Mir - Just About Baked

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My Birthday (Cookie) Cake!

August 17, 2014
Mir
C is for COOKIE!, Cakes, Let Them Eat Cake
16 Comments

My birthday cake is kind of a problem every year. You see, I am the family cake baker. So when it comes time for someone to provide a cake for me, there’s usually a debacle of some kind.

This year was no different. My husband tried really hard to get my favorite Baskin Robbins cake, but they now have some non-functioning system where you can only order a cake online, except it doesn’t work. He tried everything. Calling, going in, ordering online. Nobody would let him get a friggin’ cake. So I wound up baking my own. But that’s okay, because then I know it’s perfect!

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Heath Blondies

August 15, 2014
Mir
Bars n' Brownies
6 Comments

Beach Week is winding down, everyone. Big sighs. But everything must end. And I say, go out with a bang, not a whimper! I didn’t make that up. Some really great poet did.

The cookies and bars at beach town bake shops are so wonderfully homemade. No, I’m not counting Starbucks. These shops are owned independently, and you can taste the singularity of each baker’s products. It’s like they’ve baked their souls into their treats.

I’d like to believe that I do that, too. So these Heath Blondies represent the heart of what I love best in baking: caramelly, chewy amazingness. Because what else is there? Oh, except Reese’s.

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Nutty Snickers Fudge

August 13, 2014
Mir
Candyland
22 Comments

Welcome back to Beach Week on Just About Baked! I’m celebrating the best of boardwalk treats with my own twists!

Have I mentioned that I didn’t grow up anywhere near the water? The closest we came was a three-hour drive to Lake Michigan. It was really beautiful, but I’m more of an ocean beach girl. Something about those crashing waves really gets me every time.

Today is fudge day. One of my priority stops in any beach town is the candy shop, which is usually stocked with thick slabs of fudge in different flavors. They usually have great deals, too, because fudge doesn’t last too long and they need to sell it. It’s a win for everybody!

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Boardwalk Bark

August 11, 2014
Mir
Candyland
8 Comments

It’s Beach Week! This week, I’ll be making beach-themed treats in honor of my adopted east coast culture.

You see, out here, people spend weeks or even the entire summer at the beach with family and friends. I first did that ten years ago and it was a banner time. My friend told me to consider dating the man who is now my husband. And the rest is really and truly my history!

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Skinnier PB Oreo Mini-Cheesecakes

August 10, 2014
Mir
Cupcakes and Cheesecakes, Healthier Indulgences
14 Comments

I love riddles. Really, they’re fun!

What do you do with a drunken sailor early in the morning? Um…I’ll get back to you.

Why do men only eat one bite of dessert and leave the rest? Because they’re from another planet. I think there’s a book about that.

Why don’t I sound like Idina Menzel when I sing Let it Go? Because I was never married to Taye Diggs.

What do you do with leftover cheesecake batter? Make these!

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Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

August 8, 2014
Mir
Bars n' Brownies, Cupcakes and Cheesecakes
14 Comments

Today I took my kids to a splash playground. It sounded like a good idea at the time. But several hours and one indecent exposure later, I’m not so sure.

My son went into the bathroom to change. On the way, he must’ve dropped his Spider-Man underwear. He burst out of the bathroom in the nude in front of everyone, screaming, “I can’t find my underpants!”

Ah, kids. Can’t live with them. But I sure can’t live without them.

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Birthday Cake Mini-Cheesecakes

August 6, 2014
Mir
C is for COOKIE!, Cupcakes and Cheesecakes
14 Comments

My birthday is coming up later next week, y’all. Feel free to shower me with gifts! I’m not picky. I’ll take just about anything. Except thrift shop clothing. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t jump on that bandwagon.

I was at a meeting the other week and a woman I really like started talking trash about people who celebrate “birthday month” or “birthday week.” I wanted to yell at her. A lot. Because heck yeah, it’s my birthday month! Eat that, you meanie!

Except I like her. Just not when it comes to birthdays.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Why are Sundays so exhausting? Seriously. I’ve never liked Sunday. At best, it feels like a last gasp of freedom all day, and it’s also consumed by errands or playdates or birthday parties or other activities that make my feet hurt.

If Friday is the best day (which I believe it is, since anticipation is the key to all pleasure), Sunday is the worst for the same reason. So I try to have a nice Sunday treat to look forward to, or even a few. My husband and I do date night on Sundays because even though we’re too tired to go out, we get a second wind (or a fifteenth?), and I love that. And it’s always great to have a food treat around, too!

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Toffee Bars (Dairy-Free!)

Some recipes are more special than others, and there are always reasons behind that. Food ties in strongly to childhood and nostalgia, and that’s why these bars strike a particularly deep chord within me.

Along with Entenmann’s chocolate frosted donuts. Man, do I yearn for those on an almost daily basis. But we’ll get into that one another day!

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Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies

August 1, 2014
Mir
C is for COOKIE!, Cakes, Let Them Eat Cake
26 Comments

I’m starting to feel it. The sense of looming dread begins as August begins and summer starts its slow descent toward autumn. Sorry about the gloom, everyone. But as much as I love summer, I hate how short it is! Shakespeare wrote that “Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” Duh, Will. Tell me something I don’t know, okay?

Someday I’m going to live in a warm climate. Someday.

But for now, I just have to do things to keep myself from getting all maudlin. Enter these whoopie pies!