SMiLes by Meg

Tag: cinnamon

Gingerbread House

Like everyone else on Instagram, I decided this was the right weekend for a gingerbread house. Next weekend is Cookie Weekend (if you live in DC and want a box of cookies, please let me know!) and the weekend after that is Ravioli Weekend and the weekend after that is Christmas, so there really was no other time to do this. I’ve had a set of gingerbread house cookie cutters for a couple of years now, but hadn’t yet successfully baked the components in a way that they would fit together to make a house. I decided I needed a …

Pumpkin Chai Bread

I have been having the most lovely vacation. Erik and I spent most of the week backpacking in Shenandoah National Park, and I don’t think better weather existed. We didn’t see a single cloud, it was crisp enough not to overheat but warm in the sun, and the leaves were just starting to change. Obviously, with such perfect Fall weather, I’ve been in a very Fall mood, and have wanted all things pumpkin all week. I picked up some mellowcreme pumpkins (the definitive best Halloween-specific candy), a pumpkin spice Yankee candle, made a pumpkin curry last night and impulse bought …

Apple Olive Oil Cake

Yesterday, Erik and I biked 30 miles around DC on a perfect Fall day (which we later learned was unseasonably cool for September). This got me in the mood to make something Fall-ish, and Alexandra must have read my mind. When we got home from the ride, I had a text from her with this recipe, and it solved all of my “what should I make this week” problems. As a bonus, this weekend is Rosh Hashanah, which means we had slices of this cake with a little bit of honey to celebrate. To start, oil a 9×5 loaf pan …

Madelyn’s Snickerdoodles

Happy Fourth! When I heard my cousins would be coming over for a socially distant picnic, I realized this weekend would be the perfect opportunity to get to bake with my cousin Madelyn, who has been sending me very delicious-sounding recipes for weeks, and who is recently breaking into the baking business herself. The first recipe she sent me was for snickerdoodles. My mom had all of the ingredients on hand and I’m a firm believer that cookies are the best cookout dessert, so that’s what we decided to go with. Madelyn did all of the hard work here – …

Cowboy Cookies

Happy Mother’s Day! Some years I would be spending this whole weekend down in Duxbury, helping my mom get her garden going and baking all the coconut things. This year, though, social distancing is making that unwise, so we’re making do. I am still making coconut treats, though! Liz Bone messaged me a couple weeks ago asking if I could make some cookies for her clients for Mother’s Day. I thought the best way to do this would be one chunky drop cookie (with coconut) and one pretty spring sugar cookie. For the sugar cookie, you’ve seen my recipe before, …

Sweet Potato Bread

There’s a lot going on out in the world these days, but one of the silver linings is that engagement on my baking social media posts is way up – you all must be stuck in the house all day without anything to do or something. For me, baking is a way to bring order and control when I feel like other aspects of my life are not in control. I think a global pandemic is pretty high up there on the “out of control” spectrum, so it was really nice to be able to take an hour this morning, …

Cherry Pistachio Oatmeal Cookies

This was one of those weekends where the only way I was going to have time to bake was if I pulled out Weeknight Baking. And made drop cookies, which are, besides bar cookies, the least time intensive baked good I can make. In looking at cookies, I decided to go with an oatmeal base, because I like the chewiness that comes with that. However, I am a firm anti-raisin baker, so I needed something else to go in them. Fortunately, Weeknight Baking had a solution: cherries and pistachios. Dried cherries are actually my favorite dried fruit. They’re a bit …

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

This week’s recipe was a request from Madison, and I am so glad she thought of it. Though I was a little late to the pumpkin game this year, Madison is a HUGE pumpkin fan, and thought that there must be a way to make cinnamon rolls pumpkin. She was right, and these are them, and you need them next Sunday morning when you’re looking for something a little sweet and very Fall for breakfast. Start by heating the butter and milk over low heat just until the butter melts. Set aside. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle …

Pumpkin Apple Butter

So this recipe takes about 5 total minutes of active time, which made its a perfect recipe for “I need to bake something but I’m going to Alaska for the weekend and only have weeknights available to me.” It’s also become my breakfast spread every morning, and when I mentioned to Erik I didn’t bring him any, it was a strong reminder that Erik does actually like pumpkin, despite the fact that my memory made me think he hated it. Oh well! Start by combining all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture …

Apple Cider Donut Holes

This weekend, I was reunited with my favorite sous chef, the one and only Laura Bakst! Despite living on the same coast, I visited her for the first time since law school (which is slightly embarrassing – I blame her work schedule), and had just the perfect weekend. We walked all around, baked, ate good food, drank good wine, stumbled upon a pickle festival and generally got to just catch up on each other’s lives. I never realize how much I’m craving friend time until I get an uninterrupted weekend of it. When that friend time also includes frying donut …