Browsing Tag

Christmas

Smitten Kitchen’s Bakery Style Butter Cookies

December 24, 2019

chocolate dipped butter cookies with sprinkles

Hi friends! Happy Christmas Eve! I know it has been a long time since I’ve blogged. Ten months. After giving my blog a small makeover at the beginning of February, everything came to a screeching halt within the same month. I didn’t intend to step away from blogging, but it became necessary. This year had several rough patches for me so I (reluctantly) gave myself permission to let my blog go dormant. I found myself struggling with anxiety and overwhelm–not only regarding my blog, but about several other Life Things. It was next to impossible to feel creative when I […]

Struffoli

December 27, 2017

Welcome to the December edition of Cucina Conversations! For our last post of the year, my fellow Cucina Conversations friends and I are reprising last year’s topic and sharing ricette di natale–Christmas recipes. The holiday season has been a flurry of activity for me since last month and I’ve neglected my small corner of the Internet (yet again), but I wasn’t about to end the year without sharing one more traditional Italian recipe with you! My contribution to this month’s theme is show-stopping struffoli. Struffoli originated in Napoli, the capital of the region of Campania, and dates back to the time […]

Pizzelle

December 20, 2016

Welcome to the December edition of Cucina Conversations! This month, we made our theme a little broader and are bringing you Italian recipes that are perfect for sharing and gift-giving during the Christmas season. I love baking year-round, but I really love baking during the holidays. The Christmas music comes on Thanksgiving Day, I spend a day or two with my nose in my cookbooks deciding which recipes to make for my annual cookie gift tins, and then my kitchen turns into a cookie-making factory for a solid two weeks (or more). Gifting homemade cookies from my kitchen to our dearest […]

Parsley and Pecan Crusted Salmon Ball

December 12, 2016

You know those holiday recipes that must be made or else there will be a family-wide mutiny? This parsley and pecan crusted salmon ball is one of those recipes. When I was growing up, this was on the appetizer table at Christmas every year without fail. It had to be. I have no idea where the recipe originated–I always knew it to reside in a small black three-ring binder on a set of bookshelves in the family room of my childhood home in Maryland. Now, a copy of the recipe resides in a larger and almost bulging binder in my kitchen here in Texas. It’s […]

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

December 9, 2015

This past weekend, Peter and I bought our Christmas tree and finished decorating our house for the holiday season. I also started my Christmas cookie baking. Every year, I send homemade cookies to a few family members and friends. I started this tradition several years ago and it’s my favorite activity during the Christmas season. I start planning and preparing in November–I print out my list of cookie recipients, buy cookie tins and shipping boxes, stock up on ingredients, and make my (ambitious) list of cookie recipes I want to bake. I like to bake different cookies every year to keep […]