Maple Carrot Oatmeal Cookies

A long drive, friends, family, my birthday, and maple syrup, that pretty much sums up last week. 

 

I traveled up to Connecticut to visit family and friends as well as celebrate my birthday.  It's finally sugar season up there.  My mom made us a big sugar house meal with ham and kielbasa cooked in maple syrup.  The kids were just happy to watch my dad while he boiled the maple water into syrup.  My daughter especially loves maple taffy on snow.  We were all sugared up by the time we left.  I made sure I stocked up on plenty of syrup for my recipes.  These Maple Carrot Oatmeal Cookies have a generous amount of pure maple syrup in them that tastes great with the Carrot Cake M&M's I found at Walmart.

9 Boozy St. Paddy's Day Treats

Looking for some St. Patrick's Day treats with a little bit of spunk?  Well, you've come to the right place.  I love enhancing my treats with a little bit of beer or liquor now and then.  St. Patrick's Day give me an excuse to do just that.  Guinness and dark chocolate was my favorite combo until I tried Baileys with white chocolate.  Oh it's heaven.  Even if you don't drink Guinness beer or Bailey's Irish Cream you made just like it in your sweets.  The ingredients all blend well together creating a smooth overall flavor.  Everyone is a little bit Irish on St. Patrick's Day.

Maple Pecan Scones

Maple season has finally started.  Thank goodness, because I am all out of my father's maple syrup. I actually had to buy a bottle of maple syrup at the grocery store to make these. 

I do miss living close to my parents and popping over to their house during maple season.  The smell of boiling maple water is intoxicating.  And having that first sip of freshly made, piping hot maple syrup is the best.  Good thing we will be heading up north again soon.  My kids love being at the sugar house.  And my daughter is looking forward to seeing some snow again.  After spending the past week in flip flops, I sure don't look forward to packing all our winter gear.

Triple Irish Cupcakes

Sometimes things don't exactly go as planned.  My first attempt at the Baileys cupcakes led to a more bread like consistency.  Which is fine if that was what I was going for, but I wanted a more cake like consistency.  So back to the drawing board I went.  Got it right the second time.  Then I had to wait for my neighbor to give me some of his Jameson Irish Whiskey so I could make the filling.  I also was out of Guinness (I wonder why?) and had to wait for my husband to go to the package store.  So long story short, this took all week.  Have no fear, it was all worth the wait.