There is still time to hop over to my guest post at Good Morning Girls where I give oodles of 30 minute clutter-busting ideas and where they are offering a book giveaway. Click here to see it. Don’t forget to come back for my weekend giveaway. 
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When my daughter Kenna was little, she and I loved to bake.
Michigan dried-cherry-cashew bars, lavender shortbread, whole wheat bread from fresh-ground wheat.
My baking buddy has been gone for nearly three years now. I’m left with only sons at home.
Two sons AND their many guy friends who mysteriously appear out of nowhere—especially when I’m cooking. I went to bed last night as the 14-year-old mancub was hanging out down at the creek with several neighborhood boys. This morning when I awoke, here is what I found:
When I went down to our finished basement/man cave, here is what else I found:
And this was only half of the boys who crashed here!
Wanting to be the home where teens hang out means having food around. Sure they love pizza rolls and chips and cheese. However, I find so many of the dozens of teens who have frequented our home over the years love homemade treats.
So, this weekend, why not try out a new recipe from my soon-to-be co-author and good friend LeAnn Rice of She Cooks. I am making it today. (Got up this morning and realized I let the mancub buy too many peaches at the market. Then, I saw her recipe for peach cobbler bars here. Yum!)
Now, be sure to leave a comment on this post with your favorite baked goody or something you have always wanted to make but were afraid to try. You could win this:
It includes:
~ A kitchen towel
~ A whisk
~ Two cookie cutters
~ A baking book with 100 winning recipes
~ Two bags of Tazo passion tea—great over ice and sweetened with Stevia. (Sipping it will help keep you from snitching the dough!)
Winner announced Monday.
There are so many favorite goodies, it is hard to pick one. However, I would have to say my Grandmother’s recipe for homemade strawberry pie. I made it for the first time this season earlier in the week. My family gobbled it up. Yum!
One of my family’s favorite treats is angel food cake with peanutbutter frosting. I use a box cake mix and the frosting recipe from a McCall’s cookbook I got years ago. The frosting is like peanutbutter fudge. It sounds crazy but don’t knock it till you try it.
I love making Key lime pie. I get a lot of compliments on it! But real baking always scares me a bit. I’d love to try making scones. And I’d love to try making my own piecrust. Yikes! I get chills just thinking about it.
I love warm from the oven chocolate chip cookies.
Karen I always had baked goods when my boys were at home. Their friends would come over and many of them did not get homebaked items at home. I liked kids hanging out at our house. It was one way I could keep in touch with what the kids were doing and who my kids hung out with.
I love making chocolate chip orange scones!!
CUTE pics!
I LOVE baking scones!
I always wanted to try home made cookies, you know the ones you have to mix up and then roll out and use cookie cutters to form. Sounds like so much fun but a little scary.
Also, I’d like to try home-made bread but kneading sounds too complicated.
Love your post.
Kay, kneeding not as complicated as it sounds (though probably helped that I was shown & watched). I can’t do it any more because of arthritis, but still have homemade bread by using a bread machine! Lot less work, but house still smells yummy & bread tastes as good.
I’m not sure I have a favorite baked good. I often make banana choclate chip muffins and recently have been making home made granola bars. There’s also a super recipe for white chocolate blueberry muffins at Pinch of Yum.com the young lady at this site makes awesome desserts and baked items!
Have a super weekend.
Ps Does it make you crazy to find extra kiddos in your house when you wake up? I think I would freak a bit!
Nope. They are always welcome and are “regulars” so it doesn’t really surprise me.
I love cookies, cookies, cookies!!! I would though LOVE to bake scones love them we have them at teas often but I would love to make my own yum!!!
When my boys were little, their favorite snack was my chocolate chip cookies that I made with half chocolate chips and half butterscotch chips. I always had to make a double batch so there were cookies left after I finished baking!
I love to bake…baking is so much fun and something that I can do with my children. I have always wanted to try making biscotti and have never done it. I look at all the recipes and they seem so complicated. Perhaps I will just dive in and bake…however I will wait as it is temps over 100 today and for the next few days here in Georgia.
Stay cool and happy baking…
Smiles and Blessings,
Robin
I was always totally intimidated by pies but I baked an amazing cherry pie this week starting with fresh cherries!
I love making peanut free stuff for my family – so I made granola today. But my favorite thing to bake is bread and cakes. It makes me so happy.
My girls love to bake cookies that are cut out and require icing and sprinkles….
My girls (2 & 6) love to bake or, as my husband calls it, “make a mess in the kitchen” with me! We love baking brownies and cupcakes. And I’d love to finally bake my own bread one day.!
I love to bake cookies for my family and friends! My go to is the simple oatmeal cookie… Always a hit with the kids. I would love to learn to make biscotti! Thank you for considering me…
I love to bake. I love to make everything, bread, pies, cakes, cookies. All from scratch. I just made 20 pies per the Bride’s request for my son’s wedding. It was so fun!!!!!!
Baking w/the grandkids I love to make crazy chocolate cake. You put in all the dry ingredients, w/baking soda being the last one. Then you add the vinegar and it’s an instant “volcano” little ones just love it. It’s pretty much a no fail recipe so no matter how little the child the baking is successful.
My favorite thing to bake is cookies. I find recipes using buttermilk catch my interest. I would like to be able to bake a nice yeasty old fashion bread.
I love to bake but whoopie pies stress me. They’re my favorite but are always super moist and stick to your fingers the next day – and then you have to make icing, and for some reason I have issues with icing. My great-grandmother and great-aunt always made amazing ones – wish I could make mine like theirs!
Cute cookie cutters! You always have such fun giveaways!
With 4 small.children I am always trying find healthy alternatives to the most popular treats. I have yet to find a granola bar that can withstand a southern lunchbox. I would love some.suggestions from the readers.
I love to bake cake, pies, cobblers, candies, cheesecakes, anything sweet.
I’ve always loved baking but never really seem to have the time anymore. But, I just discovered a recipe for lemonade cake that actually turned out quite well. So now my kids keep asking what else I can find and make for them to devour!
As a mother of 3 teenage boys I can completely relate to this story. There is never enough food in the house, even when I have just shopped. Just ask them, they will be happy to tell you!!!! They do love it when the cookie jar is filled with homemade cookies, and they aren’t picky as to what kind. I love to make my great aunts cherry filled sugar cookies. And also homemade breads!!
I wake up to a similar picture here and love it!!! So glad my son’s friends love to crash and eat here. They have even figured out there are always homemade cookies in the cookie jar and they are welcome to help themselves.
I am always ripping out dessert and cookie ideas from my magazines…I need a whole year just to try them all.
Love to bake with my grandkids — have a few cookie cutters that sit on the backsplash edge to remind me of the fun.
Today plan to bake to small cobblers for a fellowship group – blackberry (some are not supposed to have the seeds) and a peach
what a fun giveaway. Please include me thanks
ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com
I love to bake everything! Especially when there is chocolate involved. My kids and I love making cookies together.
We are having a group of my 14 year old sons friends over next Friday. I am definitely inspired to bake for them after reading your article. Hopefully they’ll want to come back.
I love to bake cookies. Time is often short with 3 kids (age 6-14) in the house so I tend to use the bag mixes. I’d really prefer to bake from scratch more often.
The one thing I’ve been too intimidated to try are scones. I love the sweet scones from bakeries.
One of my favorites is brownie pie – so easy! I always have the ingredients on hand, and it can be mixed up and popped in the oven while we eat dinner, so we have a nice warm dessert. Also really good for those unexpected “guest” moments. The other would be a breakfast casserole that I like to make when I find myself with a few overnight teen guests… Also uses ingredients I usually have on hand and easy to pop in the oven.
I’ve wanted to try to make dandelion jelly since my friends (who operate a bed & breakfast in France) told me they started to make it to help with the over abundance of dandelions they have on their property. They said that they’ve started selling it because they have so many requests for it. Supposedly it tastes like honey. I think I want to try to make it this summer – we have 9 acres and a lot of dandelions this summer.
Karen, those pics. look familiar and look like the boys at my house, especially the sleeping ones. We have an 12 year old son and a daughter who is 23 who stays at home with me with several disabilities. Their favorite bake good around here is brownies and they go fast, I usual;;ly use a box recipe, and they love it but I need to start tweaking for a healthier version, lots of oil in them. Thanks for sharing, it gets ya motivated. Happy 4th All! Deana
I have enjoyed making and sharing an apple slab pie, with maple syrup topping drizzled over the top – never any leftovers.
Love to bake but haven’t done much in years because hubby was trying to lose weight. My kids are starting to get older so maybe that will be my excuse to do it more often and share with the kids. Love pies but don’t make very often. I learned from my grandma and mom so it is a memory that I treasure. What I make most these days is cheesecake bars. Yum, yum.
I love to bake blueberry cream streusel muffins.
Homemade apple pie is my favorite. I also love baking lots of cookies at Christmas – 2 of my favorites are press cookies and cut-out sugar cookies.
My 11 yr. old daughter and I love to bake cupcakes, and even have a little cupcake business! I would love to make a good pie crust from scratch, as pie is my husband’s favorite dessert, but the idea scares me. : )
Me too Kim…piecrust is daunting!
My family loves my chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, and any kind of pie. Is it being too nerdy to add that raising my girls in the kitchen with me has contributed to their love of math and science? Baking requires precise math and measurement, and the chemistry of how food comes together – a tasty learning experience!
Good for you Crystal…not nerdie at all. I love the way you combine cooking with chemistry. It is science!!
Dear Karen, My favorite baked treat to make the family would be homemade brownies. I would love to try to make homemade cheesecake for scratch, but have not done so. I love your blog. Thank you and many blessings to you.
I love to bake brownies…..thank you for this fun giveaway…..would love to win. Have a great week end.
I absolutely love to bake. I just laughed at all your crashed teens! I hope to have a house where the kids hang out. That is the goal with my two sons.
Cookies are always close to the top of the list, but recently have found a new favorite. I grind wheat too and make sandwich bread and other kinds for my family. One of my two new things to bake are “boule” rolls. I have never found an easier yeast roll recipe… They rise up huge and soft and actually have no oil in them. They are perfect alongside a dinner or as hamburger buns. I don’t know if I can post the recipe or not. They are so good!! They’re actually pretty healthy b/c I use freshly ground wheat for four of the six cups.
The other favorite around our house are my “big boy” cinnamon rolls. I use my normal sandwich bread recipe, roll it out flat and spread it with a little bit of butter and a honey/sucanat/cinnamon mixture. I roll that up and cut about a 3-4 inch cinnamon roll. Rise, bake, coat with a white icing. Very yummy!!
I would love to have an opportunity to win this package. I love new baking ideas. Thanks for the opportunity and for letting God work through you. All is grace….
Ahh, did the picture of the shoes bring back memories. My youngest son, who is now 28, and a new daddy this year, played basketball all through high school (Kalamazoo Christian High) and college. In high school, on home game nights, the parents would take turns hosting the pre-game supper. I took a picture of 15 pairs of dress shows in our back hall. Your picture brought a smile to my face.
You are right in thinking the guys love homemade goodies. After games, the guys knew where the homemeade frozen cinnamon rolls could be located and mastered nuking them from frozen to perfection!! It is time to bake cinnamon rolls again. This past week my 33 yr old daughter was visiting from IN and she wanted to make my large bread recipe. (6 loaves).
The bread turned out great for her.
Thanks for taking me back to a great memory Karen.
My favorite (right now) is zucchini bread. We have so many zucchini from the garden and everyone loves zucchini bread! I have been trying different recipes for my family to pick their favorite.
Blessings!
Chocolate Chip Cookies
My favorite baked good that I have yet to master are Scones… I can never make them to taste as wonderful as my grandmother’s. I love scones and plan to spend many, many years attempting to get them right! :p
I love to homemade bananna bread. It makes the house smell so good. However, my son likes to bake and just about anything he does is delish. FYI: over the years I have often woken to the same scene. It is one of my favorite things!
My favorite would have to be pumpkin cookies. It is my oldest’s favorite (he’s 11). It’s my favorite because he bakes them with me
. The younger Kiddos don’t have favorites yet, just being the taste testers!!!!
I love to bake cookies and treats of all kinds, but it seems homemade brownies are always my go to favorite when so many other option overwhelm me!
I only started baking a year ago (age 59) and now I am obsessed. I have 2 favorites. I love to make cake pops and I am getting quite creative with them. This afternoon I will make a batch of chocolate with a hit of strawberry for a homeless shelter. And the other is homemade chocolate covered cherries. I make them and let them set for at least 2 weeks before sharing. People, especially elderly, love these candies.
Brownies, cookies, and muffins, Oh MY!
My 3 kids (2 are boys) all love to cook, They also like to make home made pizza.!
Blessings,
It’s a wonderful thing to be the go-to haven for the kids. So nice that you make your place a welcome base…and the guys sleeping just as they are, plum tuckered out, well I just love it. Reminds me of the days when we’d crash from a long, hard day running and playing in the neighborhood till the fireflies could no longer light our way. I am a baker more than a cook, so I like to make lots of treats. Classics like Tollhouse Chocolate Chip cookies, Bakers One-Bowl brownies, and my most-requested Funfetti cupcakes with my homemade vanilla buttercream icing in the color of the birthday girl or guy’s choosing.
my favorite baked goody is Fig cake I make with praline icing. Its so yummy and I’ve only made it twice but it’s worth the effort. I make for very special occasions.
My best dessert is Swedish Apple Pie. I got the recipe from my aunt back in Wisconsin.
So many favorites – cinnamon buns homemade doughnuts, brownies, chocolate chip cookies. It was always a draw for our children’s friends.
My favorite is roll-out sugar cookies cut into shapes and frosted with buttercream frosting. They take a lot of time but are so worth the effort. Yum! I would like to try to make whoopie pies sometime.
My all time favorite baked good is Date Bars~my mom used to make them and I haven’t had them in ages. Betty Crocker used to make a mix that was really good too~even that’s gone! I’ll have to search for a recipe… : )
First I have to say I am impressed how neat the boys left the recroom, not sure my kids would have kept things so tidy!
I love to bake but don’t seem to get as much time for it anymore. One of my favorite things is Reese Peanut butter squares. So yummy. I’ve been meaning to try lemon poppy seed cake but not sure if the family would like it. I love poppy seeds but I know it’s not for everyone.
Thanks for sharing your family with us.
Tammy
My favorite baked goodie is my dark chocolate chocolate chip cookie. So good even the dough is good! Yum!
I love to make cobblers. They are so easy.
Just dump in some fruit, pour on topping.
Everyone loves them.
Sugar cookies! I used to be able to make them every Christmas. Life has gotton so busy it doesn’t happen I pray it can happen this year!!
I love to make cookies and trifles!!! But I would really like to try to make some more pies with homemade crust. I love pies and so does most my family.
I have always wanted to bake with my two girls but I completely lack the skill to bake anything homemade! Baking for me means calling on my good friends Betty and Crocker! What really touched me abt this post is your hospitality to your boys friends. I too want to have the house where teens hang out I have 5 children ranging from 14yrs old to a 1 year old
So my house could be that house for many years lol.
I love LeAnn’s blog and have made several of her recipes. I have 4 boys so I know all out cooking and baking! We often have several extra friends around to test out any new recipe I happen to be trying out. Many of those friends have turned into girls
I have found the girls like to help out in the kitchen It has been a fun way to get to know them better.
I love the preparation and baking of ‘Grandma Dorothy’s Anise Cookies’ at Christmas-time. It is a recipe my husband remembered his Grandmother mixing and cutting on the same American Chestnut table that now sits in our kitchen. The cookies require Anise Oil that we have to order through the pharmacy.; the anise oil smells like licorice. I mix the batter, my husband rolls out and cuts the chilled dough, our tween and teen decorate with sugars and sprinkles and the finished product from the oven is an abundance of flavorful old-fashioned cut-out cookies. The last several years we have prepared plates to give away to those we don’t want to feel forgotten during the holiday sesason…the greeter at Walmart, the gas station attendant, the trash collector, the widower at church..I can’t even articulate the surprise and the smiles we receive from offering those little plates of cookies each Christmas season.
Really want to make cheesecake. It’s my favorite but never tried to make it myself. Thanks for sharing the pictures. They’re great, funny and real.
Picking a favorite baking item is very hard because I would bake every day if they didn’t have so many calories. I like the idea of sipping tea while baking to keep from eating the yummy dough. Though I think it would only help a little since that’s one of my favorite parts of baking is the sampling
. Choosing a favorite would probably be Christmas cookies because I love that time of year
I like baking chocolate chip cookies and brownies. I think I will tackle the peach cobbler thing from Lee Ann – when this heat wave calms down a bit here in PA. Temps are over 100 degrees here. Love the pictures – reminds me when my house was full of kids – I have 5 children (4 boys, 1 girl) and there was always some one crashing at my house.
I have always loved to bake and my daughter has helped since she could stand on the chair at the counter. She’s 11 now and makes a mean cheesecake! She even baked them to raise money for a mission project. My favorite to bake with her is cranberry white chocolate chip cookies. Sometimes with walnute and sometimes without. We have ‘tea’ when we make those.
I LIKE TO BAKE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES….MY FAMILY ALWAYS REQUESTS THEM. I ALSO ENJOY A GREAT DARK CHOCOLATE BROWNIE. I AM INTRIGUED BY BARS AND INCLINED TO TRY THE PEACH COBBLER BARS WHEN PEACHES START COMING MY WAY IN THE NORTHWEST. I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU AND lEANN COME UP WITH IN THE NEW BOOK.
Love the picture of the boys sleeping on the couches! I have 2 boys too (and a girl), but they are all grown now. I just had an apple dutch baby yesterday, baked for me by a friend. It was soooo good, and I think would make a great breakfast for a bunch of young men. When I try it out, though, I am going to put bacon in it instead of apples!!
Love the picture of the boys sleeping on the couches! I have 2 boys too (and a girl), but they are all grown now. I just had an apple dutch baby yesterday, baked for me by a friend. It was soooo good, and I think would make a great breakfast for a bunch of young men. When I try it out, though, I am going to put bacon in it instead of apples!!
My mom used to make homemade bread. We would come home from school and the table would be covered with bread wrapped in foil. The smell of bread….how wonderful. I make bread once in awhile but I eat half a loaf so don’t make it very often.
I love to bake and my 5 kids love to eat it. It works out all around for all of us.
It has to be Galaktoboureko…a rich Greek speciality.
Layer upon layer of feather-light fillo pastry filled with a delectable creamy custard, then drenched in a honey syrup flavoured with cinnamon and orange. We serve it in very small pieces. Life would be wonderful if we didn’t all have to watch our waistlines!
Love,love,love to bake! My teenager doesn’t appreciate it like her friends do since she is used to it!!!
I loved the pictures of the boys and agree with the kids loving homebaked goods. My daughter(soon to be 15), son (11) and their friends love homemade pumpkin bread with hot tea. Especially on cool fall and winter mornings. Wonderful times with family and friends.
I like to bake cookies!
lately I seem to be afraid to bake anything. well, not afraid, but I haven’t been fitting it in! I do think we are slowly but surely becoming the boy hangout house, however, which is fine with me. I am Momma Mills, and sometimes when I’m called that somewhere, I’m not even sure who the boy is, but they know me. Wonder if they all know I pray for them when they are here???
I would love to learn to make bread, but am a little afraid of the time committment. I could get a bread maker, but hate to invest the $$ if I’m not going to use it.
I asked my daughter what her favorite baked treat was and she said gingerbread bears. Yum! For my oldest son, it would be peppermint brownies. Double yum! I like so many things I don’t know if I could pick a favorite.
I love to bake….cookies, cake, bread, rolls….but I am looking for a good Massa Souvada (Portuguese Sweet bread) recipe…It is so much better than Hawaiian bread.
I love my Grandma’s Oatmeal Cake. It is so moist and good with coconut/pecan frosting.
I used to bake 4 loaves of Honey Whole Wheat bread every week for my family. Now they have their own families.
Just reading your post made me hungry, not to mention what everyone else is mentioning. My latest discovery is cinnamon sugar pumpkin donuts (don’t look like donuts since don’t have a donut pan). Was craving my Grandma’s raised donuts which haven’t had since 1995, but haven’t had the nerve to deal with the hot oil to fry them. My aunt did try once but they weren’t the same. Anyway the pumpkin donuts are good & totally different from Grandma’s so can’t compare & be disappointed.
My little guy and I love to bake together! He is 4 and already knows some simple recipes by heart because we make them so often!
I don’t think I can pick one favorite, but one of my favorite things to bake would probably be pies or cookies, especially cut-outs (we love cookie cutters)! We LOVE apple pie in our house and I’ve always made my crust from scratch…my husband won’t even let me buy them pre-made at the grocery store anymore! 
I am always interested in new baking recipes. Thank you for this opportunity!! Blessings!!
Goodie wise I would love to piece of my grandpa’s strawberry pie. I wouldn’t want to make it and it not be right so I just taste it in my memories as he’s been past 2 1/2 yrs now. Savory wise I’ve yet to make my mom’s homemade chicken and dumplins’. These have always been her specialty and I don’t want her to try them & they be wrong.
I love to bake and I love to eat yummy things like cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes but my all time favorite is Sock It To Me Cake and caramel brownies made by my Mama. My mama makes the best in the world. I make the Sock It To Me Cake but don’t even try the caramel brownies. My mama used to mail me caramel brownies to my college and to me when I moved to DC. Wonderful!
I have two favorites, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are a favorite at my house for a snack. My family also loves Monkey bread for a special breakfast treat. I don’t back often, but love to do it when I have the time.
I love your pictures and that you have a home where your son’s kids want to hang out. That is awesome!!
I love to bake absolutely anything and everything. Without a large family to feed; my husband and I love to give ‘treat plates’ to our friends and family. Seniors love home baked goods, as they find it arduous to cook or bake for one or two. The gift sounds good as I love reading Leanne’s blog.
Thank you for sharing your gifts and your family with us.
My favorite, go-to, tried and true (40 plus years), winner baked good is my beloved Aunty Sue’s Blueberry Cake. I first tasted this cake when I was about 8 or 9 years old, growing up in New England where summer blueberries rock. Aunty Sue updated the recipe a few years back, from a cinnamon sugar topping to a streusel topping. Fabulous. It’s a hit with everyone who’s tried it! I buy fresh blueberries here in CA in the summer and freeze for use all year long. The Blueberry Cake ingredients are ones I always have on hand-and it’s a cinch to make. My beloved aunt passed away unexpectedly last August, just shy of her 70th birthday. I miss her every day….and with this recipe (among other things), her legacy lives on. <3
I love to bake but there is only me….my daughters are married and my husband passed away tow years ago………….BUT I am seeing how I can bake and share with young families or even other widows and those alone…..with the gift of hospitality…. love to make goodies with blueberries right now as they are in season….
Love to win the prize !!
Love to make Concorde Grape Pie or jam – when the grapes are in season towards the end of summer. Even though its time consuming to pop the skin off each grape – its SO worth it – especially if you have some company to help pop the grapes – a great time for conversation with the kiddo’s if you can recruit them to help! thanks for the giveaway oppty!
My kids always love my cookies, so I try to have enough around. The problem is that kids often do things last minute, so I don’t always have enough cookies available. Chocolate chip cookies are often a favourite as are double chocolate chip cookies. A few years back one of my sons used to get together with some friends and the parents prepared themed-dinners. I was happy to take my turn and had Mexican dishes including enchiladas which were a hit!!
I enjoy baking and cookies are one of my favorite things to make. Oatmeal Caramel Bars always sound good.
When I was little I was always jealous of my friends’ lunches which contained store-bought treats. Now I am so grateful that I was raised on home-made cookies (and food, in general). Store-bought just doesn’t taste right to me.
I love to bake just about anything. I love making bread in my bread machine. My boys love any kind of cookie, but their favorite is oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
I’ve been making home-made chocolate eclairs, and they are sooooo good! Everyone enjoys them, and they really aren’t difficult to make! My boys love ‘em!
I love having fresh peanut butter cookies. I am going to try those peach bars. They look wonderful.
Darlene
Your picture is precious. Our family favorite is chocolate chip.
Would love to know how to make soft pretzels, since my girls love to eat them.
My husband and I have been learning to make bread. We even grind our own flour from a variety of grains. I like it best sweetened with honey and with dried cranberries in the recipe.
I am the only gluten free person in my household. When I went GF about 5 years ago, I first got all the baking mixes, xanthan gum, separate containers and separate cupboard. Then 3 years ago I returned to school and baking went out the window. I graduated this year and I am looking for a job.
So, this morning I got up and made my family blue berry pancakes from scratch. I didn’t have any craving to snitch even a little taste. A couple of weeks ago I found a GF blueberry muffin in the frozen food that was amazing. That is my new favorite treat. Twice a month I buy 4 and space them out.
I have 3 daughters and a son. The have all gone through their baking phase. My oldest just moved into own apartment and I would love to give this to her.
I love to bake! One of my go to favorites right now is a really simple french bread recipe I found over at thefrugalgirl.com. It couldn’t be easier and tastes super yummy…especially with a caprese salad made with tomatoes & basil fresh from my garden!
I would love to become a baker. Sadly I didn’t grow up in a home where we baked. As of now Toll House chocolate chip cookies and chicken nuggets are my baking experience.. Definitely would love to wiget a great baking book.
I would love to become a baker. Sadly I didn’t grow up in a home where we baked. As of now Toll House chocolate chip cookies and chicken nuggets are my baking experience.. Definitely would love to win a great baking book to further my baking skills.
This would be so fun to use with my granddaughters!
Oooh – this resonated with me on SO many levels. Many of them pleasurable ‘ouchies’ – not least because my children are grown and gone…. big ‘ouchie’.
Loved the idea of lavender shortbread – I make lavender cake often which is always very popular – so different – and lemon and lavender scones. Lavender shortbread next!
Well first of all i absolutely love this cool font you have for your site. It is great! I think the peach cobbler sounds fantabulous!! I have always struggled with cut-out cookies (although i love them) because i can’t seem to make them consistent, they are either too thin and crispy or too thick i just can’t seem to get the rolling out part even. This would be fun to win though as i do keep trying to get it right! I love your page and encouragements so very much!
One of my favorite baked goods is Kuchen! All kinds – apricot, peach, blueberry, cherry. Yummy!
A pumpkin roll, always intimidated to try that, with the tea cloth and everything. People say it is easy, but I don’t see how you do it with out it breaking.
Hi Karen! It’s my first time to post, but I love your blog. I try to bake often,but I seem to always go back to chocolate-chip cookies. I love to make cakes and cool treats, but those cookies always disappear the quickest! Thank You so much for all your practical advice!
I saw there’s another Karen Anderson that posted. I’m Karen from Texas.
I love making these chocolate chip cheesecake bars. It’s a super easy recipe – you can even use those chubs of cookie dough from the store! But they are so rich and delicious and people at my office go crazy for them!
I got nostalgic the other week and made no-bake oatmeal cookies and I watched as people left the break room with four or more at a time. Lol
I love being able to bake what I want and not feel like my daughter and I have to eat it all.
My daughter and I love to make peanut butter cookies together. A new favorite is blueberry coffee cake. I found it on a blog and it has been wonderful to make with the fresh blueberries at this time of year. My kids love it for breakfast!!
My favorite food to make is Cheerio Christmas Trees. They are similar to rice crispie treats but have mint flavor, green food color, are shaped like Christmas trees, and decorated with gumdrops
These are my favorite because every Christmas the whole family would go to the kitchen and make them. I remember the laughter, the smiles, and the amazing togetherness time. Now I do the same thing with my own four children 
I’d rather bake than cook since I’m better at baking. My favorite and winner of a prize at the fair are my Revel Bars. They are a chocolately center sandwiched in between oatmeal-cookie-like layers. They are requested for every event I seem to go to by my church friends. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a baking cookbook featuring all our favorites! Thanks for your blog, Karen!!
My favorite is blackberry cobble. Berry are somewhat expensive but it’s good for a special treat on special Occasions.
I LOVE TO BAKE!!!! Anything sweet with lots of butter is sure to be a favorite at our house although I do like to make bread too … it would happen a lot more frequently if only I could figure out how to keep it from getting so crumbly (sigh). Currently, my favorite sweet is a Heath Bar Cookie – the recipe was given to me by a wonderful college friend. In case you love toffee too, here’s the recipe:
Heath Bar Cookies
1 cup butter 3 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar 1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup white sugar 1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla 2 cups chopped Heath Bars (one package of Heath chips)
Cream butter, sugar, egg and vanilla. Mix until smooth and creamy. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture. Stir in candy (and 1/3 cup pecans if desired). Drop by tablespoonfuls 2” apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° F. for 12 – 15 minutes; cool on wire rack.
My kids’ (now older teenagers) favorite baked good has long been banana chocolate chip muffins. When I buy a bunch of bananas I think they purposely don’t eat them so they “need” to be used up for the muffins!
i would really like to know how to make a pie! my mom makes pies, my grandma made wonderful pies,…and i even went to a woman’s church get-together that had one session covering how to make a pie. i guess i need to:
1. grab the instructions from the get-together speaker
2. grab the ingredients
3. grab some guts (and find a time) and try it!
Karen,
Our home is open to kiddos at all times as well! I want to have a welcome place for our childen’s friends, I’d much rather have them close to home with godly influences. I bake muffins and biscuits, cookies and cakes, casseroles and such. However, when we have unexpected or impromptu gatherings, I always fall back on my tried and true favorites! Rice krispy treats. Plain and some with peanut butter mixed in. Also brownies and oatmeal no bake drop cookies are a never fail option. I always have the ingredients for those! I enjoy your blog! Audrey
Piecrust and making bread scare me a bit. So I buy already made crust. I do make quick breads, my grand kids love banan bread, so I try to make it whenever we have over ripe bananas!
My family loves it when I make homemade caramel rolls and breakfast coffee cake. I love it that there are other households who wake up to unexpected teens, sleeping wherever they crashed!! Some mornings, I find myself shaking my head in amazement…
Your extra peaches remind me of a pampered chef recipe for a peach coffee cake that I haven’t made it in years! I’ll have to try it again the next time peaches are on sale. If I had a basement full of man cubs – i have a 15 yr old and 17 yr old still at home – they would probably request a big batch of crepes with strawberries and blueberries. Peaches would be yummy, too! Have a blessed day!
Trying cute 4th of July cookies today. Sugar cookies, frosted and with fireworks frosted on top then sprinkled with pop rocks. What could be better than an explosion in your mouth on the 4th?
I LOVE to bake cookies, cakes, cobblers, pies and share with neighbors or my friends and of course my family whom likes to sample the goods. Everyone enjoys a fresh baked goodie! The smile on their face is worth every moment baking!
I was scared to death of breads – cinnamon rolls, especially. Then I found the courage to try them and my fears were overtaken by how much fun cinnamon rolls are to make… and eat!
Now that my husband is gone, I enjoy baking for the grandkids when they come over. The favorite seems to be chocolate chip cookies, but today they enjoyed a non-bake Butterfinger Dessert, which they all love. I so enjoy your blog and your ideas.
I’ll say bread, but I like pretty much anything that’s baked.
My favorite thing to bake for a quick treat is “Cherry Dump Cake”. The other thing I love to bake only comes once a year, that is my sons birthday cake! I love seeing the look on his face when he sees my latest creation.
I LOVE to bake and have many recipes that are favorites
For me, it’s probably a fresh pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top. Or pumpkin bread with pecans and butter 
Something I’ve always wanted to try but just never have is a homemade angel food cake.
I would love a baking book! I have two small kids and want them to have memories of growing up with the yummy things their mom made for them! This would certainly help. My favorite and only thing I bake is my grandmothers recipe for banana bread. She has now passed away and I think of her every time I make it.
I enjoy cooking with my children and think they will thrive as adults knowing how to read and cook!
We have just started using stevia in our baking. We had homemade vanilla ice cream sweetened with liquid stevia and agave today. Yum!
Thank you so much for hosting this giveaway.
Elizabeth
Mama to six
My favorite baked good is chocolate cupcakes with a cream cheese and chocolate chip center toped with dark chocolate frosting. My son-in-law agrees and says they are the best!
My favorite thing to bake is Snickerdoodles. They are always a favorite. I think the best part of baking is the fact that there is always a lot to go around. I have always wanted to learn to bake a Russian cake from scratch. I think baking makes for a great excuse to have friends or family over for tea. And can also be an amazing way to introduce yourself to a new neighbor. I had a neighbor tell me she never would have met me if I hadn’t introduced myself and invited her to dinner. I always say, take a chance everyday to change someone’s life for the better. And charity starts at home.
I grew up cooking/baking with my grandmothers and my mother. I still do with my mom. Not as much as when I was home and I miss it. Now, I have my daughter coming over to help me in the kitchen. Love it! I also have 2 sons who have their many friends over. And they eat anything put in front of them. Sometimes they are my “test dummies”! But they keep coming back!
I wish I could bake a cake like my Grandmother – they were always so moist and super yummy. I like making Buttermilk Pies but have always wanted to try to make a Red Velvet Cake. Baking I have determined takes patience & practice!! The more you bake the better you get at it.
I love to bake! One of my favorites is fresh zucchini bread – hot out of the oven. Yummy!
I love to bake with my kids. One of our favorites for summer is making blackberry cobbler from scratch, crust and all. We used to be able to find wild blackberries but have moved and our area doesnt have them.
Someday I would love to make Creme Brulee! mmmmmm
I love to bake and do a lot of baking for friends, cookies to cheesecakes! And I have tried many of LeAnn’s recipes!
I have been cooking since I was 10! We cooked for the farm guys who came to help with harvesting. I taught my daughter & son as well because everyone should know how to cook for themselves Many great lessons & times shared!!
I have thousands of cookie recipes but I always go back to our old family recipe and make snickerdoodles. I have never found anyone who didn’t like them. They freeze well too!