wannafoodie in Metro Edmonton!

I'm thrilled to be included, alongside the esteemed and amazing Kitchen Magpie Karlynn and Phil the Baconhound, in a 12 Days of Christmas feature in Metro Edmonton. The 4th day of Christmas featured favourite holiday recipes from the three of us as well as many other local Edmontonians. 

Check out the full article and recipes here!

You can also find the full, step-by-step version of the Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cookies here. These are fussy babies since homemade marshmallows do not withstand heat in the same way that store-bought marshmallows do... so you have to chill chill chill your dough (and even your assembled cookies), cook these at a low temperature, and I highly recommend a test cookie to make sure that your oven isn't too hot! (Or... maybe give these a shot with store-bought marshmallows with a slight drop of peppermint extract on it.)

Thanks again to Metro Edmonton and Heather for including me in this Christmas countdown! And to all of you for reading!

*smiles*

Emma's Elmo Birthday!

What is about to follow is absolutely shameless posting of an adorable little gal... our little Emma-bean, niece-extraordinaire, who is growing up to be a wonderful little person because of her great parents (Alan and Kate) and the village that they have supporting them. 

H A P P Y   B I R T H D A Y,   E M M A! !

Momma Kate has the market cornered in terms of family birthday cakes and prepares a special creation for the birthday celebrations in the family. This time, for Emma's birthday, she invited me over to help create the oh-so-loved Elmo birthday cake and Cookie Monster cupcakes for Emma's 2nd birthday.

Camp-foodie

A few weekends ago (and ambitiously early in terms of my tolerance for outdoorsy activities), we packed up our world and trekked it out to Spray Lakes. For someone with a near-complete disinterest in the discomfort of the outdoors, I needed a beautiful setting, good company, and really good food in order to get to the point of suspended disbelief and settle into enjoying the escape. 

Our first trip to Spray Lakes was last year and while there was a general state of preparedness, there was one tremendous misstep, which led to one tremendous meltdown. We each thought that the other had put the bag full of blankets in the car..... it was cold..... there was one sleeping bag between the two of us..... there was ugly crying..... need I say more?

Well, we made it through (without driving back home in the middle of the night) and in true Christine fashion, we laid everything out upon arriving home and now have itemized Excel packing lists, prepacked tubs of gear, and dedicated camping blankets whose sole purpose is to get us through the camping cold snaps. 

So, obviously, the first thing that made it to the car this year was a tub full of blankets (haha!) and we got on the road and out to our little hideout in Spray Lakes. We even managed to procure our same campsite, which just made everything so familiar and lovely. It really is the perfect site. And because I was packed up and felt prepared (basically since last summer), I had the time and energy to focus on the part that I really love... the food!

Nutella Swirl Cornmeal Cookie

I haven't made happenstance cookies in ages. Sure, I made Christmas cookies but I haven't just had a random idea and stared into the pantry, hoping I had the ingredients, in ages.

I had been sitting on the couch, wanting some sort of sweetie treatie, and knowing that our mainstay treat (an ice cream) wasn't going to cut it. I wanted texture, definitely. I also wanted something sweet but not overly sweet. Those two things, I was sure of. The rest... subject to the addition or subtraction of my pantry.

No peanut butter cookie here. No chocolate chips either. It's a very sophisticated cookie with its cornmeal crunch, swirl of nutella, and heady spiciness of nutmeg. Feel free to tone down the nutmeg... but I rather liked it at this level. Nutmeg doesn't often get the chance to be a star. It's usually a small grating or small pinch or its the supporting cast member to a cinnamon star. No supporting role here. It is front, centre, and bold.

Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cookies

Thanks for visiting! You may have found this post through Pinterest, the Great Food Bloggers Cookie Swap, or Metro Edmonton... yay! Please stay a while and check out some of my other cookies, like the Lemon Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal cookies or -if marshmallows are more your schtick- there are Chocolate Stout Marshmallows topped with crushed pretzels, among other treats and treasures. Enjoy!

When word spread about a cookie exchange for food bloggers, I paused... could I pull this off? Could I be creative and produce a cookie that would make a food blogger also pause? I've so enjoyed making sweets and treats for my friends and family that I wasn't even sure why I was concerned! I gave my head a shake, surfed on over to the sign-up page, and signed myself up!

Let me say... I am so glad that I did that! Thoughts of the cookie that I would create took over my thoughts. I scribbled ideas onto scrap paper and post-it notes. I made several trips to the craft stores to find appropriate packaging. I eagerly made and mailed my little care packages, then waited in very eager anticipation for the arrival of cookies in my mailbox and my cookies in the mailboxes of my fellow bloggers. 

This whole exchange really put me into the holiday spirit but also challenged me to come up with a creative and new cookie to share... it kick-started the rest of my Christmas baking and introduced me to a community of bloggers that I found so inspiring... A big thanks again to Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil (and her Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Malted Milk Chocolate Buttercream) and Julie of the Little Kitchen (and her New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie). I can't wait for the next Great Food Bloggers Cookie Swap.

Autumnal Sugar Cookies

Pinterest has been the most ridiculously addictive website for me... it's like an ever-changing, ever-accessible inspiration board of ideas, wishes, plans and such. I dream of a completely customized home with an expansive porch complete with swing, his and her sinks in the master bathroom off the master retreat (which, of course, has an awe-inspiring walk-in closet), an open central stairway filled floor-to-ceiling with art and photos and memories, a cupboard to a secret room a la Narnia, and a rolling ladder reaching to the upper echelons of a private library... and so on and so on. Oh, to have all of the money in the world.

Anyway, this really did start as a food blog post! (I did say that Pinterest got my imagination soaring...) So, I have been enthralled with photo after photo of beautiful handmade gifts, and wrapping and packaging that are as beautiful as the gifts within. I bookmark or repin and plan to make something like these. Today was that day.

After zipping to Michael's, I returned with a sale score of $0.80 cookie cutters in the shape of a ghost and a pumpkin! Sugar cookies were on the brain... and now they were going to be Halloween themed.

I'm not a fan of the sickly sweet, overly iced sugar cookies. Maybe they aren't sophisticated enough in terms of their flavour or I'm just a snob (maybe a bit of both)... I wanted to make a more "grown up" sugar cookie (mostly anyway!). A bit less sugar and a bit more spice.

Cara's Cookies... or Vanilla Cream Cookies

Recently, on the wannafoodie facebook page, I shared the photos for some absolutely beautiful Vanilla Cream Cookies... or Cara's Cookies. The Cara of Cara's Cookies is one Cara Cotter... and she is graciously sharing the recipe and a few of her tips here with us!

I met Cara several years ago through our mutual girlfriend, Sarah (another talented woman and the brains behind STUFF). Sarah has a real knack for bringing together smart and talented women. I remember one girls night in particular... mattress on the living room floor to extend our lounge space, sweets and treats including Cara's cupcakes and Sarah's poutine with actual Quebec gravy, and Working Girl on the television... uhhh, maybe you had to be there.

Back to Cara... she is one of those women that make it all seem quite effortless. I don't doubt that a great deal of effort goes into everything that she does but, like I said, she manages to accomplish so much without -seemingly- breaking a sweat. This is one smart cookie. Raising a family of two handsome boys with her husband while growing two incredible businesses while still finding time to bake beautiful little cookies like these (with puff pastry FROM SCRATCH!)... I'm one impressed woman.

So, while these cookies bake away and fill your kitchen with that sweet satisfying aroma, please check out her other two babies... So Pretty Jewelry ("Part of the magic for me is finding gemstones that I haven't seen anywhere else... a certain cut, amazing quality, or a color that catches my eye for the current season's trends. Just like a chef that searches their local market for the best produce in season I'm constantly searching for the finest stones and materials out there.") and glass.ful (hand blown glass tumblers that "can be used as a candleholder, a vase, a drinking glass or give a splash of color to any room"). I think you'll find yourself equally impressed.

Orange Chocolate Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

I tried to shrink the name of these cookies somewhat... but I certainly didn't shrink the ingredient list (though there was not one item on this list that required a special trip to the market). But, just like the Lemon Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal Cookies, these cookies have a lot going on.

I solicited a great deal of feedback before embarking on this next cookie attempt... and so many great suggestions came my way! The last batch of cookies was such a hit that I could not fathom producing a poorer version of cookie... or why not just make the first ones again and keep the taste-testers satisfied?! This cookie only changed slightly from what I had dreamed of in my mind (or my mental mouth as coined by Food Philosophy) but I'm already scheming on how the next one will taste. What do you think of a chocolate chocolate (cocoa plus chocolate chunks) cookie with chili heat?? Kirby and Cori seem to think it would be a good one... and I can't help but agree!

So, I go to share this wonderful cookie with you and discover that, in my reckless cookie making abandon, I completely neglected to take one photo of the finished product. I blame my excitement over getting this cookie into the hands, and mouths, of some important people. All hope was not lost though... apparently one lone cookie managed to escape all clutches and was squirreled away in a secret cache. Count yourself lucky that there are now photos of a cookie... and not a post-it note on a plate that reads, "a cookie was once here."

But before I get too far into this imaginary cookie-land where the possibilities are limitless, let's take a moment to enjoy this cookie... Orange Chocolate Walnut Oatmeal... yum.

Lemon Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

Or in short... this cookie has a lot going on. hahah. But each ingredient seems to enhance the other, as opposed to just muddying the whole taste.

I seem to crave certain things on dreary-rainy days... things with spice, a certain density and a bit of warmth. I dare you to put a sunny salad in front of me on these days. You would get a look. Forget it! I really shouldn't be so rigid... maybe my opinion would change with the right combination of ingredients and persuasion. In the interim, I turned to these cookies to add a reasonable amount of comfort to my day.

I am not without sunshine on these days though. The lemon and cranberry definitely brighten the nutty oatmeal base. Without these additions, I think this cookie would be much more dreary-snowy than dreary-rainy and that isn't the goal either.