SMiLes by Meg

Salted Chocolate Caramel Knot

I know I still haven’t shared my go-to sourdough bread recipe yet, but I make it so often it almost feels like cheating to put it on the blog. Instead, this week I’ll share a different recipe from the same cookbook (Artisan Sourdough Made Simple). It uses sourdough starter, but also the wonderful ingredients of Nutella and dulce de leche. If you don’t have sourdough starter in your fridge yet, and you live in DC, let me know – I’m happy to provide some of mine. It’s great to have, very hard to kill (unlike my house plants), and I

Devil’s Food Cake

Taking a break from cookie box recipes this week to share with you a very delicious cake that we had on New Year’s Eve. New Year’s has always been a quiet holiday for me, so for the first time this holiday season, it didn’t feel all that different. In college, I was always home at my parents’ for New Year’s. They would go out with another couple for dinner, and my brother would go out with his friends, and I’d have the house entirely to myself. This almost always meant opening some red wine and getting the most comfort-food-style baked

Magic Shell

Remember that time I said the busier I was at work the more complex my baking projects? There’s a limit to that, and I found it this week, so instead I’m sharing a very simple (very satisfying) recipe with you. As a kid, I remember loving Magic Shell. Erik didn’t know what it was when I asked him if he remembered it, and Madison remembered it at Dairy Queen but not as a store bought treat. I remember going to A&P and begging to get a bottle from the ice cream aisle, right next to the sprinkles I obviously also

Fudge Stripe Cookies

This week’s recipe is courtesy of Marj, who sent me a very exciting housewarming gift – the BraveTart cookbook! This book is so fun. It’s full of homemade versions of classic desserts you definitely grew up eating, and it’s making me want to redo many recipes on my blog, where I had tried to do the same based on recipes on the internet. So don’t be surprised if you see a new version of Nutter Butters or Oreos or Rice Krispies in the coming weeks. But to start, I went with a cookie that I always considered a treat when

Twix Cookies

This week, my recipe has a story! At my internship this summer, lunch meetings always have some kind of dessert. Usually it’s cookies and brownies, pretty standard. But one day this week, there were these little slices of chocolate cake with caramel, very much like a Twix, and I instantly decided I needed to make something similar. However, with a cake, you don’t get the same satisfying crunch that the cookie layer in a Twix bar provides.

Braided Nutella Bread

I have been on a big yeasted bread kick this year, which is really quite a step forward in my baking life. I used to be terrified of recipes that included yeast. You invest so much time up front in making the dough, that the fear of it not rising often scared me off from starting at all.

Chocolate Cranberry Haystacks

This was the first weekend that really felt like the holiday season. It was cold, curl-up-inside-with-a-book weather, and it took a significant amount of self control not to turn on Christmas music while I was baking (I have a rule with myself – no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving). So, when my aunt Anne texted me a picture of what she was baking, I immediately asked for the recipe.

Triple Chocolate Ice Cream

As I think I mentioned last week, Hurricane Arthur managed to cancel all of the 4th of July events last weekend.  That meant that yesterday, the 12th of July, became the night for fireworks and festivities at the waterfront.  The condo I’m in for the summer happens to have a perfect panoramic view of the fireworks show, making it the natural location for friends to come and watch.  Which, of course, meant I needed to bake.