Baking

Baking• Easy Delicious Dinner Ideas• Family Traditions• Great Memories• Holidays• Random Thoughts

I Am a Ho For Fall

October 26, 2026

There, I said it. In fact, I am a total ho for fall. I positively glow in autumn light. I embrace pumpkin spice and dismiss all of you who mock it. (But Starbucks, please take note: One pump of pumpkin spice is plenty in any coffee drink, three is overkill and way too sweet.) I take daily photos of my favorite leaves and send them to my kids.…

Baking• Cookies• Uncategorized

Double Dipped Snickerdoodles!

July 24, 2026

I’ve been promising this Snickerdoodle recipe for weeks. Sorry it’s taken so long…but when you get back from a vacation you need an additional week to be a slug, and get over the time difference. (I was in Iceland – it is unbelievably gorgeous!) Then a few days to catch up on laundry, mail and email. Plus, I’ve been in book mode every day, all day trying to…

Baking• Cakes• Dessert• Holidays• Random Thoughts

Happy 250th America…and Happy Birthday Mom!

July 3, 2026

July Fourth was the ONE day of the year that my dad, a man who never spent money frivolously, took us to the drive in to see a movie. (This was a man who had to be begged, repeatedly and loudly, to stop at Twin Kiss, the local ice cream place in the summer. Begging didn’t always work. He’d say, “Oh, we have better stuff than that at…

Baking• Cookies• Holidays

Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This

November 21, 2025

Some days include a wrong turn down a one-way street, a GPS system that decided to take me on a tour of the area around the place I was headed to instead of directly there, a spilled latte that hit both my computer and my phone, and a general feeling of crappiness. As the Shirelles sang, “Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This.” That was my day on…

Baking• Cookies• Italian cookies

Celebrate Italian American Heritage Month With SUPER Hazelnut Nutella Biscotti!

October 3, 2025

I’ve been in the mood to bake lately. Like the bears featured in Fat Bear Week, I’m like Chunk, the winner. I don’t weigh 1200 pounds yet, but it may not be far off if I keep this up. Or maybe it’s because it’s Italian American Heritage month and, like my mother, I’m all about the food. I can’t help it, I just want to cook and eat…

Baking• Family Traditions• Holidays• Uncategorized

The Jury is In: Mom 1, Fran 0

April 21, 2025

It’s amazing how much a reasonably confident bread baker can learn by screwing up a recipe. This week was a learning experience for me after attempting my mother’s scrawled Easter Bread recipe. I learned: Once it finally rose, my mom’s bread looked pretty good. I was feeling very positive, but was still concerned because I’d never used her recipe before. So, I decided to make that Finnish Spring…

Baking• Breads• Family Traditions• Holidays

She Could Have At Least Come Back From the Dead to Offer Guidance!

April 17, 2025

I am hosting Easter on Sunday. I’ve bought almost everything I could think of, so since Easter is a few days away, and I was feeling both nostalgic and brave, I thought I’d give my mom’s original Easter Bread recipe a try. This meant putting my faith in Mom’s words on a yellowed, grease-spotted paper that’s more than 40 years old. I found the spots reassuring thinking she…

Baking• Cookies• Holidays• Italian cookies

Even Better Lemon Ricotta Cookies That Make You Feel Like a Genius

April 7, 2025

Ever try a recipe and think, Wow, this is so good, it couldn’t possibly be better? That’s what happened to me in 2014. Then you make the recipe again, change something, and think, Whoa, I am a genius! I had my genius moment with lemon ricotta cookies, a recipe I got years ago from Theresa, my ex’s lovely first wife and all round good human. The first time…

Baking• Breakfast• Dessert

What Kind of Love Do You Deserve?

February 14, 2025

Happy Valentine’s Day! I wish you happiness on this love-fest of a day, which I detested in college because the parade of flowers always went to the other girls, but never to me or my close friends. Of course I was jealous! Who doesn’t want someone who you’re crazy about to love you back and lavish you with gifts? I’d like to say I’m much more mature now…

Older Posts

	Fran Tunno on Happy Birthday to the Man Who…
	Fran Tunno on I Am a Ho For Fall
	Joni (Fox) Raybuck on Happy Birthday to the Man Who…
	Matilda on I Am a Ho For Fall
	Fran Tunno on I Am a Ho For Fall

Instagram