When life gives you lemons....

When life gives you lemons, you....make lemon blueberry soft pretzels. Yes, I know, it sounds a bit weird but they were divine. I've been getting my fitness on, and it hit me...you know what I REALLY miss here in Germany? A good soft pretzel like you'd get from Auntie Annie's in the mall. In the end, I've been good so why not right? Exactly. I did forget to add poppy seeds to the dough like I had intended but it turned out great either way. If you do decide to add poppy seeds, I'd say about 2 tbsp.

Maybe I'll be making Pepperoni or Pretzel Dogs in the near future! For now, lets get started.

For Pretzels:
adapted from smells like home.
used for basic pretzel base.

Makes about 12 large pretzels.

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp instant dry yeast
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cups unsalted butter, melted
1/4 - 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 lemon for lemon zest
(if more lemon flavor is desired add half more lemon zest from another lemon)

For later:

10 cups water
2/3 cups baking soda
2 tbsp melted butter

For vanilla icing/glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

combine well and brush onto pretzel or dip.

instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425 F

In a large bowl - it can be a normal bowl or you can use your stand mixer if it has a dough hook. I just used a normal bowl and a large plastic cake spoon. Mix together yeast, salt, water, and sugar until dissolved then add the flour and butter. If you're using a stand mixer, switch to a dough hook at this point and put on medium speed until dough is smooth and pulls from side of bowl; if you're not, simply mix the dough until it forms large chucks and all ingredients are mixed together. Take clean hands and knead the dough until it has fully come together, after add your lemon zest and blueberries. Carefully fold into the dough and knead a few more times but not too much, you don't want to dry out the dough or over knead as it will not be as soft final product.

Once everything is done, place dough into lightly buttered bowl and place in a warm place covered in plastic wrap for about an hour or until doubled in size.

A pastry cutter would be ideal but if you don't have this, a butter knife will do as well. Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled surface and cut into 8 equal pieces (a little bigger is also fine). Roll each piece of dough into 24-inch rope or your desired length, depending on how big or small you desire them and form pretzel. Be gentle to not crush the blueberries, but if you do, do not fret. Place a damp paper towel over formed pretzel to prevent it from drying out as you form the others.

Now that everyone has been formed and covered start boiling the 10 cups of water and add the baking soda. One pretzel at a time, dip it in using a spatula for about 30 seconds then place one by one, on a cooking sheet covered with wax paper. (please be sure to spray wax paper because sticking IS an issue if you do not. Lets just say, some of mine didn't come out too pretty and had wax paper stuck to them...forever! Ha ha)

Brush on the butter, place them in the oven and bake them until they are a nice medium/darker brown or about 12-14 mins. Mine only took 10 minutes, just be sure to watch them closer to when they should be done. So cooking times vary!

Take them out of the oven, brush with remaining butter and, let them cool for about 5-10 minutes, brush some of the icing on them and serve with the rest of the vanilla icing!

If you'd like even more of a citrus burst: with left over lemon zest mix it together with some sugar and add it on top of the pretzel after brushing on vanilla icing!

Enjoy!!!

Apple Butter Braised Short Ribs

If you all haven't noticed my love for apples is a little extreme. It's my favorite fruit, I mean it only doubles that it is so versatile when being used to bake, cook or just eat in general. My favorite dishes are savory dishes that apples tend to compliment - pork chops baked with apples, sweet potato gnocchi with chicken, bacon, apples and a brown butter sauce. I could go on and on, but apples are forever my go to if I want to add a little sweet to my dish. 

I made apple butter and boy, was it good. I've been craving the goodness of southern cooking lately and it brought me back to home. Though, when you make apple butter in the slow cooker, you tend to end up with many, many batches of it. Not complaining but as I didn't make it thinking of canning, I had to use it within 2 weeks. Lets just say the other posts that are about to show up, all pretty much use apple butter. Apple butter got my creative kitchen juices flowing, so this is how this delicious, mouth-watering, fall off the bone dish made its way into my kitchen.  

These braised short ribs got two thumbs up from my husband as he stuffed his mouth and told me how good they were, oh - and that we must have them again. Braised short ribs are so easy to make your own sauce, and just go, but when you come back, you come back to the best, easy meal.

Ingredients:

makes 4-6 servings

Braised Ribs:

salt & pepper to taste

extra virgin olive oil

Apple butter (best to make ahead in advance in crockpot or use store bought):

adapted from brown eyed baker.

3-6lbs apples (a mixture of fuji, gala, and pink lady is what I used)

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

a pinch of cardamom & ginger

Additional needs:

apple cider or apple juice

2 cloves garlic, chopped

sweet onion

water

I highly recommend that if you don't have a cast iron, that you get one. If you don't have one, you can use a normal pan.

First, place crockpot on low heat. Then, get a large pan and cover the bottom with just enough olive oil. Now, take your braised ribs and season them with salt and pepper to your taste. once the oil is heated sear all sides about 1-2 minutes. You're not trying to cook these, just seal the juices in. Now that all sides are seared, place into crockpot.

Take a medium size bowl and combine apple butter, and just enough apple cider or juice and very little water. You don't want the mixture to be watery, but you don't want it as too thick either. I recommend using apple cider if you can find it, as it will give your ribs an even stronger flavor but if you don't have any, apple juice will do just fine. Add chopped garlic, and your desired amount of sweet onion to the apple butter mixture.

Top the braised short ribs with the mixture, making sure they all are nicely covered with the sauce and let cook for 6-8 hours. Some may fall off the bone, but that is perfectly okay. 

If you want, take the sauce after placing the braised ribs on a cutting board to cool, strain the sauce over a pot on medium high heat and boil for about 5-10 minutes or until sauce is thick and drizzle over your meat before serving. Sweet potato mash goes great with this meal. White or brown rice with veggies would as well. 

Tell me what you paired these delicious ribs with! 

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Gnocchi is a favorite in our house, and currently I'm in a love, hate relationship with the stuff. It's delicious, it's simple, and it's easy to mess up. There, I said it - it may be easy, but it is also so easy to mess up and there is no repairing this once it has turned out bad.

Sometimes it's the look, sometimes it's the taste, and sometimes, it's just a whole lot of, "I know for a fact, that I did this right. What went wrong?" This can either make you dance with joy or defeat you and you'll have to come back with gloves swinging to make sure you get it next time.

I've failed 3 times, and I've made successful dishes 5 times. These are totally worth it when they do come out correctly and when you can find the time to do them. I recommend spreading it out over a couple of days as it's not overwhelming and a lot to do all at one time.

Ingredients:
makes about 4 servings +

For gnocchi:

4 large sweet potatoes
olive oil
cinnamon
cardamom
brown sugar
flour
foil
salt

Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C), while that is preheating take the sweet potatoes and scrub them lightly under warm water. Now, pat dry and take a fork, poke a few holes all around the sweet potato and rub a light layer of olive oil on them. Do not forget this step as it seals them. Though, you could even roast your sweet potatoes instead to also take as much moisture out as possible. Wrap in foil and let cook until soft - about 40-45 minutes.

Once out of the oven, set aside and let cool. You can stop here and resume the next day or continue.

Take cooled sweet potatoes and scoop out of the skin into a large bowl. Season however you wish. I used cinnamon, and cardamom with a touch of brown sugar. Take your foul and add about 2 tablespoons at a time, folding until you get almost like a sticky dough texture. You do not want to over flour so take your time and watch very closely. Take dough and place on floured surface, rolling into a long pieces. I'd advise flouring your hands and rolling them in more flour if they are still too sticky. Take a dough cutter (if you don't have one, just simply use a knife) and cut into about one inch thick pieces. You can take a fork and create creases on the gnocchi to help them better soak up any sauce you may use or you can use a gnocchi board. When using the board, lightly flour your thumb and press the gnocchi onto board, rolling back and forth.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and drop the gnocchi in a few at a time. They will be finished once they float to the top of the water. Take out immediately and let dry, completely. Continue to do this until all of your gnocchi is cooked.

You can now use the gnocchi like this or you can pan sear them in a little brown butter and sage. My husband loves sweet potato gnocchi with chicken, bacon and apples in a brown sage butter sauce. It's delicious and can be dressed up or dressed down. I hope you won your battle against the delicious gnocchi!

Any love hate relationships with any foods you enjoy?

Apple Pie Braid

 I'm an apple lover, and when I say lover, I mean I'll choose to make anything apple over anything else.  I've been trying to get out of this habit, but apples are just so good, all year round and they compliment so many foods, even savory ones. I've had dough that I made sitting in the fridge and it's been calling my name; I resisted as I was craving hand pies but not the time to make them with my daughter becoming increasingly impatient with me while I'm in the kitchen. I guess she may be a tad jealous of my love for cooking, but if only she knew, my heart would always truly belong to her. 

I'm not a fan of shortening in pie crusts or dough. I don't think you get the flakey light crust, the heavenly taste or feel like you do when you use butter. I was also ecstatic to find another blogger who agreed with this and made a delicious dough that I could use. I have my own recipe my family has used forever but I think hers will now by my go to. Its just so good, and simple. This is not like a other braid recipes that uses actual bread dough with yeast. It's far better.

This post is suppose to be about this delicious dessert BUT, let me direct your attention elsewhere for a second. If you've never heard of Scoutmob, you've been missing out. I love the site with a burning passion, as strong as my passion is for baking, I'm also about supporting local businesses, buying local, and supporting small businesses Now, as I'm overseas it's much harder to do that but Scoubtmob makes it easier. My husband knew I needed a new cutting board and a rolling pin and he bought this custom made from Richwood Creations. When you buy from him, you're also giving to children in his area. If you're stationed overseas as well, or just overseas and want to buy you will have to use shipittoapo.com or an other site that will ship over. That's the only down fall but totally worth it in my eyes. Supporting a cause and a small business, what's better than that?

My husband wins so many husband award points for this score and the thought behind it. My rolling pin says 'made with passion & love' and the cutting board has our wedding date. To have someone understand the love I put in when I'm cooking and baking, makes me just want to cry. I'm definitely lucky in life and love. What a keeper, and I'm so thankful to have a love like this.

Anyway, enough with the sappy stuff, onto the recipe....

Ingredients:

For the dough I used: smitten kitchen (see for instructions)

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 sticks unsalted, very cold butter

1 egg (used for egg wash later)

You will half the dough and wrap in plastic wrap and place within the refrigerator until ready to use, if not using within a week, freeze it for future use. 

For the apple pie filling:

3-4 large apples (I used pink lady apples)

one sliced lemon

3 tbsp brown sugar

cinnamon

ground cloves

cardamom

nutmeg

For the glaze:

1/3 cup powdered sugar

5 tsp heavy whipping cream

a pinch of salt and vanilla extract

I wanted a slight chai taste within my apple pie, you can use whatever spices you deem tasty for your apple pie. I also didn't measure them as I spiced to my own taste. 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, which is also a bit more than 200 C - on my german oven it says max after 200 C. Flour a surface and roll dough out. I have no method to my madness, I just rolled it until it was my desired thickness. Close to 16 x 8 but it just honestly need to be a nice even circle. Once rolled out, move to a lightly greased cookie sheet, (preferably with wax paper or foil to reduce sticking and burning) make 1 inch cuts on both sides of the dough so you can braid, leaving the middle untouched as the apples will go here.

After that is done, set a medium pan on medium high heat. While the pan is heating, peel and chop apples to the size of your choice. Mix ingredients together and squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the apples. Bring to a boil and mix together until tender - about 5 to 10 minutes. Let apples cool a bit before adding to your dough.

Add apples within the middle of dough and start folding one over the other. Left to right or right to left, however you prefer. It's very easy and you can't go wrong. Now that you're finished you will now mix the egg with a little water to apply the egg wash to the braid and place into the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a nice golden brown.

Place onto a cooling rack with paper towel under to catch drippings from glaze. It's best if the glaze is brushed on while apple braid is cooling. The glaze will be a thicker texture, and that is how it should be. It will become thinner as brushed over hot braid.

Serve warm with ice-cream or your favorite glass of wine.

A Chocolate Lover's Heaven

 I love Fall, and yeah, yeah..everyone says that, but I truly do. I feel anew, and since I've never seen or experienced a real Fall (Hey! I'm from South Carolina, it's warm almost all year!) the Fall I've seen here in Germany has taken my breath away. It's beautiful, the hills with colors bouncing from greens to reds and yellows...I feel like I haven't known what I've been missing.

Another thing I love about Fall? The typical, Halloween, apple cider, pumpkins, all the desserts and dinner ideas to come up with, bonfires, also last but not least hot chocolate. I still have yet to post the picture about our 2 trips to Heidelberg, the amazing castle and the things to do there but that will be another story, for another time. (Too many pictures, too much to do, my eyes are melting...JK! Haha, I'll do them soon, promise.) We traveled into town after viewing the castle and walking the yard, admiring the views and my heart came alive. I was like a kid in a candy store. I found it! I found chocolate heaven or something much, much better.

The Chocolate Company of Heidelberg (order here: chocolate heaven)that was what I found and I could not have been more ecstatic. It was an extremely cute store, where when you ordered they gave you your hotchocospoon and warm milk. They, of course had delicious chocolate cake and pastries. I must say, I was impatient to say the least but when I finally got to taste it, my taste buds were bursting.

One, having unique hot chocolate flavors is genius and two, the way that they paired them with dark, milk or white was beyond perfect. The different chocolates went so well with different things.

After leaving, I copied their website and went home. My husband and I decided to order some for Fall and well, who doesn't love hot chocolate and an excuse to indulge in lots of marshmallows?! Let me tell you what, you can order as well! They ship worldwide and they have MORE than just hotchocospoons - my chocolate lovers, they have chocolate bars with unique flavors, hotchoco fondue, hotchoco spreads, etc. The list keeps going, and my mouth keeps watering every single time I think about it.

This is not even my collection but it's a few that I truly love, the ones not pictured that we've recently ordered more of are: Brownie Walnut Vanilla, Caramel Vanilla Bourbon, and Cookie Coconut. I highly recommend checking them out when you can take a trip to Heidelberg, or to order online for those of you in The States who can't make it. No reason why you must miss out on all the fun!

This is how I spend my Fall days, with my daughter, reading her a book and sipping hot chocolate OR drinking hot chocolate cuddled up with my husband as our daughter sleeps right between us. It's the little things that count and it doesn't hurt to have a little hot chocolate to bring the evening together.

Now, to wait until my Hotchoco fondue gets here and I'll share. Maybe. Whether you're looking for a gift to a loved one,friend or just a treat for yourself, this stuff hits the spot.

What are your favorite things about Fall? Any Fall treats that are your must haves?

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall" -F. Scott Fitzgerald

Apple Caramel Speculoos Tart

Today is not my day for 'food photography'. Excuse me as I'll make up for it another time. Too much baby crying, soreness from getting back into working out and after a long day making risotto, I just said well, screw it. A picture is a picture, at least just for today. I'm still kicking myself in the butt for not being able to prop and plate everything like I wanted but that is life and my belly was awaiting. 

Speculoos is becoming so mainstream that the number of uses really need to go up. Here is one and I think for Fall, I'll be using speculoos as a tart crust for quite a few things in the coming week. I will share, of course. Recipe adapted from (Tartlet Sweets)

Ingredients:

Tart crust:

9 oz lotus speculoos cookies or Biscoff

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Apples and Caramel:

6 apples chopped and cooked (or pie filling if you want)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or all spice

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

Enough caramel to drizzle over tart - you could either make your own or use store bought.

(I used a homemade recipe of my choosing)

In your food processor add cookies and run until fine, once done add melted butter and sugar, mixing until combined and place into tart pan. Press down and make sure it is as evenly distributed as possible. Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes while oven preheats on 350 degrees F (150 C) then bake for 10 minutes and set aside.

Meanwhile, add butter and brown sugar, stirring until melted down well - add apples and spices of your choice. You really can't go wrong with that you add here. Place apple filling on top of pie crust, spread evenly and let cook again on 350 degrees until warm. Take out of the oven, drizzle caramel and serve warm. 

If this isn't making you go "mmmm" I don't know what will. Delicious, perfect Fall dessert. Now, accompanied with hot chocolate or some milk and you can't go wrong. 

What is your favorite Fall dessert?

Sweet potato, Apple, Bacon Sage Brown Butter Risotto

That was a mouth full, and believe me, it's just as good as it sounds. I apologize that the pictures for this aren't my usual but without natural light food photos do not look as good as they could be. My 2 month old was also tired of me cooking so that is what you get pictures wise. Pictures are still good to show an example.

Today was crazy, full of coding the new look for the blog, and seriously enjoying the name!

I've made a Lobster white truffle oil quinoa risotto almost a year ago in the Fall, and it seems to be a trend with me. I love a nice risotto, one that goes with my fall obsession is even better. Who doesn't love warm apples, sweet potatoes and bacon? Lets get started and hopefully this will be as much of a hit in your home as it was mine.

Don't skip on the water towards the end as if you add too much stock, you will end up with very salty risotto because remember, you're adding bacon as well!

Ingredients: 

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
yellow onion (amount of your choosing)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cup brown rice
1 1/3 cup dry white wine (cooking wine if that's all you have)
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
water as needed to the rice

Brown butter: 

3 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 pink lady apples, sliced and chopped well
pinch of cinnamon and cardamom to taste
1/4 tablespoon sage
1/4 cup butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 C), cut sweet potato into large slices, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, pepper, nutmeg and whatever other seasonings you would like to it and toss well. Place on foiled baking sheet and cook for about 30 minutes or until soft. Remove from oven and mash until almost pureed.

(You could cook the bacon in the oven or on the stove top now. Place bacon in food processor and once in fine pieces set aside)

Heat a saucepan and on medium-low heat add vegetable stock and heat until hot. If it boils turn it down.

In another saucepan, add olive oil, and butter (not the brown butter) then add onions, and cook until soft, then add minced garlic and cook for a few seconds. Increase heat slightly and add rice, stirring to combine. Cook for about 4 minutes, continuing to stir as the rice begins to toast. Reduce heat to medium-low and add in wine. Stir until most of the wine is absorbed into rice. Add in 1/3 cup of the warm vegetable stock and repeat the process and stir until the stock is absorbed and the rice is fully cooked. Towards the end, you will add water to cover the brown rice and cook until desired consistency. My rice took about 50 minutes total as normal for brown rice to cook. Add more liquid if needed.

Once the rice is cooked, reduce heat to low and stir in the mashed sweet potato. Really stir so that it is well combined. Now, add butter to a small pan, along with the sage and cook until the butter is beginning to brown - cook on low and add apples until soft, combine this to the risotto.

Finally, add bacon and serve while warm!

We had this dish with pan seared pork chops and it was delicious! What is your favorite fall meal? If you made this, what would you add or change?

Brownie Speculoos Swirl Cookies

Lately, I've been spending time with my little girl and my husband. Having a baby is an amazing experience but it is also hard. I can't seem to balance out having time for myself and doing everything I need for her, I'm slowly learning how to do it, but of course, it's taking time. I find happiness in baking in my kitchen, baking or cooking up a dish off the top of my head or trying out a new recipe - I haven't gotten to do that much lately, mostly I've been throwing things in the crockpot and leaving. My husband knows I've been having the itch, took the baby and demanded that I find something to bake while he took care of her. I simply have to say best. man. ever.

I have so many things I could make for dessert, S'mores Baked Donuts, Speculoos Apple Tarts, Apple Dumplings, Scones, etc the list goes on. All of which will grace the blog in the coming week but I opened my cabinets and I had chocolate, just sitting there and calling my name. I love boxed brownies, don't get me wrong, but nothing is better than making something from the heart, homemade and from scratch. I pulled out the chocolate and an idea popped into my head - if I was going to make a speculoos apple tart with the actual cookies, why not include speculoos in my brownies since I had the cookie butter?

My love affair with speculoos was started long before we moved to Germany, though Germany has made it far worse. The rising craze for the stuff here is outstanding and fun to say the least because it makes for coming up with new ways to use it, that much for exciting.

I went to town in my kitchen as my husband hovered over me, asking what I was doing. Why I was doing that. Dipping his fingers all over my kitchen, being simply impatient to the final product. I love that he is supportive and wants to learn how to make things. Once they were done, I was over the moon. They came out moist, rich and exploding with flavor.

If I had to do anything different though, I would have swirled the crunchy speculoos cookie butter into the batter instead of swirling it. It would have had far more of an intense flavor and impact on the final product OR I would have food processed speculoos cookies and made a crunchy bottom for the brownie cookies. Either way, there is always a next time to experiment.

Notes: If you want even more chocolate melt down the 7 oz, and add another 5 oz of chopped chocolate into the batter for a chocolate lover's heaven.

Ingredients:

Brownie Cookie (adapted from Bakers Royale)

• 7 oz of chocolate, chopped (5 oz unsweetened, 2 oz semi-sweet)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350º degrees (150º C), line a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside | Recipe makes about 14 one inch cookies. - most likely could have made more if I didn't make them so thick. 

Speculoos Cookie Butter

• Crunchy or Creamy - Can be found at your local store or easily made, also known as Biscoff.
• Bowl for melting

Place the 7 oz of chocolate into a pot over low heat and stir until melted. If you have bad lucky with melting chocolate and it burning, take a bigger pot, fill it with water and put the smaller pot into that one. It will keep the chocolate from burning even if you can't watch it while keeping it warm and smooth. I used different chocolates because I personally didn't want anything too terribly sweet, you can use whatever ratio of chocolate you'd like. Once melted, set aside.

In a large bowl, add eggs, sugar and vanilla mix with a stand or hand mixer for 15 minutes - until pale and creamy. (it will be a lighter yellow and creamy looking in texture, this part is important) Add flour, baking powder, and the melted chocolate (this would be where you'd add the extra 5 oz of chopped chocolate to the batter if you want something for the ultimate chocolate lover) - let sit for about 5 minutes. 

Spoon 1 tablepsoon of mixture onto wax paper for larger cookies, spread out a bit if possible. If you'd like brownie texture more than cookie, do 1 1/2 tablespoons and don't spread out as much. If you'd like more of a cookie texture, add 1/2 of mixture but spread out a bit more for a cookie feel. I personally wanted the brownie feel still so I made them thicker, which left them moist and delicious on the inside. 

Now, swirl cookie butter into batter and bake 8-10 minutes, depending on your oven so keep an eye on these babies. 

I loved this recipe and I will be making many changes to it, especially flavors wise. I hope you all enjoy. What's your favorite way to have brownies?

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Four Cheese Bacon Chive Scones + Honey Butter

These were absolutely delicious. Only thing I'd do differently is not put as much flour in the dough because it was too sticky. Definitely add a bit more flour but not too much, or they won't be extremely light and flakey. Trial and error is the name of the game when you're cooking, so don't fret they will still be flakey, savory and out of this world delicious, just won't rise like you'd like. Learn this lesson now, from me and then yours will be far more airy and fluffy than mine!

I made these so my husband could take something to work, or to have a quick breakfast in the morning since he works twelve hours a day, and gets up at 4:30am. So, this was brain stormed, a delicious scone and he could quickly make eggs to go with if he wanted to! Perfect. This recipe is an adaptation from Ambrosia Baking but I obviously made it my own, just use her's as a baseline for the dough. Lets get started -- the chives, garlic, and 4 cheese blend were a great addition to this recipe, very happy I decided to add them!

Ingredients:
Makes about 2 dozen scones.

• 4 Thick Slices of Bacon
• 2 cups All Purpose Flour (you will need a bit more when kneeing the dough if too sticky)
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 cup Shredded 4 Cheese Blend
• 2 tablespoons Fresh or Dried Chives
• 2 Garlic Cloves chopped finely
• 1/4 teaspoons Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
• 1 stick Unsalted Cold Butter - cut into pieces
• 1 Large Egg
• 3/4 cup Buttermilk (you can easily make your own with whole milk & lemon juice)

Honey Butter:

• 1/3 cup Butter
• 1 teaspoon Brown Sugar (optional)
• Honey (I didn't measure this out)

Preheat your oven 400°, line a baking sheet with baking/wax paper to ensure no sticking.

In a frying pan, cook bacon until lightly crispy. Place on paper towels and dab extra grease away. Chop the bacon into fine pieces or use a food processor to cut it. Set aside.

In a food processor (If you have one, I didn't, I used a mixer and my hands. Gotta use what you got) combine the flour, salt, pepper, cheese, chives, garlic, and baking powder together to mix nicely. Once mixed, add the butter until small bread crumbs begin to form. Whisk together egg and buttermilk, then add to the dry ingredients. Pulse, hand mix, or use a hand mixer until the dough begins to form. It will be sticky and if it is, add just a bit more flour - not a lot as per my warning up top.

Place dough on a flat, floured surface and knee the bacon into the dough. Roll out dough until only about 1/2 inch thick. Take a round cutter and cut pieces out of the dough placing them on the waxed paper on a baking tray ready for the oven. Re-ball up the dough and roll out again to continue to cut more pieces out.

Bake until the scones are lightly brown - ** They may not get lightly brown depending on your oven and the type of flour you use, that is okay. Adjust cooking time as well. Mine only took less than 12 minutes to cook, but you can cook them for up to 14. Overcooking them, will obviously make them hard and not have a soft center. Watch these carefully!** Take out of the oven once they are done, and place them on a cooling rack and serve a little warm.

For the honey butter, you'll need to mix the butter, brown sugar and the amount of honey you deserve until well combined and almost a cream texture or however you desire. Brush on top of scones and you've got an awesome quick breakfast, finger food, or even just scones to add to your dinner! Enjoy.

3 Enticing Creme Brûlées

These creme brûlées were outstanding. I can't even accurately explain how delicious these were. Please be patient as I finish writing out the recipe for these 3. First: S'mores, Second: Blackberry White Chocolate, Third: Caramel Apple.

My husband is now begging for me to make more. A special one, just for him. Spiced Pumpkin is on his mind apparently. It's heading into the direction of Fall, so I'm trying to stick to the theme of that for a while, it's my favorite time of the year anyhow. All this baking is making me think of Halloween party food ideas; ignore that, there will be a post about that closer to October. Let's get started in what you'll need.

Caramel Apple - Ingredients:

• 2 Fuji Apples, sliced thinly, if possible.
• My go to recipe for homemade caramel here or buy caramel from the store. Add very little or it will be watery! Just a light drizzle will go far.
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 2 cups Heavy Cream
• 5 Egg Yolks
• 1/2 teapsoon Vanilla Extract or use Vanilla Bean.  
• (If you use Vanilla bean, you will need to cook it in your heavy creamer longer, let it sit and then strain the pieces out. It will give it a far better burst of flavor though. Just a thought, if you can find it.)

NEEDS:

• Pastry Torch or an oven with a Broiler.
• Ramkeins
• Strainer (this is optional, I just strained it before adding to the ramekins for a smoother finish)

This makes about 4-6 servings. I did not make that many but you can save the rest in the refrigerator for up to 2 days at least. Though, making them immediately is what I'd advise.

Preheat the oven to 325° 

In a pot, you'll need to bring water to a boil. Keep it boiling.

Place the sliced apples (wrap in paper towel until fully dry) then add them to the bottom of the ramekin, drizzle with caramel and set aside. In a sauce pan, combine the sugar and brown sugar, along with the cinnamon; stir in the heavy cream. Stir constantly. You will bring this to a boil. Once it boils, you'll need to remove it from the heat, add a bit of it to the egg yolks, slowly or you will end up cooking the eggs. After adding a small amount to the eggs, pour the eggs into the sauce pan, place back on the stove, stir while adding the vanilla or vanilla bean.

Pour into the ramekins that have the apples in them.  Put ramekins into a slightly deep pan and place in oven; pour boiling water into pan, about half way up the ramekin. Make sure to not fill it too high. Let it cook in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. The creme brûlée will still be jiggly but should be holding together. Place on a cooling rack and let cool for 10 minutes - then after cooling, lightly wrap in foil and  place in the refrigerator. Let cool for 3 hours or overnight. (I let them cool overnight) Done? Take out, place sugar on top and use your pastry torch to brûlée the top. DO NOT TOUCH, it will be hot. Let it cool, and try not to burn it, as a burnt sugar isn't all that tasty. If made in the oven broil until sugar is a light toasted brown.


Blueberry White Chocolate - Ingredients:

• Fresh Blackberries - you can use frozen but I wouldn't recommend it.
• 4 cups Heavy Cream
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 5 Egg Yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon Cardamom Spice
• White Chocolate Chips

NEEDS:

• Pastry Torch or Broiler
• Strainer (optional, only for a smoother finish)
• Ramekins  

Boil a pot of water, and keep it boiled until the end.


Preheat oven on 325°

Wash blackberries and wrap them inside a paper towel until dry. Make sure they're dry or if will cause the creme to split and not hold together. You do not want this or the watery taste it will have. Once dry, place them in the bottom of the ramekin along with your desired amount of white chocolate chips. Set aside.

Bring the cream and vanilla extract to a boil; stir constantly. Now, add the cardamom and remove from heat. Mix up the egg yolks with the 1/2 cup sugar, whisk until slightly pale; add a little bit of the cream at a time, not too much or you will end up cooking the egg. Add everything back to pot, strain and add to ramekins, place in a slightly deep pan - add the boiling water half way up the ramekins. Cook for 25-30 minutes, creme will be a bit jiggly. Place on cooling rack for 10 minutes, once cool lightly wrap in foil and place in refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight. Add sugar, torch with pastry torch or broiler. Let sugar topping cool, and enjoy!

Makes about 4-6 servings. Great for a party!


S'mores: I got my recipe and inspiration from her for this one. I did NOT add as much chocolate and tweaked a few things but mine ended up tasting a bit more like a s'mores brownie. It was still delicious and I changed quite a few things but her recipe is still amazing and worth a look at S'mores Creme Brûlée.

FOR Passion Fruit Creme Brulee:
I made this but I did not ensure it was fully dry and the creme did not settle and broke apart. Do everything the same as the blackberry, except the cardamon. Though, you can add whatever spice you'd like to kick it up a notch. Just make sure to wrap in paper towel to ensure it is full dry, and has no excess water. Cut into thin slices, place at bottom of ramekin, follow everything else, and enjoy!

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes + Fruit Syrup

I've never made poppy seed anything before so this was a trial and error attempt in itself. I was planning on making lemon poppy seed donuts, or a lemon poppy seed yogurt tart, but I said 'You know what?' What if I put these into pancakes?! I talked it over with my husband, who tends to never object to anything I have the urge to make. So that, was that, it was game on once morning arrived.

These came out fluffy, not too sweet and definitely not tangy either. It was delicious and I have left over batter to make these again tomorrow morning along with some cheddar, bacon scones. If you don't have a zester, you can use a cheese grater. Not exactly the same but you got to use what you got.

*I tend to make everything from scratch, feel free to use pancake mix if you'd like. You'd have to adjust the recipe of course. It should still turn out the same.

Ingredients - Fruit syrup recipe below:

• 2 cups All Purpose Flour   
• 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoons Sugar
• Lemon Zest
• 1 & 1/2 cup Milk
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Exstract
• 3 tablespoons Melted Butter
• 1 & 1/2 tablespoons Poppy Seeds

Fruit Syrup:

• Blackberries or blueberries
• Pinch of Cardamom Spice
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Water

In a bowl, combine the all purpose flour, baking powder and salt together. Now, zest the lemon making sure you do not zest the white of the lemon, just the yellow or it will be bitter. Once you have your desired amount of lemon zest, as there is no wrong and no right (I used two whole lemons), add the sugar to it. Mixing well, it will almost make a paste. Add lemon zest/sugar mixture to the dry mix and set aside.

If you do not have buttermilk, you can make it yourself. I always do, there truly isn't much of a difference. Take the milk, add it into a bowl, add the lemon juice and let sit for 5 minutes, stirring as you go, slowly add the vanilla. Sometimes it will curdle, this is time. Add to dry mixture, it will be a little thick, do not worry. Add the melted butter you set to the side, and finally add the poppy seeds. Make sure it is all well mixed together. Place on a hot skillet or griddle pan and cook until bubbles form, then flip. I like my pancakes a lighter color so I flip them early, but cook as desired. 

I added a pinch of fresh lemon juice to my pancakes after buttering them, and then added fresh black berries on top with a hint of honey. It was so delicious, my husband finished all 4 pancakes and wanted more! Serve with your favorite fruit OR make a fruit syrup. For the fruit syrup, put berries, water, and sugar into a pan on medium high heat until the sugar dissolves. Once it dissolves, bring the heat down a bit and let cook for 20-30 mins or until fruit is soft, add the pinch of cardamom -- at this point you can either strain the big pieces out of the syrup or you can leave it together and drizzle over your pancakes. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!

Upcoming:

Cheddar Bacon Scones

S'mores, Blackberry White Chocolate, and Caramel Apple Creme Brûlée 

S'mores Cupcakes

Baked Apple Cider Donuts

Apple Trifle

Spiced Pumpkin Trifle

Chicken in a Bacon Apple Cider sauce

Bourbon Bacon Grilled Cheese

Poppy Seed, Lemon & Parmesan Crusted Salmon with Pumpkin Puree

Peppermint Creme Brûlée 

Honey Orange Chicken Wings

Sweet Potato Hash, with Sausage, Egg and Onions

Firecracker Shrimp

more to come, but here is a list for now. As you can see, I'm obsessing over Fall, as I always do. It's my favorite time of the year. Almost all of these will be coming back to back, so keep your eye on the blog, or subscribe! Have a great day everyone.

Pumpkin Lasagna

I slacked on the plating of the this, because I was terribly tired after cooking and I was hungry from the aroma. This turned out far better than I had expected, I thought of this because I was missing Fall weather. I had two cans of pumpkin in the house and I said, eh what the heck. I didn't measure much of anything while I was going through, so make sure to taste as you go. Honestly, the more flavor you add the better. Here is everything you'll need:

Lasagna noddles
Ground beef, turkey, or pork.
Ricotta Cheese
2 cans Pumpkin
Nutmeg
Pumpkin
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Yellow Onion
Honey
Sage
Cinnamon
White Wine
Salt
Pepper
5 cheese Italian shredded
Mozzarella shredded
Milk
Flour
Grated Parmesan
Cardamom
Lemon (optional)

You're going to preheat your oven to 350. Once you've done that bring the water for the lasagna to a rapid boil, add a bit of salt to ensure the noddles won't stick together. Add lasagna noddles 2-3 at a time and stir frequently.

While that is cooking, add olive oil to a non-stick pan and place on medium heat. Chop onion and break garlic clove out of skin - chop this as well. Add to the pan until tender, but not brown, add a little white cooking wine and let reduce for about 2-3 minutes. Set aside.

Now, brown the meat of your choice.

Take the can of pumpkin and add nutmeg, sage, cinnamon, cardamom, and honey. Add until the taste is right for you. Place aside. Now to make the cheese sauce I made for in-between the layers of lasagna. Heat up butter in a pot, add flour, and milk until creamy. Finally add grated parmesan. I use this same recipe to make a homemade alfredo sauce! Add the chopped onions and garlic to the sauce.

Layer the lasagna noddles to the bottom of the pan once they are done. Layer pumpkin, then ricotta, meat and add cheese sauce. Layer again with noddles, but this time, only add the rest of the pumpkin, ricotta and last bit of the cheese sauce. Cover in cheese and let cook for 20-30 minutes, or until cheese is lightly brown.

Serve and enjoy - I added a bit of lemon zest to the top of ours. It was a nice twist to the dish.

The only thing I would have probably changed is not adding something to the lasagna. It's a nice creamy and delicious meal but it lacked texture. Next time I'd add cinnamon sugar pecans possibly or sweet corn. I hope you all enjoyed my thrown to together meal. My husband wants this again in the near future.

Tomorrow stay tuned for apple caramel, shortbread tart recipe to appear on the blog.

Best Filet Mignon, EVER!

I only have one picture of this, simply because it was an experiment. I honestly, had no clue what to do with the filet mignons I pulled out of the freezer the other night and thawed. My husband said this was the best I'd ever done on a filet, and he wants it again very soon! I love when my little cooking adventures turn into something far beyond what I had imgained.

Here is everything you'll need.

For Filet:

2 6.oz Filet Mignon
1 tsp Garlic
1 tsp Mediterranean

Salt & Pepper

1/2 tsp Cilantro
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

For Homemade Mash:

4 Red Potatoes
Boiled Water
1 tsp Salt
Fresh or Frozen Spinach

For Caramelized Onions:

Yellow Onions

1 tbsp White cooking wine

Sugar


This is actually very fast and easy to cook. Fill a pot with hot water, and place the stove on medium. Put some salt in the water, cut up red potatoes with or without skin and let cook for about 30-40 mins. Once done, season to your own taste. Take a pan and cook fresh spinach until wrinkled or take frozen spinach and cook in microwave, and drain water. Add spinach to mash potatoes and set to the side.

Take filet mignon and place on a napkin for a good 30 to 60 mins before cooking to let some extra water out, so you don't end up steaming the filet, instead of pan searing it. My filet mignons came with bacon on them - if yours comes with bacon as well, heat the oven to 350 and cook the bacon for about 10 mins and set aside when done. Heat up a skillet or cast iron with a little extra virgin olive oil to coat it. Do not add any seasoning to filets before cooking them, you'll understand why afterwards! Once the skillet is heated, place bare filets into skillet and let them cook for 4-6 mins on each side for medium-rare, and longer for medium and up. When it's to your desired taste, place on a wooden cutting board that is seasoned with the seasonings recommended for the filet or experiment on your own. Place hot filets on cutting board for 5-10 mins and let the juices drain. Sprink a little more seasonings on top of filet, and let sit. You can either cut them into slices at this point or leave it whole.

You can use the same pan you cooked the spinach in for the caramelized onions so there isn't a lot of dishes to wash. Spread extra virgin olive oil on the bottom of smaller skillet pan and place the onions in, sprinkle with just a pinch or two of sugar, mix, and let sit until one side of a light brown, and add 1 tbsp white cooking wine, and let reduce and then brown the other side, and you're done.

After everything, I cut the filet mignons, placed them on top of the homemade mash mixed with spinach and then placed the bacon I set on the side on top of the filet (I cut them into smaller pieces) and last but not least, top everything off with the caramelized onions.

I hope you all enjoy! I've been so inspired lately, so many more recipes to come. <3 p="p">

Apple dip with homemade chips.

I guess, I must confess that I have a problem when it comes to apples. So many things I can do with them, whether it's with meats, desserts or veggies, they are just the one fruit that compliment each dish. I'm pretty much apple everything all year long, not just Fall. Here is another easy dish for any fellow apple lovers out there. I actually wasn't expecting this to turn out as well as it did and what a pleasant surprise that was.

Here is everything you'll need.

For the apples:

2 cored, peeled and chopped gala or pink lady apples

2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tbsp or 2 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

For the tortilla chips:
6 inch flour tortillas - I used 4
2 tbsp melted butter

cinnamon

sugar

Combine everything for the apple dip into a bowl, cover and chill until ready to serve. Brush the tortillas with butter and cut them into triangles. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place tortillas on greased pan. Sprinkle as much cinnamon and sugar as you see fit, and place into the oven for 10-12 mins. Let cool before serving!

---------------------------------

I hope you all enjoy. Everything I make is used with organic/local ingredients. I'm a firm believer in supporting your local farmers, community and making the earth a much cleaner place. The fresher the ingredients you use, the better!

I'll also be posting recipes of meals my husband and I eat for dinner. We are a very fit couple so along with sharing dessert recipes that are somewhat healthy, I'll be sharing my work out plan and meals. I look forward to motivating someone out there!

Apple rings? Yes, you heard right.

This recipe was a hit. My husband almost ate all of them from me. A very good source of fun, sweet, a little tang kick mixed with it just being perfect for Fall. I'm apple obsessed, no matter what season it is but this, I will definitely be fitting in again. I found this recipe on pinterest linked me to her: Recipe -- I adjusted this recipe just a bit for my own tastes.

Here is everything you'll need for these easy Fall treats.

For the rings:

• 1 large egg
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 pink lady apples (can use any)
• vegetable oil for frying
• cinnamon and sugar

For the icing:

• tbsp melted butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 1/4 cup powder sugar
• 1 tsp pumpkin spice

You'll need to heat up the oil, in a skillet or a cast iron skillet, while it's heating preheat oven to 400. I have a cast iron for meats and everything else, and then I have one for baking. I used my cast iron that is strictly for baking and heated the oil on medium. Whisk the egg white together until it starts to foam, then whisk in water and vanilla, once well mixed, you can then mix in the flour and salt. This will be the batter. You will need to core the apple and cut them from the side so they turn out like a circle, OR you can do what I did and use a apple peeler and corer that cuts the apples into spirals and peels them. I broke them off to create a circle with a very small line so when fried, they did not look separate.

Place apples in batter and place into hot oil. You will definitely need to turn these quite a bit before they are golden brown. You want them only to be golden and not a dark brown. Do not overload what you used to fry it because they will begin to stick together in a bad way.  Once golden brown, transfer to paper towel and sprinkle with just a little cinnamon and sugar. Place on a cooling rack or place on greased foil on cookie pan to be placed into the oven. Place in oven for 5-10 mins until crisp. Make icing by just putting everything together. Take the apple rings out of the oven and glaze with icing. Serve warm.

I hope this is just as much a hit for you, your family, or friends, as it was for me. Enjoy!

Be on the lookout for my upcoming apple salsa with cinnamon tortilla chips, peppermint bark cookies and a mud worms for kids this Halloween. 

Halloween themed hand pies.

*I'll be adding more photos later. Busy day ahead for Jerod's Welcome Home Party prep.

Since it is the month of October, I figured it was time to get more into the season. I love Halloween, my tattoos greatly reflect my love for the month, the love of everything scary, and very fun. These hand pies are extremely easy. It'd be kind of hard to mess them up! Get your favorite cookie cutters and have a field day. I followed a bit of her recipe, not much. Herriott Grace  -- I love her blog so much.

Pie dough:
2 cups flour
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 salt
2 ounces ice cold water

Filling (I used):
2 gala apples
nutmeg
cinnamon
honey or sugar
4 tbsp lemon juice

Egg Wash:
1 egg
1 tbsp heavy cream

Add flour and salt together, make sure butter is cold and add to the flour, there will be clumps, so don't worry about it. Add ice cold water, gradually until flour becomes pie dough. It can be a bit crumbly, which is okay. Wrap the dough in clear wrap and chill for about 1 hour to 4 hours.

For the filling, I cut gala apples into tiny pieces, adding lemon juice, cinammon, nutmeg, and honey to my mixture. Set this to the side

Roll out dough and use any size cookie cutter you'd like. You need two pieces of dough for each pie. Fill the pie with whatever filling you decided to use and seal the ends shut. Add egg wash. Place finished pies onto greased foil and bake for 10-15 minutes. Cooking times vary, so take them out once they are golden brown.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! I got my cookie cutters from Walmart. I used a scared cat, ghosts, a coffin, and pumpkin. It also came with a bat and vampire teeth.

Lemon Lavender Cookies.

This is how I spent my first day of Fall/Autumn, and I couldn't have been happier. I've made Lemon Lavender cookies before, but I made a small batch to make sure I liked the taste and completely forgot to blog it. You can easily find dried lavender. I thought, "Using a flower in food?! No way." and I was terrible wrong. It's delicious, its light and it adds a hint of flavor that is so hard to describe, but the buttery taste combined with a slight hint of sweetness, just brings it all together.

You'll be surprised that lemon is sweet in this and not bitter and super tangy.
Here is all the things you'll need:

2 Teaspoons Lavender
2 Whole Lemons
A Zester
2 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Butter (Two Sticks)
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Teaspoons Lemon Juice (optional)

I suggest having a food processor to make the dough, or you'll have to do it by hand and it will be tedious, yet worth it. I had to do it by hand, and I was just fine. Took a bit longer, but a little work out doesn't hurt. Haha, combine all of the ingredients and once done, place into plastic wrap and chill for at least 4-5 hours. I chilled mine for a whole 2 days. It let the dough soak up the flavor of everything much better in my opinion, but it needs to be used within 2 days. Heat the oven to 375 degrees and cook for 10-15 mins, depending on the size of the cookies. I cut mine into Fall leaves, and pumpkin mini shapes and mine only took 10 mins. They will not be golden on top, but will be toward the bottom, do not overcook them so they can still have a softer center. Cookie times vary of course, depending on size.

By the way, a zester is just a small grater. Not one you'd grate cheese with. When you zest the lemon, you are only getting the yellow part of the outside, if you grate the white you'll have very bitter cookies. You wouldn't want that.

This is honestly, the perfect light, Fall cookie that'd go great with all your teas and coffees you'll be devoring this time of year! You can use this same recipe with rosemary as well, even dried fruit if you want instead of lemons. I hope you all enjoy!

*Taken with iPhone. Working on getting photoshop back again so I can use my Nikon again. Maybe next month.

Apple Chipotle Salmon and Pumpkin puree.

*I use all organic ingredients for all who have wondered. I try to have the freshest ingredients possible.

This recipe is just in time for Fall. I looked and looked to see if I could find a recipe like this on google, and I didn't not. So, this was me playing Mad Scientist in the kitchen. It didn't come out as I expected....it came out beyond my expectations, and was simply delicious. Proud to say, this was a pair made in kitchen heaven by me.

Everyone else is making recipes for desserts and simple things to go with pumpkin, but here is a real dish for dinner, that you can really enjoy and put your pumpkin to use. Here is what you'll need:

Wild caught salmon
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Garlic
Cinnamon & Nutmeg
1/2 Tbsp Pepper
White Cooking Wine (optional)"
Marinade of your choosing

Your flavors will vary from mine, which is fine! Have fun with it, and season everything to your personal taste. I made my own fresh apple, honey chipotle sauce to marinade my salmon in. I'll have a tutorial soon for all of you!

Marinade your salmon in anything you please. Season it well, and let it sit for about an hour. I found that my salmon doubled in size and flavor when it let it sit within my marinade, that I made for 24hrs - hence, my friend telling me it looked like a chicken leg, haha. You can make pumpkin puree yourself or just buy it in a can. I bought organic pumpkin puree from Whole Foods. When I was ready, I heated the pumpkin and added a bit of raw honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin spice and milk to make it creamier.

Heat up your skillet on medium high, coat the bottom of the pan in olive oil. Pan sear salmon for 4-5 minutes on each side. It should be a hue of orange instead of red on the outside when fully done. You do not want to over cook a salmon, it is done when it easily flakes with a fork. It's better to undercook salmon, than to overcook it. Just before it is done, pour the white cooking wine and let it reduce and you're all set for dinner.

Once everything is done, serve it with sweet corn, or broccoli. Honestly, anything goes with this! Think of Fall when cooking this, have fun, just experiment. The greatest things are made by accident.

This recipe is easy enough, for those who aren't so confident in the kitchen to enjoy!

-- Be on the look out for homemade Lemon Lavender cookies for your Fall teas, and coffee.