crack bark
Pretzels and chocolate and brown sugar caramel and sea salt and are you drooling yet? Here’s an awesome treat you can whip up in minutes and is just as addictive as the name dictates. Perfect for a snow day treat or something wonderful to crumble on top of vanilla ice cream.
no-bake lemon drops
Every time I come home I am expected to do a few things. Make dinner, fix problems on my mom’s iPhone and laptop, etc. Making my mom a lemon drop martini every night is also on the list. I’m happy to do it – playing bartender for my mom has a very fun Christina Crawford feel to it. Making lemon drop inspired cookies is even better.
I tried these weeks ago during a shoot at work and immediately photocopied the recipe for my own use. Finding a really really delicious no-bake treat is hard, in my opinion, and this one is fantastic. Just the right balance of sweet and tart, plus oddly refreshing since they’re chilled. There’s no vodka in them (sadly!) but instead crushed up lemon drop candies, my all-time favorite treat. Be sure to use the rough, cheap drug store-type lemon drops. The kind that make your tongue feel like sandpaper after having too many. Yummy!
cranberry sorbet (merry christmas!)
Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday and enjoying the day. We had a wonderful dinner and instead of doing some big rich dessert I decided to go simple and refreshing for our finish this year. Sweet and tart cranberry sorbet, a perfectly light and yet festive holiday dessert. This would be divine to also serve on New Year’s Eve, especially if you scoop a few balls and put them at the bottom of a glass, then top with champagne. Cranberry sorbet floats, anyone?
Happy Holidays!
french onion soup
For Christmas eve we always try to take things a little easy in my family. Simple dinner, simple fun. Hopefully no tantrums (from the adults, not the kids) and just sitting around enjoying each others presence. Dinner is also a more simple affair, in preparation for the feast that will ensue the next day.
French onion soup is one of those deceptive dishes. It sounds so simple and light – just onions and broth, right? Ohhhh nooo it has to be smothered in bread and cheese and toasted to bubbly, ooey-gooey awesome richness. Served with a nice salad and crusty bread, this is the perfect meal to get you ready for a Christmas day feast.
pistachio shortbread
Pistachios are something I have in abundance this time of year. St. Nick always leaves plenty in my stocking and as much as I love the ritual of shelling each nut and chomping away at the salty pistachio inside, I can never seem to get through an entire bag. Enter these cookies.
I fell in love with this method of making cookie dough in the food processor right away. It’s honestly a base dough where the nuts can be interchanged with whatever you like, whether it be pecans, macadamia nuts, cashews, etc. You could of course go the much easier route here and just buy pre-shelled pistachios which makes these cookies even easier to whip up. Go nuts.
(See what I did there?)
