Willow Bird Baking - Page 28 of 127 - lessons in life & kitchen confidence

Brown Butter Oatmeal Creme Pie Bars

Chewy Brown Butter Oatmeal Creme Pie Bars

I wrote this post as part of the Plugrá Butter Brigade. Thanks, Plugrá, for sponsoring this post and for making my favorite butter!

My visit to Chicago last year didn’t convince me that I’d ever love winter, but it did awaken some tiny sliver of me that could bear it. The icy river and cozy coffee shops in Geneva made me realize that the cold could be part of a packaged season instead of just a temperature.

Let’s help each other get ready for winter. What are your favorite things about this time of year? What makes you feel cheery even in the dark and cold? What makes it festive or fun or cozy or special for you? I’ll start us off, and you can add to the list in the comments below!

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November 8, 2015 by Julie Ruble | 17 Comments

other

Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies with Maldon Flake (and a review of Sea Salt Sweet!)

Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies with Maldon Flake (and a review of Sea Salt Sweet!)

Hiiiiii brownies, hi! These Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies are now my husband. My other husband doesn’t mind because these brownies are now his husband too. We’re all one big salted brownie family.

My friend Heather of SprinkleBakes just released her new cookbook, Sea Salt Sweet, which full of recipes just like this one: amazing, accessible desserts that use SALT to create the ultimate dessert experience. And I do mean ultimate. She sent me a free review copy and some sea salts to play with, and I’ve had so much fun! (And so much chocolate. Send help.)

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November 2, 2015 by Julie Ruble | 8 Comments

other

Chewy Gingerbread Bars with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Chewy Gingerbread Bars with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Best Guesses About What My Upstairs Neighbors Are Doing Right Now:

They’ve been evicted and told they only have until 3 a.m. to move their belongings out. They are bowling enthusiasts and therefore have roughly 856 bowling balls in varying shapes and sizes, including a limited edition My Little Pony ball with a bowling pin cutie mark. To save time, they’re rolling, tossing, and occasionally drop-kicking their ball collection out of the apartment.

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October 25, 2015 by Julie Ruble | 5 Comments

cakes

4-Ingredient Slow Cooker Coconut Cake (VIDEO)

4-Ingredient Slow Cooker Coconut Cake

What are your favorite rituals? Life goes thick and thin in cycles, and at this point I’m old enough to recognize when it’s time to hunker down through a thin space. Busyness, fatigue, grief, stress, depression — so many things can pull at us until all we can focus on is putting one foot in front of the other. When things thin out for me, I brace for the exhaustion and stock my cupboards with moments of contentedness in preparation the leanness to come.

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October 18, 2015 by Julie Ruble | 35 Comments

cakes

3-Ingredient Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Cake

3-Ingredient Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Cake

Let’s talk about ugliness.

When my students study American history, they often begin by talking about the Native Americans and the beginning of colonization. In English, we use this time to read excerpts from Christopher Columbus’s diaries. Let me tell you, in those diaries . . . there is ugliness.

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October 11, 2015 by Julie Ruble | 26 Comments