Copycat Cranberry Bliss Bars

Starbucks, step aside! These homemade copycat Cranberry Bliss Bars are even better than the original and so satisfying to make at home. Orange extract adds a bright surprise to these holiday classics, while a perfect balance of white chocolate & cranberries makes this one of my most-requested bars all year round. Recipe lightly adapted from Belle of the Kitchen.

My pet bird smells like wet socks.

As I sit here trying to describe the bright, citrus tones and velvety rich white chocolate notes that make these Copycat Cranberry Bliss Bars so damn wonderful, all I can focus on is the … Read more

3-Ingredient Japanese Cheesecake

Asian parents rave: “This Japanese cheesecake is pretty good.

Okay, so maybe those “raving Asian parents” are my own parents, and maybe “pretty good” doesn’t sound like the most impressive praise on the Internet for a 3-Ingredient Japanese Cheesecake that my friends have subsequently called “soooooooo delicious,” “absolutely mmmmazing,” and their “new favorite dessert of all time. Ever.” But if you grew up in a household where direct praise was as rare as snow days in Los Angeles, you know exactly what I mean when I say that a verdict of “pretty good” basically means that I am Goddess … Read more

Chocolate Sablés (or Chocolate French Butter Cookies)

These crumbly chocolate sables are a twist on the classic French butter cookie and every bit as good as the original. Stuff with dark chocolate chips and white chocolate bits for an even more dynamic taste.

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The Winter Olympics are here, and we’re SNOW excited! Settling into a full-time job and life in a new part of the city has been an intense process over the past four months, but thankfully all the late-night baking has been keeping me grounded…perhaps more than I care to admit! I’m still working my way slowly but steadily through the long list of travel-inspired … Read more

White Chocolate Cookie Butter Pecan Shortbread Cookies

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BiteSizedBitsOfJoy #CollectiveBias

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My favorite phrase of the year: oldies but goldies!

As the de facto ancient dinosaur/matriarch of every one of my friend circles–I’m officially like a 22nd grader or something this year–I now love this phrase because it makes me feel…classic. And let’s be honest here: some things really do get better with age. Wine, cheese, dad jokes…my students’ end-of-year evaluations, which from now on I will only read while I am double-fisting these gorgeous White Chocolate Cookie Butter Pecan Shortbread Cookies, … Read more

No-Bake M&M’S® Cookie Butter Avalanche Bars

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MakeItAMovieNight #CollectiveBias

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Animated films are my jam, my cup of tea, my sweet love, my obsession and my vampiric life blood. If you don’t like animation, you may as well leave now because I’m pretty sure we can’t ever be friends again.

And no, you can’t have any of these bars on your way out. Hmph!

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Animated movie nights are one of my favorite bonding activities ever. If you want to find the want to my heart–because lezzbereal here, everyone does–you … Read more

Fluffy White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

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I never used to love scones. They always looked so bland sitting on the tray of continental breakfast pastries that I never gave them a second glance as I reached for an apple Danish or blueberry streusel muffin—poor dry, dusty hockey pucks!

Then a few years ago, I had my conversion moment. It happened during one of my friend’s weekly movie nights. We had all just settled down for the opening sequence of Singin’ in the Rain when she brought out a tray of scones—warm, buttery, fragrant scones that resembled their hotel counterparts about as much as Dobby looks like … Read more

No-Bake Cookie Butter Avalanche Cookies

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So apparently one of my students lives next door to me.

Forgive me if I don’t jump for joy.

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Living next door to any of my students–as you can probably imagine–isn’t exactly my idea of a delightful development. I guess this means I’ll have to actually put on pants now when I open the windows.

Kidding. I’m totally kidding. (Except maybe on laundry day.)

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Though this news has made me self-conscious enough to stop blasting Taylor Swift out the open window at odd hours of the day now, weirdly enough, my first reaction when s/he asked me if I lived … Read more

Coconut Oil Cranberry Hootycreeks {guest post for Brunch with Joy}

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Linda from Brunch with Joy and I met a few months back through Sunday Supper–she’s one of the loveliest ladies on the planet, and I immediately fell in love with her vibrant blog. Since I began blogging back in 2012, I’ve had the chance to meet so many amazing people like Linda from every nook and cranny of the internet. Today, I’m the lucky gal who’s guest posting on her blog–check it out!

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In today’s post, I’m sharing a very near-and-dear story about one of my closest friends, M. We met in the unlikeliest of circumstances, separated … Read more

Homemade Snickerdoodle Peanut Butter for #SundaySupper

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Last year was the year of the spoon.

I had my spoon in everything and anything delicious that could be spread, dipped, or straight-up eaten. Hummus, jelly, cookie butter, sweetened condensed milk, ice cream, and of course…

Peanut butter. Did I mention that the bottom of my mouth and the sides of my tongue have started swelling a bit when I eat peanut butter too many days in a row now? Because they do. I get the vague feeling (as I sit here with my spoonful of peanut butter hanging out of my mouth) I should be cutting back. Three … Read more

Coconut Oil White Chocolate + Chocolate Chip Cookies

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There are two types of people in this world who can afford to wait around for miracles to change their lives.

Immortals, and dead people.

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I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t spend the better part of my many daydreams sighing after a miracle to sweep me off my feet. Usually this miracle saunters up in the guise of a tall, gorgeous man with a charming smile and perfectly manicured fingers sweeping through wind-tossed dark bangs, but sometimes it’s a publishing contract for my new YA novel or–if I’ve been watching one too many interviews of The Hunger Read more