I am quite picky when it comes to biscuits/cookies.   I love chocolate chip cookies . . .  but my chocolate chip cookies have to be crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle . . .  and have lotsa chocolate chips in them. I also love raisins and nuts in mine, although I know not everyone does.   My molasses cookies have to be soft and puffy.  Oatmeal cookies . . .  crisp, crisp, crisp.   Not all cookies are alike and not all cookies are appreciated for the same reasons.   

I had scheduled both the Elders and the Sisters for tea appointments this week, two days in a row and so I set about to do a dessert to serve them that I could actually use two days in a row and decided that a large cake would do the trick.   I could cut it into squares and serve it with ice cream both nights.   Whatever works, right?

When I was growing up I hated pumpkin pie.  I am not sure why.  It was just not something I enjoyed.  As an adult I have come to love it however, and every time I see tinned pumpkin in the shops here in the UK, I pick up a whole whack of it.  Because you can't ever have too much tinned pumpkin can you???  And also because it is also a very rare find over here.

I can still remember the very first time I had a Cantuccini, or Biscotti as they are also known.   I was probably in my early 30's.  My ex and I were enjoying a weekend on our own at my ex Sister in Law's condo in Toronto . . .  down on Young Street . . .  in the  midst of what was happening in Toronto.  

I had the fortune to have some bananas go very ripe the other day which gave me the opportunity to bake something delicious.   I only ever rarely am able to do that as the Toddster eats up the bananas almost faster than I can bring them into the house!  He does love his bananas!

 

You can blame this all on my sister.  My mother had a doughnut pan sitting on top of her kitchen cupboards, gathering dust for years and years . . . she finally sent it to my sister because she had expressed that she had always wanted to have one.  For some reason the idea of a baked doughnut had never really appealed to me . . .

Do you love coconut as much as I do?   Buttery coconut cakes?   Macaroons?   Do you love Caramel?  As much as I do?  If you do then this is YOUR bake.  You really must bake these delicious squares.

Normally at the weekend, I like to do some baking that takes a bit more effort than what I usually get up to during the week.  I'm not a really big fan of yeast baking, but I am a huge fan of Chelsea Buns . . .  and the shop bought ones are usually so disappointing, so this weekend I decided to try to make my own with excellent results, using a recipe I got from a National Trust baking book.  They are excellent sources of traditional recipes.

I'm not sure what it is about the flavours of Toffee, Caramel  and Butterscotch that makes me go weak at the knees, but I know I am not alone in this.  They have long been favourites of many people and one only has to look at the proliferation of recipes for Salted Caramel anything on the internet these days to see just how popular that flavour is.

I spent all day at the Temple today so I really haven't done any cooking at home.  I do have this gumdrop cake recipe to share with you however that I cooked over the Christmas period and just never got around to showing you.   This is my sister's recipe for gumdrop cake and it is the best in my opinion.  We also call it rubber spatula cake because my mother once baked the end of a rubber spatula in it.  It dropped off in the batter and she couldn't find it, so she baked it anyways.   It didn't hurt the cake in any way, and the lucky person who found it got treated to a hilarious story on the side!

You would think I would be done with all of the rich food after everything we have cooked and eaten in December, but nope . . .  I have not.   We were having some people over for a  Family Home Evening Group we are starting and I wanted to bake something special for us to have as a refreshment, so I baked these Paradise Slices for us to enjoy!

I think one of my absolute most favourite things is Gingerbread.  Gingerbread cake.  Gingerbread loaf.  Gingerbread Cookies.  Gingerbread Brownies . . .  and NOW these scrumptious Gingerbread Rolls!  Yes, Gingerbread rolls!