Well, this was yummy!

Bake for about 30-35 minutes. They should start to appear golden around the outer edges and on the top. You also want to make sure the middle of the batter is set. (Insert a knife to see if it comes out clean.) 

After sitting out for about 10 minutes, remove the dessert by holding onto the parchment paper and transfer to a cooling rack so the bottom doesn't become soggy from the strawberries. (If this is proving to be difficult, you may need to put it back in the oven for another 3-5 minutes and repeat this process.)

The glaze should be ready for you to use. 

Puree of 2-3 large strawberries

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup powdered sugar

Just don't pour over the blondies until fully cooled and sliced. 

They are sweet and a little tart, too! They may do well with some morning coffee and eaten like a strawberry crepe-flavored coffee cake. Yum!

Or, pair with some vanilla ice cream or cool whip to tame the tang.  Whatever your flavor preference is, these beauties are a must-try!

These yummy treats taste just as beautifully as they look!

So light, so fluffy, so fresh. You just can't hardly find a more appropriate spring/summer dessert.

Grab an electric mixer and the paddle attachment if you have one; if not, a large bowl and hand mixer will work. Cream the butter and the granulated and brown sugars. 

Once combined, add the eggs. Once incorporated, pour in your vanilla and almond extract. 

Mix and scrape the bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix your flour, salt, and baking soda with a whisk. Once complete, add this mixture to your creamed butter. 

Take your rinsed and dried raspberries and lightly coat them with a little bit of flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom of your batter. Once coated, dice them up and set them aside.

Take your chocolate chips and fold them into your dough. 

Grab your raspberries and very easily fold them into your doughy mixture. Don't over mix. 

Now you'll need a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 

If you have a cookie scoop, yay! If not, you'll take about 2 tbsp of the dough, gently rolled into a ball shape, and drop onto the prepared cookie sheet an inch or two apart. 

Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. If the cookies are just too soft/doughy, put them back into the oven one minute more at a time until cooked through. BUT- get them out before they're too golden, as they'll continue to bake once their sitting on the counter until cooled. 

These babies were the sweetness to the otherwise sour and rainy day we had yesterday. 

My first time was a success! (Yes... I'm nearly 34 and haven't ever made scratch blondies, before...)

They were so simple! No odd ingredients, so I had everything required already tucked away in my pantry. I LOVE when that happens. These are definitely a new go-to.

3/4 cup melted, unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

Mix together. 

Add 2 eggs.

Mix until just combined. 

Pour in about 1.5 cups of flour,

1 tsp baking powder, and

1/4 tsp salt.

Mix again. 

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extra

1 cup chocolate chips

Pour into dough and mix until just combined.

Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with parchment paper and spread your batter. Top with a few more chocolate chips, cause you know... chocolate! 

(If you used clothespins, too, to hold down the parchment paper, remove them before the next step!)

 Bake at 350°F for about 25 minutes. 

(I started checking after 17 and put back in 2 minutes at a time until the blondies stopped "jiggling.")

Set them on your counter for about 7 minutes, while still in the dish. The heat will continue to bake the edges without crisping them up too much.

Then remove the blondies, while still on the parchment paper, and set on your counter until cooled. 

Slice into 12 or 16 treats.

My husband passed on a restaurant dessert for these! Yeah, they were that good!

What do you do when you're only one day post-op from pulling 4 wisdom teeth?

Ya know... Don't want to get out, but aren't up for another full day of binging 10 more 90s/00s rom coms again, though, either?

Well, around these parts, I try out new recipes. 

Let me just say, somebody nailed this chocolate chip cookie recipe!

They were so simple to make, required light clean up, yielded more than 2 dozen, and were absolutely incredible.

I mean... would ya just look at it?!

1 cup butter

1.5 cups brown sugar, packed

1 large egg yolk

1 tbsp vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp kosher salt or 1/2 tsp table salt

10 oz package chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°F. 

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. 

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan. The butter should be just melted. 

Add brown sugar to a large bowl. 

Pour melted butter over the sugar. 

Stir to combine.

Let stand 5 minutes. 

Add egg and egg yolk; stir to combine. 

Stir in vanilla extract. 

Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until just combined. 

Stir in chocolate chips. 

Using a medium cookie scoop (1.5 tbsp), drop scoops of dough 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. 

Bake for about 7-10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. The centers should still look soft and slightly underbaked. That will help to keep the cookies soft. 

Let cool for 5 minutes. 

Remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

These lovelies were also ready to devour within 35 minutes... start to finish!

Wins all around.

Definitely a new blog to follow. Girl's got skillzzz. 

Buttercream Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp heavy cream

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, add in room temperature unsalted butter. Whip the butter for 5 minutes on medium-high speed, scraping down the sides occasionally. The butter will be light, fluffy, and pale in color. 

Add one half of the powdered sugar and mix on the lowest speed setting until fully combined. Add remaining powdered sugar and continue to mix on low until incorporated. 

Add vanilla extract and salt and mix on low until combined. Slowly drizzle in the heavy cream. 

Turn the speed on the mixer to medium-high and whip for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally to ensure the frosting is well mixed. 

If desired, switch to a paddle attachment on the stand mixer and mix buttercream on low speed for 2 additional minutes to remove air bubbles to create smooth frosting. 

Pipe onto the cupcakes with a pastry bag and desired piping tip. 

(Cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. To serve, bring them back to room temperature.

To keep up with my Easter theme, I shaved chocolate from a Hershey bar using a cheese slicer. I did this directly over the top of the cupcake, already topped with frosting, and let the shavings fall wherever they wanted. (You may have to rearrange a few to get the full effect.)

I topped my little nests with MnM eggs. (Cadbury was sold out!) These colors were perfect, though!

This whole experience was fun. It was a lot of work, honestly, but worth every minute. I was so proud of these babies. They looked incredible and tasted delicious. The family was impressed, and the littles thought they were the coolest things ever. 

Mission accomplished. 

Two things:

1- I had too many bananas on their last leg. 

2- I'm prepping for my first #bakewithkristib Saturday!

How stinking cute will it be to see some littles making their very own from scratch muffins?

I am so excited and can't wait to share pictures of the event. This is my "test run," so only a handful of kiddos will be present, but I can't wait to see it grow. 

These 9 banana walnut chocolate chips muffins were a literal mouthful of insane goodness. 

3 bananas, smashed with a wooden spoon

3/4 cup melted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cups chocolate chips

1/2 cup walnuts

Mix everything together (with that wooden spoon) until combined. 

Pour into parchment paper muffin cups, nestled into a muffin tray.

Bake for approximately 25-35 minutes at 350°F or 180°C.

Pretty soon you'll be looking at your own beauties! Better snap a picture, because they won't last long!

Beautiful spring days make me want to bake.

So I put on my Pride and Prejudice playlist and get after it.

I had some bananas that were about one day from brown town, so I made a couple loaves of banana blueberry bread.

Umm... Yum!

3 bananas, smashed with a wooden spoon

3/4 cup melted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cups blueberries, rubbed in flour 

Mix everything except the blueberries with a wooden spoon until combined. Then, gently fold in the blueberries. (They're coated in flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom from all the moisture in them.)

Pour into a parchment paper lined loaf pan and bake at 350°F or 180°C for approximately 30-40 minutes.

This makes one mouthwatering, absolutely gorgeous loaf of refreshing spring goodness.

Is there anything better than banana bread?

Maybe fresh, homemade banana bread?

Fresh, homemade, MOIST banana bread?

Ok, I got it. Fresh, homemade, moist banana bread WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS.

Umm, yum. Aaron says this one topped all others simply because of the chocolatey addition.

I've worked hard on this trying to perfect it, and I think it's there. 

Absolute yum fest. 

3 bananas, smashed with a wooden spoon

Pour in

3/4 cup melted butter.

Mix until combined.

Add

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Mix until combined.

Top with

1 1/2 cups flour.

Stir until mixed well. 

Batter will be slightly bumpy.

Fold in

1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Pour into a parchment paper lined loaf pan and bake approximately 30-40 minutes at 350°F or 180°C.

Heaven in a dish, I tell ya. 

New recipe for the win!

We're literally iced in here in Louisville, so it seemed an appropriate time to share this recipe I tried last week.

I wanted something sweet, but clean, and didn't want to spend a ton of time on it... It was late. I'd already applied my moisturizer and everything, but the heart wants what it wants.

So, I decided to throw about 3 frozen bananas (sliced prior to freezing), about 1 tbsp peanut butter, and 3/4 to 1 cup of oat milk in my Ninja. 

So freaking easy!

It made a very soft serve ice cream, but I was able to put it in a freezer safe storage container and it will keep for up to 4 weeks!

To eat it straight from the freezer, I had to heat in the microwave for about 30 seconds or so prior to scooping.

It really hits the spot when you have a craving. And if you're not super thrilled about eating clean... you can drizzle some chocolate or caramel syrup on it, top with nuts and whipped cream, and BAM!

Cool deliciousness in a bowl.

Food is so amazing.

If you missed my #nailedit Amish sugar cookie story on Instagram, you need to check it out. (Highlights>Food)

Even though the fail was an epic one, the batter was delicious, so I was determined to make the best of it! (I've become pretty good at doing that with life, ya know?)

After years of unexplained infertility, trauma, abuse, etc... one has to decide to rise above and thrive. There are days I hide intense anger. Very few people have seen the floodgates break with me, but when they do... man. I ugly cry sometimes. But after I give myself some time to actually feel my feelings, I put my attention to something better. And my life has turned out pretty great, despite all the stupid, because of that.

It works with baking, too!

So, while this recipe below will NOT get you delicious and pretty sugar cookies, it will create some incredibly amazing cookie bites... or even donut hole thingys.

We truly can see beauty from ashes as long as we determine to keep moving.

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup organic butter

2 eggs

1 cup Greek yogurt

3 1/2 cups almond flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

Cream your sugar and butter. Add eggs and beat well. Add yogurt, dry ingredients, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Drop by teaspoon full onto parchment lined cookie sheet. 

Bake 8-12 minutes at 350°F. (180°C)

Once the literal blob has slightly cooled, scrape the "mess" into sections so you can roll into these little bite size balls. Let them set. (If still too soft, bake them a little longer. 

I'm telling ya, they turned out really cute and truly yummy!