Pignoli Cookies

Not too long ago I ventured into a supermarket that was closing down. The supermarket vultures were swarming over the sparse remains of the product on the shelves, but not me. I casually picked up a couple of things here and there but nothing too crazy...I mean really what was I going to do with a dozen light bulbs or ten boxes of cake mix...even if they were really, really cheap. But then I turned down an aisle and I saw them sitting there on a shelf and they were just calling my name. I felt like I had just won the lottery or discovered the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In front of me sat eight...yes eight cans of almond paste! And to make things even better they were less then $2.00 a can. I swiftly looked over my shoulder watching out for the vultures and then in one swoop motion I swept every last can off the shelves and into my cart. Determined to let no one learn of my discovery and incredible savings I beelined for the checkout and checked out of the store. 

Browned Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I love, love, love chocolate chip cookies and with Valentine's Day upon us it seemed like a perfect time to make them. I'm not anti-Valentine's Day by any means, but years of working in a florist has killed the over the top excitement I used to feel about Valentine's Day. So rather than head out to a restaurant and be given a dozen roses my husband Joseph and I prefer to spend the holiday quietly at home with a nice home cooked meal and a yummy dessert. Unfortunately these wont be served for Valentine's as they barely made it two days before they were all gone! I made these the other day when we had some company over and they got a big thumbs up all around from everyone who tried one. I love the browned butter aspect of the cookies, which gives the outside a big crunch but still makes for a nice soft center, which to me makes for the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

Gooey Red Velvet Butter Cookies for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

The tree is up, decorated and lit. Houses are decorated, Santa is in the mall and beautiful cards with warm wishes and adorable kiddies have started coming in the mail. Christmas season is upon us, which means the malls are packed and your credit card bill is probably through the roof, but it means something else too. It's baking season, which also means it's cookie swap time!

Still being fairly new to the world of blogging I have been amazed countless times at how involved food bloggers can truly become with one another. It's like our own little universe that you can't quote understand unless you're a part of it. That being said I participate in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap for the first time ever, it really was a blast though I had the most difficult time deciding on which cookie I wanted to make and send out. Ultimately I decided to go with Red Velvet Gooey Cookies because 1. I just love anything red velvet and 2. they seemed to Christmasy to me. I thought the cookies came out amazing and my taste testers all agreed, so much so that I will likely be making them again soon.

Now technically these cookies are semi-homemade as you need to use cake mix for them. However, if you look up most gooey butter cake or cookie recipe you will see that this is the case. So I gave myself a pass on this one and am calling them homemade, you'll see when you make them. You'd never know you had any help from Duncan Hines with these bad boys, which was once again part of the Foodbuzz Tastemakers program. I hope my fellow cookie swappers loved them and I really look forward to doing the cookie swap again next year. Thank you again to Julie and Lindsay for setting this up. One more bit of exciting news is we made the papers! Check out the article about The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap here. Also if you're interested in participating in the cookie swap next year you can sign up to receive information here.

Chocolate Fudge Crinkle Cookies

I can remember back to when I was really little turning the pages of my mom's red Betty Crocker cookbook. It was my mom's go to cookbook for dessert and bread recipes. I had make the chocolate chip cookie recipe out of the book more times than I can count, but that wasn't the recipe that stuck out to me every time I opened that book. The page before the chocolate chip cookie recipe was a recipe for chocolate crinkle cookies, I would drool over the picture imagining how delicious these cookies must be, but never actually made them. Don't ask me why, I don't know if I ever even asked my mom to make them for me, I just know I have never made them before. A local health food store makes them and they are just delicious and still I have yet to make them.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie - A Pie for Mikey

I have never met Jennie or her husband Mikey, I don't even believe I have ever come across her blog before this past weekend, but I know now that I will be a dedicated follower and that Jennie and Mikey and their two young daughters will always hold a special place in my heart. I'm fairly new to the world of food bloggers and I myself am overwhelmed by the response by bloggers and people around the world in response to Jennie's post about Mikey's passing.