heart cookies for two

Hi friends! I shared this recipe 2 years ago and with a few edits am re-posting it during my self-proclaimed heart-shaped sweets week on the blog. These cookies are so easy to make and yield a respectable amount to eat in a weekend. Or day. No judgement. 

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I made us cookies.

OK, I made me Valentine’s Day cookies, but I’ll share. Come here, closer, closer, just push the extra pillows out of the way; let’s spend a lazy weekend in bed sipping coffee and watching movies and reading magazines and talking about cute boys and eating cookies. I made us chocolate covered strawberries, too.

One cookie because my grandma finds every opportunity to remind me that I’m over 30 and single.

One more because everything tastes better when heart-shaped.

One more while I’m listening to my favourite song, sung live, acoustically. There is pretty much nothing more romantic or beautiful in this entire world. 

One more because some of them are mini. And #treatyoself or whatever. 

The cookies! After a little fight with butter (the curd) then a butter reunion (the biscuits) I decided to try out another one of Christina‘s small batch recipes. While dozens and dozens of sugar cookies would be swell, less than 12 is sweller. (yes, I know that’s not a real word)

I followed this recipe (minus the almond extract because I didn’t have any) and it was perfect! Instead of using the same recipe for icing I dipped them in melted white chocolate (and white chocolate with red food colouring). It’s not too pretty but it sure is tasty.

I like the mini ones best….mostly cause you can have twice as many.

And YES, that’s the 2013 issue of People’s Sexiest Man Alive. I’m not saying I kept it because it would look good in sad single girl blog photos about cookies, but I’m not not saying that either. (wink wink)

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double chocolate banana muffins

And they’re heart shaped! 

Aren’t they the cutest? I like my food to be cute! At the moment, deep in the heart of winter, if I’m going to be in the kitchen it’s going to be to produce something incredibly delicious and incredibly cute. Or to get another bowl of cereal. #reallife

Dear marketers: if it is heart shaped and reasonably priced, I will buy it. Going all the way back to last January I found pink (!!) silicone muffin pans, ice cube trays, and measuring cups at my local grocery store. They started at the incredibly reasonable $2-4 price point and for almost the entire month they were also 20-40% off. Obviously I bought all three. This year they are red (my least favourite colour) and rose shpaed (pass). *pats self on back for scoring last year* Maybe this year I bought a pink heart shaped mini ramekin with lid that I plan to use as a butter dish. 

Take all my money. 

When everyone was staring down leafy greens and tugging on sports bras in the name of a January post-holiday detox I was still craving chocolate. There were two bananas in the fruit bowl saying put me in a dessert or a smoothie but we both know you won’t eat us like this. 

WHAT? Doesn’t your fruit talk to you?

Anyway, dessert it was. 

A little bit healthier than cookies, a little bit naughtier than just banana bread. 

Oh! And there’s a surprise. 

[yumprint-recipe id=’4′]

For yourself, your neighbours, or your Valentine, these are a delicious addition to the middle of February.

ps: want to make peanut butter hearts? Put PB into heart shaped ice cube mold and freeze overnight. Pop out frozen PB heart, let come to room temperature on the counter, serve with muffins.

summer DIYs

I am right on the border of loving DIYs and being super lazy. Make it at home lip chap? Are you freaking kidding? Oh hells no! Craft your own gift tags? I am all for that! 

Though I have a very limited DIY list in my repertoire I do like the accomplishment of making things for myself…but mostly making things for other people. So they can tell me how great I am. 

…

TELL ME HOW GREAT I AM!

And I like DIYs that make my office cuter. 

Maximum output, minimum effort. 

These are four, relatively quick and easy projects you can DIY for yourself (all of them) or gift to a friend (all minus coffee ice cubes, they don’t really travel well) for lots and lots of praise, hugs, hopefully some flowers from their garden. 

[photo from howsweeteats]

While Dad was away last week I swore I would finally make some no churn ice cream. Grand plans. Cream was not on sale, Drumsticks were. There’s boys weekend next month…so maybe then? Peach season + ice cream? Match made is summer heaven. If you brought me roasted peach no churn ice cream I would like you a lot more than my neighbour Mary who thought I would like a 14″ zucchini. No Mary. Zucchini are mushy, disgusting vegetables. But more of those chocolate walnut muffins would be good. Don’t even try to sneak zucchini into them…

We’ll just continue on the peach theme. While Dad was at boys weekend last September (let’s not do the math on how long I’ve lived with my Dad, mmmmkay??) I made quick peach jam and drop biscuits. Aka: a good reason to have sugar and carbs with my fruit at breakfast. This recipe is fast and easy (TWSS…) (do the kids still say that? they don’t, do they? how old am I?) and delicious and lasted in the fridge about 2 weeks. 2 birds, 1 stone? (which is an awful saying) make the jam then put it into ice cream. Also goes well with super buttery sourdough bread. Are you a bread + butter + jam girl? I wasn’t BUT butter your bread, then lightly toast, then put jam on. YES! 

Let’s stay in the kitchen just a wee bit longer, shall we? I love iced coffee and because I’m a little strange crave it the most in early spring (instead of the height of summer).  Do you know what totally ruins iced coffee? Regular ice cubes. Regular ice cubes water down the whole thing. Actually, aren’t regular ice cubes kind of the worst? No recipe here because it couldn’t be easier: brew a full pot of coffee, drink some (I would recommend warm, coconut syrup, warm milk and microwave foam), cool the rest, pour into an ice cub mold and freeze. Need a recipe for cold brew? I have one of those.  

Even though the only thing my right foot brushes up against in the middle of the night is my left leg I have become obsessive about ensuring my feet (and legs and arms, for that matter) are smooth and soft. I love body scrubs to exfoliate all the dead skin and then super thick and rich body butter to keep everything soft. Seriously, in the most uncreepy way, you should totally feel my legs. How to: whip a 1/2 cup of solid coconut oil – mix in 1 cup sugar. Store in an 8oz mason jar and seal tightly. Optional add-ins: lemon zest or 1/2 teaspoon essential oil. 

pulled pork + mango cucumber salad

How long have I been going on (and on and on) about how I’m so over cooking? Too long?

Consider that a hypothetical question. 

Do you want a super simple lunch recipe? 

(Also hypothetical; of course you do)

I have been eating this about every other week for the last month or so. When cooking sucks (like, oh so very frequently) I attempt to do as much advance meal prep as possible; this can all be made in advance and the meat heated and salad tossed at the last minute. Voila, less than 5 minute lunch. 

On Sundays I grocery shop first thing in the morning, I come home with my chocolate croissant, make a pot of coffee and then prep as many things as I can for the week. 2 weeks ago I made this pork, sliced 2 mangoes, made braised beef, cubed 2 melons, sliced strawberries, and cut cauliflower into florets (for beef + roasted potatoes + roasted cauliflower). 

If you’re wondering “um, that doesn’t sound like enough food for the week” I’ll let you in on a secret: I have the same thing each day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Shockingly, as long as I make it “fresh” before each meal (as opposed to re-heating the veg leftovers) I don’t get sick of it. And then switch up everything the next week. 

Are you an ok cook? Good. Because I forgot to check weights and measurements (but you should be fine because this is more of a sear, cover, cook till it’s done kind of thing). 

Pulled pork & mango cucumber salad

What you’ll need: 
about 2 pounds of boneless pork shoulder/tenderloin (hunk? makes enough for about 3-4 meals)
salt + whatever spices/seasoning you like
900mL (1 tetrabox) of beef stock
about 1/2 a mango per day
about 2 mini cucumbers per day
apple cider vinegar
sweet chili sauce
shredded cheddar cheese (the older and sharper the better)

 

Pork:
trim as much fat as possible off the tenderloin
pork should be defrosted and at room temperature
season liberally with spices (I just did salt)
on medium heat, sear pork on all sides in a medium stockpot
cover with broth until meat is just covered; bring to boil then turn heat to low
put the lid on and turn/check occasionally; top up with broth if necessary
should be ready (can easily be pulled apart) after about 3 hours
turn off heat and let sit in broth till cool
(soaking up extra broth = so much flavour)
cool completely, pull, store in a tupperware container

Salad (for 1 serving):
peel and thinly slice half a ripe mango
thinly slice 2 mini cucumbers
toss mango and cucumber with about 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon of sweet chili sauce

Putting it all together:
toss cold pork in about 2 tablespoons of BBQ sauce (or store bought pulled pork starter sauce)
microwave covered with a paper towel for 1 minute
top with as much shredded cheese as you like
microwave another 30-45 seconds
top with salad

It is so fast and the salad is super fresh; it would be so great with grilled chicken, too. Or fish. 

Do you have any super fast and easy lunch recipes? (in the winter I’m all about the soups and stews, this week I’m alternating between pancakes and scrambled eggs to eat up all the food in my fridge before vacation) 

 

ps: I prep the beef the same way. Instead of pulling I cut it into chunks and re-heat it on the stove top in a small skillet with teriyaki sauce and balsamic vinegar. THE FLAVOUR! Obvs, also top with extra old cheddar, and serve with a side of roasted veggies. (check the smitten facebook page Thursday for the roasted potato recipe) 

pps: yes, I’m still roasting veggies because apparently “spring” means snow flurries, highs below freezing, and 2 days of torrential rain. But they’re roasted with lemon and that screams spring! 

christmas sweet treats

DIY week continues; day 3: sweet treats. 

Cookies and baked goods are usually easy and quick to make and with a little cellophane and a big bow, look lovely to receive. My goal was only finding you easy recipes that don’t require any strange ingredients and don’t need a degree from Le Cordon Bleu to ensure these are perfect. 

christmas bread; a Christmas morning staple in our house

soft snickerdoodles, love anything with cinnamon

brown butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies; love the chew from the oats

cake mix chocolate fudge crinkle cookies; or lovingly referred to as CaCookies (cake-mix cookies). If you have time for only one cookie, make these! They are so easy and elicit endless compliments. This is the basic recipe, feel free to add whatever you fancy to the dough…like mint chocolate bar chunks. So good. 

orange spiced gingerbread with a cranberry glaze; ’tis the season for gingerbread

totally fun and unexpected, cake batter bark. (other delicious combos: dark chocolate, orange, and almond; chocolate with crushed pretzels; white chocolate with cranberry and pistachio)

salty + sweet: peanut butter pretzel chocolate chip bites

small batch, 2 ingredient fudge. Please make chocolate-orange. 

And the best ever? vanillekipferl. I love that food can evoke such overwhelming emotions, and these cookies bring me right to Christmas Eve with sounds of the Vienna Choir, Wham!, and Boney M in the background (what a combo, right?). With Sound of Music on the TV, I can smell her perfume and see the smile on his face and we’re trying to stay awake as late as possible. 

From the archives: mini chocolate chip cookies for santa // small batch sugar cookies

Are you baking anything to bring to a Christmas party? As a gift? 

 

ps: wanna know a secret? If I try out a recipe for the first time or it calls for something I don’t normally keep in my pantry (almond meal, dried cranberries) I take a set of measuring cups to Bulk Barn and buy just enough for 1 recipe and hope I don’t screw it up.