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

O.k. maybe some tears. The tears that fall as you pray over the cookies hoping your son or daughter (or husband, or friend) is safe count as tears. But with this  method the cookies will get there fresh, unbroken, and yummy…so you can feel good about that, right?
I wanted to send a test batch to Chris in the Middle East, time how long it took them to get there, and how they were once they were there. I figured that way it would be documented and not rely on my memory. So, A few weeks ago Kyrie and I baked …read more

Just about two years ago I innocently wrote a list post called The 50 Best Cookie Recipes on the Internet. In 24 hours it hit the first page of Digg, and stayed there. In the past two years I have found this list everywhere often with other people’s name on it…and I have also found some great links to it, which I appreciate.
This post is the one that I look at as being the pivotal post on Baking Delights, the one that turned the blog around and made it grow. I hope that, if  I linked to your blog in …read more

Coconut Cherry White Chocolate Bars are amazing. The bottom is a layer of  shortbread, followed by a gooey sweet layer of coconut, cherry and white chocolate and the thinnest of sugary, crispy crusts forms on top during baking.  Pure bliss. Pure richness. Best of all these, like all bar cookies, are  super easy and quick.

O.k..so it took me nearly all night but I did some baking. In fact this recipe is out of my cookbook….sort of. I found out something interesting tonight. I can’t even follow my OWN recipes verbatim.

So…Ethan comes up this stairs this afternoon carrying a huge, and very heavy box.
“Mom! I think Your books are here! Can I open it?”
Within seconds the entire brood is gathered aound barely staying out of harms way as Ethan wields a knife, expertly opening the box and…….

Twenty-five cookbooks! Author’s copies. ….WITH MY NAME ON THEM. Seriously…look at this:

That’s ME!
Not that I am excited or anything, I am absolutely too cool for that… I am still wondering how my name got on these cookbooks.
I heard that amazon im sending out the preordered copies on the 28th of August, so if you …read more

When I got the fennel pollen I knew I wanted that flavor in something unique. I considered a lot of things and decided that it needed to be something simple to make and yet complex in flavor.
These thumbprint cookies fit the bill.

The cookie base is a buttery shortbread and the fennel pollen gives it a delicate anise flavor. There is a crumbly texture which complements the cookie very well. Blackberry jam adds tangy sweetness while white chocolate ganache pulls all the flavors together into one big blast of “WOW!”.

I promised Kyrie that we would have tea. I feel so frustrated sometimes because she is growing up so fast and I am so busy. I have never worked until the past two years so I have never had to turn down a tea party before. Anyway, we decided on Butterscotch Walnut cookies from an old Farm Journal Cookbook I have.

Once I had them mixed up the dough looked too gooey. I have had this problem with the Farm Journal cookie recipes before and I am not sure if it is a flaw in the cookbooks or the age of …read more

I figure that the woman who invented blondies was a mom of many kids.  There she was, last few days of the month, children clamoring for something sweet and no chocolate to be had. What could she do? This brave woman had a choice.

She could throw her really cute red and white polka dot apron over her head and cry
She could create magic

I think she decided to create magic and threw ingredients together to make Blondies. You know why? These are the most versatile of bar cookies. I mean you can toss almost anything in there… well, within reason..I mean …read more

I wanted to share one of the recipes from my cookbook in case you wanted to pre-test it.  This is one of my favorites, and very unusual- blueberry white chocolate chip cookies.  I developed these because I loved the blueberry white chocolate muffins I made so much.  I kept thinking that it would make such an awesome flavor combination in the right cookie-and I was right!

These are crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, with a buttery combination of flavors that just keep revealing themselves as you eat: lemon, white chocolate, nutmeg, blueberry…

These butter bars are a family favorite.  They are sweet, very sweet and very rich.  Most people can’t eat a lot of them, in fact many times I can only eat a bite or two.  My family thinks I haven’t trained hard enough, most of them are able to gobble down several.  Cut them small unless, like my family, your family has been in training.
This is one of the recipes from my cookie cookbook, Everything Cookies and Brownies. This is perfect for potlucks and bake sales and just when you want to do something easy.

Basically, you can add anything to …read more