Recipes for desserts.
I have been spending some time reading through the Harvey County Fair’s entry guidelines book, looking at all the food categories. The one that intrigues me, which I need to pay more attention to when I go look at the exhibits this year, is for cookie jars. For the entry, the cookies have to be …
Continue reading “‘Wash’ out for these easy-to-make sugar-coated cookies”
I find that the toughest time of year to make desserts is summer. If it’s a particularly good recipe, I’m willing to heat up my kitchen by using my oven, but my problem is how the dessert will travel with the heat. And if the event I’m taking my dessert to happens to be outdoors, …
Continue reading “In July, heat-proof desserts are a ‘pine’ of the times”
Last weekend, our house was the scene of an end-of-season party for Joey’s bowling team. I always love when that crew comes over. They are a super nice group, and it’s always fun to share a big meal and hear them tell stories and tease each other about their bowling gaffes. It’s also a great …
Continue reading “Earn brownie points with your friends with these awesome cookies”
Someone told me last week that I don’t really qualify as an amateur baker, since I’ve been writing this column way too long for that, but I still claim the title, especially after taking on a recent huge project. A dear friend of the newspaper, Debbie Pierce, celebrated her retirement last week, and since we …
Continue reading “Cupcakes the best way to say ‘auf Wiedersehn’ to a good friend”
We attended a high school graduation this past week, and since I only knew one graduate, I had a little time to let my mind wander during the ceremony. I thought about how making friends has changed for me in the 20-plus years since I was in high school. It used to be so easy: …
Continue reading “Look cool at your next gathering with an icebox cake”
In the past seven years, I have written a number of columns that stemmed from my life goal of being the “cool aunt.” This week’s is another in that installment, after I asked our family group chat if anyone had any dessert requests for Easter, and my sister responded with one from my niece for …
Continue reading “Take a poke at creating a whimsical cake this week”
I’ve struggled over the years with the definition of coffeecake. Generally speaking, it’s cake that is meant to be enjoyed with coffee and doesn’t actually contain any. But then I run into a recipe like I made for this week, which is a coffee cake—a cake that includes coffee. We hosted an event at the …
Continue reading “Every night is date night with this great coffee cake”
With plans to have company over recently, I was on the lookout for something easy to share for our snack table. After perusing several websites, I landed on one of my favorite ways to make a quick sweet without working all that hard for it: a cake mix transformation. The recipe I tried promised to …
Continue reading “Turn to easy lemon cake when you’re squeezed for time”
I love acts of subtle service. You know, acts that are seemingly so ordinary that, to someone who has never struggled with that particular essential, it’s almost an invisible need in their day-to-day lives. One subtle act that I really like is an event that takes place every Thursday in Newton, Kansas, called “Laundry Love.” …
Continue reading “‘Nut’ing compares to eating dessert for a good cause”
Joey puts up with a lot of weird stuff when it comes to this column. The poor guy watches me put random ingredients in our shopping cart all the time and never knows what I’m going to come up with next. With that said, he’s a terrific sport. He tries all my experiments and gives …
Continue reading “‘Orange’ you glad these weird cookies made an appearance?”
