Snack Friday Sale + the Cutest Foodie Gift Guide Ever (shop small!)

This holiday season… we’re shopping small, buying thoughtful gifts from local businesses and independent artists and creators. Who’s with me?

If you’ve been following me for any length of time you likely know my love of food puns runs deep, and this year I finally acted on the idea that had been rolling around my head for years: putting some of my favorite puns on illustrated tees, tea towels, and more. I called it Fresh Baked Puns.

The best price on new designs is always during the pre-order phase (our next designs launch in January… sign up here for updates!) But we didn’t want to let black Friday (excuse me, *SNACK Friday*) pass by without at least a little something something to sweeten your holiday shopping list.

That’s why we’re offering:

>> 10% OFF EVERYTHING: from tees to tea towels to stickers and more, everything in the shop is 10% off through Monday 12/1 with code SNACKFRIDAY.

>> FREE SHIPPING on That’s My Jam: Hardcover copies of That’s My Jam ship FREE! Buy a book on its own and pay $0 shipping, or add one to your order and pay no additional shipping (and let’s face it, books are heavy, so this is a great deal!) No code necessary, US shipping only.

>> FREE STICKER on orders $40 or more: Spend $40 or more and get a free sticker (we’ll choose one for you, or if you have a preference please specify your choice in the Notes field during checkout.) Better yet, spend $80 and we’ll send you TWO stickers!

Shop the Snack Friday sale now »

More Small Business Love!

But mine isn’t the only small business you should support this holiday season! I’ve gathered some cute food-themed gift ideas from other creators and small businesses, and there is some seriously adorable stuff out there.

How cute is this farfalle hair clip? I also adore the bread and croissant themed accessories from this French artist.

I love food-themed art, and this sardine block print is perfection. I’m eying a number of her block prints, actually.

Birthday cake candle? Say no more.

Fellow pun lovers: we rise at dawn! Hand-lettered and illustrated greeting cards (plenty of non-food designs too).

I don’t have pierced ears but I’m almost tempted to solely so I can wear these heirloom tomato earrings (yes! these are earrings!)

This blood orange art print is simply STUNNING, with bold, vibrant colors. The matching tea towels too!

These ceramic frosted animal cookie magnets are so cute and they look EXACTLY like the nostalgic cookies from your childhood.

This ravioli spoon rest is simply adorable, and punny to boot! I love it.

More ceramic love… this fruit mug is absolutely perfect. No notes.

As a caffeine-averse tea lover, this herbal Apple-achian Chai Tea sounds right up my alley.

Hats off for this adorable rainbow chard hat (not sure about you, but rainbow chard is my favorite leafy green). I also love the food-themed hair accessories, too many cute things to choose!

I’m in awe of these hyper-realistic food paintings on newspaper… the bagel and lox painting in particular (which has since sold, but she’s got a number of other one of a kind paintings available including more bagels).

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Happy holidays, everyone!

from Love and Olive Oil https://ift.tt/obvnEhz

Pecan Pie Shortbread Cookie Bars

Chewy pecan-studded and maple-infused caramel atop a sweet and salty brown sugar shortbread. The result is a chewy (but not gooey), sweet and nutty bar that is practical, portable, pecan perfection.

Pecan pie, transformed into a portable, easier to prepare package. Instead of finicky pie crust, the base is a simple brown sugar shortbread. And instead of a temperamental custard with eggs that may or may not set properly, a simple brown sugar and maple syrup caramel that bakes up to a perfectly chewy, nutty finish.

Is it a cookie? A pie bar? A bar cookie? Or a little bit of all three?

For a seemingly simple recipe, this took me more than a few tries to nail the right ratio of shortbread to pecan and the proper set to the pecan caramel layer. And by more than a few, I mean 6. Indeed, it took me 6 trial batches to perfect this recipe (I felt a little like goldilocks, but instead of bears and porridge it was pecans and caramel.)

The winning topping ended up being the eggless version (an added bonus as the shortbread is eggless as well). While the egg made for a more traditional custardy pecan pie consistency, I had a really hard time getting it to set properly, it was always just a little too gooey and drippy, which made for an overly messy eating experience.

The eggless topping, on the other hand, bakes up to a perfectly chewy-but-not-gooey caramel, giving the cookie bars the perfect texture and chew without the sticky mess. The stable caramel makes these bars perfectly portable for cookie swaps, holiday parties, edible gifts and more.

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from Love and Olive Oil https://ift.tt/YrFhtCS

Black Bottom Pumpkin Cream Pie with Chocolate Ganache

Add a little chocolate decadence to your Thanksgiving table with this multi-layered take on a classic pumpkin pie. Featuring a smooth and lightly spiced pumpkin cream filling, with a hidden layer of dark chocolate ganache that’s not visible until you slice into it. Surprise chocolate? Count me in!

A traditional pumpkin pie this is not: with a pudding-like pumpkin filling that’s cooked on the stovetop rather than in the oven (freeing up your oven for other delicious things) and a black bottom of silky dark chocolate ganache, all nestled in a sweet and salty chocolate graham cracker crust, with a stabilized whipped cream to finish it off with a flourish.

I know, two pie recipes in a row! Usually I try to mix it up a little bit when I share recipes, but I figured y’all would want this pie recipe sooner rather than later (assuming you’ve already started to plan your Thanksgiving menus, that is, this pie should definitely be on it!)

I like to think of this as the pumpkin pie for pumpkin pie haters, but pumpkin lovers will adore it too. Assuming that most of the pumpkin pie hate comes from the texture: namely, the potentially-pastey and overly-thick baked custard filling of most traditional pumpkin pie recipes. Personally, I feel that a good pumpkin pie is anything but pastey if you do it right, but a luscious, creamy filling is certainly not the easiest feat to achieve.

Eyes on the Pies!

Pie lovers, this one’s for you! Get your Eyes on the Pies tshirt, tea towel, or sticker today from Fresh Baked Puns.

Buy Now »

Enter: Pumpkin Cream Pie. Think banana cream or coconut cream pie, but pumpkin (I know, right??)

The filling is more like a pudding rather than a baked custard, cooked on the stovetop instead of the oven. That means that, other than a few minutes to set the chocolate graham cracker crust (which you can certainly do ahead of time), the rest of the pie can be made without the use of the oven, freeing up that valuable rack space for other things. Not technically no-bake, but close to it!

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from Love and Olive Oil https://ift.tt/bwxM52Z