Jumbled Together (Russian Tea Cakes)

Russian Tea Cakes may be my very favorite variety of cookie. Also known as Italian wedding cakes, Mexican wedding cakes, Flexicans, polvorones, butterballs, and snowballs, you may know them best just as those buttery little spheres coated in powdered sugar, studded with finely ground nuts, and flavored with a variety of subtle seasonings. With their snowy white coats and elegant proportions, they make the perfect cookie to serve throughout the winter, arrayed on plates with doilies or tucked into gift bags. They're innocently sweet, utterly inoffensive, and melt on the tongue beautifully. Russian tea cakes, as the name suggests,  are the ideal pairing for strong tea served with lemon or cream and sugar. Less traditionally, but just as deliciously, I encourage the adoption of the "Russian coffee cake" and also offering coffee or cappuccino as accompaniment.

Cake: it's what's for dinner

Pumpkin Remix (Biscoff Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies)

Have you had Biscoff spread? It recently came to my attention that several of my friends haven't, and that's a shame. I've always been especially fond of peanut butter and its various compatriots like almond butter and Nutella, but Biscoff spread may just be the tastiest of all. As is to be expected, it lacks any redeeming nutritional value, but is as delicious as cookies pureed with canola oil until they achieve the consistency of Jif can be. I've found myself sneaking to the pantry at night, depleting it spoonful by guilty, furtive spoonful.

It's so good

Designed to Sell (Turbinado Sugar Cookies)

It's been a busy couple of weeks, lately. Between work, weddings, holidays, and our community's annual yard sale, we've been pulled in all directions. Our neighbors have always made mild fun of us for not participating in said yard sale. I just don't like to have extra things lying around the house in the first place, so there's never been anything to sell. This year, Aaron was keen on the idea of a bake sale to promote the blog, so into the kitchen we went.

The real challenge is not to keep them all for yourself

Snap to It (Gingersnap Crusted Lemon Bars)

A long time ago, when we lived in Worcester, we made a habit of frequenting a little grocery called The Living Earth, especially because of it's amazing local and organic restaurant: Evo. Sunday brunch was our prime target, but I have to say the ultimate treat is the lemon bars they sell in the deli. Tender, tart, sweet, buttery, heady with the fragrance of fresh lemons... sheer perfection.

Can't hardly wait