Treats for appetites of every size
This post marks exactly (well, 2 days from exactly) 1 year of SMiLes by Meg. In deciding what to make to mark this occasion, I wanted to go big. I wanted to make something that was quintessentially me. And I wanted it to be crazy complex and impressive to look at and eat. But then I became paralyzed. What would I make? What recipe would fulfill everything I wanted it to do and more? I couldn’t decide.
I am officially back in New Jersey. School starts next week, and my summer is coming to a far to fast close. After spending the last couple months indulging in the luxury of hanging out with my family and not planning lessons, coming back here was a bit of a shock. That shock was not improved by the fact that my AC unit had leaked, causing my floor to buckle into a mountain range.
On Friday, I played a round of golf with my dad (I get out maybe once a year) and we were discussing summer desserts. I, personally, am of the belief that any real dessert has to include chocolate, and the denser that chocolate, the better. However, my dad, also a sweets connoisseur, was arguing for the merits of a light, sweet, lemon meringue pie. I have always shied away from meringue, because some part of me was convinced it was far too hard to make (it’s not), and have never actually truly made a pie from scratch, crust and all. …
This weekend, I had the pleasure of hosting the lovely Molly Hayes for plenty of beach time and country music. And since we went to college together, we decided to recreate a treat from a favorite bakery in New Haven: Claire’s. Thanks to Marj, I have the Claire’s cookbook, and the cookbook has my absolute favorite cake from the store: Lithuanian Coffee Cake.
Full disclosure: I made these on the 3rd of July, not the 3rd of August. But as I mentioned earlier, when you don’t have a staff room to drop the treats off in on Monday morning, you have to save some recipes for later if you want to save yourself from death by diabetic coma.