Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Crisps
Dear 7 year old Tracy,
I'm watching you. You're sitting at Taco Bell with your brothers scarfing down cinnamon crisps. At your age, Taco Bell isn't a scary place. You always order the Mexican Pizza and there's only like 10 options on the menu. Today there's a GAZILLION. You don't even know about that crazy annoying Chihuahua yet! Consider yourself lucky. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this place as an adult. Your parents did the right thing and only took you out to fast food restaurants sparingly. You won't understand how important that is until later on in your life but I promise it will be worth it. Sorry for the lecture. Apparently you've turned into one of THOSE adults. Have I lost you?
Let's talk about those cinnamon crisps you like soo much! Taco Bell stopped making them. They went through dozens of incarnations, but never returned to what you are eating now. Don't fret. The 31 year old version of you JUST made some. If I could go back in time and give you this recipe sooner, I would. Sorry-time travel isn't a done deal yet.
These cinnamon sugar tortilla crisps are crunchy and ooooh so yummy! Your son Cooper LOVED them and your husband, Casey begged you to make some more. Yes, at 31 you will have a son and a husband. So that little M.A.S.H. game you played was wrong. You don't live in a shack and you aren't married to Joey McIntyre with 12 kids. Ok, get back to what you are doing. Enjoy your life and keep up the good work!
Love,
31 year old Tracy
p.s. I served some of these with Baked Mangoes & Blueberries. Don't worry, you'll learn to like mangoes!
Monkey Bread Minis
I wish alarm clocks had built-in smell alarms. Why haven't we figured this out yet?! Imagine the possibilities!! You wouldn't have a problem getting up for a 6am flight if the smell of these cinnamony Monkey Bread Minis assaulted you. Now to think of it...the 13 year old Tracy would have set my brother's alarm clock to rotten farts at 4am.
OK we NEED to make this happen.
If you are familiar with monkey bread, then you should know that this recipe doesn't produce a doughy/yeasty pull apart roll. It's like a hybrid of a cinnamon roll (taste wise) and an old fashion donut (texturally). Yes. DONUT. The best part is that there's no yeast stress involved. Yup, yeast stresses me out when I'm not properly caffeinated. There I said it. I think little hands would love dipping dough into butter & cinnamon sugar. When I get over my fears of Cooper's messy sticky cinnamon fingers on our micro suede couch, I'll totally do it. For sure!
You'll enjoy putting every last piece into your mouth hole. I know I did.
Scrambled Egg Turnovers
Dearest Organic Free Range Eggs,
I'm sorry I failed you. You totally needed a win; especially with all this bad press about eggs giving people salmonella. This turnover recipe made me think that you needed to be *set* before I tucked you into a pocket of puff pastry and let you slumber in my hot oven. Little did I know that you would turn out overdone! I'm now know that I should have followed the 1 minute the recipe suggested rather than the 3 minutes I insisted on. Would that have meant you would have been super runny on the puff pastry? Hmmm...
Thank god the zucchini, puff pastry & melted cheddar made up for your shortcomings. I heard that my Mom's green salad was delighted to join you on the plate for lunch! You two make such an excellent couple! I took a picture of you two! I think it turned out pretty nice!
I hope that you accept my sincere apology. Maybe next time I'll include some bacon with the zucchini & cheese mixture? Sound good?
I look forward to seeing you soon! Maybe in tomorrow's breakfast? You free?
Forever yours,
Tracy
Orange Hazelnut Biscotti
I briefly mentioned that my oven broke this summer. We got a new one. It's fantastic. I love it. It works like a charm! Would you believe that I spent close to three days figuring out what it's maiden baking voyage would be!?! I will now share with you the recipe that popped my oven's cherry. Hazelnut biscotti!
As a child, I never really understood the appeal of biscotti. Through kid goggles, they were an icky grownup "treat." I'd watch my dad dip a ridiculous amount of biscotti in a short class of Vin Santo and wanted to gag. I always thought dipping a cookie into something that wasn't milk was weird, but now as a grown up I totally get it. These biscotti don't need to be dipped in ANYTHING. They have TONS of flavor on their own. A nice cappuccino or some milky tea would be a good companion---but that's it. Notes of orange, spicy anise undertones & crunchy toasted hazelnuts will assault you with each bite. They're delightful!
So yeah- I'm a grown up and I love biscotti. I'm always surprised at how easy they are to make. Some people think that because they are baked twice, it means more work in the kitchen. It's really not that bad!! I find cutting up the baked "logs" to be quite therapeutic (WEIRDO alert). It's really nice to see a huge batch of cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet that have no risk of melting & sticking to each other. To me, that is worth any "extra" effort. Another upside- they last in an air tight container for a few weeks. They taste soo good that you might not have any around that long enough to find out...
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Blueberry Pie
I made this pie for my dad because:
1. It was his 64th birthday.
2. He loves blueberry pie.
3. I love him!
4. I wanted to impress my family with homemade pie crust. (And did!)
Oh! This pie!! There were times I felt like giving up because the dough was being a bit obnoxious when I was rolling it out. Parts of it crumbled and I felt like all I was doing was piecing it together. I mostly blame the temperature outside mixed with my lack of patience. It also didn't help that I drank a bunch of wine the night before with my family and didn't sleep well. With a glass of red wine and a long deep sigh, I finished what I started. There's nothing that says I love you more than a homemade blueberry pie. Right? We devoured this fantastic lemon scented blueberry pie. My dad was proud, and we had such a wonderful evening!
Happy Birthday Dad! And thank you to Martha Stewart. This recipe worked out fabulously!
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Sandi’s Blackberry Crumb Cake
This cake disappeared from my kitchen counter in less than 24 hours. I'm not ashamed because I've already faced the fact that I have no intention of putting a bathing suit on this summer. Fat juicy blackberries suspended in a moist cake loaded with a pecan crumb topping. What could be better? Now that breakfast is covered, what's for lunch?
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Raspberry Linzer Cheese Danishes
I am rushing to get this post out to you because I want to give you enough time to gather the ingredients for your breakfast tomorrow! Pay attention. These danishes are AMAZING. Crispy flaky outside meets chewy gooey inside. Raspberry jam, marzipan & cream cheese unite to give your taste buds a happy dance! You will be amazed that you made these! You will also realize how much these trump the tired old store bought fruit/cheese danishes you are used to eating. Just wait until you taste one that's still warm! Prepare to be thoroughly impressed!
You shouldn't worry about folding the puff pastry. I was nervous that they were going be totally ugly because I made quite a mess in the process. I went through like 3 different styles of folding the dough on the first batch to see which one worked best. They all did. The combo of the toasted almonds and the sugar drizzle on top will mask any imperfections. And if they are still not perfect, one bite will tame that O.C.D. beast you have inside you. When I say YOU, I really mean ME. The end.
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Brown Sugar Berry Cobbler
I made this recipe on Father's day primarily because I know my dad loves blueberries and is not a huge fan of super sweet desserts. I also knew that it would be a good medium for his whipped cream loving tendencies! Although he spends most of his time denying it, he does like dessert. When I see him indulge, it makes me sooo happy; I could scream! He loved this Brown Sugar Berry Cobbler and so did the rest of the fam! We had a very few leftovers after the 5 of us were served, and no whipped cream was left in sight! Strong work, Dad!
I should note that I was able to whip up this recipe, take pictures, carry on a conversation with my mom in the kitchen, and put away dishes during the whole process. If that doesn't give you an idea of how easy it is, then I don't know what will! This recipe also has a lot of room for improvisation. Because I didn't have enough of the blueberries & blackberries for the original recipe, I added 4 yellow peaches to the mix. It added a nice texture to the end result. A perfect summer dessert, for sure! Let's get our cobbler on!
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