SMiLes by Meg

Gluten Free Coconut Cookies

Snuck up to Duxbury for the weekend, which of course means my mom and I baked something coconut. Her birthday is this week, and Mother’s Day was two weeks ago ish, and I’m now officially fully vaccinated, so visiting this weekend made a lot of sense. We had a great time and laughed a lot and generally enjoyed what felt like a return to almost normal. Plus, we made some cookies that “are a cross between coconut macaroons and oatmeal cookies and SO GOOD.” (Quote from my mom.) Start by mixing together the coconut oil, brown sugar and egg in

Salted Pretzel Brownies

There aren’t many things that can compete with S’mores when you’re trying to decide what to bring as a dessert on a camping trip. They’re a perfect dessert, sweet, salty, gooey and crunchy, plus you get to play with fire. So when I was trying to decide on a recipe to make for Erik’s colleagues this weekend, who we just spent the last few nights camping with at Cape Henlopen in Delaware, my original thought was some kind of S’mores-inspired dessert. I wanted something easy to bring with us, so it couldn’t be too fussy, and I feel like I’ve

Small Batch Boxed Mix Brownies

In my former life as a teacher, I used to bake for my students as a treat every so often. I’d make some really big batch of a recipe (usually cookies) so I had enough for all of my classes and anyone else that stopped by. Want to know what their absolute favorite thing I ever made was? Boxed mix brownies. Just plain old Duncan Hines brownies. As a baking blogger who thinks that she makes brownies much better than what a box can do, I was pretty offended. But there really is something about a boxed mix brownie that’s

North End Cannoli

Friends, another chapter of SMiLes by Meg is coming to an end – this is my last weekend in Boston! Tomorrow I move down to Washington, D.C., with a new kitchen and a new bakery scene to explore. Obviously, if I’m moving tomorrow, my kitchen is very much packed up already. And I didn’t think that just using a spare recipe would be a good way to mark my last weekend here (also, I didn’t have a spare recipe…) So, this week, I convinced Madison and my Mom to help me out with something a little different – a taste

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made some really really really good cookies this week. Like, I’m staring at the last one in a Tupperware next to me at the table right now seriously struggling with whether to eat it. I’ve already had 2 today. And maybe 3 yesterday. And every day before that since Monday. It didn’t help that the batch made about 60 cookies. So even though my students did some good work on the huge container I brought to their conferences this week, I still had too many left over.

Chocolate Chili Cupcakes

I am solidly back into procrastination cooking mode. As tends to happen when my work picks up, I convince myself to make increasingly elaborate recipes in an effort to justify not doing that work. This week, I did this both with my baking AND my regular cooking.

Chocolate Chip Pretzel Bars

To my readers that have been requesting a peek at the new location of SMiLes, I’ve heard you! And, even better, I’ve remembered to take pictures! My new kitchen is great, lots of space, and renovated this past summer so brand new appliances. And, of course, yellow. Because if I’ve learned anything from my mother, it’s that you should fully commit to your favorite color and let it permeate every possible part of your life.

Mini Cannoli Bites

Usually, when I start a blog post, I’m fairly confident it will turn out OK. Occasionally, I’m certain it will be fine and then end up with entries like this or this. Then, there are days like today. Family dinner at five. Less than a week until I’m in England. Not sure how to balance the two. And somehow, against all odds, I manage to pull off something as impressive as this:

Cookie Dough Brownies

In college, my absolute favorite on campus job was managing the Calhoun Buttery. This mostly entailed making various different vehicles for hot sauce (buffalo chicken wraps, quesadillas, nachos…) for anyone that found themselves in the basement of our dorm between 10pm and 1am on weeknights, playing lots of 90s throwback music and TSwift, and getting paid to hang out with my friends.