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Posted on by Hailey Matesic Posted in Dessert, Holiday, Quick Bites, Recipes
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DIY No-Bake Cookie Boxes

What better day to talk about cookie boxes than on National Cookie Day?! I had high hopes for my Christmas baking this year, but the reality of the third trimester and a now-ten-month-old (!!!!) is that I just can’t bring myself to bake several different types of cookies.

I grabbed most of everything for these cookie boxes from Trader Joe’s. It’s always my favorite place for charcuterie boards, and basically that’s what we’re making here!

I added some customization by melting my favorite Dolci Frutta and dipping two of the cookies in them and then topping them with crushed candy canes and sprinkles.

Here’s what’s in these cookie boxes:

  • Triple Ginger Cookies and Christmas Tree cookies (Trader Joe’s – left them naked and tied the trees with ribbon)
  • Nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies, for which I used Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (from the regular grocery store)
  • Chocolate Batons from Trader Joe’s
  • Hershey Kisses, Trader Joe’s Almond Butter Cups, Trader Joe’s Peppermint Covered Almonds
  • Peppermint Joe Joe’s dipped in chocolate and crushed candy canes
  • Trader Joe’s shortbread dipped in chocolate and sprinkles (sprinkles from Target!).

Love these boxes for an easy way to DIY something for the holiday but also maintain your sanity. God bless all of you who have the patience to DIY actual cookie boxes from scratch!

Posted on by Hailey Matesic Posted in Dessert, Holiday, Quick Bites, Recipes
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Pecan Pie Short Bread Bars with Drizzled Chocolate

Don’t you just love making a treat that is like, just a little less effort? Guys, I love a good pie (and I really love a great pecan pie). Forget “easy as pie” – this is “easier than pie!”

Especially at this point in my pregnancy (hey, 29 weeks!), I’m getting tired on my feet, and my belly is getting in the way. Like, to be honest, the idea of rolling out a pie crust right now is not my idea of fun!

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Posted on by Hailey Matesic Posted in Dessert, Recipes
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Homemade Samoa Bars

Those dang Girl Scouts, amirite?! My husband loves the Samoa cookies and I’ve been trying to recreate them at home for him so he doesn’t have to wait until it’s Girl Scout cookie season. To be honest, I’ve been struggling with an actual cookie and was going to throw in the towel all together. Then I was like, duh, Hailey, just make them into a bar. So. much. easier.

You know I love an easy dessert recipe and these are definitely easy. The hardest part is making the short bread, which is really NBD. I used premade caramel sauce because I wanted these to be something I could quickly throw together from ingredients I typically have on hand. I used finely grated coconut, so if you have thicker shredded (unsweetened) coconut I think that would be best – you’ll get more coconut flavor.

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Posted on by Hailey Matesic Posted in Dessert, Recipes
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Gigantic Chewy Coffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

You know that feeling when you make something stupid good? Yeah, that’s these gigantic coffee chocolate chip cookies. They’re just stupid good.

I got a jar of instant coffee for those Dalgonas from earlier in the week and wanted to see how else I could make use of it. I can’t imagine going through an entire jar of instant coffee that quickly. Let me tell you – after making these cookies, I want to put instant coffee in and on everything to see what happens.

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Posted on by Hailey Matesic Posted in Dessert, Recipes
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Go-To Lactation Cookies

At some point I’ll share our daughter’s birth story with you all, but if you follow on Instagram, you know Miss Harper Grace was born on 02/02/2020 (cool date, huh?!) and was 8 weeks early. 8 weeks early. Lil’ punk! ha!

Since then, it’s been a little bit of a whirlwind around here. The house was not ready, we had a lot of organizing to do, and going back and forth to the NICU just kind of stops everything else going on in your life (like organizing, tidying, laundry, and so on). But I’ll share all that soon!

Anyway, let’s chat about these lactation cookies! They’re so good – even hubby likes them – and I’ve noticed a difference in my milk production when I have a few in a day versus when I don’t.

If you don’t want to make your own lactation cookies, these are my favorite pre-packaged ones!

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Posted on by Hailey Matesic Posted in Dessert, Recipes
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Rugelach Palmiers Recipe

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! I’m not usually excited for Valentine’s Day, always kind of seemed silly, but it’s a sweet little holiday, isn’t it? Hubby and I don’t celebrate this one, but I caved and gave him a card and chocolates anyway. I felt like I couldn’t ignore Valentine’s Day! This week also marks 8 years since we started dating so it’s nice to give that a little head nod.

I wanted to share these Palmiers – French elephant ears – on V-day since they bake into little hearts! Aren’t they adorable? They’re also incredibly easy, so run over to the grocery store and pick up some puff pastry to make these tonight!

French Palmiers are typically just cinnamon sugar in the middle, so if you don’t want to make these with the Rugelach filling you can just combine some sugar and cinnamon and then bake them up. They are still so good with just a simple filling!

I love a Rugelach cookie so I wanted to try these with a little bit of something more substantial than cinnamon and sugar. Rugelach filling is usually a combination of walnuts, raisins, sugar and cinnamon. I went to the store, grabbed the puff pastry, and thought I had walnuts and raisins at home…I had pecans and cranberries and sometimes you just have to improvise. And it worked!

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Posted on by Hailey Matesic Posted in Recipes
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The Perfect Chocolate Chip Coookies

 

There’s something about a well-stocked cookie jar full of homemade goodness that makes a house so inviting and warm. Basically, our cookie jar is a way for me to lure my nephews into thinking I’m the coolest aunt. I’m not above bribery, let’s be real.

These cookies are my go-to, especially around the holidays. A chocolate chip cookie is a safe bet for a homemade gift, perfect for a hostess, a neighbor, or a little special extra for a family to enjoy. I promise, they’re quick and easy, soft and chewy, and worth every second of effort.

PS – A cookie jar, full of these, is a perfect gift!

 

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