Contact Info

Hey there, cookie! 

My very favorite part of blogging, I mean besides the SUGAR, is the connection and friendship with other bloggers and bakers and readers.  Since starting the blog, I've tried to be diligent about answering emails.  Unfortunately, balancing baking, blogging, picture editing, volunteering and playing Uno with my boys doesn't leave much time for email (or cleaning the baseboards).  I've thought of making my kiddo my "email assistant," but really, a reply from a tween-age boy might be scary.

So, please know that I still LOVE to hear from you and see your cookie pictures.  It pains me to say that I can't respond to every email.  Hopefully the answers you need are on the blog (see links below).

COOKIE QUESTIONS?
{...also try the search bar in the upper right corner of the blog}

• troubleshooting
• f.a.q's
• royal icing 102 (lots of q & a on this post, too)
  
• the vlog: University of Cookie (videos of cookie decorating techniques)
• cookie design inspiration: check the cookie index
  
• and, my favorite cookie recipe for decorating? It's in the Recipe Index. 

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading the blog! ♥

Email: cookies350{AT}gmail{DOT}com

{The BEST way to ask a quick cookie question or to say hey, reach out to me on twitter.}

If you'd like to subscribe to Bake at 350, click here.

Cookie Index

♥ Under Construction!♥

Recipe Index

Bread

• cranberry-pecan rye bread
• pumpkin bread
• poppy seed bread
  

Breakfast

• lemon blueberry pancakes
• homemade, whole-grain pancake mix
• cream cheese triangles (diet killers)
• english muffins (link)
• meyer lemon-vanilla scones
• banana cinnamon chip muffins
• pumpkin cream cheese
• chocolate pumpkin mini-muffins
• chocolate banana spa muffins
• vanilla pumpkin muffins
• pumpkin cheddar muffins 

Brownies & Blondies

• caramel brownies
• toffee blondies
• chocolate chip cookie dough brownies
• sweet & salty brownies
• peanut butter chocolate chip bars
• pretzel m&m blondies
  

Cake

• can't beet it cake (link)
• coconut cake
• vanilla bean pound cake
• pumpkin whoopie pies
• pink lemon angel cake
• vanilla bean buttermilk cake with amaretto buttercream
• almond-crusted butter cake
• chocolate mint icebox cake
  

Cake Truffles (how-to's and ideas)

• red velvet
• mint chocolate chip
• chocolate gingerbread
• chai spice
• pumpkin spice
• pink velvet

Cheesecake

• no-bake freezer cheesecake
• Julia's triple-decker cheesecake
• candy bar cheesecake 
• light(ish) chocolate cheesecake squares

Cookies

• my favorite sugar cookie (cut-outs) for decorating
• brown sugar & spice cut-out cookies
• lemon cut-out cookies
• gingerbread cut-out cookies
• chocolate cut-out cookies
  
• kick {cancer's} butt cookies
• key lime pie bars
• chocolate chip cookies (link)
• luscious lime cookies (link)
• crisp chocolate chip shortbread
• 1-2-3-4 peanut butter cookies
• caramel apple bars
• candy-corn cookies
• oatmeal cookies
• soft oatmeal cookies
• witchy wormy cookies
• homemade Oreos
• homemade chocolate-filled Nutter Butters
• peanut butter blossoms
• pecan snowballs
  

Cupcakes

• 4th of July cupcakes
• April Fool's cupcakes (meatloaf & mashed potato)
• homemade Hostess cupcakes
• Mother's Day "faux-stess" Cupcakes
• German chocolate cupcakes
• zucchini spice cupcakes
• chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes
• coconut cupcakes
  

Ice Cream

• ice cream sandwich dessert
• chocolate sorbet
• key lime pie ice cream
• turtle ice cream pie, revisited
• turtle ice cream pie
• vanilla-cinnamon ice cream
• oatmeal cookie ice cream sandwiches
• brownie batter ice cream
• dastardly mash ice cream
• mocha-toffee terrine
• coconut almond ice cream drumsticks
  

Icing & Frosting

• royal icing
  
• homemade fondant
• brown sugar cookie dough frosting
  

Muffins

• banana cinnamon chip muffins
• chocolate pumpkin mini-muffins
• chocolate banana spa muffins
• pumpkin cheddar muffins
• vanilla pumpkin muffins 

Pies & Tarts

• Texas peach pie
• turtle ice cream pie
• honeyed yogurt blueberry tart (link)
• pumpkin whoopie pies
• milk chocolate pretzel tart
• cranberry apple pie
• mini pecan pies
• not-so-Key Lime Pie
• graham cracker crust
• caramel pecan pie
  

Scones

• meyer lemon-vanilla scones
• peanut butter-banana scones

Other sweet stuff

• chocolate quesadillas
• pretty in pink krispies
• caramel apple salad 
• alien juice smoothies 
• valentine conversation heart bark
• peppermint chocolate bark

Savory stuff

• goat cheese & leek tart
• gouda biscotti
• dijon potato salad

Beef Stew

A gluten-free beef stew recipe to warm your bones.

This recipe is a surprise- even to me. Beef stew? You wouldn't expect a Vegetarian Goddess to create and fall in love with a beef stew recipe, but that is precisely what happened this weekend. Shocking? 

Tell me about it.

Just when you think you've got your life all figured out, and your tastes and preferences arranged in a tidy packet of self-identification and veggie piety- all Hades breaks loose. Celiac. Food allergies. Broken hip.

Suddenly, your food-world view is quite literally flipped on its leafy little head. No whole wheat pasta or legumes for protein. No soy. No more savory white bean ragout, and- worst of all- no peanut butter, which means no more African Sweet Potato & Bean Soup.

So, after my orthopedic surgeon's instructions to "eat lots of  animal protein" to support the healing of my hip fracture, my husband and I decided to try our collective hands at making our very first beef stew.

The first beef stew of our marriage.

And what did I do as I spooned the first taste into my nervous, quivering mouth? Gentle Reader, I swooned like a virgin in a bodice ripper. I sighed. I slurped. Oh my! I murmured through one spoonful after another.

Wow, said my partner in crime as he smacked his lips, This is mighty damn tasty.

Continue reading

Chocolate Chip Cookies and Vanilla Brownies

Vanilla Brownie? Or Cookie Bar? You decide.

First- thank you all for your kind and compassionate wishes for a speedy recovery from emergency hip surgery. Such fabulous readers you are- every one of you. As our Italian friend, Sandra, once said to us- in her dead gorgeous Tuscan accent-  

I love you too much!

I feel human again. Yesterday (day nine post-surgery) this sticky, prickly goddess got to sit inside the shower (they make these nifty portable shower seats now) and- Aphrodite-blessed relief!- indulge in twenty sexy minutes of hot steamy bliss. Hawaiian shampoo. Rainbath lather. Leg shaving!

One lesson a broken hip teaches you? It's the little things in life that count. The simple luxury of taking a shower shoots to gold star status- the genuine, beyond spectacular highlight of the day. Pulling on a soft clean shirt? Heaven. Sitting upright, freshly shampooed and moisturized with Eternity lotion? Divine. Twirling pasta in olive oil and garlic- in bed- next to your husband? It doesn't get any better than this.

And then there are chocolate chip cookies (that are egg-free and dairy-free- earning them treasured vegan status). They also happen to be gluten-free, wheat-free, bean-free, soy-free and nut-free. Perfect for all those cute-as-a-button multi-allergic tykes out there. Not to mention, gluten-free vegan goddesses.

Last night Steve helped me make these as cookie bars, in the style of my old tried and true favorite chocolate chip cookie bar recipe- and, Babycakes, they were a damn good match. I named them Vanilla Brownies. My trick was a small cheat. A dab of butter flavor extract. I don't usually turn to artificial flavors (in fact, this is a first for me), but when you are allergic to most natural flavors and buckets of other foods and your taste buds crave a buttery sweet treat, this decidedly un-foodie goddess figures--- Why the Hades not? But if it horrifies you to use it, Darling Reader- and just the very thought of it keeps you up at night worrying about the integrity of the cookie universe- leave it out. It's one quarter of a teaspoon. Sub it with vanilla. Do your thing. 

It's all good.

Continue reading

Screwed! But Sparky and Esteban Save the Day

Meet Sparky.

He's my new bed and blanket companion. Looking at him makes me smile. After the fall- there's an awful lot of imagery, sensation and emotion refracting inside this more-than-slightly addled post hip surgery brain of mine (this is a thinly veiled mea culpa for any bad writing that follows) but I wanted to send out a heartfelt thanks- lickity split!- to all of you, for your kind notes and sweet messages. I cherish every one.

My world has been whittled down to a queen size bed and some 800 square feet of floor space. I must keep- totally- off my left leg for a minimum of eight weeks to give my fractured femoral neck (screwed back together with three titanium screws) a fighting chance.

If you're a betting soul, here are the odds of me keeping my own hip: 50/50.

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Update...from Alex

Hello everyone --

Late Wednesday night my mother- Karina- fell and broke her hip, fracturing the neck of the femur above the proximal line. Since then, she has been through surgery to repair the damage and is recovering well. With any luck, she and Steve will be making the transition back to the casita to continue her recovery in the comforts of home, and will be back to posting on her blog in a few days. I know she is looking forward to getting in touch with all of her friends, fans and fellow bloggers.

-- Alex