Sweet Treats with Peggy

Today is National Chocolate Day!  There are a lot of specific chocolate days throughout the year, but this day is a day for whatever chocolate you want to eat.  This cookie is so chocolately and delicious.  It's not too sweet and goes perfectly with a hot drink.  I can see me (and, of course you) on a freezing cold, snowy winter day with a plate of these chocolate biscotti and (for me) a nice hot cup of tea.  I almost took a picture of how much I trashed my kitchen making this dessert.  Usually, I clean up as I go.  But, I made this particular recipe at 12:30 in the morning.  I did not ice the bottoms until the next morning.  Let me tell you, it wasn't a pretty site to walk into.  These are well worth it though :)

I love to watch television shows about food, especially shows about baking (of course).  One of my favorite shows was  DC Cupcakes .  When I heard that Sophie and Katherine were going to be at the  Willow Books & Cafe  in Acton, MA, I was there!!  I've only been to one other book signing prior to this (Jodi Picoult in Boston, with my sister).  I've since learned they are all run differently.  If you are interested, do the research ahead of time.  At Willow Books you have to buy the book ahead of time so that you receive a low number.  When you get there, you can sit wherever you want and listen to their talk.  Then you are called by a small group of numbers to get in line to have your book signed.  I think I was in the second group.  It was a really fun thing to do and I was able to talk with Sophie and Katherine for a minute or so.  They even brought sample cupcakes for everyone to try. YUM!...

October 1st is National Homemade Cookie Day!!  I haven't baked in a long time due to healthy eating and fear of eating what I would bake.  When I saw that today was National Homemade Cookie Day, I thought it would be the perfect time to pull out all my baking stuff and make some cookies.   I am visiting Megan tomorrow at her college (actually I am picking her up at the University of Hartford and we are driving to Providence, RI to see Josh Groban in concert (be still my heart), staying overnight in a hotel and driving her back to school.  This is the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.  I can honor this great National Day AND bring Megan some cookies.  As I have mentioned in other posts, I have an overabundance of jams and I like to find ways to incorporate them into baking.  Shortbread is one of my favorite types of cookie.  Just add some poppy seeds and yummy jam and you have yourself a great cookie.  How about you pu...

I have lived in my apartment over a year and, little by little, I have been exploring the area of North Andover/Andover, MA.  The other day I read that it was the first day of the season for corn.  I waited until Ryan came home from work and we headed off to  about 3 or 4 farm/farm stands.  Some were better than others.  I can imagine what they will be like in the Fall.  Our favorite was  Smolak Farms   in North Andover.  They had such a cute shop that had lots of specialty food items, homemade donuts and ice cream, etc..  I was able to taste  their homemade strawberry jam and I was immediately hooked.  I have been collecting different jams lately from   Stonewall Kitchen, York, ME .  Those samples will get you every time.  As soon as I tasted the strawberry jam, I knew I had to get it and make a yummy dessert.  I found a recipe online from    Recipe Girl , which I have adapted.  Enjoy...

How is it possible that it has been over a year since I posted in this blog.  I made a huge decision last year that I wanted to sell my house.  I am a single mom and wanted my kids to be able to live in a home in their school district.  They no longer need to do that so hence, the decision.  I knew it would take me a year to get my house in order, weed out a lot of things, and put it on the market.  I did all of that.  I let go of things that were very dear to me, but realized they were only possessions.  I sold a lot, gave away a lot and dumped a lot.  I had no choice since I was downsizing to an apartment.  I put my house on the market on a Friday, the first week of May.  I had an offer on Sunday.  It was that quick.   I am so grateful it sold that quickly and I am also grateful that I have a very lovely apartment that is cozy and comfortable and perfect for me and my daughters, who are only going to be here during summe...

Recipe number two from Lauren Chattman's "Mom's Big Book of Cookies".  These are nice and chewy.  Enjoy!

Last weekend I took Ryan for a overnight college visit to Wells College in Aurora, NY.  We got there earlier than we needed to so we could explore the area.  The first town we went to was Ithica.  We went there because that is the only place in the entire area that has a mall.  It seems that Ryan needed to buy a pair of pants for her college visit.  I would have rather driven by Cornell University instead of shopping at Sears, but these things happen when you have a teen.   One of the places we ended up was a used book store. While Ryan bought Animal Farm by George Orwell, I went the more fun route. I purchased "Mom's Big Book of Cookies - 200 Family Favorites You'll Love Making and Your Kids Will Love Eating" by Lauren Chattman.  I looked the book up on Amazon from my phone and it looked like I was getting a really good deal.  On top of that, it looked brand new.  Not to mention, the recipes really caught my eye.  I knew ...