate turtle cookies (with very good reason – it’s one of my favorites too!) and I thought it was about time for another thumbprint cookie recipe. This one comes by way of Food52 and is such a great, easy cookie to add to your holiday repertoire. Just look at the ingredient list – only 9 ingredients, and one of them is optional! I even happened to have everything on hand already, including exactly 3/4 cup of almond meal, left over from making some chocolate almond meringues (recipe coming soon!).

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