SMiLes by Meg

Tag: chocolate

Cardamom Coffee Cake

Sunday Scaries are a weird thing. I had the most perfect weekend, and in particular a great Sunday, mostly because we turned the clocks back, and I had a full extra hour to be productive, which gave me extra time to be lazy. But it’s that time of year where, as corporate lawyer, clients start wanting things done by end of year, and there’s a general impending sense of a storm. So as Sunday has worn on, I’ve gotten that pit of dread in the bottom of my stomach. Fortunately, I know the perfect way to combat Sunday Scaries: Cake …

Homemade Reese’s Cups

My Instagram followers were very excited about this recipe, so I wanted to get it up early enough in your Sunday that you would still have time to make them before the weekend was over! Also, if you don’t follow me on Instagram, but are interested in sneak peeks of what I’m making and gratuitous pictures of my cat sitting at the counter, you can find me as @smilesbymeg. Basically this came about through some mindless scrolling of my NY Times Cooking app, which I was really on to find a dinner recipe (I settled on pumpkin coconut curry). Then …

Elwynn Cookies

Guess what? Thursday is Elwynn’s adoption day! One year ago this Thursday (October 17), I brought Elwynn home from the Animal Rescue League of Boston, and I cannot imagine a better companion for the past year. He has brought me nothing but joy. He cuddles. He loves when I come home from work (mostly because I feed him). He is adorable. He meows back to me when I meow at him. He is pure perfection. So obviously I wanted to make something this week to celebrate him. I came across a recipe for chocolate shaped cookies last year, and, paired …

Devil Dogs

One of my favorite places to look for inspiration for this blog is my mom’s recipe box. She has all of these cards from her mom and family, handwritten and passed down. A lot of things I’ve made for the blog come from those cards. This week, I started thinking I was going to make apple crisp. My mom said Grammy had a good recipe, so I opened up the box. I found an apple pie recipe, but then I found something even more exciting: devil dogs. Devil dogs are kind of like whoopie pies, but longer and with a …

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Calling this a “bread” feels kind of like lying. Sure, the base of this is a zucchini bread, and there is definitely a LOT of zucchini. Which makes you feel like it’s healthy. But then it’s moist, full of chocolate chips, and seems like a better pair for ice cream than coffee. Which makes you feel like it can’t possibly be healthy. However, I’m not one to make such decisions for you, so if you want to call it a vegetable bread, and therefore basically a salad, I’m not going to stop you. If you want to call it more …

Kitchen Sink Cookies

I was shocked that I hadn’t baked kitchen sink cookies for SMiLes by Meg yet. I feel like all I make is cookies, and that I must have already covered all of the standards. Chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, gingerbread, sugar cookies… I seriously thought I’d hit them all. Then, I was sitting in Alaska trying to decide what to bake that would be a good treat to bring hiking, and was thinking about how nice it would be to have a big chunky cookie full of fun stuff. Which, obviously, made me think of kitchen sink cookies. I searched it quick …

Simple Chocolate Cake

I know that today is National Ice Cream Day. And that it’s ridiculously hot up and down the east coast, and no one wants to turn on their oven. But I have ignored both of those things, and today I bring you something that you should start just keeping all of the ingredients on hand for: Simple Chocolate Cake. I’ve made other chocolate cakes in the past, but this one has fewer than 10 ingredients, can be made in one bowl, and can be dressed up as much as you want, or left alone without any fuss. It is, of …

Chocolate Peanut Butter S’mores

I’d love to tell you a cute story about my weekend, but I’m trying to beat the buzzer getting this posted on Sunday. TL;DR: Erik visited, which made it my absolute favorite weekend of the summer, despite working over the holiday. Now for some baking! First, make the peanut butter cookies. Start by grinding up the peanuts in a small food processor. n a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium high speed for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and beat to combine. Add the maple syrup …

Whopper Cookies

This recipe comes from a text Erik sent me (probably a month ago) saying that I HAD to make these cookies and how good they were. Well, he’ll be here in 3 days, and he wasn’t wrong – I just hope there’s still some left when he gets here! First, melt some butter. And by some, I mean quite a bit. Next, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt in a large bowl. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, and brown sugar until no lumps remain. Add the eggs and vanilla extract …

Nutella, Sesame and Hazelnut Rolls

This has been a pretty amazing weekend. Yesterday, I got up bright and early and rode 100 miles on my bike from Boston to Cape Cod for the Best Buddies Challenge Ride. I rode with some pretty cool people from work, and we could not have had better weather – a little sunny but mostly overcast, not too hot, and no rain. Then, when we got to the finish, we got to eat lobster, drink beer, and listen to a Flo Rida concert, which is great by itself, but after a huge bike ride is especially awesome. And if that …