cookie exchange 2014

Torri and I hosted our third annual cookie exchange in early December, and it was a success! Each year we learn a little more about what it takes to host a cookie exchange and make things work well. We grew our number of participants significantly this year, and we loved having our friends join us to kick off the Christmas season! 

A few of our friends stepped in to help quite a bit as we were overwhelmed with cookies this year--so many to label and cut up for samples. We definitely met our goal to grow our cookie exchange! 

Mom's friend Cathy won best tasting cookie, with her Swedish almond cookies (below), and my friend Kristin won prettiest cookie, with her spritz cookies. I don't even have a picture of hers! We always get wrapped up with hosting and forget to take pictures. 

I'm so thankful for our good friends here, and I enjoyed getting to see so many of them in one place. I feel so loved by my friends who take time from their busy December to bake cookies and come to our party. Even though I will be married and moved away by next Christmas, and Torri will have a baby, we are going to do our best to keep this tradition alive! 

cookout with the Kirks

I had a great lazy afternoon/evening at a cookout hosted by friends this weekend. LH carried out a picnic theme, using borrowed supplies from her mom. What a creative way to serve watermelon! It's a bug! 

They decorated with tissue flowers, which I didn't get a good picture of, jars, and pretty paper straws. 

Two of the guests brought three flavors of sangria they had made with homemade liqueurs. I didn't taste them, but they were beautiful! 

I didn't try the lawn games, either, though there was cornhole and a frisbee game. I tried for an action shot, instead. 

LH eats gluten free, which made for a fun baking challenge for those of us who decided to take desserts. I have been trying to eat healthier, especially cutting carbohydrates, so I was happy to have an event for which to give paleo cookies a go. 

By the way, could someone tell me what exactly paleo means? Between my best efforts to eat low carb and natural and having friends who don't tolerate gluten, I find myself making a lot of "paleo" recipes, but when my SIL asked me to define paleo, I couldn't. However, I do know what gluten is. (Thanks, LH, for this reference.)

LH's brother in law made these doughnuts using leftover coconut flour passed from Lindsay to LH to him. They passed on the flour because after using it to make gluten free foods, they decided they didn't like it. Well, he made doughnuts with it, and they were FABULOUS. I wanted the recipe but was scared to ask for fear that there's cups and cups of sugar. 

Lindsay made gluten free candy shaped cookies above and these Eiffel tower cookies. I sure do miss Paris! 

LH made pretty, pretty Pinterest-y dipped strawberries. 

Can you tell that sweet treats were the most photogenic aspects of the party? Isn't that always the case? The company was great, and the other food (hot dogs, pulled pork, salads, fruit) were delicious, too. I wish I had taken pictures of people and the gorgeous house! 

Thank you for including me, Kirks!

Kentucky Derby party

My friend Allison hosted a great party this weekend for the Kentucky Derby. There were all kinds of food, drinks, activities, and people at the party. I took over some mint from my garden and chips and salsa to share, and Allison asked me to make banana pudding. 

I used this recipe for banana pudding, and it turned out great! Meringue is such a quick and easy way to fancy up a dessert.  

Allison's pretty pink nails looked beautiful with her mint julep. 

I enjoyed spending time with these friends and other friends from Allison's neighborhood. She is a fabulous hostess!

pumpkin doughnuts

As my friend Wesley found out, when you request a flavor of doughnut, I may just bake it and deliver it to your door that very evening.  

I had signed up to bring a sweet snack to my small group, and I asked Wesley which type of doughnut I should make next. Even though it's spring, I was happy to make these pumpkin doughnuts. I like pumpkin flavors any time of year, and it's been plenty of time since the takeover of pumpkin flavors around Thanksgiving. These are great to try now or keep in mind for fall.

How do you feel about pumpkin? Is it a fall-only flavor for you? 

banana chocolate chip doughnuts

Just when I was feeling the urge to make doughnuts again, my sister in law requested these banana chocolate chip baked doughnuts.

Fortunately, all of the doughnuts I've made so far have turned out edible. I have learned, however, that they are all best FRESH and warm and that their quality quickly declines. 

So bake these and eat them right away. Maybe invite over a handful of friends to help you.

double chocolate doughnuts

I mentioned that I was craving chocolate blood orange glazed doughnuts again, but I decided to try a different recipe for my second experiment in baking doughnuts. 

My mom gave me a doughnut pan for my birthday, so expect many more experiments. 

I used a doughnut recipe from Joy the Baker's post on double chocolate cake doughnuts and Heather Christo's recipe for chocolate glaze from her post on banana doughnuts with chocolate glaze. 

I made small changes: I substituted a small amount of vinegar + almond milk for the buttermilk. 

I used semisweet chocolate chips instead of chopped dark chocolate in the glaze. It was rich and delicious. 

Since the second recipe made more, I had extra glaze, some of which I spooned right into my mouth. It also would have been delicious on strawberries, marshmallows, etc. as chocolate fondue. 

How could you go wrong with cream + chocolate?! I'm not embarrassed. 

This was also my second try at taking photos of my doughnuts. I think they look better than my first. The glaze was so shiny and photogenic. I have much to learn about photography, but I'm having fun practicing. 

blood orange glazed chocolate doughnuts

A few weeks ago, I made these doughnuts--dark chocolate with a blood orange glaze. They were perfect for Valentine's week, and I'm already craving them again.

I used a mini bundt pan and a doughnut pan. Both worked great. 

This glaze was the best part! It had such a unique flavor and a beautiful pink color. 

My family wasn't crazy about them, but if you have a more adventurous palate, I definitely recommend making these doughnuts!

pirate tailgating

Our parents taught us how to tailgate and cheer on the pirates many years ago.  

I have a bigger chair now, but the cooler I tailgate with is still the same.  

My mom bakes awesome cookie cakes, so I use her recipe or just take some of her dough from the freezer and bake it.  I made icing with my own special recipe and added added added and added food coloring to get the right pirate purple (like with my cornhole paint colors).

These girls went through tough times and great times with me in graduate school.  It's so nice to have fun together now without feeling like we should be studying!  

After the game, we ate more of our tailgating food, went to hear Emily Minor sing, and just enjoyed each others' company.  Jessica and I ate at Sup Dogs (part of my Greenville list) and shopped at Catalog Connection before heading home on Sunday.  The temperatures were absolutely perfect the whole weekend, and the pirates won by 50+ points.  I could not have asked for a better weekend!

fall friend supper

A group of friends invited me along on a dinner outing recently, and I asked if they would come over to my house instead.  It had been way too long since I had cooked a meal for friends.  

We ate salad, baked pasta with sausage and spinach, and pear, cranberry, gingersnap crumble.  

Thanks to my friends for letting me test a couple of Pinterest recipes on them!

chocolate sour cream pound cake with Mom Mom's icing

Real talk: my mom made this cake.  She used her go-to pound cake recipe, which is fabulous.  I mean, people request that she make this cake.  How often are you thrilled by a pound cake?!  I love it, especially when it's warm.  For a shower, she fancied it up with chocolate icing that her grandmother, Mom Mom, used to make.  I never met Mom Mom; she passed away before I was born.  I hear she made the best fried chicken.  

I am only going to post the icing recipe since my mom said the pound cake is from an old Southern Living recipe.  I try my best to post only original content on my blog.  I cannot find the recipe anywhere on the internet, but send me an email if you want help with a chocolate pound cake.  

Mom usually bakes the cake in a 10 inch tube pan, but I requested that she make it in a bundt pan to pretty it up.  The recipe made this cake + a small loaf pan.  

Mom Mom's chocolate pound cake icing

1 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1/2 stick margarine

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 package chocolate chips*

Combine first four ingredients and bring to a boil.  Boil 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Add 1/2 package chocolate chips.  Beat until melted.  Ice cake.  

*Mom said she thinks that chocolate chips used to come in 9 ounce packages, so she added 4.5 ounces of chips when she made the icing.  

The pretty shape got a little lost under the icing, but it still tasted great!  

Do you like pound cake?  Have you ever made a pound cake?  What kind?