It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Yup. It's that time of the year. Holiday time. AKA cookie time.

Every year since I can remember--and I'm sure for many years beforehand--my household has been cranking out dozens of Christmas cookies for the holidays. And I'm not about to break tradition.

Last year I made my own record: 14 different kinds of cookies (that were then supplemented with cookies made by my mom and sister).

This year I want to make at least 15 different kinds. This might be difficult seeing as last year I didn't have a job and now I do. I work at least five days a week and usually for about 12 hours. And I have to get ready to go abroad to Italy in a few weeks. And I'm making a birthday cake for Sam's dad. So the odds are against me, but I'm up for it.

Friday night, the night I got home from school, I got started. I made these peanut butter and jelly cookies because they were easy and the dough didn't need to be refrigerated or anything like that. They were super simple and super delicious. Definitely a good cookie for any pb&j fan.

Yesterday, I made three batches.

First, sugar cookies. The recipe comes from a horse cookie cutter that my mom got for me. I love the recipe. Lots of butter and lots of sugar. A classic sugar cookie. Yum.

Amanda kept me company while I banged out 12 dozen cookies

Next, pistachio white chocolate chip cookies--a family favorite. These guys always go really quickly.

I love the pistachio/chip to batter ratio. No skimping on the add-ins.

And finally, cake batter chocolate chip cookies. These are a new addition. I knew that we happened to have some left over funfetti cake mix in our cabinet so I figured I'd find a way to use it.

I really liked the flavor the cake mix gave the cookies. And the sprinkles were a cute addition.

Four down. Eleven to go.

-Meri

PB&J... and Potato Chips... and Cinnamon Toast Crunch... and...

You may well remember that Sam received a re-tweet from our favorite Food Network personality, Jeff Mauro, just a couple of days ago.

Luckily, she didn't die from shock, she just suffered a little from extreme and prolonged hyperventilation.

To honor that moment, I figured we'd celebrate the event by eating one of the sandwiches he created during the episode we were watching when the infamous re-tweet occurred. I chose to make the fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Here's everything that goes into these beauties. Obviously, these aren't just your usual PB&Js. They start out pretty normal though.

We had sourdough sandwich bread, so that served as the base. It gets spread like usual with chunky peanut butter and some strawberry preserves.

Next you add banana slices. Not to crazy--I've been known to throw banana in my PB&Js.

And then comes the potato chips. Starting to get weird.

Put it together.

And now...the cinnamon toast crunch crust.

Yep. Dredge the bread in egg wash and dunk in the cereal crumbs that you make by smashing the stuff up in a plastic bag.

Melt some butter in a skillet over medium heat and fry those babies up!

These guys were so delicious! And super filling (surprising, right?).

If I made them again, I'd change the bread and chips. I didn't follow Jeff's recipe exactly because I wanted to use what we had on hand, but I would recommend following it. He calls for thicker, sturdier bread and chips. Those changes would work perfectly. Our bread was a little too flimsy and our chips were too thin so they got slightly mushy in the sandwich.

Doesn't mean we didn't eat every last crumb!

We love you Jeff!

-Meri

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

My life is incredible right now. I know what you may be thinking: But Sam, it’s finals week. How could anything be good in the world at this point? I’ll tell you: JEFF MAURO, AKA the cutest man in the whole wide world and host of Sandwich King on the Food Network, retweeted me!!

Meredith and I were watching Sandwich King this morning, and we were treated to Jeff Mauro’s “Cereal Crunching” song, one of the many songs that he makes up while cooking, and I decided to tweet him about how I couldn’t decide which one I loved more: the “Cereal Crunching” song, or a song about his tiny whisk that he sang last week (entitled “Baby Whisk”).

So 10 minutes later, I hear my phone make a noise I’d never heard before, and it is a notification that JEFF MAURO HAD RESPONDED TO MY TWEET!! He informed me that both songs were currently rocketing up the charts.

Well, Meredith and I started jumping and screaming and hyperventilating, which brought a very concerned Michelle and Amelia over to make sure we weren’t being murdered. But I still maintain that we did not overreact.

Society may still expect me to study for finals for the rest of the day, but I’ve declared it a national holiday: The Day Jeff Mauro Retweeted Me, and I think I’ll be taking the rest of the day off.

-Sam

Happy December!

Sam Made A Pie!

I know that it's kinda late for a Thanksgiving post, but I figured I'd at least get it up before December begins.

This year, Sam made the trek with me to New Jersey because her family was also celebrating the holiday in Jersey.

She spent Tuesday night through Thursday morning with the Medoways and got to witness first hand the crazy cooking marathon that we go through with each holiday (except Christmas Eve) of the year, every year.

She was a trooper. And, Wednesday night she did a fabulous job making the apple pie. She sliced apples, mixed them with sugar and spices, then cut out and arranged the pie dough on top.

So beautiful!

Just like the Pie Maker!

Everyone at dinner agreed that it was the best dessert (winning out over Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin Cake).

We use the Betty Crocker Deep Dish Apple Pie recipe every time. Seriously the greatest apple pie ever. Simple and absolutely delicious.

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Meri

Happy Birthday Brooke!

This past weekend I traveled up to The College of New Jersey to visit my friend Brooke to celebrate her 21st birthday! Yay Brooke!

And I of course had to provide a baked good.

I based everything on the knowledge that Brooke loves peanut butter and chocolate (what fool doesn't?).

What did I come up with?

Chocolate cake with a peanut butter buttercream coated in a layer of chocolate ganache and garnished with chopped roasted peanuts.

That's a mouthful--a delicious one at that.

Sam and I ate that pool of leftover ganache in its entirety.

This cake is a testament to why I'm not allowed to ice the cakes at work.

Well, I'm allowed to, but I usually get yelled at because they look something like this.

Just kidding, it's not usually that bad.

I'm very thankful for ganache that covers up my horrendous top coat.

The cake was a hit. But, as you might assume, it was super rich so Brooke still has about half the cake to munch on. I hope she enjoys it for many more days.

Oh. And then I went to work. And then I cut my hand opening a can of beans. Yup. It's a pretty dignified stitch job.

And now that I'm stitched it barely looks like an injury despite the fact that I've been severely limited mobility-wise. Couldn't it at least look like something terrible happened?

-Meri

Happy November!