Glide Zen

M&M cookies were always one my favorites as a child (and still are today). They are basically a chocolate chip cookie enhanced with color and that delicious crunchy candy coating that covers those tasty little M&M's. It's funny I'm actually not a big fan of the plain milk chocolate M&M's but I LOVE the minis version of them, I don't know what it is. Cheap chocolate but when it's made into tiny form how can it be resisted =)? I don't know what cookie Santa's going to request at your home but I'm pretty sure he's requested these from mine. If you are going to be a part of a cookie exchange this year, I would say these are definitely a great cookie choice to go with. It would be very hard to find someone who didn't love these cookies, young and old alike. They have a perfectly chewy and soft center along with a very light crunch around the cookies edge, just the way a cookie is meant to be. They are thick, full of sweet vanilla ...

Hello Christmas Cookie Season!! I'm obsessed with cookies so this gives me one more reason to love the holidays. I created this recipe to be a no refrigeration necessary recipe. A lot of chocolate crinkle cookie recipes require that the dough be refrigerated 2 - 4 hours before baking, I don't have time for that =). Mostly I just don't have the patience for that especially when I know what awaits me.  If you prefer you can omit the coarse sea salt from the recipe if you are not a fan of salted caramel. I personally am unequivocally in love with the addition. These taste like caramel brownies in cookie form. They are intensely delicious! If you are baking them for someone else you'll have a hard time wanting to gift them after all =). If you wanted to go all out with these cookies you could even toss in some semi-sweet chocolate chips and toasted nuts.  Enjoy! Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Yields 2 dozen cookies Ingredie...

If there are two things I love it's brownies and marshmallows. Okay okay there are a lot of foods I love and adore but two of them are definitely brownies and marshmallows. I also love the combination of the two. The chocolate just compliments the marshmallows perfectly. Like a S'more or a chocolate covered marshmallow, they just wouldn't be what they are without the chocolate.  This cupcake took three attempts to get the cupcake base just where I wanted it. I don't like a brownie that's so chocolaty rich I can only eat a bite or two. I also don't like a brownie that has no body to it and it's completely gooey. It's needs some chew and bite to it. Basically I'm more of a traditional, milk chocolate brownie kind of gal.  Just an fyi these cupcakes aren't a fluffy dome like cupcake. They will likely sink just a bit in the middle once they are removed from the oven, that's supposed to happen. If they don't then it's a sign they are...

If I had to choose one type of food to live on for the rest of my life it would probably be Mexican food. I could hardly live without it. Lately I've been looking for a good Queso Blanco Dip recipe, just like what you get at a Mexican restaurant. Most of the recipes I found contained White American cheese in them. I'm not a big fan of processed cheese so I decided to go with one of my favorite cheeses that is commonly found in Mexican cuisine - Monterrey Jack cheese. It melts smoothly, it has a wonderful flavor and of course, it's not processed .  I created my own recipe and decided to start the recipe out with a roux, not only to thicken the cheese sauce but to add a starch to the mixture to prevent it from separating and curdling. You can easily adjust this recipe to suite your taste. For example if you like a little heat you could saute some diced fresh jalapenos along with the onion or add pickled jalapenos at the end of cooking. If you don't like ...

Once again I found myself needing to use some pumpkin I had sitting in the fridge so I decided to try a new recipe and found these over at Martha Stewart   (note that if you are ever using left over pumpkin puree that you are preserving in the fridge, be sure to thaw it at room temperature until adding it to your recipe - unless of course it calls for chilled pumpkin). These cookies had my name written all over them with their pumpkin and browned butter combo, it's what I live on lately. I made several of my own adjustments to the recipe such as slightly altering the spice amounts, replacing some of the brown sugar with granulated sugar, using salted butter and reducing the amount of salt added and omitting the vanilla from the icing (because really all you need is the browned butter flavor). Then the biggest change I made was replacing the evaporated milk with a smaller amount of sour cream in the cookie dough batter and replacing the evaporated milk in the icing with...

Anything that contains the word "Caprese" in the recipe title, I'm in. I love Caprese entrees and appetizers and I love a hot off the griddle grilled cheese. When the two are combined together you get an intensely delicious sandwich that you won't easily forget. Obviously you don't have to use fresh bread as I listed in the recipe, but I figure if you are going to fill a sandwich with fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and fresh basil then you may as well keep a good thing going. Looking for a delightfully simple and quick lunch or dinner idea? Look no further because it doesn't get much easier than grilled cheese and this is grilled cheese done right. Enjoy!   Caprese Grilled Cheese Yields 1 serving Ingredients: 2 slices fresh bread (I recommend sourdough or rustic white bread) 3 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced into rounds or grated* 4 - 6 Roma tomato slices 1 Tbsp chopped, fresh basil ribbons freshly ground black pepper, to taste 2 tsp extra virgi...

Is there anything like a delicious, made from scratch Thanksgiving meal? Many people settle for the stuff that comes out of a can or a box, and that's just it, it's settling. If you find yourself to be one of those people that is settling, I would highly recommend this year you give the homemade alternative to the pre-packaged and processed Thanksgiving foods a try. The two are a night and day difference. Like this for instance, one comes in the shape of a can while it's homemade opponent has a spoonable texture and begins with fresh fruit. Not to mention this is unbelievable easy to prepare.  Cranberry sauce and turkey were made to be together. It's another Thanksgiving must. Here's a few random ideas if you happen to have any left over cranberry sauce after the holiday: spread over toast or pancakes serve warm over chocolate or vanilla ice cream spread in a turkey sandwich  make into a dressing or  vinaigrette spread over a cream cheese layered ba...