Once upon a time I found a bag of heaven (aka cinnamon chips) at … well I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I found this beautiful baking treasure at Wal-Mart. Since then I’ve never happened upon these decadent little additions in a single brick and mortar store, but thankfully they are available online. The Gods at King Arthur Flour apparently have them in droves. I can’t wait to stock up and sprinkle them liberally in cookies, scones, and maybe even a muffin or two. If you haven’t tried these before I think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised. Cinnamon Chips truly dress up baked goods with a unique flavor that we aren’t exposed to very often and are the perfect accompaniment to holiday goodies.
Baking
I’ve been lucky enough to be a beta tester for the TCHO line of delicious chocolate products over the last year. Every few months just the right amount of scrumptious rich chocolate arrives on my doorstep and I get to taste it and make comments before it’s released to the public. In the past I’ve chopped up bars to use in cookies but now you don’t have to with the public release of the TCHOPro Organic Fair Trade Baking Drops. From the TCHO creators:
TCHOPro Organic Fair Trade Baking Drops are a meticulously formulated 66% or 68% cacao blend with TCHO’s characteristic flavor obsession that performs to the highest technical standards. Now available to serious home chefs. TCHO Baking Drops are the exact formulations we developed for food professionals in our TCHOPro line—and are now being used by leading chefs and chocolatiers across the country.
Flavor Notes: Intense chocolatey flavor, mid-tones of berry and a nice caramel finish.
If you decide to try their baking drops for yourself might I suggest a tried and true cookie recipe?
I don’t usually advocate things of the “slice and bake” nature but all bets are off when said cookies are stamped with adorable grinning pumpkins. Admittedly, they don’t taste as good as homemade, but kids will absolutely gobble up a plate of these treats without any questions asked. Plus there’s very little clean-up and you’ll feel comfortable allowing them to help you bake this quick dessert. Besides, everyone knows that ready-to-bake cookies are the gateway to a life long love of baking at home. First you unwrap and slice and before you know it you’re obsessed with the idea of making puff pastry from scratch.
Did you know that there’s a canned pumpkin shortage this year? Pretty freaky, right? I bought four cans of pumpkin last week and this week the Libby’s Pumpkin is no where to be found. There’s a big supply of canned squash instead. Obviously canned squash isn’t really going to cut it in all of those pumpkin bread, muffin, and cookie recipes. Not to even mention the disaster Thanksgiving would be if we didn’t have at least one pumpkin pie on the table. So what are you waiting for? Go forth and pillage some pumpkin before it’s too late!
The pressure to make festive desserts for all the holidays can be intense. However, if you give yourself permission to relax and go with the flow making themed treats is as easy as shaking on a few well placed toppings. This selection of six Halloween Sprinkles will quickly put the “boo” back in your baked goods. Dash your cookies and cakes with an array of black and orange nonpareils, Halloween confetti, pumpkins or black, orange and purple sugars. Save the anxiety for scary movies; not your oven.
The first movie I ever bought for myself was The Little Mermaid with $20 that I received from a kindly relative on my 9th birthday. To that end I’ll forever associate mermaids with birthdays and other celebrations and I’m sure your little party princess will relish having the same opportunity. This precious kit can effortlessly serve as your theme party’s jumping off point and will undoubtedly yield dressed up cupcakes that will be the hit of the pre-teen set. Best of all everyone can pick a cupcake that “looks like” herself as these mermaids sport an array of luscious locks.
