I took last week away from the blog world to celebrate my birthday.  I am trying to embrace my big 3-0 and not let it freak me out too much and I had such a great time celebrating the big day with family and friends.

I have wanted to share these Pistachio Cookies with you since Christmas, but I figured given their color, it’s not too late to share because they would be a great St. Patrick’s Day treat!

These cookies are perfect little puffs of almond-y pistachio goodness.  I have always loved pistachio-flavored sweets like gelato and macarons.  The interesting thing is that the actual flavor that I love about these pistachio-flavored confections is really derived from almond extract.  The “pistachio” in these Pistachio cookies is comes from pistachio instant pudding mix which is a main reason that these cookies stay so deliciously soft.

These Pistachio Cookies are particularly fun to make because you get to roll each ball of dough into sugar before you bake them.  And the smell that will fill your house while you bake these cookies is unbelievable.  You may find yourself with a burned tongue because you will want to eat one of these cookies immediately when they come out of the oven!

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Remember when you were little and you would spin a globe around and put your finger on it and exclaim that wherever it landed is where you were going to live when you grew up? Well I have decided to incorporate that mentality into my “what to bake next” routine.  You see, everyday, I Pin recipes, I save recipes to my inbox recipe folder, I tear out recipes from magazines and I mark pages in cookbooks that have recipes that I must make.  However, I have all of these real and virtual piles of recipes, but rarely do I actually make any of them!  And it’s so silly because these recipes are where I find a lot of my inspiration for things I actually am baking in my kitchen each week, so why oh why have I not actually made more of these recipes that have inspired me in the first place?  We are changing that today with these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Truffles.

In this spirit of the “spin the globe” game, I am going to select a recipe from either my Pinterest boards or my inbox from other bloggers who have inspired me and put my own twist on the recipe and share it with you each month.  I may do this once or twice a month and I hope that it will inspire you the way that these recipes inspire me to try new things and to create adorable and scrumptious treats to share.

Last weekend I shared this Pretzel Toffee Fudge with you and suggested that it would be a great addition to a homemade chocolate box to give on Valentine’s Day.

Well, we all like a little variety and so why not add these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Truffles to that thoughtful gift of yours?

This recipe was adapted from Bakerella who is notorious as the cake pop lady but she also whips up some other sweets and treats that are worthy of recreating.

These Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Truffles could not be easier to make and again, will fool your sweetie into thinking that you have slaved all day in the kitchen to make him/her something special.  I rolled my truffles in crushed salted peanuts, but you could roll them in cocoa powder or toss them in some sprinkles as well.

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With Valentine’s Day only a few days away, my mind is gravitating toward all things chocolate.  Who doesn’t love to indulge a little bit extra on Valentine’s Day by sneaking a few of your favorite chocolate treats?  I think that making your own homemade chocolates and presenting them in a heart-shaped box to someone you love or admire would be an adorable and memorable Valentine’s gift.  This Pretzel Toffee Fudge would be the perfect addition to your chocolate box.

Homemade chocolate doesn’t have to be fussy and stressful.  You can skip the complicated tempering and expensive chocolate by using a few basic ingredients that still result in decadent and indulgent treats.  All you need to make this Pretzel Toffee Fudge is some chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and a few other basic ingredients.  I chose to let my fudge set up in a mini muffin pan with individual paper liners so that they could be placed into a chocolate box with other varieties.  You could also simply pour the warm Pretzel Toffee Fudge into a well-greased pan, allow it to set and then cut it into squares.

I had purchased a can of fat-free sweetened condensed milk around the holidays because I wanted to experiment and see if the fat-free version would change the consistency or flavor of recipes I used it in and I have to tell you, for this recipe, you would never guess that it used any “healthier” ingredients!   For this Pretzel Toffee Fudge, I chose to mix in crushed up pretzels and chopped Heath bar bits because I love the sweet and salty combination along with the crave-able crunch that these ingredients offer.  You could easily make this recipe into a S’mores version by mixing in crushed graham crackers and sprinkling marshmallows over the top or you could try Rocky Road by adding nuts and marshmallows.

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I will be taking the next week away from the computer to spend quality time with family.  I hope that you will be doing some of the same.  I love the way that the blessings of family and traditions makes me feel so content and satisfied.  I believe that the love we feel this time of year is the true meaning of Christmas.

Here is a round-up of some of the recipes that I shared with you this holiday season.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Peanut Butter Cup Fudge

Vanilla Bean and Sea Salt Caramels

Turtle Snowball Cookies

Chewy Ginger and Molasses Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate Croissant Cookies

Candy Cane Cookies with Mint Chocolate Centers

Peppermint Meringue Brownie Cake with Chocolate Ganache

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Usually, when I decorate sugar cookies I use royal icing or a simple powdered sugar glaze.  But there is nothing like thick buttercream frosting on a big, fat sugar cookie, so this year for my Christmas sugar cookies, I decided to mix things up a bit.  I love that you can match the flavoring or extract that you use in your sugar cookie recipe to your flavoring in your buttercream to really intensify the flavors.

This particular buttercream recipe is very traditional and comes from Marian at Sweetopia.  I love that a classic buttercream consists of everyday ingredients that you will undoubtedly have on hand at any given time.  I used almond extract in my cookies and frosting and a star tip to decorate the trees.  I was really happy with how pretty and delicate they looked.

Here is my favorite sugar cookie recipe:

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