Trolls and Bed and Breakfast

  I swear that there are times when I feel like I need to move to a warmer climate so that I can enjoy citrus fruits on the reg!   Honestly, as much as we love Colorado-the fruit situation (except for Palisade Peaches) is pretty weak.  :)     Having said that, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do and when winter keeps showing up, I make something with lemons so that I can get that warm weather feeling.  Considering how busy we've been with baseball, work and Ivy being in college, these crinkle cookies were the perfect quick treat to shake off the winter blahs.  Nothing beats a sweet crinkle cookie that is somewhere between a cake and cookie and asks you not to wear black because it'll show when the powdered sugar rains down.   Recipe adapted from Broma Bakery 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp - note I use salted because that's what I always have on hand.  If you use unsalted add 1/2 tsp of salt with the dry ingredients. 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar Zest of 1 le

Quick, what's the most nostalgic, delicious dessert you can think of? Odds are a fair number of you said "Chocolate Chip Cookies", which is one of many correct answers. There's just something about them so classic and amazing and decadent and... I've got about 30 more adjectives that I'm not going to bore you by using. But still! Who doesn't love them? They're SO amazing! We made some the other day, and they turned out absolutely perfect! Yeah.... These aren't lasting long. The cast of characters all ready to go!    Okay, so here's an important thing.  I've grown up making cookies using the cream butter and sugar together and then go from there.  Add one egg at a time...you know the drill.  And since I'm no spring chicken, that's a lot of cookies made that way.  Then I stumbled on making them with melted butter, in one bowl, without breaking out my kitchen aid.  My mind has been BLOWN!  I'm not sure I'll ever go back to mak

   The story I'm about to tell is a little odd.  I figure it's best if I warn you ahead of time so you don't read this and then reach out saying "Christine, that's a weird story."  I embrace my particular brand of weird, but you should know what you're getting into.   A lot of people have certain bench marks for being a grown up.  Their first car, the first apartment they live in by themselves, the super dream job.  My definition of adulthood when I was 19 was owning a fancy cappuccino maker and a Belgian Waffle maker from Williams Sonoma.  What can I say, I dig breakfast...like A LOT!     When I moved out to live with the man who would become my hubby (way before Ivy was born) my mom bought me both as a gift to show me how proud she was of me.  I loved those two kitchen appliances so much!  Fast forward more than a few years and I was the mother of two selective eaters.  What was one of the only things that the two of them loved without fail?  (No, I wasn