Looking for the easiest homemade Halloween sweet that tastes like a candy bar with an ooey gooey stretch and satisfying crunch? Look no further than these Browned Butter Peanut and Candy Corn Halloween Rice Krispie Treats!

Every October I shout it from the rooftops.  The only way to eat candy corn is by the handful, combined with the salty crunch of roasted peanuts!

For those of you who do not accept candy corn as actual food – this one is going to be tough.

Continue reading Candy Corn and Salted Peanut Rice Krispie Treats at Joy the Baker.

Get ready to indulge in the ultimate sweet, salty, nutty treat with these irresistible white chocolate macadamia nut cookies! Made with butter and brown sugar, and loaded with chunks of creamy white chocolate and roasted macadamia nuts, these cookies are perfect for satisfying your sweet tooth cravings (with a hint of salt for balance). Whether you’re a seasoned baker or a beginner in the kitchen, this easy-to-follow recipe is bound to become a household favorite!

Continue reading Classic White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies at Joy the Baker.

When life hands you lemons, make lemon bars! This lemon bar recipe is the perfect way to add a bite of sunshine to the day. These bars boast a buttery and lightly spiced shortbread crust, and a creamy smooth lemon filling that’s the perfect combination of tangy and sweet. Indulge in a square (or two) of these my favorite lemon bars and brighten up your day/week/month. They’re that good!

There’s an old Wilson family cookbook that I laid claim to early in my baking days. 

Continue reading My Favorite Classic Lemon Bars Recipe at Joy the Baker.

Don’t think of blondies as brownies without the chocolate – these chewy little squares are sweet like butterscotch and studded with toasted walnuts and melty dark chocolate pockets. I add a generous sprinkle of flaky sea salt to balance the sweetness of the brown sugar, making these bars the best classic blondie recipe to come out of my kitchen.

This month on Joy the Baker, we’re exploring CLASSICS.  I’m talking about those bookmarked recipes in my favorite cookbooks (aka every cookbook by Dorie Greenspan) or the butter-stained recipe cards in my mom’s handwriting we taped to the inside of the pantry cupboard in my parent’s kitchen.

Continue reading My Best Classic Blondie Recipe at Joy the Baker.

Former First Lady Laura Bush’s famous recipe for cowboy cookies with a delicious twist: salted cereal brittle! These oatmeal cookies are also packed with cinnamon, chocolate chips and coconut.  Saddle up for your new favorite cookie!

There are a handful of things I’ve committed to since my recent half-move to Texas: loving my boyfriend Will (which means lots of adventures on motorcycles), perfecting my kolache recipe (still in the works, the dough must be that of a literal pillow), apparently relearning how to drive a car (because DANG Houston, y’all are wild) and making my own version of a Cowboy Cookies.

Continue reading Cowboy Cookies with salted cereal brittle at Joy the Baker.

Let’s reach into the cookie jar for another gem! These simple and buttery linzer cookies are scented with lemon and filled with raspberry jam.  We’ll add poppy seeds for fun and a generous dusting of powdered sugar to take these raspberry sandwich cookies over the top.

I’ve got two pots of gumbo boiling away on the stovetop and most of my holiday cookie dough in the freezer.  I’m hoping that an extra two hours appears in my day, by some miracle, so I can make a batch of Mom’s Peanut Butter Balls and practice for the Jorgensen family sing along tomorrow. 

Continue reading Raspberry Lemon Linzer Cookies at Joy the Baker.

Set aside the boxed oatmeal cookie. These iced oatmeal cookies are the best copycat Mother’s Cookies made with a cheeky holiday twist. If you’re making your holiday cookie bake list, here all sorts of inspiration: My 12 Best Christmas Cookie Recipes!

Some cookies make me feel 3 feet tall – probably because that’s how old I was when I’d stand on my tippy toes to reach for them on the high shelf of the kitchen cupboard where my parents would tuck away special treats. 

Continue reading Eggnog Iced Oatmeal Cookies at Joy the Baker.

We want to make sure your holiday cookie tin is the best because you are the best. This is not a competition, but obviously, if we were to momentarily think of this as a competition –  you have to win. We’re giving you only the best 12 holiday cookie recipes ensuring instant victory at any holiday party. Share these Christmas cookie recipes with people you love the most, and make extra for yourself because we’re out here loving ourselves with mid-afternoon and midnight snacks, too.

Continue reading My 12 Best Christmas Cookie Recipes at Joy the Baker.

These are the Taylor Swift cookies you’ll want to bake for your Midnights listening party. Chewy, chocolate centers with crisp edges and a salty, bejeweled top.  They’re the perfect Taylor-inspired bake and midnight snack.

This very afternoon, in the year of our lord 2022, I found myself on a Zoom meeting with the uber cool Vulture to talk about how these Chai Cookies have gone viral ahead of Taylor Swift’s new album release.

Continue reading Taylor Swift’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies at Joy the Baker.

Let’s settle into the season with crisp apples, cinnamon spice, and cream cheese. These Apple Cheesecake Bars are cream filled with a cookie crisp, topped with warm baked apples. These are our best apple dessert recipes. Let’s get baking, friends!

In terms of fall cravings, I generally glaze past a pumpkin spice.  This is the time of year I want every single apple I encounter to either be sprinkled in cinnamon and sugar or dripping with caramel. 

Continue reading Apple Cheesecake Bars at Joy the Baker.