Cheater's Bread

Does anything make your house smell better than homemade bread? Seriously, I’ll give you a minute to think about it. Because in my book, it’s definitely in the top 3 amazing smells (the others being fresh cookies and the first time you open the windows in spring).

I’m calling this cheater’s bread because you can casually throw out “Oh, I made bread this morning” when people ask how you’re doing and they’ll think you’re an amazing baker. But really all you did was throw some stuff together into a plastic container, wait for a while, then throw part of it in the oven.

Seriously, it’s like cheating at baking. Bread gets this bad rap as being super difficult. I’ll be honest and say it’s not the easiest thing in the world to bake (I’ve made more than a few clunker loaves) but this recipe is like being asked to sing the ABCs in order to get a doctorate. Yes, it’s that easy.

Throw this together and you can have fresh bread for three weeks. Did I mention the dough lasts  that long? No? Sorry, it totally does.

Are you smiling yet? Seriously, the more I think about this recipe the more I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Throw the dough in the fridge – then do 300 push-ups, right? No? I just go to bed? Ok, but then when it comes to baking it has to be bathed in the tears of virgin goats, right?

No? I just turn the oven on and throw the dough on a pan and then bake?

Best. Recipe. Ever.

Cinnamon Heart Buns

What is this? A Monday post?

I know, how unlike me to deviate from my careful Tuesday-Thursday posting schedule, but these were too cute and too timely not to share. What better way to celebrate Valentines Day than with some heart shaped buns? You can share them with your sweetie or do as I did and revel in the fact that these can be all yours.

My friend Caitlin passed this recipe along to me after talking about her homemade cinnamon buns on Facebook. I played around with her original recipe a bit, but I really like its simplicity. My favorite cinnamon buns are from SmittenKitchen, but those take hours due to the necessary rising time for yeast. These are yeast-free but still utterly delicious. And seriously, fresh cinnamon buns in about 30 minutes (and that’s including pre-heating time for my oven) cannot be beat.

There’s an odd piece of equipment for this recipe – dental floss. I’d read about the trick before, but it had never seemed worthwhile. Let me tell you, it’s totally worthwhile. It makes cutting the log of dough into buns so much easier and cleaner. Plus, you’ll then have the floss on hand for when you need to brush your teeth from the sugar bath they’ll receive from eating the buns!

I think you might be well served by putting the rolled dough in the fridge for a minute or two to help it firm up. It’ll make cutting and forming the hearts a bit easier.

Pretzel Bark

Welcome to Baking Extravaganza Day 5! Seriously, who doesn’t love a good salty sweet combination? Chocolate and salt are amazing together, and personally I think it’s even better when you use dark chocolate. This recipe is ridiculously simply for all the amazingness you get out of it on your taste buds. Chances are you probably have half the ingredients already, so it’s another winner in the holiday budget battle as well.

If anyone asks you if this was hard to make, lie your ass off. You spent hours slaving over a hot stove to make caramel from scratch. The rest of it was too difficult to even describe. But it was worth it in the end to see the smile on their face. And if they call you on it?

Well, aren’t the holidays all about giving anyway?

Peppermint Bark

Welcome to Baking Extravaganza Day 3! At some point you just can't make cookies any more. Maybe you're out of flour, maybe you're out of eggs, or maybe you just don't feel like waiting in front of your stove for a minute longer. Well, you're in luck with this recipe. 

I used to sell Peppermint Bark when I worked retail - it came in a beautiful tin, but was really over-priced. So make your own! You'll save some money and homemade means no one is allowed to comment on how it looks. 

Drunken Molasses Cookies

Welcome to Baking Extravaganza Day 2! Some of you regular readers might be wondering, what happened to Day 1? And what the heck are you talking about? Thanks to the magic of editing, I went back and started Baking Extravaganza last week, see here for more details. For those new, never mind! I totally had planned this all along and didn't realize an hour ago I have enough sweet and holiday themed recipes to create some a mini-event for this blog. Carry on!


I may or may not have asked my roommate if she wanted a little Captain in her when I offered her one of these cookies. In my defense, the cookies weren’t the only things that had rum in them at the time. In any case, molasses cookies are always tasty but these are a nice change from my traditional recipe – they’re not particularly sweet, but the spices are strong and you can taste the molasses from start to finish. You might think you don't like molasses cookies. I dare you to try these - they'll punch you in the tastebuds and give you noogies until you surrender and admit they're amazing. Because these are bold cookies; they aren't the sweet and non-confrontational sugar cookies. These molasses cookies are the badasses of the cookie world, the ones who in the inevitable robot uprising will blow shit up and walk away in slow motion, not even looking back at the explosion. Kind of like this.

Wow that metaphor got away from me. In any case, these cookies are awesome and you should make them. Did I mention there’s rum in them? Because I feel that’s also a selling point that shouldn’t be ignore, especially around the craziness of the holidays.