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

Flaky Chocolate Pie Crust

Pie crust is great, but have you ever had chocolate pie crust? This flaky chocolate pie crust is everything you love about pie pastry: tender, flaky and buttery, with the addition of cocoa powder for a deeply chocolate flavor that will complement just about any filling.

The crust comes together just like any other pastry, you can use a pastry blender by hand, or mix with a stand mixer or food processor (though I always recommend mixing in the water by hand regardless). The result is a beautiful, flaky pastry that’s easy to work with and a delight to eat!

My Chocolate Banana Cream Pie recipe (newly updated and improved with new photos and step-by-step!) features a chocolate pastry crust, but the original recipe utilized a rough-puff technique that has since vanished from the internet.

The original crust recipe proportions were a little vague as well, so I made a couple changes and also clarified the process, with step by step photos to show you the way!

So I figured it was high time for an update, and such a delicious crust was more than worthy of its own post, especially since it’s so versatile: you could really fill this chocolate crust with just about anything, from fruit to pumpkin to custard! Let’s be serious, what doesn’t go with chocolate? You could also swap this crust for chocolate cookie crusts if you prefer a flakier pastry (and as much as I love a cookie crust, the demise of the Famous chocolate wafer cookie has me looking for chocolatey alternatives).

The result is a buttery, flaky pastry crust with a rich chocolate flavor. It’s amazing how much chocolate flavor you actually get from a mere 3 tablespoons of cocoa!

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from Love and Olive Oil https://ift.tt/gK1PHrM

Old-Fashioned Green Tomato Jam with Lime & Cinnamon

Talk about a unique jam: made from unripe green tomatoes and flavored with lime and a hint of cinnamon, this Green Tomato Jam is a true old fashioned jam, meaning it achieves its jammy consistency with just sugar and time—no added pectin needed.

It may look like pickle relish, but this green tomato jam is a wonderfully bright and flavorful jam that toes the line between sweet and savory. Paired with a hint of cinnamon and a punch of tangy lime, it’s the perfect condiment for late-summer savoring and year-round snacking. Use it like you would applesauce or pepper jelly!

(Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the post to download the free printable labels!)

Our trip to Iceland this past spring (which I’m still planning to write about, I promise! I just need to find a few spare hours to edit the slew of photos still sitting on my camera card) was mostly centered around the natural beauty, and less so much about food (which is our normal mode of travel—following our stomachs, if you will, so this trip was quite a departure for us).

That said, we still managed to have a few particularly memorable meals, including a coveted lunch reservation at the tomato mecca known as Friðheimar. The restaurant itself, located just off the Golden Circle route, sits inside the main greenhouse, with tables nestled amongst the rows of towering tomato plants and golden glowing grow lights that warm the space from the inside out, with entire rooms full of nothing but basil nearby. It’s a magical place that’s always warm and bright, even on dark and rainy days. I highly recommend making a reservation if you’re planning to go to Iceland anytime soon.

They are famous for their tomato soup (served all-you-can-eat style with an abundance of homemade bread), but we found the dessert to be the most memorable dish of the meal: a frosty, chilled mini terracotta flower pot filled with tomato-flavored ice cream, and topped with a layer of two-toned tomato jam in red and green.

I regret not buying a jar of the green tomato jam to bring home with me (but you know, carry on bags and all that). I have a hunch that, based on the texture of it, Friðheimar’s version might use tomatoes that are green in color when they are completely ripe (like green zebra), but I wanted to try my hand at making a jam with unripe tomatoes which seemed like a much more versatile and practical recipe. You know, for that stressful stretch of days before the first frost hits when you have no choice but to pluck the last of the tomatoes from your garden, ripe or not.

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

Crispy Oven-Roasted Okra

Crispy, crunchy, and not in the least bit slimy, our easy oven-roasted okra recipe will quickly become your new favorite way to cook this often overlooked and underestimated vegetable.

With a few simple techniques, you can achieve crunchy perfection in your very own oven (no deep frier, air fryer, or finicky batter/breading necessary). Seasoned with olive oil, soy sauce, and togarashi for a flavor-packed and umami rich side dish that’s—dare I say—even more satisfying than French fries.

Okra often gets a bad rap, often stereotyped as slimy and unappetizing.

But perhaps… you’ve just been cooking it wrong.

Roasting the okra high and dry reduces any lingering sliminess (one of the main factors in a person’s dislike of okra, I’ve found). The result is delightfully crispy, and nearly as satisfying as a deep-fried French fry with a fraction of the oil.

While I almost always line my baking pans with parchment, in the case of this recipe, the parchment actually impedes the browning process (not to mention you’re not technically supposed to put parchment in high heat environments, so keep it for the cookies, ok?) Instead, an unlined, light colored aluminum sheet pan produces the crispiest results.

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New Fresh Baked Puns Designs: Double the Fun!

Well this is exciting… today we’re launching not one, but TWO new food pun t-shirt designs! We couldn’t decide which design to launch next… so we decided to do both. Just in time for fall baking and gifting season (hello perfect gift for the food lover in your life!)

Live Laugh Loaf features an original design made from block relief prints of actual sourdough bread slices (psst, the original prints are also available for sale here.) You know you knead it.⁠

Eyes on the Pies features an original illustrated design with retro ad-inspired pie illustration and hand lettering. Crust me, you want a slice of this!⁠ During the preorder, we’re offering this design in two colors: light pink for Women’s styles, and soft taupe for Unisex styles (note the taupe color is ONLY available for preorder and will not be stocked afterwords, so if you want it, grab it now!)

And get this: both designs are also available on high quality, 100% cotton flour sack tea towels (and stickers on the way too!)

As an extra incentive, get an exclusive discount when you pre-order before October 10th (plus guarantee the size/style/color you want!) Expected shipping the first week of November, just in time for peak pie season. Donut delay, order yours today!

Pre-order Now for an exclusive price »

And psst! We still have Snaccident Prone tees, towels, and stickers in stock! Please note that for orders containing in-stock and pre-order products, the entire order will ship when the preorder product becomes available. If you need the in-stock item sooner, please place a separate order.

from Love and Olive Oil https://ift.tt/sabG1Ui