Carrot Ginger Muffins

These carrot ginger muffins have the same flavors of carrot cake, including cinnamon, golden raisins, and pecans. Now you can have your cake every day without too much guilt!

These carrot muffins are very gingery, with both fresh and ground ginger in the batter. There's also more than a hint of cinnamon to amp up the spiciness.

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Shallots, Thyme, and Brie

This twice-baked sweet potato casserole dish is perfect as a side for the holidays. 

This is the perfect make-ahead side dish for a holiday dinner. Once you have baked the potatoes and mixed in the ingredients, you can cover and refrigerate the assembled dish and then bake it while your roast is resting.

Garlic Naan with Green Chiles

This garlic naan with green chiles is pretty hard to not love. It's wonderful hot and straight from the oven, slathered with ghee (clarified butter) and sprinkled with Kosher or sea salt. I pretty much scarfed down the first piece while baking the rest of the pieces of this dough.

Naan is a yeasted flatbread. It is traditionally baked in a tandoor clay oven, where it is placed on the side of the clay heated to 800 degrees F to cook for just a couple of minutes. 

Pogens Ginger Snaps (Copycat)

These Pogens Ginger Snaps are thin, crispy, and have just the right amount of ginger.

If you were around in the 70s and 80s in southern California, you must remember Pogens ginger snaps. They came in a bag with a Swedish-style logo, but they were made in a bakery local to the Los Angeles area.

Pecan Caramel Tassies

Pecan Tassies are tiny little pecan pies and a delicious Christmas must-bake dessert. 

I've baked and cooked a lot of pecan treats lately, including pecan brittle, chocolate and pecan butter cups, and pecan butterscotch shortbread cookies, and I have rediscovered how good pecans are.

Pecan Tassies

Pecan Tassies are basically little mini pecan pies. This version has a twist. They are topped with a dab of caramel sauce, a few more bits of pecan, and sprinkled with flaky sea salt.

Dundee Cake | Scottish Fruit Cake

Dundee cake is a traditional Scottish Christmas fruit cake. There are lots of versions, but what they all have in common are gorgeous concentric circles of blanched almonds on top, a boozy glaze, and orange zest in the batter.

Because Dundee cake is Scottish, the dried fruit is traditionally soaked in whisky. However, you can use rum, cognac, bourbon, or brandy. I used brandy to soak the dried fruit that is in this cake as well as to make the orange marmalade glaze.

Asian Pear and Smoked Sausage Flatbread Pizza

This Asian Pear and Smoked Sausage Flatbread Pizza is both sweet and savory. The no knead dough is so easy to make as well. 

This Asian Pear and Smoked Sausage Flatbread Pizza also includes red onions tossed in fresh thyme and olive oil, all baked on a bed of Fontina cheese.

After making this apple and ham pizza, which was so delicious, I thought I'd play around with Asian pears on pizza! Way better than pineapple.

Spicy Sausage, Bell Pepper, and Corn Soup

This spicy sausage, bell pepper, and corn soup is big on flavor and super easy to make.

This sausage and pepper soup is both hearty and light. Each bowl is filled with just a little bit of everything included in the soup. The broth is super flavorful too. There's the umami from Worcestershire sauce as well as one of my favorite finds, sherry vinegar.

Portuguese Fish Stew (Caldeirada de Peixe)

This Portuguese Fish Stew is a light yet comforting meal. Called Caldeirada de Peixe in Portugal, it's easy to make, and the recipe is very flexible.

Caldeirada de peixe is typically made with onions, garlic, tomatoes, red peppers, stock or water, white wine, and a mixture of whitefish and shellfish. Like Brazilian moqueca, it includes a mixture of white fish and shellfish, but it's less spicy and there is no coconut milk.

Melody Cookies (copycat)

These Melody cookies are crispy and cocoa-flavored, and perfect for dunking into coffee, tea, or a glass of milk.

I'm sharing this post and recipe for Christmas Cookies Week! I was sent samples from the sponsors of our giveaway but opinions are 100% mine.

While I don't remember them, according to Dorie Greenspan in her book, Dorie's Cookies (affiliate link), Nabisco made these cookies until sometime in the 1970s, when they discontinued producing them.

Pecan Butterscotch Shortbread Cookies

These pecan butterscotch shortbread cookies, loaded with chopped toasted pecans, chopped milk chocolate, brown sugar, and butter, plus a secret ingredient, are soft and tender.

This post and recipe were created for Christmas Cookies Week! I was sent samples by some of the sponsor companies but as always opinions are 100% mine.

These pecan shortbread cookies will call your name from the cookie tin, enticing you back for "just one more."

Roti (Indian Flat Bread)

Roti is an unleavened Indian flatbread made with whole wheat flour (atta) and baked on a hot skilled.

Roti (also known as Chapatis) is rolled out thinner than naan, but is still sturdier than parathas. It's similar to whole wheat tortillas, but just slightly thicker. It's the perfect vehicle for eating stews and curries. Tear off a piece, stuff it with the curry, and enjoy.

Speculoos (Belgian Spice Cookies)

You will love these speculoos, spicy and crispy Belgian spice cookies.

These cookies are flavored with cinnamon, coriander, allspice, cloves, and brown sugar. They are a lot like Biscoff cookies, but lighter and crispier.

Blueberry Mini Pies

These blueberry mini pies are the perfect little dessert for a holiday buffet.

Aren't they cute?

These blueberry mini pies are a little rustic looking, because the blueberry filling bubbles up while baking, but that just adds to their charm, right?

Breakfast Nachos

These breakfast nachos are loaded with hash browns, sausage, two kinds of cheese, jalapeños, and topped with fried eggs. 

These nachos are wonderful for a weekend breakfast, and if you need it, the perfect hangover cure.

Cranberry Buckle

Serve this cranberry buckle with a crumb topping at your next holiday brunch! 

This cranberry buckle also has a hint of candied ginger in the dough. It's a little surprise in each bite. It's really tasty with a cup of coffee or tea, and it's a pretty special pot luck cake.

This buckle is also a wonderful dessert. The tart cranberries add such a bright and tart dimension to the cake, with just enough moisture, but not so much that they make the cake soggy the way stone fruits might. They are very similar to blueberries in texture, shape, and weight.

Chorizo Nachos

You will want to make these chorizo nachos the next time you have a few friends over for game day.

These chorizo nachos begin with restaurant-style corn chips that are drizzled with melty Jack cheese sauce, topped with spicy chorizo, and a sprinkling of cilantro and chives.

Honey-Soy Glazed Chicken Wings and The Jubilee Cookbook Review

These honey-soy glazed chicken wings are infused with a savory-sweet marinade of soy sauce, ginger, garlic, dark brown sugar, and just a hint of minced Scotch bonnet pepper.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the Jubilee Recipes Cookbook in exchange for my honest review. 

These honey-soy glazed chicken wings are from the wonderful new cookbook, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African-American Cooking by Toni Tipton-Martin.

Cranberry Glazed Meatballs

Check out these cranberry glazed meatballs in a sweet and spicy sauce! Don't you think they'd make a delicious holiday appetizer? 

The sauce for these meatballs is so tangy and bright. I'm pretty sure these will be the first appetizer to disappear at your holiday party.

Homemade Salted Caramels

I am very excited about these homemade salted caramels. They are just as delicious as the caramels you'll find in a gourmet candy shop. They are so unbelievably tasty!

I've been totally intimidated about making candy. For example, what the heck is "hard ball stage?" How is it different than "soft crack stage?" How do these caramels end up chewy while this pecan brittle ends up crunchy?

Orange Cranberry Sauce

This Orange Cranberry Sauce is such an easy-to-make holiday side dish.

This year, skip the canned cranberries. It's so easy to make cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries. Plus, you can add flavors to the cranberry sauce, such as port wine and spices.