Hii!!!! How are you and how was your Halloween and are you in the holiday spirit yet?? We had such a fun first Halloween with Bernie!! She had a Halloween feast of squash (cause it’s orange!) and then donned her fleece lemon costume to trick or treat at Aunt Ethel’s building where she made friends with a Twizzler, or more specifically the crunchy wrapper of the Twizzler. It fascinated her all night long. Eggboy and I split a tiny box of Milk Duds and then ate spinach salads before going to bed by 9. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Going to bed by 9 is, like, how I get my thrills these days because being well rested is such an excellent high? Also, I’m now filming (season 5!) and my call time in the morning is very early o’clock, meaning I have to wake up six minutes before very early o’clock in order to brush my teeth and then commute from my bedroom to the kitchen. 

It’s gonna be a great season! It includes:

1. A Passover episode, complete with our new Marian Bull Seder plate that I want to stare at all day long every day

2. An appearance by one of my all time favorite bands

3. Hockey, hockey stars (!), broomball, curling, Alana curling, and ice skating

4. KNOEPHLA!!!!!

I know I say this about every season but I think this season is going to be the tastiest yet. And not just because it has the best mozzarella sticks and gruyere babka rolls of all time but also because Bernie’s cheeks have reached peak deliciousness (thank you to my grandpa and dad for those). 

Enough about me, I am going to talk about my frond Michelle now!!! Her book, Weeknight Baking, came out last week and it has SPRINKLE END PAPERS. And a recipe for one (1!) chocolate chip cookie that is just plain dangerous. And billions upon gajillions of tips for how to bake things in advance or speed things up or spread the work out over the course of a few days in order to make it fit any kind of crazy busy schedule. It’s baking efficiency at its tastiest and I love it. Like she’s even making me feel like I can bake a dang wedding cake over the course of a few Bernie naps. For those of you who liked the bake-ahead tips in this post, this book takes this type of thing to the next level. And all the while it offers deeeelicious ideas like halva blondies (!!!) and excellent styling tips like how to get perfectly straight edges when you cut cheesecake bars. This book is so clever, informational, beautiful, and delicious and I’m a proud kvelling frond right now.

One thing that Michelle and I share, other than the fact that we both have quiet reserved Nordic partners, is a love of sumac. Specifically, sumac in sweets! It’s so bright and fun! I sometimes think of sumac as ground up lemony vinegar, if vinegar were a solid. So like if you’re into lemon sour patch kids, you will like sumac’d sweets. (NY Shuk makes a great sumac, by the way.) Michelle made a delicious move in her book and rolled snickerdoodle cookie dough in a sumac/raspberry magic dust and the world is a tastier place for it. These cookies are sweet, tangy bright, crisp around the edges, and soft and chewy in the middle. They’re sassier than you’re average cookie and so pretty! Look at that natural pink color! I love these. And I love Michelle and Weeknight Baking. Yay!!!

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raspberry sumac snickerdoodles

makes about 20 cookies

from michelle lopez's weeknight baking: recipes to fit your schedule

ingredients

for the raspberry sumac topping

1/4 c (1.75 oz) granulated sugar

2 heaping tb freeze-dried raspberries, finely ground

2 tsp ground sumac

for the cookies

2 3/4 c (12.35 oz) all-purpose flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 c (10.5 oz) granulated sugar

1 c (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 large eggs

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

clues

position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400ºF. line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.

in a medium bowl, combine all topping ingredients and set aside.

in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and butter. beat on medium-high until light, fluffy, and doubled in volume, 2 to 3 minutes, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary. reduce the mixer to low and add the eggs one at a time, adding the next egg only after the previous one has bee fully incorporated. add the vanilla and beat until just combined. scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. with the mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined. scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl once more, and beat on low for an additional 30 seconds.

use a 3-tablespoon cookie dough scoop to portion the cookie dough into balls. roll each in the snickerdoodle topping, covering them completely. place the coated cookies at least 3 inches apart on the prepared sheet pans. bake one pan at a time for 10 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still gooey. the cookies will look puffed when you pull them out of the oven, but will fall and crack into the perfect cookies as they cool. cool the cookies on the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, or until the edges and bottoms of the cookies have set and feel firm to the touch. repeat with the remaining cookie dough (or freeze it to bake later). serve warm or at room temperature. the cookies can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.

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-yeh!

photos by chantell and brett quernemoen