SMiLes by Meg

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Baklava

Baklava is one of those recipes where you think it must be super complex (there are so many layers!), but when you actually make it, you realize there aren’t that many ingredients, and the process is fairly simple. I wouldn’t have believed any of this, but Sandy, whose recipes have appeared on my blog in the past (Trout Farm Apple Pie, Mud Pie, Oh Henry Bars), gave me a pan and her recipe for Christmas. So obviously I had to give it a try. Now, to be honest, this was actually my second attempt at Baklava. When she first gave …

Nutter Butters

I’m not really sure why I decided I needed to make Nutter Butters this week, but I decided it was my recipe on like Tuesday and became fixated on the idea. Maybe it’s because it’s Girl Scout cookie season, and I was getting nostalgic for cookies of youth. (I have, kid you not, 5 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in my office right now.) Maybe it’s because Marj had me watching videos of how to make homemade versions of other treats I think are best when you buy the processed version (Cheetos, Twizzlers, etc.) Maybe it’s just because I like …

Mocha Bundt Cake

Guys, I had a WEEKEND. I’m sitting in Duxbury now, but it has been a journey to get this far. On Friday night, Molly and I drove up to Vermont for our annual college mini-reunion trip, which this year turned into a girls’ trip with me, Molly, and Marj. We arrived at the AirBnB, after driving through some pretty harrowing wind/snow conditions, at around midnight. We then proceeded to unload the car and go into the house. Five minutes later, Molly saw some motion out of the corner of her eye, and there was a crash. She then beckoned me …

Crack Pie

This is a recipe I’ve been meaning to try since probably the first year of SMiLes by Meg. Before I acquired any of the multitude of kitchen gadgets that currently define my baking. Before I had Amazon Prime. Before I felt confident enough to try a recipe that involved 3 separate internal recipes. But I’ve grown in the last 5 years, as has my kitchen gadget collection, and with the Patriots going to the Super Bowl, I was finally felt ready to make it: Crack Pie. I first had Crack Pie when visiting Marj in NYC after college. She brought …

Chocolate Molasses Cookies

I haven’t written a blog post from my iPad in a long time, and I’m not entirely confident this is going to work, but here goes nothing. I’ve been in Alaska for the last week, experiencing Anchorage in winter, which is decidedly snowier and colder than Anchorage in summer. But, since Boston has not been delivering on the snow this year, it’s a welcome change of scenery, and brings with it some pretty cool stuff. For example, on the day I flew in, there had been a frozen fog over the city, which left trees and signs and just about …

Granola Bars

Sometimes, when I lost track of time, I realize two days before I’m going on vacation that I don’t have a recipe lined up for the weekend. Occasionally, I get lucky and already have something saved that I can post. But most of the time I have to scramble and see what I can find that is fast and doesn’t require a trip to the grocery store. This recipe hits both of those requirements: It takes less than 30 minutes to put together, and as long as you have some staples on hand, you can probably find some granola at …

Raspberry Apple Muffins

Another of my awesome baking-related Christmas presents this year was silicon cupcake cups. This may not seem revolutionary, but they’re in some very happy colors, and I have a really bad habit of deciding to make cupcakes or muffins only to realize, once the batter is made, that I don’t have any paper cupcake cups on hand. Enter silicon baking cups – never again will I have to run to CVS only to find out that CVS doesn’t carry cupcake liners! When trying to decide what to make in my new silicon liners, I wanted to make something that I …

Spice Cake

Now that it’s January, it’s time to turn away from Christmas cookies and move on to bigger and better things – like continuing my quest to be featured on Yotam Ottolenghi’s instagram feed and using all of my Christmas presents. Those two goals come together in this week’s post: Spice Cake out of Ottolenghi’s Sweet cookbook. When I opened Sweet this week to find a recipe, I wanted something that would be baked in a loaf pan, since Sylvia, Erik’s mom, got me a beautiful yellow Emile Henry one this year (thanks!). Also because a loaf pan cake is a …

Orange Spritz Cookies

For my last in this year’s Christmas cookie series, I bring you something a little fruity to round out your cookie boxes: orange spritz cookies. Everything in my box so far had been either chocolate or butter or ginger or some other traditional warm flavor and I wanted a fruit counterpoint. Usually you can do this with some thumbprints, but I really am not a huge fan of jam cookies (other than hamantaschen). I prefer cookies that rely on the zest of a fruit. I also prefer cookies that let me use my cookie press. These checked both boxes. First, …

Candy Cane Oreos

In my third installment of Christmas cookies, I bring you a twist on a classic: candy cane Oreos. I’ve made a similar dessert as a gluten free whoopie pie, but I think these are much better. Crispy cookie, fluffy buttercream, and some chopped candy canes for good measure. These cookies were inspired by Erik, who called me a couple of weeks ago to tell me about the amazing cookies his neighbor had made – fudgy chocolate with chocolate frosting and candy canes on top. For my cookie boxes this year, I wanted at least one sandwich cookie, so I thought …