I suppose in the way others obsessively look to icons of style for inspiration about what to wear, or celebrity designers’ coffee table books to figure out how to redecorate their living rooms, I idolize food people. Which might explain this 1980s gym teacher getup I’m currently sporting and why 75% of my furniture involves particle board, but dang, check out my fly cake pan collection!

Anyway, rather than just craving certain dishes, I go through phases of who I might like to eat like during a given week and embrace it with a restraining-order-level dedication. Typing that out makes me realize how totally weird that is. But there you have it.

Sometimes it’s Ina, all “good” olive oil and comfort foods “with the volume turned up”. Other times it’s Lynne Rossetto-Kasper with her unbeatable riffs on pantry staples. Often it’s all about food bloggers–I am convinced that Molly and Luisa always have something simple and amazing on the table, for instance. This week, I’m all up in Heidi Swanson’s mix like so many other people, flipping through her latest book at all times. It’s made transitioning from that juice cleanse wonderfully easy and totally delicious. This oatmeal, which we all devoured over a dreary, rainy weekend, was particularly magical. And not just because it wasn’t made of juice. I hadn’t planned on telling you about it, but after its heavenly scent filled the house, a photo had to be taken, and the party of flavors and textures (creamy. chewy and crunchy bits!) made it mandatory to let you in on the whole thing.

This recipe is so incredible flavorful, and so easy to assemble, even with a small person singing and droning the kitchen at 7 a.m. on a Saturday. It’s an awesome twist on the everyday, and reheats like a dream for a couple mornings’ worth of meals. This is breakfast food to have on the regular, something to make you feel a little extra special during this lovely time of year when the days seem, oh, 37 hours long. It’s the sort of recipe that spurs Bieber Fever-esque fandom of food bloggers. Love.

Cozy Baked Oatmeal

Adapted from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day

This recipe is ripe for the riffing. Use any nuts you like, any berries you wish, adjust the amounts of sweetener to suit your tastes. I used almond milk instead of regular milk and it was perfect.

Serves 6 to 8

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

1/3 cup natural cane sugar or brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

1 large egg

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, divided

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 medium ripe bananas, sliced 1/2 inch thick

1 1/2 cups blueberries

Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-by-8-inch baking dish (or a dish of similar size).

In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, walnuts, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, half the melted butter and vanilla.

Arrange the banana slices and about two-thirds of the berries in the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with the oat mixture. Pour the wet ingredients evenly over the oats, pressing the oats down a bit if necessary to make sure they’re evenly moistened. Sprinkle the remaining berries over the top.

Bake until the oatmeal is set and lightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes. Serve with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter drizzled over the top.

Ever wanted to try a juice cleanse, but find the whole thing so crazy and overwhelming that you just leave that madness to old hippies and Gwyneth Paltrow? Well, I’m here to show you that it can indeed be done by people who really, really like to eat. Which is to say normal people. Even though the experience is really anything other than normal, but kind of in a good way. If you like really verbose blog posts with lots of personal information, then you’re in the right place! Grab a doughnut and settle in; things are about to get real, people.

January 16, 2012, 10:24 a.m. Well, here we are. Juice cleanse day numero uno. As I type this, it’s nearly 10:30 in the morning and I have yet to have my first juice, not at all by choice. I’m not a happy camper right now. Nay, I am a very hungry, coffee-deficient, slightly deranged camper. The delivery window was between 8 and 10 a.m., and someone called a little while ago to say they were running late, but I’m freaking starving waiting for this stuff. Shouldn’t these people be delivering juices much earlier in the morning if someone is to start the cleanse that day? Especially if one has been dutifully pre-cleansing (read: not eating a whole lot) in the days prior? And one has a three-year-old who wakes them at an ungodly hour? I had to break down and have some green tea and almonds to keep from chewing my own arm off. Definitely not the way I wanted to kick this whole thing off. Bummertown, big time. Maybe it’s a ploy to make that first juice seem like the most delicious thing I’ve ever had in my entire life. Government conspiracy?

10:53 a.m. Juices have arrived! Crankiness quickly dissipated thanks to a very cheerful delivery guy with an adorable, outdoorsy Endless Summer kind of vibe. Even Little C had herself a little flirt as he handed over the coolers full of juice. Get it, girl! Finally getting something into my stomach helped too. First drink was a blue-algae shot that tasted like ocean-y dirt. But the first green juice is perfectly tasty, kind of like a celery-ish V8. So far, so good. I’m to drink 1 juice about every 2 hours, 6 juices in total, plus two “elixirs”. I”m a little behind schedule now, but maybe being able to drink them closer together in order to get them all in before bedtime will be a good thing. Says the girl who is terrified of starving today.

3:57 p.m. Little sleepy, whole lotta hungry. Little bit of a funky feeling in my mouth that I can’t get rid of. Definitely chilly, cold hands, cold nose. I’m on drink number 4 now, coconut water. I drank juices 2 and 3 while running errands with Little C.  Juice 2 was a lemonade with cayenne pepper, similar to the drink from the Master Cleanse, if you’ve ever heard of that one. Didn’t love the ginger in that drink–it’s not one of my favorite flavors. Juice 3 was another green juice, very similar to the first green juice of the day, maybe a bit heartier, if you could call it that? Between 3 and 4 I heated up some vegetable broth just to have something warm to sip. Lunch is my favorite meal of the day, so I was reeeallly missing that solid food feeling  ’round about 2:30 p.m.

Around that same time, I had to get home to make several batches of marshmallows for a book promo thing, which I don’t suppose could’ve been any farther from what one should do while on a juice cleanse. Thankfully, there was no tasting needed, since I’ve obsessively tested the recipes. But I wasn’t dying to put a bunch of sugar in my face, anyway. The cravings are for salty, fatty things at this point. Which is to say ACTUAL FOOD, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

I’m feeling good about staying the course so far today (although I could’ve tackled my kid for a bite of her noontime peanut butter sandwich). The funny thing about this late afternoon coconut water is that is tastes so intensely sweet, much more so than it normally would. It’s a nice pick-me-up about this time of day, when everything was starting to feel very…vegetal. I’m a little nervous about dinnertime, and how hungry I might be during the night. I’m really looking forward to the almond drink, which seems like it should be very filling, relatively speaking.

7:54 p.m. The past couple hours went by a lot faster than the rest of the day, thanks to the husband coming home from work and handling dinner for himself and Little C. I sort of avoided the kitchen and dining room, sipping juice number 5 and trying not to think about food. Juice 5 is a beet and carrot “blood builder” that probably wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for that dang ginger popping up again. I just can’t dig it. But I did feel great after finishing that juice, probably due to getting a little jolt of sugar into my system. I feel fabulous, energetic, even. I just finished the the almond drink, which, as suspected, was satisfying and almost luxurious to drink, like a thicker almond milk with a hint of vanilla. Why can’t they all be almond drink? Anyway, I also just downed 4 ounces of an aloe drink that tasted pretty much like straight lemon juice, and am ready to hunker down for the night. Hoping I don’t sleepeat my way through a box of crackers in the middle of the night.

January 17, 2012, 8:13 a.m. Feeling pretty spectacular this morning, I must say. I succumbed to several sips of black coffee upon waking, but followed it up with hot water after it quickly cracked me out. I had quite the night last night–very deep sleep, lots of crazy, vivid dreams that a therapist would have loved to pick apart. Perhaps this cleanse also sweeps out the innermost corners of your memory? Some were super realistic and very emotional, others, like the one where I was best friends with Kristen Stewart and she was marrying Rob Pattinson, and I had erroneously committed to standing up in the wedding AND making tres leches cake for 100 people on the same day were downright bizarre. Upon trying to separate all the eggs for the sponge cake, I couldn’t find a single one that didn’t have some kind of disgusting matter inside, and was cracking eggs for an hour straight, while the clock ticked away. Justin Timberlake and Rick Bayless were observing. I told you–BIZARRE.

Because I just couldn’t stay away, I weighed myself this morning, and am 1.5 pounds lighter. I’m sure it’s water weight, but still, if the scale hadn’t moved or had, God forbid, had gone UP, I’d probably have my face in a plate of peanut butter toast right about now. It’s the little things that keep us moving forward, yes?Just took my blue-green algae/ocean dirt shot and am working on my first green juice. Little C is in school all day today, so I think that might make things a little easier, which is to say that I won’t have to talk to someone all day while preparing a constant stream of meals and snacks that I can’t eat. Kids and their SNACKS, I’m telling you! Constantly with the snacks! Which is making me realize that I put bits of her snacks in my face more often than I thought. Hhrmm.

I’m starting with the juices about two hours earlier than I did yesterday, so we’ll see how it goes now that I’ve gotten something into my system much earlier than I did yesterday.

January 18, 2012, 8:29 a.m. So in case you’re wondering why I only journaled once yesterday, it’s because I sort of spiraled into a black hole of hunger and boredom yesterday. Not an easy day by any means. Around 11:30 in the morning I buckled and heated up a cup of a low-sodium vegan soup that was basically a puree of broccoli and a few other vegetables. Not sure if this derailed the whole thing or whatever, but it was, literally, a moan-inducing experience. The warmth, the flavor, a viscosity thicker than juice–it was grand, and kept my hunger at bay for about an hour or so.

I’m noticing a pattern: that the morning hours are a breeze, the first green juice totally satisfies me and makes me feel terrific. A couple hours later is when the magic is undone–from about 11:30 until 4:30, things get a little iffy, like hungry demon growing horns iffy (um, so I guess that’s most of the day). It’s not that I crave a specific food or a bunch of sugar or anything, it’s more like a vague craving for something solid and I can’t stop thinking about food in a general sense. It makes me feel like a food-obsessed whackadoodle. But I will say this–I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror in the late afternoon and had to take a second look–did my skin look almost luminous, my entire face just a tad younger? Hmmm.

The rest of the day went much better after that, except for a bracing chill throughout my body that I still can’t get rid of. Per the suggestion of my extremely virtuous and knowledgeable younger sister who cleanses a few times a year, I ate a few slices of avocado with a bit of sea salt around 3:00 p.m. which felt wonderful and foreign. Around that same time, I started to feel very different–a film on my teeth and mouth, an achiness in my bones, a feeling like I honestly am detoxing? Something’s happening in there, that’s for sure. I spent the evening under two huge blankets while sipping my almond drink (aka The Nectar of Life), mumbling to the husband that “there were eggs in there” if he wanted dinner. I went to bed early and slept really, really deeply, probably more so than I have in months. I don’t even remember if I dreamed or not. That’s too bad, because I was really hoping to continue that conversation with Justin Timberlake from the night before.

Anyway, this morning is Day 3 and I’m almost finished with my first juice. There is a feeling of being close to the finish line, knowing that I can shop today for what I’ll eat tomorrow to break the cleanse. If this isn’t what supreme hope feels like, people, than I don’t know what is. Yesterday was definitely harder than Day 1. There was a point in the day when I actually pouted out loud when I realized that I had one more day to go. But I woke up today feeling leaner, and for lack of a better word, cleaner. Another pound lost, by the way. Although I’m sure the Juice Cleanse Police would cite me for weighing myself everyday because a cleanse isn’t supposed to be about weight loss, it’s supposed to be about cleansing and detoxifying the mind and body, blah, blah, blah–just tell me my pants will fit better after all this madness, okay? I can’t see what’s going on in my bowels and bloodstream, but I know pants.

I do have to note that despite the evil hungries, I haven’t felt cranky or moody like I thought I might throughout the cleanse. I’ve had a mild headache here and there, but overall, my mental state has been really positive. I haven’t had much of a desire to exercise as I normally would, but have tried to stay as active as possible, resting when necessary. Every day I’ve given myself a serious exfoliation in the shower (as per my cleanse instructions) and taken some time to meditate a little about why I’m doing this. This entire time, I have kept in mind that I’m doing something good for myself in the long run, that my body really needed this bit of shock in order to reset. When I think about breaking the cleanse, it’s about really great, clean, whole foods. Despite the fact that I got my issue of Bon Appetit in the mail yesterday and cover reads The Best Fried Chicken Ever!, accompanied by a photo of a single, plump, golden, crisp-skinned drumstick. ARE YOU KIDDING ME, UNIVERSE?

January 20, 2012, 10:19 a.m. So here we are, two days post-cleanse. To quickly recap, the rest of Day 3 got a little dicey in the afternoon, I really wanted to give up early. But I didn’t–I put up, shut up, drank my juices and went to bed early, knowing I could eat in the morning. The first day of slowly breaking the cleanse was odd–I really didn’t feel much like eating at all. But I started the day with blueberries blended with almond milk, and good Lord if that didn’t taste like Haagen-Dazs. So sweet, so vibrant. Amazing.

Throughout the rest of the day, I had some green salad with avocado and lemon, some almonds and dried apricots, a cup of pureed vegetable soup. For dinner, I headed out for a dinner date with friends, and got Mardi Gras-level wasted on two glasses of wine. I had a small salad and several bites of fish for dinner and it was glorious, but by the time I got home, I felt like I’d been hit by a truck, terrible. Too much too soon, for sure. This morning, I started with a green juice and an apple with some peanut butter, and am feeling good. I’m planning on sticking with clean, vegan fare for the rest of the day to balance out that mess from last night.

Overall, I gotta say–the whole experience was really something. It was definitely uncomfortable, sometimes empowering, sometimes miserable, but you know what? That’s what I signed up for. I wanted a real shake-up, something to make me look at food and my daily routine, differently, and well, that totally happened. Before, things had snowballed into too much rich food, too much sugar, too much snacking, too much wine. And even though I mentally knew that, now I physically can gauge just how overboard I was in those areas, and use that knowledge to make some longer-lasting changes. I genuinely crave more raw foods now, more of the good stuff in general, and am totally satiated by smaller amounts of these foods, without feeling the need to eat a cookie after. Bam! Goal reached. Also, I feel better in my pants (five pounds lost, thank God for tangible results), and that’s really the point of life, right?

In short: Man, I’m so glad THAT’s over. But man, I’m so glad I did it.  

This is it, people. I’m getting down and dirty and a little bit crazy. Starting tomorrow, I’m going all Gwyneth Paltrow-level insanity and starting a 3-day juice cleanse. The fancy kind that some glossy, lithe delivery person brings to your house. I KNOW. But for now, there are these freaking great Chocolate-Slicked Toffee-Oat Tiles, which were kind of my last hurrah before embarking on a week of living like a deranged Hollywood starlet wannabe. My enthusiasm is palable, yes?

I’ll be real with you–it’s been a heck of a few weeks around here. In a nutshell, super far from puppies and rainbows. Lots of stress, tears and a few visits to doctors’ offices, just to give you a general idea. But I’m fine now, we’re all fine, and ready to move forward. Maybe someday I’ll gather up the cojones to tell you all about it. But for now, all of this has made me start thinking about my body and my health in a way that I’ve not put much emphasis on in quite some time.

Now, don’t you worry, I’m not going to be all going off the deep end and making you, like, sprouted hemp and carob cake or some other patchouli-stankin’ hippie thing. It’s more like I want to reset a bit, become a little more mindful of my body situation. Get more of the good stuff in than I have been in the past year, during which there’s been much sugar and flour and (call the food police!) corn syrup while testing recipes for my two upcoming books. I’m ready for a hard reset, here, people. I’m looking like Nell Carter right now, for reals. Well, in my brain I am. And so I’m ready for the big guns. Bring it, fancy juice people. I’m waiting for you.

So here’s what’s going to be happening around here for time being. First, I’m going to share the recipe for these totally addictive, snappy-yet-chewy granola bar/cookie hybrids. Then I’m going to finish this day out with all my very virtuous vegan eating to prepare for this cleanse thing I’m doing. Maybe I’ll document all the juiciness for you, just to see if I can still type and think while consuming no solid food. And maybe you’ll be interested in hearing about the process, much in the way that people like to stop and gape at car accidents. Doesn’t that sound like a BLAST?! Lie to me. Thanks.

Chocolate-Slicked Toffee-Oat Tiles

Makes about 16 tiles

This is a riff off on Kim Boyce’s granola bar recipe from her incredible book Good to the Grain. Except I deliciously loused up all the healthfulness with toffee bits and chocolate, ahem. 

A few notes on ingredients: What you’re looking for here is dessicated coconut–the dry, unsweetened kind. If you can’t find it, or are one of those coconut-haters, I would swap it out for an equal amount of finely chopped sliced almonds. The toffee bits I used come in a bag by the chocolate chips, with Heath on the label. If you can’t find ‘em, I don’t see why you couldn’t just use finely chopped Heath bars and enjoy the extra hit of chocolate in the mix. 

For the slick of chocolate, at first, it might seem there’s not enough to spread over the whole oat slab, but there will be. The idea is to have the thinnest layer of chocolate imaginable here, so thin you can almost start to see through it. Just keep spreading it along, and it will cover the whole thing eventually. 

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

2/3 cup honey

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (see note)

1/2 cup toffee bits (see note)

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60 to 70% cacao), melted

Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 325 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. Using the back of a knife or the edge of a spatula, lightly trace a 10-inch square onto the foil, being careful not to cut through the foil. Spray the foil lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the oats, and stirring often, toast the oats in the butter until they’re lightly golden and smell nutty.Transfer the oats to a large mixing bowl. Wipe out the pot, and add the honey, brown sugar and salt, stirring to combine with a heatproof spatula. Place the pot over high heat and bring the mixture to a hard boil. Boil for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the syrup reaches 245 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Add the coconut to the bowl with the oats and toss to combine. Add the syrup and stir to blend well. Add the toffee bits and stir until evenly mixed (a bowl scraper is great at really keeping the mixture moving and keeping it from clinging to the sides of the bowl). Turn the mixture out onto the prepared baking sheet, aiming for the square template you’ve traced onto the foil. Spray your palms lightly with cooking spray and pat the mixture into thin, even layer to fill the square. Bake until golden and glossy all over, about 30 minutes, rotating the sheet from front to back every 10 minutes during baking. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

When the oat slab is completely cooled, gently lift it off the foil and flip it over. Smooth the melted chocolate all over the slab in a thin, even layer–you want just a thin slick of chocolate here, so it may look like there won’t be enough chocolate to cover the surface, but as you spread it, there will be enough to thinly cover the 10-inch square. Let set at room temperature until firm, about 2 hours. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into squares with a large, sharp knife.

Oh, 2012. Here you are, all shiny and new and full of promise. Unlike the yoga pants I’ve been wearing nonstop since December 27th, which are dull and old and full of pills. But you know what, 2012? You’re encouraging me to move forward. Put on some pants that have an actual waistband, no matter how excruciating  that might be. It’s a brand new year and I’m feeling terrific about the whole thing.

To celebrate, I thought I’d throw a little extra something into my favorite meringue cookie recipe, which tends to appear about this time every year, when rich, heavy desserts have become too much, but I’m not so crazy as to forgo sweets altogether. And to up the ante, I’m adding a bright punch of flavor with sweet, fragrant Meyer lemons, which are the kind of glorious thing that will make even the laziest folk rise from their post-holiday stupor.

The trick that makes these meringues a little different is using an Italian meringue technique instead of the French sort you might normally use for meringue cookies, wherein you whip some egg whites and rain in granulated sugar, beat until the whole thing is stiff and that’s that. With Italian meringue, you take the extra step of boiling up a little sugar syrup on the stove, and then drizzle it into the egg whites instead. It’s fussier, yes, but what you get with Italian meringue is not only a more stable meringue (and a much more finely textured one at that). but also the opportunity to infuse different liquid flavors into the mix that can’t be incorporated into a French meringue, like swapping out the water in the sugar syrup with something delicious like Meyer lemon juice.

What you get in the end is the most perfect little bite, crisp and addictive with a lovely balance of sweetness and a spark of tart citrus. After you cronch-cronch it for a bit, the whole thing melts on your tongue, leaving just the essence of Meyer lemon behind. It’s like perfume, for you mouth. But a lot more pleasant that than sounds. I promise. Plus, hello! Low-fat. Dreamy!

Meyer Lemon Meringue Kisses

Makes about 5 dozen 1 1/2-inch cookies

A few tips for meringue: Make sure your egg whites are room temperature before you begin, and that whites indeed hold a soft shape before adding in the sugar syrup–you’ll get much more volume and structure. 

And of course you can use regular lemons here if you can’t find Meyer lemons–the special breed of lemon just adds a bit more jazziness when they’re in season. 

4 large egg whites, at room temperature

1/4 cup plus one teaspoon freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons grated Meyer lemon zest

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Position oven racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat it to 200 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place the egg whites, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until opaque white and the egg whites hold a soft shape, about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the remaining 1/4 cup lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar in a small saucepan, stirring gently to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Clip a candy thermometer onto the pan and boil until the syrup reaches 238 to 240 degrees. Immediately remove the pan from the heat.

With the mixer running on medium-high speed, drizzle just about a tablespoon or so of the syrup into the whites. Once that’s incorporated, repeat two or three times (the idea is to warm the whites slowly with the hot sugar syrup, avoiding scrambled egg whites). Pour the rest of the syrup into the whipping whites in a thin stream, until all the syrup has been added. Increase the mixer speed to high and beat until the meringue is stiff and glossy and the bowl is cool to the touch all over, 5 to 7 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Load the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a large round or star tip. Pipe kisses about 1 1/2 inches in diameter onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about an inch of space between each one. Bake 2 1/2 hours, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back every 30 minutes or so. Turn off the oven, crack the door, and let the meringues cool in the turned off oven completely, about 1 hour more, until dry and crisp. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably not really up for major New Year’s resolution talk right now. I’m totally with you on that. I’d much rather talk about cookies and the new cookbooks you got. So let’s just keep it simple. For the New Year, let’s all make a pact to actively start trying to blow minds. Might I suggest starting with this Butterscotch Pot de Crème for New Year’s Eve dessert?

I first experienced this dish when I was visiting Sara, my best friend in the whole wide world, down in Santa Monica back in October. Feeling bold and fancy-free (or as bold and fancy-free as one possibly can, as Sara was super pregnant at the time), we headed out to brave the lunchtime crowd at Gjelina in Venice. Now, as much as I’d like to seem like I’m all San Francisco and into dining only at the latest and greatest new restaurants, the truth is that when you have a three-year-old, the dining decision usually comes down to relatively kid-friendly places that still serve wine. Gjelina is indeed one of the latest and greatest, definitely serves wine, but isn’t the kind of place you’d want to be seen with a kid. You might, however, catch a dressed-down celebrity or three, and you’ll put some of the most deliciously simple food ever created in your face, marveling all the while at how such pared-down dishes can be so transformative. Plus, I didn’t even have a kid with me on that trip. Bliss. A lot of chewing and sighing took place during our lunch, is what I’m saying.

I still dream of the raw kale salad with fennel, lemon and crisp breadcrumbs (I mean, who makes a dreamworthy kale salad, really?), the perfectly wood-fired blanco pizza with multiple fragrant cheeses and plump, salty Casteveltrano olives. A few glasses of Prosecco. And the dessert. Oh, the dessert. I just–oh, people. There are no words for the butterscotch pot de crème at Gjelina. “Butterscotch pudding on steroids” may begin to spell it out for you, but even then. Oh. Special moments, friends. Special. Moments.

So fast forward to Christmas Eve day, when I was mulling over the menus for the next couple of days. I sort of heard that needle scratching sound in my head when I realized that I had completely forgotten to even think about dessert for Christmas Day. I won’t go into how alien this realization was for me, I think you can probably guess. So I was left with no other choice but to go simple and go with what was in the house at that moment. Because Christmas Eve dinner had us Midwesterners embracing San Francisco tradition and feasting on garlic-roasted Dungeness crab and fresh sourdough bread, and the line in which I had to stand to claim said crabs left me scarred and vowing not to return to any store until at least December 28th. The results, however, were totally finger-lickin’ worth it, and we now have a new little family Christmas Eve crab tradition, which warms the cockles.

So anyway, back to the forgotten Christmas Day dessert debacle. Dinner would be traditional–ham, potatoes, vegetables, the whole thing. So I wanted to go with something tasty, decadent and kind of unexpected. And again, it had to be made without another trip to the store. A flashback to my dessert at Gjelina, a quick Google search, and a double check for the pantry basics of eggs, cream, dark brown sugar and butter, and we were on our way to a slap-the-table-level of dessert greatness.

It really is that simple guys. Just a handful of ingredients, plus a good hit of salt, and you’re well on your way to keeping that New Years’ pact to blow minds that I tricked you into making with me earlier.

Butterscotch Pot de Crème

Adapted from The Los Angeles Times and Gjelina in Venice, California

Serves 6 to 8

The original printed recipe says it serves 10, but I’ve scaled it down here by a third. Even so, with these amounts and the decadent richness of the dish, I think it can still serve 6 to 8 people. It is so dense, so creamy, so full of sweet-salty butterscotch flavor, a 4-ounce portion is all anyone really wants or needs. Even putting it in tiny 2-ounce ramekins would be plenty. This stuff is serious.

For the caramel sauce, I opted to use a good-quality storebought sauce that I already had on hand, since just a couple tablespoons is needed for garnish. But of course you can get fancy and make your own. A smattering of crunchy, flaky sea salt just sort of gilds the lily here, but dang, is it ever worth it.

6 large egg yolks

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and caviar scraped

2 1/3 cups heavy cream

Whipped cream, caramel sauce and flaky sea salt (I like Maldon), for serving

Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 325 degrees. Set 6 to 8 small ramekins, cups or coffee cups in a small roasting pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt together the butter, brown sugar, salt and vanilla bean caviar. Whisk often until the mixture becomes smooth. Cook until it begins to caramelize, darkening slightly in color and smelling nutty, almost smoky, 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully and slowly whisk in the cream. The caramel will harden and seize at first, but will smooth out as all the cream is whisked in. Stirring often, bring the mixture to a simmer and then remove the pan from the heat.

Whisk a small amount of the hot cream into the yolks–just a couple tablespoons at first. Then gradually whisk in the remaining cream. When the custard is smooth, set a fine mesh sieve over a large heatproof measuring cup. Pour the custard through the sieve. Divide the custard evenly among the ramekins.

Slide out the oven rack and place the roasting pan on the rack. Carefully fill the roasting pan with hot water, just about halfway up the ramkeins, being careful not to splash any water into the custards. Slide the rack slowly back into place. Bake the custard until they are just set but still jiggle when tapped, anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes depending on the depth of the ramekins. Let the custards cool on the counter for 5 minutes before covering them loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerating until thoroughly chilled, 3 to 4 hours.

To serve, top each pot de creme with a dollop of whipped cream, a drizzle of caramel sauce, and a smattering of flaky sea salt. Serve slightly chilled.

I had these grand December-y plans, see. Grand plans that involved a whole bunch of new festive recipes for you and stories of whimsy and Christmas cheer and what not. But, hey, guess what? Life happened, that’s what. Life and work and to be totally honest, after months of recipe testing for the new book, the Inspiration Factory is running sloooow for brand new holiday goodies. The unexpected bonus of this, though, was that all the baking we’ve been doing around here has been about old favorites, the stuff that really tastes like the holidays to us. Heirloom Sugar Cookies with sparkling rainbow sugar. Thin, Chewy Chocolate Cookies (some with a splash of peppermint extract, hello, Yumtown). Blocks of Blonde Rocky Road, a confection so addictive that–I just–there are no words. And lots of Super Crunchy Chocolate Peppermint Bark in little ribboned bags–for friends, for teachers, for the husband’s office, and for sport.

Earlier this month, in keeping with the warp speed at which we’re putting together book #2, I bounced over to the warm, cozy studio of the fabulous Leigh Beisch, where I worked with her team and the ever-inspiring Sara Slavin once again to crank out dozens of delicious images over a three-day shoot. The creative energy was electric, people. I am really excited for you to see this new book. Final details will be coming your way soon, and the target release date is Fall 2012. Which means that next year you’ll be getting a whole lot of me up in your area. The first book, Marshmallow Madness!, Is coming out February 28, 2012, and an advance copy arrived on my doorstep earlier this month. Not enough colorful language in my personal lexicon to cover the feeling of holding that fluffy, puffy cover in my hands, friends. Holy smokes.

A couple days after the shoot, I sent off another hunk of the new manuscript to my wonderful editor/ad hoc therapist, and promptly got on an airplane to Los Angeles for a 36-hour adventure in my old hometown. I shot a few fun videos with the good people of Kin Community, the sort of cozy recipes that will take you through the dreary days of post-holiday winter. They’ll be up in a few weeks, so I’ll let you know when they’re up and running. But the best part of my LA trip was meeting my very best friend’s day-old baby girl, who decided to be born ten days (!) late. Mad crazy new motherhood flashbacks aside (exhaustion! hand sanitizer! pain! elation!), it was a magical thing being in that hospital room with my dearest friend and a brand new life. So wonderful.

Back in San Francisco now, I’m doing it up end-of-year-style–focusing on wrapping up the the last few weeks of 2011. It’s a funny combination of really wanting to cross things off the to-do list, but so not wanting the holiday season to end this year. Because Little C is so totally In. To. It. now, and it’s a completely hysterical joy. Major requests to Santa, of the highly specific sort. The big ticket item that we’ve been reminded of every single day since early November is a “PINK HELLO KITTY SUITCASE. THE BACKPACK KIND, WITH WHEELS, MOMMY”. So apparently she’s planning on doing some traveling in the New Year?

Also, I have to give mad props to the Elf on the Shelf. Ours is named Buster (or “Busterd” as Little C says, and we’re not really sure if that’s like “mustard” with a ‘B’, or “bastard” with a ‘U’, but whatevs). And I’ll tell you what–that little doe-eyed sucker is working for us. If anyone wants to invent a sort of set of kid bait like this with different seasonal characters that can take us through the whole year, I will pay you ten thousand dollars. Plus cookies. Let me know.

Well, friends, I really just wanted to take a minute here to check in, say hello, and wish you all the happiest of holidays. I hope you’re all healthy, happy and ready to take on a brand new year. I’ll see you around here again right soon.

I don’t know if I’m just getting older or wiser or WHAT, but I’m having a heck of a time thinking of what I might like for Christmas. Maybe you’re kind of feeling the same way? Well, regardless of whether you’ve lost touch with your materialistic side as well (for SHAME!), or if you’re trying to buy something useful and fabulous for the bakers in your life, here’s a few suggestions from the Piece of Cake kitchen to help inspire your shopping and make the baking experience a whole lot more fabulous.

Books. For me, it all starts with a great collection of cookbooks. More specifically, cookbooks by authors with whom I’m obsessed. Here’s a few titles on my shelf that have plenty of splatters and that I’ve given to friends on more than one occasion:

Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich. Like Ina and Lynne Rosetto Kasper, I will pretty much do whatever Alice Medrich tells me to do. This book is full of the sort of earthy, complex flavors that get you thinking beyond plain old butter, sugar, flour and egg concoctions.

The Fearless Baker by Emily Luchetti. Also a book by a pastry goddess who I admire like crazy. This cookbook is great for beginners and advanced bakers alike, and stuffed with clear, foolproof recipes. This isn’t your standard cookbook full of photos, but man, oh man, there is some excellent information in here.

Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies, another Alice Medrich tome. When I have a wave of “I feel like baking COOKIES!” inspiration, this is the book I flip through first.

The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rosetto Kasper and Sally Swift. The Splendid Table radio show has been transporting me to my happy place for years. I gift this book to friends often, and I seriously think I’ve made every recipe in this thing. It’s mostly savory, but the desserts are the simple, deeply satisfying sort that can be whipped up on a Wednesday night. Love.

BakeWise by Shirley Corriher. As much of a baking textbook as it is a recipe collection, this is a wonderful book for answering all those crazy “hows” and “whys” of the chemistry of baking. It’s also a great handbook for the more advanced baker who might want to start developing his or her own recipes.

SugarBaby by Gesine Bullock Prado. I think the easiest way I can describe my feelings for this book is that it’s been on my nightstand for the past eight months. I read it as much as I bake and candy-make from it. So, so dreamy.

Baking Pans. I have sort of a baking pan buying problem. I have everything from restaurant supply store workhorse sheet pans to fancy-pants things I barely ever use, but here are a few great pans that I adore and consider totally giftworthy.

NordicWare Bundt pan. The original  and a classic. I love everything about this pan–the nonstick surface, the weight of it, the perfect level of darkness to the metal to ensure a golden crust on every cake. I’ve put mine in the dishwasher about 1,000 times and it’s still in perfect shape.

Williams-Sonoma Goldtouch baking pans. I’m partial to the 8×8 and 9×13 versions of this pan, but any of them are heavenly. Beautiful nonstick finish, perfectly weighted, and give the perfect amount of browning to everything. I also love that the 8×8 and 9×13 pans have totally straight sides for squared-off brownie and sheet cake corners.

Gobel Madeline Pan. Because even the most obsessive baker probably won’t buy herself one. Unless that baker is me. It’s a bit of a unitasker, but making madelines is so much dang fun. I love this traditional, French-made pan.

Sur La Table Muffin Tins. Quite simply, the best ones I’ve ever had.

Le Creuset Round Dutch Oven. Not really a baking pan per se, but I use my 5-quart version almost every day of my life. Wonderful for bread baking. Excellent for big batches of candy, too.

Fun Tools and Extras. It doesn’t take a whole heck of a lot of fancy equipment to bake successfully, but a few extra, nonessential tools can sure make you feel fancy.

Fleur de Lys Collection from Anthropologie. My cookie jar is from this collection and I adore it. I don’t actually own any of the other pieces, I just want them (hint, friends and family) and bet you will, too. Actually, the entire kitchen category of Anthropologie makes my heart beat all fast.

Martha Stewart Melamine Bowls. When my entire set of these is clean and nested, I feel at peace. Truth.

Williams-Sonoma All Purpose Towels. My favorite kitchen towels in all the land. Absorbent, durable, and just thick enough. They also bleach well, for when you get way too much chocolate on them.

Silpat Baking Mats. The wind beneath my wings.

Offset Spatulas. Endlessly useful in the baker’s kitchen. Great for frosting and smoothing and spreading batters, chocolate, candy, you name it.

Taylor Candy Thermometer. I have two. But I’m just that way.

Fun Cake Tester. In a world of uncertainty, this little gem makes me giddy every time I pull it out of the drawer. A perfect stocking stuffer or little unique gift add-on.

Ice cream scoops in different sizes. For making perfect, evenly sized cookies, cupcakes and muffins. I have, like, four sizes. Obsessed.

Vintage-y aprons. Can’t get enough of these. They make my life happy and worth living. I love the selection at Jessie Steele, and have some lovely ones from Anthropologie, too.

Pretty papers and edible gift-making accessories from Bake it Pretty. Prepare to lose yourself in the website for this dreamy online store.

Note: I’ve not been compensated to mention any of these items. This list is simply comprised of all of my own baking-obsessed opinions.

There are a few basic, totally non-religious beliefs I have about the holidays:

 The first book is the absolutely adorable and dreamy cookbook from Miette Patisserie, an icon of pastry perfection based here in San Francisco. The photos of the shop alone will make your heart sing. And then there are recipes that practically coo to be included in this year’s holiday cookie tins. Believe me when I say that Miette’s peanut butter cookies and walnut shortbreads are quite fine. And what’s also sort of great is that this book is so feminine and elegant, it makes you work the word “quite” into your personal lexicon a lot more often than you regularly would.

I mean, the pages are scalloped, friends. And come Spring, there’s plenty of frothy confections to get into. It’s the sort of cookbook you’ll bake from, but also flip through at your leisure when you feel like dreaming a little. The gift that keeps on giving, yes?

The second book, The Treats Truck Baking Book by Kim Ima,  is full of so much heart I gave it a little hug after flipping through it for the first time. True story. Regardless of whether or not you think this qualifies me to receive a stocking full of therapy this Christmas, I’d say it means you need this sweet little book in your life. You know that any woman who dreams up a food truck business solely to make sweet treats easily accessible to the masses is gonna have some excellent cookie recipes. Like, so many that they’re divided up into regular cookies and sandwich cookies sections. Wowza. And don’t even get me started on the Dessert Nachos. Dessert. Nachos. Hold me.

So we’ve got two sides of the holiday baking coin here–the fanciful and refined, and the homey and insanely delicious. If this combination doesn’t get you preheating the oven and tying those apron strings, well…I’ll reserve judgement. It’s the holidays, after all. But I think we all know what I’m thinking here.

TO ENTER: Just leave a comment telling me about the baked good that screams HOLIDAY! to you. What’s the treat that you bake up yourself or someone else makes for you that makes you go, “Ahhh…NOW it’s the holidays”? Links to recipes are welcome too! I’d love hear what your holiday baking plans are, friends.

AND! If you feel so inclined, if you’re not already doing so, following me on Twitter and/or Facebook will earn you an extra entry for each. Just make sure you leave me your Twitter handle and/or Facebook name in your comment so I can find you and start harassing you on the internets. The winner will be Tweeted and Facebooked about for all to see. If you’re all, “I’ve already BEEN following you!”, tell me so and you’ll still get extra entries. Fa-la-la-la-la!

The winner will be chosen here at random and announced on Thursday morning, December 8th. Entries must be in by Wednesday, December 7th, by 6:00 pm PST. I will ship to the winner wherever you may be, so international bakers welcome!

***Giveaway has ended!***

With the holidays upon us, I’m sure we’re all looking for a ways to be a little more generous with our time, while figuring out how to be more efficient. I don’t think it gets much more generous or efficient than these Malted Brown Sugar Cookie Sandwiches. And by that I mean I’m giving you a totally legit way to eat two cookies at once. Hooray!

But these little beauties aren’t just about the cookie part. Although that part is quite spectacular, all chewy with crisp edges, salty-sweet, and a hit of malt…ooh, sweet babies of brown sugar, they are a delight all on their own. What really takes it all over the edge is a filling that I might say contained pure magic, if I hadn’t made it up myself and knew full well that I was plumb out of magic on that particular day. It’s a kind of creamy, dreamy, malty vanilla buttercream, the sort of thing with which you might be very, very prone to steal away, like, say, purposefully into a dark closet, spoon clutched in hand.

 Just the other day, I shared with you a fun little Kitchen MacGyvering technique for making your own brown sugar, so one might assume that I’d made the brown sugar to whip up these gems, but actually, it’s because of these cookies that I ran out of brown sugar in the first place. So I guess what I’m saying is that these cookies require a healthy amount of brown sugar, and the warm, toasty flavor of it really comes through here. In fact, next time, I might even make my own dark brown sugar, extra dark, specifically for these cookies, even if I already have some of the ready-made stuff in the cabinet. You know, just to celebrate the brown sugar flavor in these addictive little things even more. I mean, that goes against the whole efficiency thing I mentioned before, but, hey–cookies with buttercream filling, here, guys. Go big or go home, right?

And let’s not understate the importance of the malted milk powder in this recipe. It gives an incredible depth of flavor and contributes to the cookie’s dreamy chew. It has a remarkable way of tempering the sweetness in both the frosting and the cookie, and really bringing the craveworthy sweet-and-salty thing into the foreground. In short, it brings the magic. I dare you to try and eat just one of these cookies. Actually, in the spirit of that aforementioned generosity, I’ll totally share this bit of information: it is absolutely impossible to eat just one of these cookies. Truth.

Malted Brown Sugar Cookie Sandwiches

Makes 2 dozen filled cookies

Malted milk powder can be found under the brand names Carnation and/or Horlicks. In most supermarkets, you can usually find it near the teas and hot cocoas, or sometimes near the ice cream fixings. If you’ve had your can of malt powder for a while, you might want to sift it, just to remove any lumps. 

I think these cookies are best when stored at room temperature, in an airtight container. Then again, these don’t last more than 2 days, tops, in my house. I’d think that if you were going to store these any longer than 2 days, the fridge would be the way to go. They get even better as they sit, actually. 

For the malted brown sugar cookies:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup malted milk powder

1 large egg, at room temperature

For the vanilla malt filling:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1/3 cup malted milk powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Position the oven racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.

Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, brown sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the malted milk powder, then the egg, until smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the dry ingredients. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are golden brown on the edges, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking,  12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on the sheets for a couple minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the filling, beat together all ingredients on medium speed until fluffy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Load the filling into a piping bag and pipe about 2 teaspoons of filling on half the cooled cookies. Sandwich with the remaining halves. Allow the filled cookies to rest for about an hour before serving, to allow the filling to firm up a bit.