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

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. As a frequent cook and an avid baker, it’s a bit embarrassing to admit that I hadn’t ever made a pot roast until about a month ago. I’ve eaten my share of them, but never cooked one on my own. Large cuts of meat can be a bit intimidating, figuring out how best to prepare them, and how to measure when they’re done cooking. The great thing about a pot roast is you cook the meat so far past the point of being cooked through that you’ll never have to worry if the center is still raw. In fact, the meat spends so much time in a broth bath in the oven that when it comes out, it’s practically falling apart it’s so tender and moist. The specific cuts of meat you generally use for a pot roast (generally a chuck roast, though top round  or a rump roast will work as well) have layers of fat between the meat, so when cooked down, that fat creates incredible layers of flavor.

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These cupcakes were such a sweet ending to a wonderful meal. At first glance, you’d think the strawberries are missing – but fear not, they’re just tucked inside! To pull together our strawberry-themed affair, I figured we needed a really fantastic dessert that would blow everything else out of the water. And so became these cupcakes!

The recipe begins with a basic chocolate cupcake recipe. The cupcakes baked up beautifully, but within minutes of being removed from the oven, they all collapsed! I am partial to cupcakes with nicely round domed tops, so this was a bit disappointing at first sight – but after tasting one that had accidentally broken, all doubts were gone. The cupcakes were great! Ultra soft and tender, with a generous crumb, and a smooth chocolate flavor. Continue Reading

Finally we’ve come to the main event from our Strawberry Summer dinner – these cheeseburger sliders with cheddar, bacon, and strawberry barbecue sauce! If you like burgers at all, you will LOVE these ones – it hits all the right notes of sweet, savory, salty, and a fresh locally-made bun brought it all together.

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