1. cozy blanket and a book
2. stacked wood
3. christmas reads
4. red barn
5. blue skies in brooklyn
6. snowed in at my parents' house
7. drew and i on christmas
8. one of my favorite stores
9. dad's plants
10. best friends reunion in nyc
11. allie and i
12. morning walk with drew
13. tree at larry lawrence
14. planning on never leaving my kitchen again
if you're still looking for a holiday cookie recipe, i'm popping in today to give you a quick and easy one! i whipped these up last minute before going to a christmas party (and they were eaten shortly thereafter, hence the lack of a picture). i made some as regular cookies, and some with hershey kisses in the middle for peanut butter blossoms. they're delicious either way.
three-ingredient peanut butter cookies (makes about 2 dozen)
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar (plus extra for rolling cookies in)
2 eggs
preheat oven to 350 degrees f. mix peanut butter, sugar and eggs in a large bowl. once mixed, roll the dough into small balls, coat evenly with sugar and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
if you're leaving them regular, press a fork lightly down on the batter to make crisscrosses. if you're making peanut butter blossoms, leave them in ball form until they are done cooking, then gently press a hershey kiss in the center immediately after removing them from the oven and allow to cool completely.
bake cookies for about 12-14 minutes.
happy holidays!
happy friday! after a wake up call at the crack of dawn, a cross-country flight and a hellish commute in new york city traffic, i am home for the holidays. there's a heavy blanket of grief hanging over our corner of connecticut right now—it's prompted me to be so grateful to be home, surrounded by the people i love the most. i'll be splitting my time this trip between my family and drew's family and i'm planning to completely overdose on christmas spirit. i just want to savor and stockpile every moment and happy memory here to bring back with me to portland in january.
ps - if you're in portland this weekend, check out my article on tabor bread!
baking (and eating) these brownies proved to be very therapeutic this past weekend. if you make these—and resist downing the entire batch (and a bottle of wine) with your loved ones in one sitting—you could package up a few and bring them over to a friend or neighbor. i think we could all use a heaping dose of holiday cheer and community support right about now.
peppermint brownies adapted from sprouted kitchen
5 tbsp butter (i used salted and just omitted the salt from the original recipe)
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp peppermint extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup coconut flour
preheat oven to 350 degrees f. grease an 8x8 baking dish with butter and set aside. in a saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat. remove from heat, then stir in sugar, vanilla and peppermint. next, whisk in eggs, one at a time. add the flour and whisk until combined (until the batter starts pulling away from the edges of the pan). pour into greased baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes, let cool completely, then slice and enjoy.
i normally try to keep my content light and happy on here, but between the clackamas shooting right in the backyard of my portland home, and the newtown shooting right in the backyard of my connecticut home, i feel compelled to post about all of this senseless tragedy that has plagued so many innocent souls over the past week. i am left feeling helpless, disenfranchised and terribly heartbroken for all the victims and their loved ones. barring any sweeping political statements about gun control or mental health, i can safely say that our country is broken—something needs to change before more people commit the same horrific acts. i'm still having a hard time collecting my thoughts completely, but i think this article from the onion pretty much sums them up.
happy friday! besides packing to go home to connecticut for christmas, i'm hoping to do a little holiday baking this weekend. don't forget to enter my giveaway with portland store, eden (you don't need to live in portland to participate)!
my eyes + edge articles from this week:
<< portland cookbook social
>> bar dobre
<< pearl+ soaps
eek! i'm on urban weeds, portland street style blog today—so exciting! i'm pretty camera shy, but lisa warninger has a knack for making people feel completely comfortable in their own skin. see the whole post here!
photo by: lisa warninger
