 "Mom, I want to hand out cookies as favors for our wedding."🍪 These 12 words warmed my little baker heart.💛 My girl has always loved cookies and now she wants to share her passion for handheld sweets at the biggest celebration of all - her wedding.👰🏻 Selfishly, I also took full advantage and used this as a perfectly legitimate excuse to bake ridiculous amounts of test cookies. You know - for research.🤣 While most people are kicking off 2026 by adopting a new set of healthy eating habits - I dedicated my January finding the very BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe.😅 I've made batches of pecan chocolate chip cookies, classic chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal pecan chocolate chip cookies.😋 If you've ever thought about having a cookie bake off with yourself - I highly recommend it.🤣 This was such a fun (and delicious) experiment.
Every batch of cookies that I baked in the name of finding the perfect wedding favor were delicious. There wasn't a bad one among them but I left it up to the bride and groom to decide which ones they want to pass out to their guests. Also - I've never had so many people come around and offer to be taste testers than when the chocolate chip cookie smells were lofting throughout the house.🏡 🍪 😋  Levain Bakery Style Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 1 Tablespoon vanilla 1 teaspoon salt 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 large eggs, straight from the fridge 2 1/4 cups flour 2 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used mini, semi sweet and bittersweet) 1 3/4 cups pecans
 Place on silpat lined baking sheets and bake 18-22 minutes at 350.  Ciao!
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 If you're new to the world of sourdough bread - quite honestly, my blog should not be your first resource for recipe tutorials.😅 I'm still very much a beginner just stumbling my way through the science of sourdough. I'm dedicated to sharing all of my successes and failures throughout my sourdough journey though so if you'd rather think of me as a cautionary tale - fair enough.🤣 In my quest to master the art of baking the perfect sourdough baguette - I went through a LOT of different recipes. I ate so much bread during my testing phase - I had to double up on my morning workouts just to burn off all the extra calories.🚴🏻♀️ Totally worth it though.😆 There's nothing better than freshly baked sourdough bread in the morning.
If you've ever gone down the sourdough recipe rabbit trail on the internet - you know how many thousands of recipes and video tutorials are swirling around in cyberspace. When I first started my research, it felt like there was an infinite number of ways to make a sourdough baguette with a bubbly, chewy middle and a crispy, golden crust but once I started to look a little closer, I realized that most of the recipes followed a very similar pattern - with only slight variations. This particular recipe caught my eye because it had both sourdough starter and yeast in the recipe which was somewhat unusual. It also had a little extra gluten sprinkled into the dough - something my husband requests every time I serve him a gluten free dessert.🤣 If you're as curious as I was about how a starter/yeast fusion baguette would turn out - this recipe is for you.  Sourdough Baguettes - Third Try 1 1/4 cups warm water 2 cups sourdough starter 4 1/2 bread flour 2 1/2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons sugar 1 teaspoons instant yeast 4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten Egg wash (Optional) 1 egg, beaten 1 teaspoon water
 Bake 20 - 25 minutes.  This was a delicious baguette - even though it didn't have many sourdough qualities - especially the egg brushed loaves. These baguettes were great for sandwiches, avocado toast and soup dipping devices but honestly, they tasted more like dinner rolls than a sourdough baguette. That's not a bad thing - just not what I was trying to achieve with this recipe so my quest for the perfect sourdough baguette continues.🤣  Ciao!
 Once I jumped on the sourdough bandwagon - I was not about to quit until I mastered the art of the perfect sourdough baguette.🥖😅 I was focused, determined and serious about becoming a successful sourdough baker. I baked so much sourdough - I felt like I made more baguettes I felt qualified to work at Subway.😅 Thank goodness that baguettes freeze well. Anyone need some homemade footlong baguettes for sandwiches?😅
I still have a lot to learn about the sourdough process but I also saw a big improvement between my first batch and my second. I adjusted the size of my baguettes in this recipe to make them a little bit bigger and longer than my first ones. I also used a steel for baking which proved to be a valuable tool in getting them crispy and golden brown on the outside and chewy and tender in the middle. I'm not here to choose favorites but if I had to rate my progress so far, I preferred this second recipe to my first batch.😉  Sourdough Baguettes - Second try 90 grams active sourdough starter 400 grams bread flour 270 grams warm water 8 grams salt
 Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
Ciao!  Happy New Year!!! It's a new year and along with that comes a whole new set of recipe experiments for your favorite food blogger. Some people make resolutions - I set new cooking expectations for myself.😂 So here we are in 2026 and I'm declaring that this will be the year that I finally conquer my fear of sourdough.😅🥖 I've been super hesitant to jump into the world of sourdough baking. My biggest fear was taking on the responsibility of feeding a starter. Some days I don't feel like I have enough time to feed myself - let alone a sourdough starter.🤣 Clearly my apprehension to sourdough had more to do with commitment issues than baking competence.😅  I only recently mustered up the courage to ask my sweet friend to share some of her sourdough starter with me so I could begin the process of learning to work with this new ingredient. To say that there was a learning curve, is a major understatement. 😅 My experience with yeast breads proved to be zero help in learning to work with sourdough. I decided to focus on baguettes when I first began my sourdough journey. I thought baguettes might be easier than making a traditional loaf - I was wrong.😆 This is the first of 3 sourdough baguette recipes that I made during what I'm now calling my experimental "sourdough week."🤣 I learned a lot about the how to (and not to) work with sourdough throughout the process.  I'll be posting 2 more of my sourdough experiments this week - one recipe with a sourdough/yeast combination and the other a sourdough + extra gluten recipe. As for today - this is the most simple and basic sourdough baguette recipe that I could find. (Which still took 2 full days to make by the way.😅) I certainly can't say that this was an easy recipe to make but there's also something deeply satisfying about making a bread that recipe this kind of investment of time. If you're a sourdough baker - you know what I mean.  Sourdough Baguettes 450 grams bread flour 280 grams water 100 grams active sourdough starter 15 grams salt For the flour dusting 80 grams bread flour 80 grams semolina
 If you are an experienced sourdough baker - I'd love to hear your tips and tricks for making baguettes. I have a lot to learn about the process and I'd love to hear what makes your sourdough extra special.
Ciao!  2025 was a quite a year: Thousands of photos shared, 142 recipes and over 70,000 of you stopped by to check out my little blog! All I can say is ... thank you! Thank you to each and every one of you who has taken the time to read my blog, leave me a comment, follow me on social media or signed up to receive my emails this year. I'm beyond grateful for my amazing and supportive blog community.☺️ You don't see ads on my recipe blog because my motivation to share my stories and recipes isn't to generate income through sponsors or marketing partnerships - it's YOU! Nothing warms my heart like hearing from a follower who has made one of my recipes. If I inspired even a few people to try a new recipe or a new ingredient in 2025 - my job here is done.😅  This is my last blog post for 2025 and I think it's only fitting that I leave you with one of my favorite, chocolatey, decadent and delicious desserts. My Christmas gift to you... Torta Caprese ... recipe.😅 (That I ate.🤣) I'm not sure if it's appropriate to eat the gift that I give to someone else but in this case - let's call it market research. I fully enjoyed every bite of this chocolate torte and it gets bonus points because it's also gluten free.  Torta Caprese 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips 1 cup butter 5 eggs 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup sugar 1 1/2 cups almond flour 1 teaspoon vanilla
 Bake 40 minutes at 350 until puffed and top begins to crack. Cool completely in pan.   Decorate with whipped cream and fresh berries.  Until next year ... Ciao!
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