It's Official...I'm on the Blogwagon!

Well here we go, my very first post. I thought long and hard about material I wanted to include. A "welcome to my blog" post...a "I have high expectations for this blog" post....no, not intereseting enough. What IS interesting enough? Why cookies of course!

Most everyone that knows me knows that I love to bake. Dan is one spoiled hubby because at least once each week I am baking some sort of muffin, cookie, or bread. (Yes, he is very thankful.) The regulars are usually chocolate chip cookies or banana nut bread...always from scratch of course. But then there are the decorative sugar cookies I make for holidays....right Mom? Each year for Christmas I take home a tin full of sweet stockings and snowflakes. "You didn't make these," says my mom every year.

Speaking of home and mom, Dan and I will be taking the 4-hour trip to my home, Fulton, or what we all affectionately call "the Flip," this weekend. Our good friends from college, Bo and Susan, are getting married in Murray, so of course this warranted a weekend of fun with the in-laws, the Deans. Oh, there's nothing like a weekend with the in-laws huh? I know Dan secretly tries to get out of these weekends, but I see right past his schemes. (Just kidding...sort of. My family loves Dan and he loves them. You just have to know my family; it is overwhelming, and loud, and lots of fun.)

So of course this trip to the Flip is really just a good excuse to make something sweet for us to nibble on late at night or while sitting by the pool. Sometimes I like to play it safe and make a simple chocolate chip cookie or brownie. However, there are times when trying a new recipe is in order. The most memorable example of this was when I made brownies for our "girl cousins" trip to Seagrove Beach, FL last summer. My sisters and cousins tasted the brownies.."these are good"...."these are so moist." They were at this moment unaware of a secret ingredient used in making these brownies. Needless to say, they will never eat brownies made with black bean puree in them. (They really are good and the puree is a good substitute for eggs and oil.) Now whenever I make something new they are sure to ask, "Is there anything weird in here?" haha

So for this weekend's trip to Fulton I decided to try out a recipe I found in Martha Stewart's monthly publication Everyday Food. I buy this mini-magazine most months. It has good recipes and information. It really encourages quick meals and using fresh ingredients, but let's be real: Martha's idea of quick and my idea of quick are often quite different. The recipe I tried is from the Cookie Jar section, Salted Toffee-Chocolate Squares.

And no, there are no weird ingredients in these squares.

These squares are definitely tasty...just don't ask how much butter I used. They should make for a nice snack this weekend....just don't let Duke have any!

Welcome to the blog!