Our senses can provide powerful memory triggers of people and events in our lives. The smell of cedar brings my paternal grandmother to mind. She had a large cedar chest where she kept her treasures packed away in tissue paper. As a little girl, I would listen fascinated by my grandmother’s stories about each cedar…
Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Every rich, velvety bite of Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies will delight mocha lovers. These melt-in-your-mouth espresso cookies are studded with chocolate toffee bits, for a wondrous flavor treat. Even better, this shortbread travels well in care packages and the flavor improves over time! You are sure to find many snacking and gifting possibilities for these…
3-2-1 Magic Mug Cake
This mug cake isn’t really a recipe. It’s directions for magic. There is a time and a place for cake mixes. And this is one of them. When the directions for this 3-2-1 Magic Mug Cake formula appeared in the food section of our newspaper, I had to give it a try. It is just…
Flourless Chocolate Cookies
The lure of forbidden fruit is hard to resist. Isn’t it funny how much more we want things when, for whatever reason, we can’t have them? As a child, I was allergic to chocolate, which as a result made chocolate the most desirable flavor on earth. These Flourless Chocolate Cookies would have been irresistible for…
Biscoff Toffee Crunch Bars with Biscoff Icing
I am wiggling in my seat excited to share this recipe with you. This is a chewy bar full of Biscoff flavor and toffee crunch. It even has Biscoff icing (that dries beautifully for mailing) sprinkled with toffee bits. It maintains its freshness for at least a week when stored at room temperature in an…
Marbled Chocolate Chunk Cookies
There are many good cookie recipes in the world, but finding good care package recipes is more difficult than you might think. Delicious cookies get eaten quickly. It’s a compliment to the baker that there aren’t any cookies left in a day or two. The baker doesn’t know if the cookies would have been good…
Fig Jam Biscotti
This is a story about Fig Newtons (the cookie). And my husband. And a delicious fig cake created by Ashley at Cookie Monster Cooking. When I read Ashley’s recipe, I immediately thought of my husband. He has always loved Fig Newtons, or so I thought. I printed the recipe and gathered the ingredients.
Hamantashen Pocket Cookies
I realized, just this week, that I have been sending care packages for far longer than I had remembered. I was only thinking about college care packages. My daughter, my older child, went off to the wintry wonders of Iowa 6 years ago. I thought that was when my food-in-boxes obsession began, but I suddenly…
Hugs and Kisses Brownies with a Cup of Joe
Valentine’s Day has come and gone. Got any left over Hugs and Kisses? I have a suggestion for how to use the candy ones as well as the real ones. Sunday, February 17th, is Random Acts of Kindness Day. Hugs and Kisses Brownies are so fudgy and delicious you will want to make left over…
Chocolate Fudge Cake-in-a-Jar and Beginners Cake Pops for Birthday-in-a-Box
“Birthday Soup is good to eat, but not as good as Birthday Cake.” ― Else Holmelund Minarik, Little Bear A birthday is both a celebration and an opportunity. The birthday person celebrates the anniversary of their birth. For friends and family it is an opportunity to express their love for the birthday person and also…