SMiLes by Meg

Tag: dough

Brookies

Continuing my small-batch kick this week with some brookies (brownie/cookie combo, for those not in the know) made in my cute little 1/8 sheet pan! We’ve been having a nice lazy stay around the house day, and these were a good little midday snack. And, even though it’s a small batch recipe, we’ve got lots of them to get us through to Thanksgiving! Speaking of, planning a Thanksgiving meal for two is strange. We’re not traveling (thanks, COVID), but will be doing virtual Thanksgiving with each of our families at various times during the day. That still leaves food for …

Double Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Hi friends! I know your social media feeds might be slowing down on the #blacklivesmatter posts, but I hope you also know that doesn’t at all mean that the work is done. After this week, though I may not include a little blurb at the beginning of my blogs, I hope you’ll join me in continuing your impact and fighting for real change however you are able. If you’re looking for something sweet and you’re in the city of Boston, I highly recommend you check out Petsi Pies, a black-owned bakery in Somerville that I used to frequent while in …

Homemade Pocky

I saw these on the New York Times cookie spread and knew I had to make them. I love pocky, and can never eat just a few. They’re crispy, chocolate, and are cookies, so there’s not much not to like. The best part? These ones are easy. They don’t actually make good cookie tin cookies (they break kind of easily and therefore shouldn’t be packed with lots of other cookies, but I think they’d look great out on a platter for dessert at one of the eighteen holiday parties you’re probably going to this week. In my cookie marathon weekend, …

Cookie Dough Ice Cream

My favorite ice cream is cookie dough ice cream. It always has been. My favorite cookie dough ice cream is from Farfar’s in Duxbury, and is served with M&Ms because they don’t have sprinkles. So, having just finished my sixth year of this blog, I was SHOCKED to find out I had not yet made cookie dough ice cream. I’ve made a couple varieties of vanilla ice cream base over the years. I could have used one of those again, but cookie dough ice cream is special to me, and deserved the best. So I pulled out a book I …

Gingerbread Snickerdoodles

Big soft ginger cookies and snickerdoodles have always felt like related cookies to me. It’s probably the cinnamon and the texture and the sugar on the outside. But because I think of them as similar, I’m kind of upset that I never thought to combine them before. Alas, the New York Times beat me to it, and rubbed it in my face by including the recipe in a compilation of Fall recipes I was looking at to find something to make for dinner. Cookies can be dinner, right? So start by whisking together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, …

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, …

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 …

Nutmeg Tart

Another rainy weekend, another baking adventure. Since I’m still thoroughly enjoying funemployment, I spent the weekend in Duxbury with my parents. I love being able to hop on a train and be with my family in about an hour, and nothing beats running to the beach and back, even if its pouring rain while you do it. Plus, I’m very into the series of books I’m reading right now (The Wheel of Time – no spoilers, please!), and my favorite place to read is the wood paneled room in their home, snuggled up on the recliner with a big fluffy …

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

There really isn’t a whole lot better than baking a pie with fresh ingredients from a farmer’s market. You’re supporting local businesses. Everything is super ripe and perfect. You get to buy the ingredients outdoors. Even someone who doesn’t like pies or fruit-based desserts (that would be me) can appreciate how good it feels to do this. So when we were walking through the farmer’s market at Harvard and a vendor had both strawberries and rhubarb, I couldn’t just not buy them. And, as luck would have it, strawberry rhubarb is Erik’s favorite pie!

Hamantaschen

These were really fun. If you don’t know by now, I give up sweets for Lent every year. Which means I try to find people to bake for each week so that I won’t have the temptation around me. This year, Erik made it easy. He wanted to make hamantaschen for Purim so that we could send cookies to a long list of people, all over the country, that he stays in touch with. Sending cookies by mail far from Boston fits in well with my Lenten promise to not eat said cookies. A win-win all around.