I have always been a big fan of shortbread. Good shortbread is a combination of creamed butter and sugar with enough flour to make it into a dough. The trick to great tasting shortbread though is the quality of butter and vanilla that you use. When you are looking for vanilla, get pure extract as opposed to imitation. Likewise, buy unsalted butter rather than using a butter substitute. This recipe makes a fantastic after school treat, in part, because it goes together so easily. However, it’s tasty enough to serve to guests. For the shortbread you will need: 2 cups … Continue reading →

If you’ve noticed in the food blog, with this post, I have posted a complete meal for you! This will continue to be a focus of the food blog and a change that I’ll hope you enjoy! Today for dessert, I have a deliciously moist chocolate raspberry brownie dessert. You can pair this with some fresh berries to round out a complete meal. For the brownies you will need: 1/2 cup butter or margarine 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate; like Baker’s baking bars 1 cup granulated sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 … Continue reading →

Martha Stewart says that when you make things with chocolate in them, if you want really fantastic results, you have to use the best ingredients that you have available. Ghirardelli, in my opinion, is the best chocolate that is readily available. Domingo Ghirardelli (pronounced: GEAR-ar-deli), was an immigrant from Italy who thought he’d strike it rich in the gold rush. Thankfully for us, he didn’t and instead began a company to sell supplies and treats to miners. He was destroyed by one of San Francisco’s great fires in 1851, rebuilt in 1852 and had a series of failed businesses. But … Continue reading →

Consider me a fan of anything that includes both milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Putting both into any type of dessert always yields a more richer and more complex flavor. In fact, here’s a little tip: if you add both semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips to your chocolate chip cookies. . .they’ll be doubly delicious. Just add half of each (as opposed to double the amount of chocolate called for.) In any case, these are a great snack to warm up your home on a cold winter’s day. I’m fairly sure I heard them calling for hot chocolate when … Continue reading →