When I was growing up we called these Brown Eyed Susans.
These are one of the types of cookies I sent to Chris in the Middle East a few weeks ago. They took nine days to get there and he said that they were great, unbroken and still very fresh tasting. They are based on one of the recipes in my Everything Cookies and Brownies Cookbook.

Chris, as are all my kids, is a big tea drinker. He likes all kinds of tea. I wanted to make something a bit different, and wanted to stay away from dairy fillings so I used …read more

I love making homemade candy. It is really easy if you have a candy thermometer and it is a great way to make people’s eyes light up. Candy making is one of those old fashioned skills that has gone the way of making your own butter, bread and cheese. Hopefully it will make a comeback!

I think it is a fun thing to make because it is so completely unnecessary. Cookies, cakes, breads, dessert, and the like are all fillers. You can say, “Yeah, I made these brownies to help fill the kids up”. With candy? Not a chance. Everyone knows …read more

I love making Christmas cookies but get tired of making the same ones year after year. My family likes tradition and by the time they are two most of my kids can tell you what should be on the cookie plate for each holiday, what dishes should be on the table, and if I forget or try to do something different, you can bet I hear about it.
I can add to the basic stuff but never, never take away and do something different.

Since we live in a 1910 house, once in awhile I treat myself to something that was made in 1910. I have collected a series of magazines, Ladies World, all published in 1910. I put them out according to the month or holiday,and so this month is the Christmas Issue. Now, people lived very differently in 1910 but it was such a fascinating time period to me…The foods and the recipes, the way they were written and presented all intrigue me. Following is an excerpt from an article called Sweets for the Christmas Table .

My friend, Mary, makes the best sugar cookies ever. She got the recipe from her mother in law and I don’t know where it originally came from.
Now, Mary has been my best friend, side kick, and confidant…my counselor, my shoulder, and my sister for…uh….eighteen years. And every Christmas of those eighteen years she has made us sugar cookies at Christmas. I make them too but they are just not the same.
These are easy to roll out. They are so easy to roll and cut that we used to have all of the kids from the kids church …read more

Christmas morning. Visions of children with joyous expressions quietly opening their gifts in front of a crackling fire as the snow falls softly outside and Christmas carrols play quietly in the background. A beautiful table is set in the dining room with a delicious breakfast waiting for the family…

I am about to post a fruitcake recipe. Now..don’t click the X yet ….
I grew up loving fruitcake and i could never figure out why people didn’t like it..To me, there was nothing more delicious than a piece of the moist and chewy cake, slathered with cream cheese or butter and  resting next to a cup of hot chocolate.  Mmmmm – Christmas!
Until..until the fateful day when I tasted someone ELSE’S fruitcake. EWWWW! I finally understood the jokes..the grimaces..the gagging.
I used to sell this cake on ebay for $30 …and that was ten years ago! Noone that has tasted this cake …read more

Is there anything more cozy that blogging on the laptop next to the fire in the kitchen, watching the cold, gray drizzle and ..uhh..listening to the kids argue over the breakfast dishes?
Texas is such an odd climate. I spent the first 12 years of my life in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and I always have a hard time associating this weather with Christmas! It was 80 degrees three days ago..then we had some snow flurries..then it was in the 60’s and now, today, it is in the 30’s again. I miss the Currier and Ives Christmases of the North East!

Today, …read more

This Banana Chocolate Chip Bread recipe is my eldest daughter’s favorite. I usually give her a loaf of this along with a container of Russian Tea Mix ( you know, the kind with orange, clove, red hots, and tea?) and she is blissfully happy. Always a good thing.
It is a particularly moist and delicious bread, and unusual enough to make a gift that is different from what other people are doing. I swear one year I am going to try it with macadamias and white chocolate chips but so far I haven’t done so.
If you are giving …read more

I thought I had better obey Jennifer before she put on her mad face and write about my nice quiet weekend.
I just wrote a LONG article about making chocolate from scratch. Yep. Scratch. Like buying green cacao beans, roasting them and then making chocolate. I DID love the move, Chocolat, but I am not sure I am up for going through all of that to feed the chocolate monster that lives inside me.
I also wrote a tutorial for making the gingerbread houses from graham crackers .
I am making homemade pizza tonight for supper and we are probably going …read more