Bitter Almonds
Kaia Mortensen
Favorite Party Nacho Bake
Recipe by Anna Jackson
Make in 20 minutes
Every party needs its salty snacks, and this recipe is always a hit! I’ve made these savory goodies for years, and they’ve never failed me. It took some trial and error to get them just right, but now they’re finally perfected. I can tell you with full confidence that this is a winning recipe! 😜
The first time I made this recipe, I was fresh out of college and on my way to a potluck at my new office job. I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and I was sooo desperate to win people over. I’d tried making cakes, cookies, brownies—you name it! But nothing was up to my standards, and definitely not good enough to impress the bigwigs I wanted to if I had a chance at rising up in the business world. Suddenly, it occurred to me—I was going at it all wrong! Everyone’s going to be bringing sweets, right? And trust me, I love a dessert as much as anyone else with a baking blog, but there’s only so many sugary snacks someone can eat in one day without getting a toothache. Somebody’s gotta bring the salt, and I took it upon myself to do it!
When I got to the party, it was an immediate showstopper! I’m glad I made two, because the first one seemed like it disappeared as soon as I set it down. It was so good, my coworker came up to me to compliment my cooking. We got to talking, and now the two of us have just gotten married!
The issue anyone who has ever eaten nachos knows is that the cheese develops a film if you ignore it for even a second, which is why a bake is better for longevity. A bake with easy-to-serve portions eliminates this problem while making you stand out for creativity. Just ask my husband! 😄
Easy Coffee Cake
Recipe by Anna Jackson
Make in 45 minutes
Coffee is an essential in today’s world. It always feels like a shame to have coffee without something to eat, though, so here’s a low-effort coffee cake recipe to pair with your drink. Pay no mind to the amount of time it takes to make it—only about five minutes should be spent putting it together. Then you can spend forty minutes waking up and brewing your coffee, or if you’re smart, you’ll make it the night before you need it. I usually forget to, but I make this so often, I almost always have it on hand anyway.
I figured this recipe out a few years ago, and it’s been a real rock in my life ever since. All good recipes are either passed down or stem from a moment of desperation, and this definitely falls into the second category. Every baker knows what it’s like to be startled with news of surprise guests coming to visit and realize you’re low on ingredients. It’s a nightmare! There’s only one thing to do: dig out whatever ingredients you have and cobble something together. Sometimes this ends disastrously, but other times it ends in a delicious accident.
Anyway, imagine my surprise when my husband told me one Sunday mid-morning that his mom would be coming over after lunch! I was in desperate need