Marie Cookpad

  This is a cookie I used to bake for my children quite often when they were growing up. I used to try to have some kind of a treat waiting for them every day when they got home from school.  Funny enough I never saw myself as a baker, more of a savoury cook, but when I look back I can clearly see that I did both with an equal passion.   My original recipe for Amish Sugar Cookies makes a lot of cookies, which is great when you have five hungry children snapping at your heels, but not so great when you are staring at an empty nest.   That doesn't mean however that we can't still enjoy these delicious treats that we used to bake for our families, and yes . . .  I did enjoy them as well. I am on a quest to try to small batch as many of my old favourites as I can. Smaller recipes to suit the smaller household.  It just makes sense and it means there is far less temptation laying around and actually a bit less waste as well.    This is a great recipe. ...

  One thing we both love in this house is figs.  Fresh, dried, in baked goods, diced on top of our morning oats, fresh in a salad, etc.  Figs are a  favourite in our home.   Todd really loves Fig Rolls. Do you know the ones I mean?  In North America they are called Fig Newtons.  Here in the UK they are called Fig Rolls. I suppose that is because they are basically a cookie/bar dough rolled around a sweet fig filling, flattened and cut into bars.   They can vary drastically from one brand to another.  Some might have more filling than others, but I think they are all a bit stingy with the filling to be honest.  I prefer a much higher filling to cookie ration.   There are quite a few copycat versions of them around the world wide web.  Today I adapted the best of all of them, threw in my own interpretations and made a small batch, from scratch.   Let me tell you . . . these are infinitely better than the fig rolls that you b...

  For as long as I can remember and beyond Saturday night suppers back home in Nova Scotia and indeed all down the Eastern part of Canada and the US, Saturday night baked bean suppers have been the tradition.   In fact, during non-covid days, Baked Bean Suppers have always been huge fund raisers for local communities, volunteer fire departments, schools, etc.  People have always loved them.   Back where I come from Baked Beans are not humble, they are precious and speak of family, tradition and community spirit. Baked Bean Suppers, with home baked beans, ham or hotdogs, scalloped potatoes and steamed brown bread, or sometimes molasses oatmeal bread, or baking powder biscuits, or even corn bread.  These are knit into very the fibre of every maritimer.   Brown Bread is probably the most basic traditional bread served with baked beans.  Back home you can buy it in cans, baked and ready to re-heat by steaming.  Or you can make your own, which is very ...