Mir - Just About Baked

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Double Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

I’m on a peanut butter kick, people. Just roll with it. It’s Sunday!

One peanut butter cup is never enough. Have you noticed that? You eat one and then this force overtakes you and controls your mind, telling you that nothing will satisfy you until you eat another peanut butter cup. Or several.

Can you relate? Can you tell I’m an addict?

That’s why I decided that for these cupcakes, there need to be two peanut butter cups involved. One for you, and the other for…you. The peanut butter cake and peanut butter chocolate and buttercream are nice, too. You may feel like you’ve had almost enough by the time you’re through with these. But no guarantees out there in life, people.

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Peanut Butter Bars

Everywhere I look these days, I see ads for Botox. Is it just me, or is everyone offering to inject your face? First it was dermatologists. Then my dentist joined the game. I wouldn’t be surprised if they start offering Botox along with your latte at Starbucks.

It’s just not fashionable to age gracefully. Okay, cool. Though I sometimes wonder if the Botox makes people look younger. They just look…smoother.

But knowing me, I’ll probably be running to the needle soon enough. I’m very into trends. Fads are awesome. They’re totally logical and everyone should do what their friends are doing.

In the meantime, my secrets to the fountain of youth are simple. Sleep. Eat veggies and fish. Drink water and green tea. Use moisturizer and sunscreen, even when it’s fifty below zero outside (vampire skin is sexy). And eat peanut butter every day, preferably along with your daily hefty dose of chocolate. See? Simple!

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Cookies and Cream Fudge

May 21, 2014
Mir
Candyland
12 Comments

This post is for a guy I work with. I’ve known him since I was a student teacher 14 years ago, back when we were both super young and perky. Now we’re old and crochety.

He just had a birthday and he loves Oreos. I see him turn down dessert a lot, which I know because I’m usually the one offering it to him. You see, he’s “trying to be good.” Have I mentioned how much I hate stigmatizing food as good or bad? Ugh. It’s food.

But anything with Oreos and this guy cannot resist. It’s like me with peanut butter cups. We all have that Achilles heel. Own it!

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Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies (With Oat Flour!)

Last year was kind of tough. My husband, who is without any doubt the best human being on the planet (not that I’m biased or anything), had a lot of complications from his Crohn’s Disease. For those of you who don’t know what that is, Crohn’s typically inflames and attacks the intestines and colon over most of a person’s lifetime, and it takes some pretty strong medication and ongoing treatment to keep it under control.

Sometimes the medicine needs some help, though, and that’s where gluten comes into the story.

After a few hospital visits, we decided to try dramatically lowering my husband’s gluten intake, to reduce his dairy consumption, and to have him avoid white flours and refined sugars even when he did “cheat.” After all, it couldn’t hurt, and it might help.

Six months later? Wow. He does cheat sometimes, but he’s so much better. And I’ve gotten better at baking him recipes that convince him not to miss the wheat.

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Lemon Pound Cake

May 18, 2014
Mir
Cakes, Elegant Desserts, Let Them Eat Cake
10 Comments

For a great portion of my life, my definition of a pound cake came from an Entenmann’s box or a Sara Lee freezer item. These pound cakes came in neat little loaf shapes and I always loved the top part the best. The crumb was also extremely solid and dense, perfect for dipping into chocolate. Mmm. It was good stuff, and I liked it a lot, but I never tasted pound cake from scratch until I was nearly in my thirties. Ooops. I take that back. I’m 25, people!

When I finally did try a homemade pound cake, I was bowled over by the butter notes, so striking and so, well, buttery. Having not grown up with butter (a different story for another time), I took to pound cake like a new mom to caffeine. It was just so amazing, and I was a sucker for the duality of the tightly-packed crumb with the butter undertones.

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Nutella Cookie Dough Truffles

Okay, I admit it. You dragged it out of me. It’s time to come clean.

The truth is, I’ve been known to hoard…truffles.

Oh, I’m so ashamed. You see, I love throwing things away. I know it sounds wasteful, but it makes me feel like I’m finally getting organized and cleaning up the constant mess that my kids throw around the house each second they’re home. I don’t save anything except the rare, unquestionably special school project.

And truffles.

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Nutella Cookie Dough S’mores

Nutella Week continues on Just About Baked! Anybody with me on making this a national holiday?

A few years back, I almost got suckered into buying a s’mores kit. Have you seen them? They’re kind of awesome. There’s this little tiny fire pit (maybe two inches in diameter or so) in the middle of a circular tray that holds graham crackers, chocolate bars and marshmallows. You’re supposed to roast the marshmallow over the little fire and then put it all together.

Sounds good, no? Unless you’re me. See, I tried it, and then I set the marshmallow on fire. And then I screamed. A lot. Because fire terrifies me. Until my friend just looked at me and said, “I think you can blow that out.”

And you know what? She was right, and I did. And I screamed a little less the next time I made fire during an ill-advised foray into vodka sauce. But it was still traumatic.

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Nutella Magic Bars

It’s Nutella Week on Just About Baked! Why, you ask? Geez, why not?

Is it just me, or is there a very strong Nutella bandwagon out there? The people who have joined are fanatics. They put the stuff on everything. Kind of like how I am with peanut butter. I mean, I really like Nutella, but it’s a fondness and not a craze for me.

That said, I understand food loyalty. See the above comment about peanut butter. I put it in everything. So I wanted to make a recipe for you Nutella people out there, and this one’s a real doozy. It’s got two different layers that contain Nutella, plus hazelnuts and chocolate. You will fall out of your chairs, eat the whole pan and then not feel the slightest bit remorseful when that sugar crash hits. How’s that for a guarantee?

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Odds n’ Ends

May 11, 2014
Mir
Odds n' Ends
4 Comments

So I know I usually bake stuff and show it to you, and I promise I’ll be doing a little bit of that in this post. But I also wanted to share my mini-vacation with you, because it was just so nice.

Once a year, my parents (who are the most awesome parents in the history of the world) give my husband and me a little chance to get away from it all and recharge. You’d be amazed at what a two-night, two-day vacation can do for exhausted parents!

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Key Lime Pie Bars

Once again, Friday is here and I’m in need of a serious dessert kick! It’s been a really nice week with Cinco de Mayo, my mini-vacation and the weather warming up, so let’s celebrate with some key lime!

I’m all about lime, all year long. But this time of year is special because it’s socially acceptable to like lime in May. In November, not so much. That doesn’t stop me from squirting lime juice onto everything all the time, from salads to fish to salsa. Mmm.

Key lime is even more fun. Those little limes are so cute! They come in a bag and they just look so happy that someone is loving them and using them in dessert. And boy, are they right. I don’t know what I’d do without those little suckers.