SMiLes by Meg

Tag: sweet

Strawberry Sorbet

Hi friends. A word on the murder of George Floyd before I get into this week’s post below. I, like many of you, have felt a lot of things. Anger. Sadness. Hopelessness. Restlessness. I’ve been thinking a lot about what my role can or should be as an activist. I really struggled to decide whether to say anything here at all. But, in the end, I decided it would be irresponsible to let another week go by without using this platform in some way, and I think this blog reaches a different audience than my Instagram account, where many of …

Classic Blueberry Pie

Today’s recipe was both the first thing my mom wanted me to make and the last thing. She started with “please make me something with these blueberries.” Then we went down the rabbit hole of “should we make a braided bread instead?” And then we decided yes, we should definitely make a braided bread. The grocery store disagreed – no yeast to be found anywhere, except the local French bakery, which only had fresh yeast, and that seems like way more work than I wanted. So we came back to blueberry pie, and I got to play with pie stamps! …

Marshmallows

I bought the ingredients to make these 3 weeks ago. And then things kept coming up. I had to use up the egg whites and make chocolate chip meringues. Alexandra had a birthday so I made chocolate caramel tart. Liz asked for cookies for her clients so I made cowboy cookies. This weekend, finally, I got to make marshmallows! And, honestly, this recipe has been in the back of my head for much longer than 3 weeks. I think it was in college when Marj first introduced me to the idea that you can make homemade marshmallows. I remember her …

Salted Chocolate Caramel Tart

Alexandra always gets me to make the most fun things. Last year, I made one of the things I’m most proud of – a Rainbow Explosion Cake. This year, even though we aren’t in the office, I promised another birthday treat and the request was “something with chocolate and caramel.” So here’s a chocolate caramel tart! Start by making the crust. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, confectioners sugar and cocoa until smooth. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and beat until creamy. Add the flour and beat until dough comes together. Press …

Creme Fraiche Scones

Happy Easter! This is the first year (I think in my entire life) where I’m not home with my family for Easter. 2020 is a weird year. I was feeling pretty sad about it (and still am, to be honest), but decided that I would make the best of it, so Madison and I are having a little Easter brunch of our own! We exchanged Easter bags, because we don’t have baskets, and I’ve already started my chocolate consumption for the day. For brunch, I made scones, supplemented with mimosas in fancy glasses, of course. Next up: painting rocks (instead …

Coconut Granola

Not a single person took me up on free delivery of baked goods in Boston last week. How is that possible. How are all of you NOT in need of some cookies for quarantine? Just meant this week I needed to find something to make that I actually could justify for myself. I eat granola every morning, and have made various granola recipes over the year, but hadn’t made one recently, so thought that would be a good option. Last year, before Star Market opened three steps from my door, I was still shopping primarily at Whole Foods. They have …

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, …

Candy Cookies

I’m calling these Candy Cookies because I’ve made M&M cookies before, and these are different enough that they needed their own post. Plus, you could put any kind of candy into these and get a good result – the original recipe from Weeknight Baking actually included sno-caps, too, but sno-caps were inexplicably sold out out every store I checked. They must be good quarantine snacks or something. Regardless, I decided to just double the amount of M&Ms to make up for it, and no one ever complains about double the M&Ms. Start by melting the butter. Just chop it up …

Caramel Peanut Brownies

“;.////////////////////////////////////p;//” – From Elwynn, who decided to walk across my iPad when I started typing this up. He did capture how I feel about this week though – I could use another 3 weekends right now. But I think that’s just February for you. Fortunately, I did get to spend some time making something new – caramel peanut brownies! Meg Fay, one of the other second years at my firm, has a birthday this week. She requested something “chocolate and peanut butter, or chocolate and caramel” and I was able to find something that was chocolate and peanut AND caramel. …

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 …