Bow before me, puny humans!

Or, as my sister would put it, “Gawd Cwaffee Cheesecake” (picture Mike Myer’s Jewish mother voice from SNL in the nineties). No, I dunno why she started saying it like that.

Anyway, God Coffee is an invention of our friend Jes who would mix various liqueurs into her coffee during parties, traditionally Irish cream, Kahlua, and Amaretto, but it could include any combination of these things (plus some more exotic concoctions; we picked up a bottle of Dooley’s toffee flavored liqueur, and it was a welcome addition). Lovely stuff, and for my friend Thomas’ birthday (since he didn’t give me a definite item to make) I decided to delve into making a cheesecake version.

A very heart-y followup

The Peanutella project is a mixed bag. On one hand, the product itself is so very good. On the other hand, the Peanutella sandwich cookies were a colossal failure.

Some things I've tried, and some upcoming projects

I dunno about anyone else, but this time of year always gets me down. I'm laid off for a few months, it's cold, I'm bored and housebound, and I get sick of cooking the same thing in-and-out. My live-in is what some people would generously call, "a picky eater," and what I call (in my less-kindly moments), "A GIANT PAIN IN MY ASS!"

It's hard for me to find things he'll eat; given his druthers, his entire diet would be made up of Little Debbies, spaghetti marinara with garlic bread, steak, cake, and ice cream. I've tried over the years to expand his palate a little, but much of the time I'll just go, "Welp, I'm making this, so grab some ramen for yourself if you don't want to eat it."

So this time of year is my time for combining recipes, combing the web for new ideas, and raiding my local library for cookbooks.

The way to a person's heart is through their truffles

Warning: This recipe may cause spontaneous declarations of love and ardent offers of sexual favors.* Do not make these without proper safety procedures in place.

Right, so a lot of people I know love chocolate chip cookies and their dough; me, not so much. I mean, they're okay. But I've been making chocolate chip cookies since I was about seven; they just don't hold much interest for me anymore. I know I'm in the minority here, and realizing this I decided to try out this recipe for all the people in my family who lick the spoon after mixing up some cookie dough.

Wherein our illustrious guest blogger makes an appearance

A little about me: I'm frequently broke, especially around the holidays, and I have a large family and a huge pool of friends. All of this breaks down into one thing: I don't give presents, I give baskets and bags of baked goods and candies for the holidays. Some recipes are a given for certain groups: I can be pretty sure most of my presents for my friends will involve alcohol, I have to find a tasty diabetic-friendly recipe for my live-in's grandmother, I have to find something that ships well for his father, and I have to figure out something interesting that can be made in advance for the voracious and superlatively picky bunch that are related to me.

As a result my "holiday baking" starts early with new recipe testing. And as with all recipe testing, things go wrong. For today, I'm trying out Chocolate & Peanut Butter Meringues.

I was specifically thinking of my brother and mom for this one as they both adore meringues and macaroon-type cookies. Myself, I am not a fan. But these were pretty tasty. Also, the only thing that might go wrong if you let the batter sit for a while (as I did) is that the second batch that's been sitting doesn't poof up as much. They still taste good, they're just a little flat.

I should place here a disclaimer: I am not a photographer and my food frequently turns out delicious but homely. If other food bloggers have pictures that are considered food porn, mine's food amateur porn: lots of enthusiasm, but messier than a professional job.