SMiLes by Meg

Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies

“Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies” is possibly one of the most unappetizing names for a cookie I have ever heard. They sound like the dessert that would go with a dinner of liver and onions served with prune juice.  But the name is very deceptive – they should in fact be called creamy butter cookies with a hint of cinnamon sprinkled with colorful sugar. But that also would not be a great name for a cookie. However, they would go wonderfully with just about anything – they are pretty basic in flavor such that they could easily complement a variety of desserts

Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Cookies

Do not despair, my loyal followers, I’m back.  I’m sorry for not giving you a sugar fix last weekend, but in all honesty I did try.  I had this whole grand plan in place.  I was going to post a picture like this:

Half Moon Cookies

About two hours ago my Dad called me.  He was upset because he had gone to our favorite bakery to get a half moon cookie, only to find they are closed on Sundays, causing him to settle for Dairy Queen instead.  Funny enough, as he called to tell me this, I was in the middle of frosting half moon cookies of my own.

Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Want to know what happens when you have 6 snow days in a month and a half?  You lose all track of time.  Literally.  This past weekend was supposed to be a long weekend from school for Presidents’ Day.  We were going to have Friday through Tuesday off.  However, we had 4 snow days in January/early February, so the school decided to take away 2 of those days (Friday and Tuesday) because we didn’t have enough days built into the end of the year.  So in honor of having school on Valentine’s Day after all, I decided to make heart-shaped

Butter Cookies

Last Christmas recipe, I promise.  And these also aren’t really a Christmas-exclusive recipe, so I don’t feel bad about it.  Imagine them in shapes other than Christmas trees if it bothers you.

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

This week, I resorted to a tried-and-true method of teaching that for two months I had successfully avoided – bribery.  Some teachers give candy as rewards for different things, but being a science teacher, that had been impossible since we obviously can’t have food in laboratory classrooms.  I even had to take candy away from my students on Halloween (I know, I felt like a Halloween Scrooge) because they didn’t believe me about not eating in class.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had a Martha Stewart day today.  I was done with all of my work for the week (finally getting the hang of this lesson planning thing), so I went to a technique class at Williams-Sonoma this morning to learn how to make pie crust.  Well, really because I know that Williams-Sonoma gives free samples at their technique classes, but the pie crust lesson was helpful, too.  Then I put together a slow cooker black bean soup recipe that is currently sitting on my counter waiting for dinner time.  Then I made cookies.  Then I carved a pumpkin.

Lil Elephant Sugar Cookies

In college, my friends all decided that my spirit animal was a baby elephant.  I’m not really sure what that says about me, but I do think that elephants are cute, so I decided to embrace it.  As my inaugural post to SMiLes by Meg, and my first baking adventure in my new apartment, it only seemed fitting that I would make elephant cookies.