SMiLes by Meg

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

I really like cookbooks from famous bakeries. They always use some new technique or ratio that I never see in recipes online, and they unashamedly own their copious use butter. There’s also something nice about having a physical cookbook – crumbs get stuck in the pages, well-loved recipes open easily, you can flip through the pictures until something jumps out – you don’t get any of that online.

Donut Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

I have had my eye on this recipe since I first got my Boozy Baker cookbook. And it’s not like I haven’t had ample opportunity to make it before. I always have whiskey on hand. Donuts are easy to go get. I’m a huge fan of anything that only involves one dish.

Cookie Roller Sugar Cookies

It has been a long time since I’ve seriously considered not baking on a Sunday. It’s been a busy couple of weeks. I spent all day working on a paper. I still hadn’t started reading for my other classes. And I was tired. But then I remembered what I had told myself at the beginning of law school: if I didn’t have time to bake, I was taking myself too seriously. There really isn’t an excuse not to take a couple hours out of my weekend to do something I enjoy, and I really had been dying to try the

Lofthouse Cookies

Halloween is a weird holiday. As a kid, you’re all about the fact that you can dress up in costume and go door-to-door taking candy from strangers. Then, in middle school, you go through this stage where you are just way too old/cool for Halloween and you want nothing to do with it. Fast forward to college and you realize how great it is to have an excuse to dress up in costume again – so great that you decide Halloween should really be extended into a multi-day event.

Bakery Brownies

I was a little bit miffed with my students this week. They were waxing nostalgic about some brownies I had made for them once, asking when I would make them again. Now, I know that they meant well. They were saying that my brownies were the best brownies they had ever had. And normally, that would make me very happy. But the brownies they were talking about? I made them from a mix.

Christmas Roll Sugar Cookies

Yesterday was my five year high school reunion, which is weird for me to think about. I got to see people that I actually haven’t seen since graduation, as well as others that I’ve kept in better touch with, and it was awesome to be able to hear about what everyone was up to. A lot has changed since high school (I definitely wasn’t as into baking back then), but in a lot of ways it was nice that some things stayed the same.

Snickerdoodles

Ahh, November as a teacher in New Jersey. After the mayhem that is the start of the school year, this month feels like a breeze. This past weekend was a long weekend for Teacher’s Convention, which I took advantage of to journey down south to DC and Baltimore to visit some friends from college. It was a short trip, but walking around inner harbor in Baltimore made me very nostalgic for a road trip my family had taken a long time ago.

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.