Nutty Fruit Chocolate Bites

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Nutty Fruit Chocolate Bites

This recipe LITERALLY only has 4 ingredients - chocolate, hazelnuts, pistachios, and dried cranberries. It is the perfect post holiday treat when you want something sweet, but not heavy like most holiday desserts. These chocolate bars are gluten free, and you can even change the type of chocolate that you use in order to also make them vegan/dairy free. And the best part is that they are incredibly easy to make! Not a hazelnut and/or pistachio fan? Feel free to change out the type of nuts that you use (keeping to the same overall quantity, of course). The versatility, yet simplicity  of this recipe are my favorite things about it!

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Homemade Baklava

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Homemade Baklava

Baklava is a Middle Eastern pastry comprised of a walnut cinnamon mixture sandwiched between countless layers of phyllo and soaked in honey. It is my absolute favorite thing to get at the annual Greek Festival in Minneapolis because it is so amazingly good. It is incredibly rich too, so you don’t need much to feel satisfied. It isn’t difficult to make - it can just tedious in the preparation when creating all of those layers. But trust me, it is definitely worth the effort!

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German Chocolate Millionaire Bars

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German Chocolate Millionaire Bars

Alright let’s talk about these German Chocolate Millionaire Bars. So, if you don’t know what a millionaire bar is, it is essentially a Twix bar. It has a shortbread cookie base, with a caramel middle, and topped with chocolate ganache. I made a few adjustments to this combo though by moving the chocolate ganache layer to the middle, and switching the caramel for the coconut pecan filling of German Chocolate cake. And it turned out, GREAT. The cookie base provides a nice crunch, while the chocolate and topping will simply melt in your mouth. The chocolate ganache is made with evaporated milk, which helps keep the chocolate soft and easy to bit into. I added a sprinkle of sea salt onto the chocolate ganache layer, providing the perfect amount of sweet and salty to the overall taste. To be extra fancy, I added a chocolate drizzle on top…

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Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Blondies

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Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Blondies

Recently we found out that Alex has some unexpected time off from school this coming May. Seeing as he RARELY gets time off, I am always the first one to yell, “So where are we going??” as soon as any window of opportunity arises. It got me thinking back to our first international trip together. When we were seniors in college we traveled with a small group of students who were also interested in the healthcare field to

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Butterscotch Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

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Butterscotch Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

We kicked off the month of December with the spirit of giving. This is my first year participating directly in charities that give Christmas gifts to families who otherwise may not receive them - and I love it! My unit at work has "adopted" a family in the need for the holidays, signing up to purchase specific gifts for the family members, ranging anywhere from household cleaning products to Lego toys. Additionally our small group through church participated in Angel Tree, an organization that helps children with an incarcerated parent feel loved, valued, and not forgotten by their parent far away. One of the ways they do this is ...

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Strawberry Rhubarb Bars

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One of our favorite things to do Sunday afternoon is to watch the latest Bucketlist Family video on YouTube. If you’ve never heard about them, they are a young couple with 2 of the cutest kids in the world, who sold everything a couple years ago and now are a full-time traveling family. When we found out that they were also visiting Iceland and Norway this summer,  I was so excited! The thought of potentially running into them (yes, yesI realize how unlikely that would actually be) had me as giddy as a kid on Christmas. Sadly I don’t think that will happen as they recently left Iceland and will likely visit Norway before we get there. But seeing...

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