Bake or Break

Peanut Toffee Cookies

I’ve not been baking a lot of cookies lately. I seem to have been focused on cakes and bars. Variety is always good, but it felt like it was time to get back to scooping cookie dough.

These cookies manage to be traditional and nontraditional at the same time. At their heart, they are a basic vanilla cookie. But, the presence of cake flour changes their consistency enough to create a soft and light cookie.

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Coconut-Pecan Macaroons

But, at the beginning of an insanely busy week, these little cookies appealed to me in a big way.

I can’t imagine a more simplified way to make macaroons. The handful of ingredients you’ll need are ones most of us usually have on hand. You don’t even need sugar. You’ll get plenty from the coconut and condensed milk. They mix in mere minutes. And, on top of all that, they’re really good!

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Weekly Mix: One-Layer Cakes

Those of you even vaguely familiar with this blog know that I’m not much for big pretty cakes. I love them, of course, but my frosting skills are not the best. Nor is my patience level.

I’ll keep working on it, but in the meantime I’m sharing some of my favorite one-layer cakes. Some are frosted, and some don’t need anything but the cake. These beauties are just lovely in their one-layer awesomeness.

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Pecan Cake with Rum Frosting

I feel confident that I would enjoy just about any dessert that features pecans. In the case of this cake, finely ground pecans are the star.

This nutty cake is tall and delicate and really just lovely. It isn’t overly sweet. That’s good, because the rum frosting is sweet enough to complement it perfectly.

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Banana Bars with Browned Butter Icing

We are all guilty of throwing out food. Those leftovers you thought you’d eat. That mystery container well past its due date. But, I have a hard time throwing out bananas. Overripe bananas can be the beginning of far too many good things to let them go to waste.

This weekend, I found myself with several super-ripe bananas and took to the internet to find something a little different to do with them. That’s when I found these bars.

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Weekly Mix: Vanilla

I trust you’ve all made it through Valentine’s Day with happy hearts, pretty flowers, and devoured chocolate.

Last week when I shared some of my favorite Valentine’s Day recipes, I unabashedly confessed that my recommendations mostly involved chocolate. As we all may be ready for a little break from chocolate, it’s a good opportunity to talk about vanilla.

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