Breakfast/Brunch, General Reference/Tutorial, Sweet Snacks

2026 Strawberry Jam Varieties: Strawberry Vanilla Paste Jam and Strawberry Honey Plum Jam

As long time followers will know, every year (even through the pandemic) I go strawberry picking. I’ve actually been going strawberry picking every year since I was a little girl — my first real “commercial endeavor” so to speak, and my sister and I would always sell them from a stand on the end of the road and that would be our spending money for the rest of the summer. In the intervening decades, both my sister and I started making our own varieties of jams from the strawberry harvest and this year is no different. I made one variation that I make many of the years — a strawberry vanilla (very popular) and this year, also tried a Strawberry Honey Plum Jam, which is also delicious…. a little earthier but still very vibrant.

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Breakfast/Brunch, Sweet Snacks

Strawberry Almond Muffins with Strawberry Glaze

Heya! So, it’s been almost a month since I posted anything and I could give you all sorts of excuses on why, but we’ll leave it as “I needed a break”. While I am generally a hater of the month of January, the end of May to the end of June comes is a close second as bad in the mental health department. Suffice it to say, I AM BACK! I went strawberry picking so here is the first of the Strawberry recipes: Strawberry Almond Muffins with Strawberry Glaze. They are light and delicious and very strawberry-y. Just be careful not to add too many berries, lest the muffins get all mushy!

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Cookies, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Lingonberry Rhubarb Crumble Bars

As many of you know, food is my “language”. For the good times and the bad, happy and sad, I often use food to remember things. And these crumble bars are no different really. Yes, just crumble bars but they are lingonberry and rhubarb. You see, a couple of weeks ago, another dear friend passed away. She was from Sweden, so that is the lingonberry connection. Rhubarb had been an inside joke of our for many years — she had once had a dream in February, that I had an over-abundance of rhubarb (in February? In New England?) so ever since then, I would make her rhubarb treats and learned to keep some in my freezer. This recipe, anything with cardamom and the Marabou brand of Swedish chocolate will forever remind me of her. She will be missed.

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Cookies, Sweet Snacks

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bit Biggie Cookies

I had meant to be traveling this week, but sometimes things don’t go the way of the plan, so I am in Boston. I had intended to take these Chocolate Chip Toffee Bit Biggie Cookies with me on my trip — you know me, the Queen of just randomly handing out cookies — but again, still at home. The cookies are still delicious (a twist on my usual Biggies) with a lovely crunch of toffee bits. As with the Biggies, shareable in size but they have to be this big for the texture to be this perfect.

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Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Carrot Garden and Abstract Bunny Easter GF Cupcakes

Wrapping up my Easter Baking for 2026, I decided to make these two variations on Gluten Free cupcakes. OK, technically it is only one flavor of cupcake (chocolate) but then decorated with two variations of GF frosting and decorations (that are also gluten free and I got them off Etsy). You could also make these “regular” by just swapping out the GF flour with the King Arthur AP Flour. I have found their “measure to measure” GF flour is a pretty great match for my recipes. They are cute and delicious it wrapped up this year’s Easter eating nicely. :

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