Boyfriend Gift Guide

It's that time of the year again! The time of the year that females either dread, tolerate, or love.

 Valentine's Day is quickly approaching, which means that most girls are stressing about what to get their man friend. I haven't quite figured out what makes it so difficult to shop for guys but it has always been a struggle. Girls, on the other hand, are a breeze to shop for, in fact we are also really easy to please overall...

I can't claim to be an expert when it comes to shopping for guys, but I have done some research online, on other blogs, and with friends and my own man friend and think that I have put together some ideas to get you started. If you still need more ideas, check out my other boyfriend gift guide here. 

American Flag- Best Made Co. 

This website is full of cool ideas, including these other historic flags that are a great addition to a bachelor pad, camp supplies, and tools. Perfect for the rugged man in your life. 

The Hungover Cookbook - Barnes and Noble

A clever cookbook that starts with a quiz to determine your exact state of mind and ability to cook. The book categorizes six different types of hangovers and supplies recipes for each, including the Elvis Presley Peanut Butter, Banana, and Bacon Sandwich.

Baseball Henley - J.Crew

Give your man friend subtle hints with this gift- he should wear a little more J.Crew and a little less of that high school t-shirt he just won't get rid of. 

Ribbed Beanie - Bloomingdales

We still have six more weeks of winter, so he will need to bundle up with the help of this stylish and warm beanie. 

Reese's Peanut Butter Hearts

One thing that I have learned over all the years is that the easiest way to please a guy is through his stomach. If you want to keep it simple or need something small to add to your gift, hit your local grocery store and pic up a Valentine's themed bag of his favorite candy. 

ESPN's 30 for 30 - Dick's Sporting Goods

This box set includes all 30 episodes of the ESPN Film Series, including never-before-seen footage and interviews. The best part about this gift is that you can even join him on the couch to watch these- I've loved every one I have watched!

Hazelnut Whiskey Sandwich Cookies - Whimsy & Spice

I usually recommend homemade treats and cookies but everything on this website looks delicious and perfect for Valentine's Day. This site has sandwich cookies, flavored marshmallows, brownies, and hot chocolate mixes. In fact, I wouldn't mind any of those things for myself, including this helpful tea towel.

If you are looking for recipes for homemade treats, I would suggest these-

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake - my favorite!

Peanut Butter Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Best Brownies

White Chocolate Cranberry Cream Cheese Cookies

Homemade Oreos

Snickerdoodle Bars

Even more ideas

Thousand-Layer Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had never heard of a Thousand-Layer Chocolate Chip cookie before, but the thought of a thousand layers of chocolate sounded like heaven. Making this cookie was unlike any baking technique I had ever tried before, but it was fun, different, and resulted in a delicious chocolate chip cookie (which I had been craving for days!)

In a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe you would mix together all the ingredients and fold in the chocolate chips at the very end, before rolling and placing on a baking sheet to cook. This recipe was similar to most chocolate chip cookie recipes until the end, when you kept the dough and chocolate separate. Instead of mixing the chocolate in to the dough, you create layers of dough and chocolate (hence the name "thousand layer") before rolling out the layers and cutting out with a cookie cutter. 

The only slight downfall for these cookies is that you are required to chill the dough before creating the layers.

Cookie recipes that require me to refrigerate the dough are tough for two reasons...

1. I don't have the patience to wait 30 minutes to an hour while the dough chills

2. I eat half of the dough while I am failing at being patient

Both of the above happened on Sunday night when I was making these cookies, but I still had enough dough to make 20 large cookies and I ate enough dough to give me a stomachache.

I received rave reviews from every one that got to eat one of these and they are already all gone (the last one was consumed while I wrote this post). Looks like I will be making this recipe again soon!

I might add pecans next time and call them Two Thousand Layer Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Pumpkin Ginger Cookies with Cinnamon Chips

These cookies combine three things that I love to cook with. Pumpkin, ginger, and cinnamon chips. When I found this recipe I tucked it away for safe keeping until the "Fall Baking Season" had officially commenced. Even though I know that you feel like you have enough pumpkin recipes to last until August, I want to add another because these cookies are absolutely worth it. I followed this recipe and what resulted was some addicting dough specked with cinnamon chips and a soft, light, perfect-for-fall cookie.

Like some of my other favorite cookies (peanut butter and ginger snaps) you roll this dough in sugar before baking. It gives the cookie a wonderful texture and adds a little touch of sweetness. I love these cookies and I can't wait to share them. 

So good with my morning coffee. 

Homemade Nutter Butters

When I first saw Emily's recipe post for homemade Nutter Butters I knew that I would be making them that same day. I freely admit that I love peanut butter and I will eat it in almost any context. For breakfast, on my waffles and even in my smoothies, for lunch, in a classic peanut butter and honey sandwich, and it makes the perfect snack with sliced apples. Did I mention that I also love peanut butter in my desserts? I love it in cookies and pie and more cookies, so it was only right to test out another peanut butter cookie recipe to hopefully add to my long list of favorites. 

This cookie definitely made it's way to my long list of favorites. This cookie is completely sinful with an irresistible peanut butter cream wedged between two soft and chewy peanut butter cookies. These cookies are so rich that I (yes I, the girl who never met a dessert she didn't like) could only eat half a cookie at one time. Don't worry, I found plenty of people to share my cookies with and within two days all the cookies had disappeared.

I cannot wait to make these cookies again, they are so cute and delicious, but I would definitely make my cookies smaller next time. There is so much going on that you can afford to downsize the cookies!

Emily can do no wrong. 

Macarons (First Attempt)

I have been wanting to try to make French macarons for months. Not only are they a tasty treat (especially with coffee) but they are so cute, almost too cute to eat!

Just almost to good to eat!

I can't say that my cookies were even near as cute as these but I wasn't too disappointed by my first attempt. The recipe wasn't even as hard as I was expecting. I followed this recipe for a basic almond macaron and this recipe for a chocolate ganache filling. As much as I love chocolate, I found that this ganache was too over powering for this little cookie. I think that a buttercream would be much more suited! I used violet food coloring gel to give my cookies a slight purple tint but can't wait to add actual flavor.

I plan on testing out other recipes throughout this week, until I find the recipe that I think is perfect, or close to perfect! I would love to have a go-to recipe for these treats and after buying a tiny but expensive bag of almond flour I am determined to put it all to good use!

Many macarons to come!

Carrot Cake (Fails and Successes)

I am sorry for the absence this week. Without going in to too many personal details, this week has been very busy with an equal mixture of searching for a job and preparing for job training for another. Confusing, I know. 

Last week, I posted about a carrot cake that I was over-the-moon excited about making. It had a delicious marscapone and ginger frosting that I could already picture myself licking from the bowl...

I knew it would be the perfect dessert to enjoy after brunch on Easter Sunday. Well the cake never made it to Sunday. The cake didn't even make it to Saturday because it was such a fail. The center didn't cook and completely fell and only the edges cooked all the way through. (So clearly my family just took forks and ate around all the edges.) I ended up tossing the cake and never even got to make the frosting.

Luckily, I was able to make up for the cake failure by making carrot cake cookies this week. A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I went to Williams-Sonoma looking for a gift. My first action upon walking in to any Williams-Sonoma is walking straight to the tester counter where I can enjoy something tasty like a cracker dip, warm apple cider, or in this case carrot cake cookies. These cookies were so good that we convinced the sales associate to give us each two. My boyfriend remembered how much I liked them (and knew how much he would like me to make them for him) and bought me the mix for Easter. 

How appropriate is a fool-proof cookie mix after my last disaster in baking with carrots? This time I had no mishaps and the final product turned out great! I saved half of the dough (it's tempting me in my freezer) and plan on making a marscapone and ginger frosting to glaze on top of these cookie next time. 

I got to use my brand new paddle attachment that scrapes the sides of my Kitchen Aid while it mixes. Another thoughtful gift!

Working up my confidence to try the cake again. 

Recipes for Every Occasion

I feel like I have been pretty busy recently (too busy to blog sometimes), yet I have had lots of opportunities to cook and bake some wonderful things. 

It started on Super Bowl Sunday when I went home to my parent's house. I love their kitchen and I can never pass up the chance to make something in it. For a pre-game snack and after-dinner dessert,  I made a salted butterscotch and pecan oatmeal cookie from Midwest Living Magazine. I had wanted to follow the original recipe and use caramel but couldn't find the caramel baking bits at the grocery store- I was so anxious to start baking that I didn't even try looking around at other stores. 

I ended up splitting the dough in thirds, making them with butterscotch chips, chocolate chunks, and some with a mixture of both! I, of course, liked the combo of flavors that made a Salted Butterscotch Chocolate Pecan Oatmeal Cookie!

For dinner while watching the Super Bowl, my parents and I passed over the traditional buffalo wings, pizza, and queso dip for a homemade jambalaya. This recipe came from Ina Garten's Foolproof Cookbook (which I am dying to have for myself) and it was a great success, like every Ina Garten recipe I have ever made. 

This recipe was not the easiest to make, rather it was a multi-step, multi-hand job. Thank goodness I had my mom's help when it came to chopping, dicing, and mincing the multiple vegetables. As wonderful as this jambalaya was, it also was not cheap. With the chicken, sausage, shrimp, rice, and all the vegetables the price of ingredients was more than I would ever spend on any of my recipes, but when your parents are paying then you have to take full advantage! Ina Garten's cookbook said this jambalaya would serve 8 people, but I think she meant 8 small families! After serving ourselves large portions to eat while watching the game, we hadn't even made a dent in the pot. Even after I had portioned out my leftovers the pot was still over half-full! It was absolutely wonderful and I didn't mind eating it the next three nights. 

I was sitting at home on Fat Tuesday watching unending episodes of Downton Abbey (I can't stop and I have no shame) and realized that I had to do something to celebrate Mardi Gras. I can't let a single holiday go by without baking something to go along with the special day! My best friends and I were also celebrating a special birthday and I had volunteered to make cupcakes. 

 I made a simple vanilla cupcake from Martha Stewart and divided the batter in half for a white cupcake with a  basic vanilla buttercream for the birthday party and used the rest of the batter to make a King Cake Cupcake in honor of the day. Both turned out great and obviously were shared and eaten so quickly that I have no pictures of the final product to share.

I wish that I would have had a little, plastic baby to add to my cupcakes! I did add purple frosting to all my cupcakes, mostly because it is the birthday girl's favorite color.

The lucky girl got birthday cupcakes and a personalized cake and I was lucky to spend the evening celebrating with my best friends!

Off to the kitchen to prepare for Valentine's Day!

Chocolate Fudge Pomegranate Cookies

Before this year I had never even eaten a pomegranate. It wasn't until a sweet friend once exclaimed that pomegranates were her favorite snack that they entered my culinary radar. 

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I hadn't even tried the fruit yet, but when I found this recipe for Chocolate Fudge Pomegranate Cookies I was intrigued and my mouth was watering. I am a lover of desserts with fruit in them, and all chocolate treats sometimes seem too rich for me. I loved the idea of a delicious, gooey, fudge cookie with bursts of refreshing sweetness and that is exactly what this cookie is.

I also love the hints of pink hiding in this dough and in the cookies-- so pleasing to the eye and the stomach. Rather than using a fresh pomegranate (which you can do) I bought the snack pack of pomegranate arils which gives you all the juice and arils for this recipe!

I followed this recipe from my favorite food blog. I swear that Jessica at How Sweet It Is cannot go wrong and her blog is overflowing with delicious recipes just begging to be made! (I almost always give in to the begging... I think the last 10 recipes I have made have come from her recipe index)

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Don't be thrown off by the pomegranates, these cookies are an incredible chocolate cookie with a hint of something special. They also got the major stamp of approval from my pomegranate-loving friend as we devoured them while watching the final episode of Gossip Girl. 

XOXO. 

I know that I don't have a 'recipe' tab anymore, but if you are looking for a previous recipe, just search "recipes" in the search bar on my page to see all recipes!

Oh, and don't forget to like my Facebook page! 

Gingerbread Cupcakes

The above was one tasty cupcake!

I went to the grocery store on Wednesday on a mission to get a couple of ingredients for a new chicken dish I was wanting to try out and of course walked right past the strategically placed "Holiday Baking" display and couldn't help but throw some ground ginger in my cart.

I absolutely love gingerbread and although I was tempted to make gingerbread cookies, I decided to hold off until I am home when I can use my mom's extensive collection of cookie cutters!

These cupcakes were delicious, easy, and completely upstaged my dinner.

Funny how dessert has a way of doing that!

In the spirit of Christmas baking, here are my other 5 favorite holiday treats!

{Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars}

{White Chocolate Cream Cheese Cranberry Snickerdoodle}

{White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies}

{Coffee Toffee Bars}

{Caramel Spice Cookies}

Happy baking!

Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

I woke up Saturday morning with nothing to do. 

And when I say nothing, I mean I had tons of things I could have done, but none of them really involved me changing out of my pajamas and leaving my apartment.

Besides, my desire to bake on Saturday would have trumped any real plans that I had. 

So for two and a half hours I sat on my couch (watching Little Women) and searching the entire world wide web for something sweet to make. The possibilities were really endless and ranged from cranberry crumble bars to peanut butter fudge cookies to white chocolate peppermint fudge.
I landed on these espresso chocolate chip cookies; a decision based solely on the fact that I already had all the ingredients and didn't have to change out of my pajamas and go to the grocery store.

Not that going to my grocery store (Wal-Mart...) in my pajamas would be a shock to anyone there. Every time I walk in I spot people in their pajamas, slippers and everything. 

This. Is. Not. Okay.

So it was settled. I was going to make espresso cookies, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the little tiny detail that these cookies have coffee in them...

The cookies were quite easy to make and I anxiously awaited for them to come out of the oven so that I could enjoy them with a glass of milk. 

And here is where the story gets sad. Cue somber music and cut to an image of me eating a sub par cookie by myself in my pajamas. Actually the score from Little Women was playing in the background and it doesn't get more somber than that. 

These cookies were not bad, I promise. They just were not everything I was expecting.
I was tempted to throw the entire batch away so that the cookies wouldn't even be a temptation (wasting calories on mediocre cookies is a crime) but I was too lazy and told myself I would get rid of them later.

Cut to Sunday morning- me in my pajamas, on my couch, watching Little Women. Dejavu?
I decide to try another cookie with my coffee for breakfast.
It was SO GOOD.
Yes, you read that right. These "okay" cookies had magically transformed overnight to "awesome" cookies.

So here are my conclusions--
1. These are "next day cookies". This syndrome for baked goods really does exist. Like the chocolate cake that gets better as it sits, these cookies are better after they rest and the flavors mature.
2. These cookies are best dipped in or paired with coffee. My glass of cold milk did nothing for these chocolate chip cookies, but the hot coffee made these cookies melt in my mouth and I was hooked. So hooked that I had two more for breakfast.

Never judge a cookie until the next day.

Caramel Spice Cookies

Because I hadn't blogged a recipe in a while, I forced myself to make something tonight that would be blog-worthy. Well out of the four things I made tonight, only this cookie recipe will make the cut, but that is alright with me because it was fantastic and perfect for fall.

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon bourbon 

1/ 2 cup mascarpone 

2 and 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spices (or nutmeg)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 bag Hershey's caramel-filled Kisses

1. Cream the butter and sugar together.

2. Add the egg, vanilla, and bourbon, mixing well.

3. Add the mascarpone.

(This is when I started smelling the wonderful scent coming from my mixing bowl)

4. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.

5. Add to the wet mix until combined.

6. Refrigerate the dough in plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes.

7. Bake at 325 for 10-11 minutes.

8. Unwrap the kisses and place on the center of the cookie (pushing down lightly).

9. Cook for 1 more minute.

10. Let cool.

These can be a little messy with all the ooey-gooey caramel, but absolutely delicious.

There might have been a Melted-Caramel-Kiss fight going on in my kitchen between me and my tasting audience. This is not required in this recipe, but highly recommended.

Dough not recommended for anyone under the age of 21.