Maple bourbon pecan pie

Sorry, I know I've been MIA for...oh, six months. Had a lot happen in the last year, the biggest thing being that I'm dating someone who is wonderful. So there's that.

I don't have the time right now to do the entries I used to. But we're going to try something new: I'm just going to take a photo (probably Instagram) of what I made and post the link to the recipe. If I can ever get the time in to start writing a lot again, I will. But for now, there's this.

Maple bourbon pecan pie

Crust: Joy of Cooking's pate brisee

Filling: Food Network Magazine 

March baking: Rocky road tart, sweet & salty cookies and chocolate creme pie

I understand that I've kind of fallen off the face of the earth lately. But March was an...interesting month. So, to recap (mostly) everything, I...

 • totaled my car.

• visited two best friends from college in Denver (more pictures from that later).

• had hundreds of dollars stolen from my bank account.

• watched KU make a run all the way to the National Championship game in a "rebuilding" year (I made cake pops for this event, about 150 total, but managed to take pictures every time. That picture of Mass Street counts for that, I guess.)

And that's just a snapshot. So, forgive the absence. 

This rocky road tart jumped out at me when I first looked through Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts book. And lemme tell you, it's as rich (and awesome) as it looks. It's a graham crust filled with mini marshmallows, almonds and chocolate chunks with a chocolate ganache poured over the whole thing. So decadent.

I'm a big fan of salty-sweet, so when I saw these cookies with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and pretzels in them, I knew I wanted to make them. There was a nice combo of flavors with both chips and the pretzels gave a nice crunch.

This is another favorite from Martha's book, the chocolate creme pie. I've made it a couple times on the blog, but it's just too good to pass up. Plus, I almost always have all the ingredients I need! It's pretty darn simple and cuts beautifully.

Fluffernutter cupcakes, chocolate cake pops and oatmeal scotchies

If you read this on a regular basis or know me, you know my family history is pretty darn important to me. That, and I love spending time with my 91-year-old grandmother, from whom a lot of of that history comes. So a couple weekends ago, I went back to Salina to spend some quality time with her. That Saturday, I took her on a little drive south of Salina to a pretty awesome place: Coronado Heights.

This is out an opening of the structure on top of the hill, which is close to Lindsborg. Legends has it, Coronado himself stopped on this hill and surveyed the land around him. Now there's this castle-like thing on top and lots of picnic tables and hiking. But what's especially cool is that my grandpa proposed to my grandma here, about 70 years ago. Sometimes I forget how much life my grandma has seen until I stop and do the math and realize that seven decades have passed since then. Wow.

One of my good friends from college recently got a new job that required him to move to the West Coast. As sad as it makes me that he's leaving, I'm excited he got the opportunity (and that it's a new place to visit!) So two of this week's desserts were made for various times I got to see him before leaving. First, naturally, are cake pops. He's a lover of these treats, as are all his roommates. So he requested chocolate cake pops.

And then the next weekend, I got to hang out with him and a bunch of other friends to watch the KU-Mizzou game. (Side note: for those who aren't familiar, it's one of the oldest rivalries in college sports that saw its last regular-season game a couple weeks ago. As a lifelong Jayhawk, I was raised to hate the Tigers, and this game was one of the most intense I've ever watched, right up there with our 2008 National Championship win. But we won! And it was glorious.) For that, I made one of my favorite childhood cookies, the oatmeal scotchie. My mom and I would make them all the time when I was a kid; they're basically an oatmeal butterscotch cookie. They can easily get too thin and crispy, but I think I've worked out that problem.

And last but not least, my latest cupcake. I've been slacking a bit on the cupcakes lately, but these looked too good to pass up: fluffernutter cupcakes. They're peanut butter cupcakes with a Nutella filling and a marshmallow frosting. Can't forget the Nutter Butter cookie on top! That frosting is one of my new favorite things. It pipes wonderfully and it sure tastes good. (Posting these on Hoosier Homemade's Cupcake Tuesday!)

Daring Bakers' Challenge: Quick bread

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

I decided to go for a lemon bread. I think we've established that I love citrus flavors, even during (what is supposed to be) winter. It's chock-full of lemon zest and lemon juice, but I decided to increase the flavor even more by adding on a lemon glaze. As usual, the office enjoyed it. And like the name said, the bread was quick and easy to put together. Best of both worlds!