SMiLes by Meg

Strawberry Fool

What a difference a week makes! Today, I came home from 3 days on Nantucket with my mom, where we shopped, biked, and ate/drank particularly well. Then, when we got back to Duxbury, I got to see my cousin, Jim, get married! And now I’m sitting on my couch, watching Stranger Things (don’t worry, Erik, I’m rewatching the first couple with my mom, not watching new ones), and tomorrow I still have another day to enjoy the sun! Now, everything hasn’t been all sunshine and daisies (though there were definitely a lot of both). If you were in the Boston

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

Blueberry Rhubarb Galette

When I tried to explain to my brother what a galette was, I told him it was kind of like a deconstructed pie. You use pie dough, it’s filled with fruit, but instead of a pie plate you just kind of fold the edges over themselves and leave it a little open in the middle. He responded, “so hipster pie?” That’s kind of right. But I’d never made one before, so I decided to go for it. And i’m glad I did! Because I then had my friends over for dinner (hi, Josh and Sungho!), and served it for dessert,

Ginger Lime Pie

Happy Father’s Day to the best Daddy-o around! This week, because I was going out to Duxbury, I obviously had to make something for my dad. Unfortunately, I’ve already made a lot of things he likes: whoopie pies, icebox cake, half moons, lemon meringue pie… So I was in a bit of a bind trying to find something good. Then I remembered he LOVES key lime pie. I did a quick search for “lime” on my blog (because this is a recipe I feel like I should have made before), but, fortunately, hadn’t made this particular pie. I was also

Maple Pecan Cookies

This week was a lesson in I-should-have-listened-to-my-five-years-of-baking-blog-experience-gut. I made the batter. I knew it looked too runny to be cookie dough. I triple checked the recipe. I tried to bake it anyway thinking “maybe it won’t spread.” It did spread. And I ended up with cookie pie rather than cookies, and not even good cookie pie at that. Come with me on this journey. First, melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan, swirling occasionally. Pour into a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.

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

Olive Oil Ice Cream

A realistic snapshot into my life: It’s Thursday at 10:32pm. I’m sitting on my bed, having just finished up (kind of) work for the day. I’m doing laundry because I realized too late that I didn’t have any clothes to pack for a trip to Philly. I fly out tomorrow morning at 6:45am. I can’t finish packing until my laundry is done. But at least I’ve already made ice cream! When I told my mom I was making olive oil ice cream this week, she said, “That is the most disgusting thing you have ever said to me.” My roommate,

Mint Chocolate Pistachio Fridge Cake

The best-tasting treats are not necessarily the prettiest things I make, even if that rainbow cake was pretty delicious. No, they’re the dump-everything-into-a-bowl-and-hold-it-together-with-chocolate recipes. They’re quick to make, clean out your pantry, and give you just the right amount a sweet and crunchy. Take this Mint Chocolate Pistachio Fridge Cake. Maybe you have chili chocolate, or salted chocolate in your kitchen. That’s fine – use that instead! Or maybe pistachios aren’t your thing, but you’ve got pecans and walnuts. Perfect! And maybe you’re someone that just doesn’t like rum-soaked raisins (I can’t imagine why). Try whiskey-soaked dried cherries. This recipe

Rainbow Cake

This week, I made a super cool rainbow cake for Alexandra, one of the other first years in the corporate department at work. But before I get to that, I want to make a quick plug for donations to my upcoming bike ride. I’ll be riding the Best Buddies Challenge ride on June 1, and I have until May 17 to reach my goal. If you want to learn more about the ride, you can check out my donation page here, or drop me a comment and I’m happy to chat about why you should consider donating. Thank you so