Challah by Chand

Classic Challah [hand-method]

It’s that time of year again — grab your dreidels, and make some challah!

Regardless of your religious affiliation or lack thereof, anybody can make and appreciate a good challah.  In fact, challah may be best-appreciated the following day in the form of Challah French Toast, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.

SRP #12: O Granol-y Night

In the world of dentistry, “SRP” stands for “Scaling and Root Planing,” a super thorough deep-clean.  In the world of FoodSwingBlog, “SRP” stands for “Short Recipe Post,” a condensed, flavor-packed post with minimal added comedic fillers and no high fructose corn syrup. 

Banana, Nutella, & Almond Granola

One cannot live on cookies alone.        ~Confucius

O Come All Ye Basil

Citrus-Basil Pinwheels

Basil?  In a cookie??  Why not?!  After all, Colorado’s all about herb these days, maybe we should all hop on board.

‘Floral Week’ on the most recent season of The Great British Bake Off really got me thinking.  Though I’m certainly not a cookie traditionalist by any means [browse my <Recipes> tab for details], I tend to stay in my cookie safe-space, experimenting mostly with familiar flavors – vanilla, mint, cinnamon, nutmeg, chocolate, salt, etc.  I use lots of fresh and dried herbs in my cooking, but I have yet to really get my feet wet incorporating herbs into dessert foods.  So, here went nothing!

March of the Penguins

Mint Hot Cocoa Penguins

Perhaps I should’ve titled this post ‘December of the Penguins’ instead 😉

Continuing the long-running theme of my odd collection of cookie cutters (turkeys, teeth, and trees) and my short-term theme of holiday cookies, now seems like a great time to feature my festively-shaped, seasonally-flavored penguin cookies!

Going Soft

Honey Brown Butter Soft Pretzels

“I have to put these pretzels in the all-time top 5 of your creations.”  ~Tom  {CONTEXTUAL NOTE:  I make A LOT of ‘creations.’}

Hearing those beautiful words confirmed that I finally won the soft pretzel game.  Incidentally, Tom has been absolved of the need to buy me Christmas presents for the next 5 years.

Merry Mocha

Espresso Nutella Sandwiches

I’m on a bit of a “spread” kick of late.  Cookie butter, Nutella, straight-up peanut butter, and a rare-yet-dangerously-addicting find:  cookie dough flavored organic peanut butter (if your keyboard just short-circuited from a big drool dribble, my apologies).  These creamy, yet SUPER nutrient-dense condiments call to me constantly, like the Sirens to Odysseus in Homer’s high-school staple read, The Odyssey.

As such, I’ve been trying to find vehicles for them that will force a bit of portion control — the fact that I’m using cookies as these “vehicles” is beside the point (see my latest post for a fabulous use for cookie butter:  White Chocolate Spiced Speculoos Cookies).  I need to give my finger, [ahem], I mean, spoon, a break.

Santa’s Spice List

White Chocolate Spiced Speculoos Cookies

Now is the time, my friends, the time for copious Christmas Cookie postings, barrages of beautifully bedecked baked goods, and elastic-waist EVERYTHING.  Personally, I can’t resist joining in; December is one of my favorite times of the year — everyone becomes a baker!!!

No need to get saucy!

Potato Bacon Pizza

Before fully immersing myself in holiday baking, I figured I’d do a non-cookie, non-cake, non-pie post — a pre-holiday recipe cleanse, if you will.