St. Patrick's Day Desserts

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I'm thinking about a special St. Patrick's Day dessert to make this weekend and I have narrowed it down to one of these or maybe two of these.  They all look so delicious. 



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I think these Irish Car Bomb Cheesecakes or Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes below, made by Bakers Royale are on my must make list. 
A dessert made with Guiness, Baileys and Whiskey, how can you go wrong?



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Scenes From Christmas

We had such a great Christmas filled with family and friends. I tried to focus on relaxing and enjoying all the sweet little moments that come with Christmas. I made some last minute gifts of orange ricotta cakes and snow globes, my son set up a hot cocoa station for Christmas morning, we received some Christmas cookies and Santa stop by delivering some lovely gifts.

Christmas on Etsy

                   These lights are so beautiful, plus you could use them year round.

                                      Christmas Party Straws- too fun!   

                         

 

                               I love this garland and it is only $10.00.

                                  

    

                                               The Grinch

                                         
                                             Boxwood Christmas Wreath

                 

                                         Christmas Pillow- so cute

A Few of My Favorite Things - Cookbooks

I love cookbooks, reading them, planning menus and trying different recipes.  I can't stop thinking I would love to recieve or give one of these cookbooks for Christmas.   

I'm still mad at myself for not buying a signed copy of one of these Thomas Keller cookbooks while I was at Bouchon. 

Ina Garten's cookbooks are always perfect.  Her recipes are easy to follow but the finished product looks so impressive and tatse incredible.   

      

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Homade Oreos

I made these bad boys yesterday and damn they were good.  I wanted to make homemade Oreos for a long time now and I finally got around to it.  My son was having his girlfriend over for the first time, yikes, to watch a movie, The Hunger Games, and since I was banded for the TV room I thought I better busy myself in the kitchen.  This way I could still keep an eye on them as I bake. 

I followed this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, who just so happens to have a new cookbook.  The recipe is easy to follow and the cookies not too make or to put together difficult.  The only thing I did is add a little more powdered sugar to the cream filling to make it a little sweeter.  If it is too thick you can add a little more butter.  When you make the cream filling just taste it until you get the sweetness and consistency you like.  So far eveyone who has tasted them has loved them and I tpotally have to agree these are really good cookies, too bad I didn't have time for a few more batches.  These are definitely going on my Christmas cookie list. They make great gifts.

East Aurora Farmers Market

The East Aurora Farmers Market has a great selection of fall vegetables, fruits, Mums, pasta, chocolate, baked goods, soap, local farm raised meat, cheese and more. Luckily, the Farmers Market is open until the weekend of Thanksgiving.

The Best Pumpkin Bread

My Ex-Mother in Law used to send us pumpkin bread when we were in college and it was the best pumpkin bread I have ever had. Eventually, she quit sending it or we decided we wanted it more then once a year, so she sent the recipe instead. This pumpkin bread is very moist, more cake like then bread like.  It can be made into a loaf or muffins.  Also, it is great with cream cheese frosting.

Recipe
   Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat together

1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
3 cups of sugar
4 eggs
1 cup of oil
1 1/2 tsp salt

Then Add

1 cup of pumpkin
2/3 cup of water
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 cups of flour

Things you can add
Chocolate chips  (kids favorite)
Raisins  ( Sister and Dad's favorite)
Cranberries
Walnuts

Grease and flour three loaf pans.  My Mother in law would make them in 1 lb coffee cans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Lego Moleskine

 I love Moleskine notebooks and journals and so do my boys.  My children are constantly writing down all kids of ideas, songs, list and stories.  We were all so excited when we found these Moleskine Lego journals at Barnes and Noble.  They really encourage children to be creative and to write.

House Warming Gift

My Sister just moved into a new place and I am so proud of her because I know it wasn't an easy decision.  She didn't get to move into her idea place, well not even close, but it is her own space.   So I thought I would make the transition a little easier by giving her a basket full of presents, one to open each day for 20 days.  I had so much fun looking for reasonable, unique gifts.  Instagram is so addicting and these magnets from StickyGram, a place that takes your Instagram photos and puts them on magnets, came out to perfect.

Happy Weekend

 This weekend I'm looking forward to celebrating my Sister's birthday. 

Hopefully getting some cleaning and organizing done.

 And enjoying these perfectly lovely Grey & Smoked Salt Caramels from Fran's Chocolates.

Seriously these are so delicious, I must hide them from the boys and my Dad.