All posts filed under: Dessert

Eggnog Rice Pudding

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We are on to day seven of my #12DaysOfChristmas series, and today I’m giving you a delicious recipe that can be served as a holiday dessert or even as a holiday breakfast. This recipe for Eggnog Rice Pudding is very festive and will warm you up and keep you energized this holiday season. Thanks to my friend Pauline who suggested this idea as a blog post for this series! Which Variety of Rice to Use? I’ve made (and eaten) lots of rice pudding in my day, so speaking from experience, I have a key variety of rice that I like to use in my rice pudding recipe. Arborio Rice is my favourite because it is short-grained and really starchy. These properties really make the rice pudding nice and sticky and thick, just like the rice pudding should be! Unlike most recipes, I do not like to pre-cook my rice. I find that it doesn’t turn out creamy enough and the milk doesn’t get a chance to really infuse through each rice grain. So instead, I …

Hot Chocolate & Cookie Pairings for the Holidays

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I am back with the second post of my #12DaysOfChristmas series here on my blog! And today I have a fun YouTube video for you all! Hot chocolate is one of my favourite treats to have during the cold months and cookies are my favourite treat to have during the holiday season. Naturally, I decided to combine my two favourite treats and come up with a tasty pairing! You can watch my YouTube video to see how I made the hot chocolate and cookie recipes, or you can continue reading down below! Peppermint Hot Chocolate & Peppermint Crinkle Cookie During the winter months, peppermint is one of my favourite flavours! It’s so refreshing and soothing and tastes great in just about any dessert! I’ve added a dash of peppermint extract into my Peppermint Hot Chocolate recipe and in my Peppermint Crinkle Cookie recipe to make them taste delicious and festive for the holidays. This cookie recipe is also gluten-free which is amazing! White Hot Chocolate & Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies White Hot Chocolate has a …

Chocolate Ganache Tart

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Love is sweet. Love is salty. Love is this Chocolate Ganache Tart. If there is one thing that I must have every Valentine’s Day, it’s got to be a chocolate dessert. And when I say chocolate dessert, I mean pure chocolate. No chocolate covered fruit or anything like that– chocolate must be the star! This year, I would have to say that I hit it out of the park with this sinfully rich Chocolate Ganache Tart! This tart is so decadent (thanks to two kinds of chocolate and some whipping cream) that you only need to eat a small slice to get that chocolate fix. This is great since this tart can be shared amongst a large group of people, or enjoyed over the course of a few days by you and your loved one! 😉 Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate There are two basic elements to this Chocolate Ganache Tart. First is the chocolate tart base that gets its chocolate flavour from unsweetened cocoa powder. The second (and arguably the most impressive) is the …

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

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‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, all the creatures were stirring….because you made these cute and tasty Cinnamon Roll Cookies! It’s a tradition in my family to always wake up on Christmas morning to a freshly baked batch of cinnamon rolls. The bliss of a freshly baked, warm cinnamon roll only lasts momentarily since we gobble them up so fast. And through self control, we only make one batch (our waistline probably thanks us for that :P). But since cinnamon and sugar is such a great combination for the holidays and I think it needs to be enjoyed more than just on Christmas morning. I made these teensy, bite-sized Cinnamon Roll Cookies to continue to enjoy the flavours throughout the holiday season! For the full recipe for my Cinnamon Roll Cookies, click here! I hope that you enjoyed the #12DaysOfChristmas series as much as I did! I sure did enjoy eating and giving away all these cookies to my friends and family! Let me know in the comments below which cookie recipe …

Homemade Chocolate Turtles

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OK, so this may not be a cookie recipe, but I just had to include these tasty sweets in my #12DaysOfChristmas series! You may know these caramely, choclatey and crunchy candies as Sweet Georgia Browns or Pecan Clusters, but I have always recognized these candies as Turtles. You often see these candies come out around the holiday season. They come packaged in their tall, iconic orange and white striped box. On the front of the box is their little mascot– a turtle dressed to the nines in a tuxedo, top hat, cane and monocle. Super fancy, right? While these candies are easy to buy (and taste delicious) I have come up with a homemade version for all the adventurous cooks out there in my recipe for Homemade Chocolate Turtles! I have to warn you, this is not an easy recipe to make whenever you feel like it. Don’t decide to make these on a whim on a weeknight or if you have some place to be in the next 2-3 hours. This requires some planning, concentration, and …

Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

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If there is something better than plain old chocolate, it’s having two kinds come together in a cookie recipe. This recipe for Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies are perfect to make for young kids and adults alike, because let’s face it, who doesn’t love chocolate and peppermint around the holidays? These Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies we’re inspired by one of my favourite holiday drinks: Peppermint Hot Chocolate. Many coffee shops and cafés serve this drink during the holiday season since it is so warming and comforting! I enjoy the richness and creaminess of the hot chocolate itself, but the peppermint adds a wonderful refreshing flavour to it! I knew that I had to make a cookie based on this popular holiday drink! These cookies have a traditional chocolate cookie base that is fudgy and tender. However, rather than adding dark, semisweet, or milk chocolate chips to the cookies, I add white chocolate chips. I really enjoy the sweetness from the white chocolate and the pops of white embedded within the chocolate cookie make it look very …

Coconut Macaroon Christmas Trees

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For the 9th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a gluten-free cookie recipe! Welcome back to the 12 Days of Christmas! If you are looking for an easy, gluten-free cookie recipe this holiday season, look no further than this recipe for Coconut Macaroons. These Coconut Macaroons get a festive update as they are shaped like little Christmas trees. With a light dusting of icing sugar, these beautiful cookies make a gorgeous and edible winter arrangement! Check out the full recipe below! Coconut Macaroon Christmas Trees Servings: 12-15 tree-shaped cookies, or about 24 round cookies Difficulty: Easy Prep Time:  15 minutes   |   Cook Time: 20 minutes   |   Total Time: 35 minutes Ingredients:  3 egg whites, beaten 1/2 cup icing sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 4 cups sweetened, shredded coconut Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and sugar together until the eggs have become foamy and the sugar has dissolved. …

Maple Bacon Shortbread Cookies

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Have you ever heard of bacon in cookies? It seems like a completely outrageous concept… but after lots of testing, I can say that these cookies are amazing and definitely worth a try this holiday season. For the 8th day of my #12DaysOfChristmas series, I give you my Maple Bacon Shortbread Cookies. If you recall, a few posts back, I wrote out my grandma’s famous Shortbread Cookie recipe. This Maple Bacon Shortbread Cookies use the same base recipe, just with a little less sugar and more bacon 😛 These cookies feature two of my favourite local Vancouver Island products and they just so happen to compliment each other perfectly! Local Bacon In this recipe, I use my favourite local bacon from Red Barn Markets. This bacon is always cut to the perfect thickness and has just the right amount of smoky and sweet flavour. I enjoy this bacon on just about anything, but I never thought to put it into cookies until I was developing my recipes a few months back. Just as I suspected, the …

Orange & Almond Biscotti

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I couldn’t let the holidays pass us by without featuring an Italian cookie in my #12DaysOfChristmas series! Growing up in a part-Italian family, we always looked forward to the Italian treats and desserts. From tiramisu to cannoli we had it all! But my all-time favourite dessert recipe (which just so happens to be a cookie recipe) is Biscotti. Biscotti are a very divisive cookie; some people love them and some people really dislike them. I personally enjoy the hard, crunchy and crumbly texture of these cookies, especially when enjoyed the traditional way with a espresso or tea. They get their hard texture from being baked twice. The dough is first formed into a large log and baked whole. After that, the log is sliced into pieces and baked once again to really dry out the biscotti cookies. There are endless biscotti recipes and flavours out there, but I really love this combination of  Orange and Almond. Almond biscotti are very traditional, but the flavour of these biscotti are elevated with the addition of orange zest, …

Gluten-Free Almond Thumbprint Cookies

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I didn’t forget about my Gluten-Free friends during the #12DaysOfChristmas! I have made this delicious and not-too-sweet cookie recipe using almond flour and whole almonds. These Gluten-Free Almond Thumbprint Cookies are inspired by may grandma’s almond cookie that she makes every Christmas. While hers are made with ground almonds, marzipan and flour, I am keeping my recipe 100% gluten-free. These cookies are much lighter but pack a ton of almond flavour just like my grandma’s recipe. In this recipe, I use ground almond flour, almond extract and whole almonds to give these cookies lots of flavour and texture. The ground almond flour makes the cookie crumble nicely and have a bit of a bite while the almond extract adds a deep almond flavour. The whole almond on top of the cookie adds lots of crunch and texture. These cookies have everything you are looking for! To get the full recipe for my Gluten-Free Almond Thumbprint Cookies, click here!