A couple of weekends ago on a drive through the more rural parts of Massachusetts, we stopped and picked up a carton of apple cider. Cider is a quintessential beverage in the fall – but many people don’t realize that it also doubles as a fantastic ingredient in a lot of recipes, both sweet and savory.

Alessi Colombina Dinnerware set on a Chilewich Lounge Placemat

As is often the case, I picked a sweet recipe to showcase this delicious local cider, a twist on a New England Favorite – Apple Cider doughnuts. Typically they’re fried and then rolled in cinnamon sugar, but for this recipe I opted to bake them, dip them in glaze, then give them a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar to finish. Continue Reading

Pumpkin is the flavor of the season right now, and we’re totally embracing it! First we shared some Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, and today I’ve got another great recipe for Pumpkin Magic Bars.

If you’ve ever had traditional Magic Bars, then you know what they’re all about, but if you haven’t then you’re in for a treat! Magic Bars are one of the easiest things you can make, they’re customizable to your specific tastes, and they are sinfully delicious.

Pumpkin Magic Bars on a Jars Ceramics Tima Dessert Plate over a Chilewich Bamboo Placemat

Magic Bars start with a cookie crust, traditionally graham cracker crumbs and butter mixed together, and pressed into a pan. The crust is then layered with a myriad of toppings, starting with condensed milk, then assorted chips (chocolate, white chocolate, etc.), chopped nuts, and coconut. Continue Reading

Since it’s the season for it, we’ve been doing a lot of cooking and baking with pumpkin lately, and I have to say I really love it. Pumpkin on it’s own has a pretty bland, boring, squashy flavor, but added to baked goods it adds a unique, pleasing flavor and a wonderful moisture that you can’t get from a lot of other ingredients. Pumpkin pie is probably the most traditional use for the common orange squash, but every now and again it’s really fun to incorporate it into other kinds of dishes — like these pumpkin cookies!

Pumpkin Cookies on Jars Ceramics Tourron Dessert Plates over Chilewich Bamboo Round Placemats

Typically when you put pumpkin in a cookie, it turns out being rather cake-like and puffy. It’s hard to achieve a chewy-in-the-middle, crispy-around-the-edges kind of cookie when you use pumpkin, but these cookies do it! This is hands down the best pumpkin cookie I’ve ever made or tried, and I really can’t say enough good things about it. Continue Reading

Linzer cookies are a seasonal staple, especially during the holidays when decorative cookies are all the rage. Well we got a head start on holiday baking with these apricot-orange filled beauties, with jam courtesy of Bonnie from Bonnie’s Jams! She visited our new kitchen store local Root recently, and promised to drop off some jams to sample – which promptly arrived at our front desk just a few hours later!

Bonnie’s Apricot Orange Jam in a Match Pewter Serving Piece

Bonnie is a lovely woman, and she makes some really lovely jams. We sampled the apricot orange, as well as the raspberry lime, both of which had the perfect consistency and were wonderfully flavorful. I used the raspberry lime jam in another cookie recipe (coming this weekend!), and the apricot orange jam for these. I loved the flavor combination! Continue Reading