It's that time of year again...

Time to start putting pumpkin in nearly everything, that is. Last week I made pumpkin cupcakes and pumpkin cookies, and when I awoke yesterday to snow on the ground and record low temperatures, I knew a seasonal brunch was in order. I had already planned on making french toast, so pumpkin french toast was an obvious choice. I considered making Isa's recipe, but didn't have enough pumpkin left over and also wanted a more traditional, dip-and-fry batter, so I improvised my own recipe. The results were delicious and it was the perfect start to a lazy, cozy day spent indoors keeping warm. Like this:

If you are going to San Francisco...

...Be sure to bake some peanut butter blondies for your friends who will be dog sitting for you. These rich, fudgy morsels of peanut butter goodness come from the upcoming Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, with a sprinkle of bittersweet chocolate chips subbed for peanuts on top (because what the hell, right?) The hubs and I are leaving tomorrow to eat our way through the City by the Bay for the next couple of days, so stay tuned for what promises to be some killer food porn. Oh yeah, and I guess we might do some other stuff too.

Before I leave you, check out the shameless begging I had to endure while photographing the blondies:

I miss that little beast already.

Cookies for My Homegirls

Chocolate-and-rainbow-chip cookies for my mama

Since Mother's Day will soon be upon us, let me take a moment to tell you about my own mother. She is an incredibly sweet, loving, selfless, supportive, empathetic, badass chick. She reads like a fiend and, like all the women in her family, is batshit crazy (but in a good way - I mean, unless you cross her, and then she's apt to cut a bitch). And it is her who I have to thank for my stunning good looks and ravenous sweet tooth (thanks, Mom).

For Mother's Day I always used to make her a big brunch, but now that I live 1800 miles away, a care package will have to do. I sent her the above cookies (my regular chocolate chip recipe with some rainbow chips thrown in for festivity) and a couple of books that Shawn and I thought she'd like. Dessert and reading material are a surefire way to my mama's heart.

I also recently did some baking for the other important lady in my life: my dog, Dobby. Shawn and I adopted her from a shelter in 2003 when she was about a year and a half old. Not a day goes by where I don't thank various deities that this smelly beast is a part of our lives. We don't know her exact birthday, but we know it's probably somewhere around this time of year, so last weekend I made cookies just for her.
Peanut-butter-carob-chip cookies for the Dobster

When I remember her sweet, scrappy face looking back at us from behind those bars at the shelter as she stood on her hind legs, imploring us to love her, it makes me want to spoil her rotten. And so that is what I do, and that is what every animal deserves.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms, whether your children are of the human or furry variety.

Tester Cookies and Snowy Days

Some recent goodies from Isa and Terry's cookie test kitchen:


Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies


Spiced Sweet Potato Blondies


Swedish Chocolate Balls (uh huh huh)


Call Me Blondies

My non-baked food of late hasn't been much to blog about. The recent cold weather here in Denver has inspired lots of soup and copious cups of tea. Split pea soup, while delicious, is not particularly inventive or photogenic.

Soup weather

Dobby has the right idea: