When other kids were salivating for chocolate chip cookies, I was nuts for Italian Knot cookies. They might not be as easy to make as grabbing some spoonfuls of dough, slopping it onto a pan, and baking, but they're delicious and worthy of the extra time it takes to make them.

The recipe that follows was handed down to me as a child, by an old friend of the family, Rosie. I've been making them ever since. What I particularly like about these cookies is that you can flavor them to fit your audience. The dough is always the same, but Italian Cookies aren't complete without the icing. If you want a soft and perfect match, go for a little anise extract in your icing. Or, you can try lemon, orange, or a myriad of other flavors. Personally, I'm anxious to find a day to sit down, whip up a batch, and pull out my coffee extract.

Check out the gallery below to see how to make them, and the recipe after the jump.

As much as I abhor the tradition, Slashfood would be remiss to not cover Family Circle's famous would-be-First-Wives Cookie Bake-Off. 'Cause nothing reflects a man's ability to run the United States like his wife's baking skills! But misogyny aside, the winning cookie recipe has, indeed, accurately predicted the White House winner for four elections running. And, interestingly enough, all four of said recipes have riffed on America's love affair with oats'n'chips. Oh Americans, so set in your ways.

Ever the people-pleaser, Cindy McCain submitted a can't-beat combo of oatmeal cookies with butterscotch chips. (Hopefully this was not another recipe she plagiarized from Giada De Laurentiis.) And what did Michelle Obama do? She opted for shortbread cookies with citrus zest and a pour of Amaretto. Great. *facepalm*

Politics aside, I am predisposed to Obama's Shortbread Cookies. Although the pictures on Family Circle make them look a bit like unappetizing li'l fruit cake slices, the dried fruit is optional, so really, it's just shortbread spiked with zest and almondy alcohol. Um, yes please.

Who are you voting for? Keep it to cookies, please, no need for political drama in a foodie forum!

For me, the beginning of every season conjures up images from my childhood. The changing of the seasons makes me sensitive to the passing of time. And so, while opening the freezer door on a recent particularly hot June evening, I remembered the orange popsicles I'd make during the summer. I romanticized those blisteringly hot summer days as a 7-year-old boy with both of my sisters sitting outside by our inflatable "kiddy" pool. At that moment, I felt compelled to make the same super sweet, mildly acidic, and juicy ice pops.

I went to Bed Bath and Beyond to purchase the identical plastic popsicle molds I used as a child. On the side of the plastic mold is a straw so that you can drink the orange juice that melts to the bottom. For some reason, I remember that being the most enjoyable part of the treat. As a child, creating these orange juice popsicles –pouring orange juice in the molds and placing them in the freezer-seemed so thrilling.

I highly recommend these orange juice popsicles! They're a great way to keep children excited and hydrated during the sizzling summer days. Find out some wild and crazy ice pop ideas and check out the gallery of popsicles of different shapes and sizes.

Some people spell it donut and some people spell it doughnut. However you spell it, today is the day to eat them.

Krispy Kreme is going to celebrate the day by giving away one free donut (it's only in participating stores so you'll have to ask if the store in your area is, you know, participating). Are you flying on Southwest Airlines today, out of Dallas' Love Field or airports in Tulsa, San Antonio, or Kansas City? They're giving away free donuts at those locations too. You are now free to move around the country if you can with donuts in your stomach.

I don't think Dunkin' Donuts is doing anything for the day, which is too bad. Unless Krispy Kremes are hot and fresh, they're not as good as Dunkin's.

(I've always wanted to try Stan's Doughnuts in L.A. Luckily they have a web site.)

The other day, I blogged about my awesome Big Book of Backyard Cooking. In the review, I mysteriously mentioned my favorite iced tea recipe, but I didn't want to go into detail until I could share pictures of all the tasty ingredients. So, over the weekend I ran to the store twice (because I lazily didn't check my food supply before going the first time), and whipped up a nice batch of my absolute favorite iced beverage: Julep Iced Tea.

Instead of bourbon, which keeps many a folk sauced at the Kentucky Derby, this recipe uses a super-potent batch of English Breakfast tea. It takes a little more effort than your usual iced tea, but it's well worth the effort. Julep Iced Tea is super tasty, with that immediate kick of fresh mint and the sweet, sugary aftertaste of lemony tea. Check out the recipe after the jump and the gallery below.

How many times have you come across a certain ingredient in your pantry and wondered if was still safe to eat?

I come from a long-line of Irish alcoholics. And although I myself hold my liquor like a ten-year-old, I have a special place in my heart for alcohol-flavored sweet things. Indeed, I have had a torrid love affair with the bourbon ball ever since my mom first let me try one during the holidays when I was a kid.

See, at my house, bourbon (or rum) balls were holiday fare. But I'm told they're traditional at the Kentucky Derby as well. I've never been to Kentucky, and I know next to nothing about the event, which, I'm told, involves race horses and women in elaborate hats.

But in the spirit of this prestigious event, I offer you my family's decidedly un-traditional recipe for bourbon balls.

Think you can tell a Yodel from a Ho Ho from a Swiss Roll by sight alone? If so, you're a savvier snacker than we are. Take the quiz, then come back to brag (or sulk) in the comments.

Snack Cake Photo ID Quiz

Bread is a miraculous thing. It's delicious, it gives you energy, it softens your cookies, and it can help you de-clump your brown sugar.

Simply put your sugar in a microwavable container (read: NOT plastic) and place a slice of bread on top. Seal the container and pop in the microwave for 15 seconds.

Voila. The moisture from the bread and the resulting steam will make the sugar softer and more pliable, allowing you to work on the clumps (as seen in the highly scientific "cookie osmosis" chart above).

via [lifehacker]

Whatever dessert you end up having for Passover, please avoid those macaroons in the can. At the Passover Seder, we traditionally ask 4 questions. I propose adding a 5th question: Why on all other nights do we eat baked goods that come in bags, boxes, or direct from the oven and on this night we eat baked goods from a can?

Even moving past canned macaroons, I'm not typically a big fan of Passover desserts. These kosher for Passover chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting, however, are so tasty that I could eat them year round. One of my friends even told me it was the best cupcake she had ever had!

They are extremely rich - almost like fudge - so if you have mini cupcake wrappers, you might consider using those instead of normal-sized ones. You could also make the cupcake recipe in cake format.

The recipe can be found on Cupcake Project.

After 15 years of entering the contest, Maryland's Carolyn Gurtz finally wowed the judges.

How'd she do it? With...pre-made refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough.

Nope, I'm not kidding: she wrapped little balls of peanut butter and sugar with the pre-made dough, and - poof! - the Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookies were born.

I know using a Pillsbury product in your recipe was the point, but isn't this taking it a little far? She didn't even make her own dough! 1957's winner, Freda Smith, made her own dough for her Peanut Blossoms cookies!

And the other winners aren't much different. In the "Breakfast and Brunches" category, the Mascarpone-Filled Cranberry Walnut Rolls use refrigerated crescent rolls, and the Apple Jack Chicken Pizza uses refrigerated pizza dough.

I know, I know - I get that the contest has to appeal to today's working woman with no time to make their own cookie dough, or whatever. That's fine - we all take shortcuts in the kitchen occasionally, and I'm sure Miz Gurtz's But does it deserve a million dollars?

I know it sounds like a new music sensation that's sweeping the nation, but Hot Fudge Salsa is actually a recipe I found in Gentlemen, Start Your Ovens, by Tucker Shaw (Shaw also wrote Everything I Ate, a book where he photographed and wrote about every single meal he had for a year). It has "salsa" in the title, but this involves ice cream, chocolate, and peanuts. Full recipe after the jump.

The Vicarious Foodie recently discovered Wild Cherry M&Ms in her local store, and did what any good pastry chef would do when faced with a new product with much potential: she went to work!

VF found a Cooks Illustrated recipe for Chocolate-Chunk Oatmeal Cookies with Pecans and Dried Cherries, and smartly subbed the M&Ms for the cherry and chocolate pieces, but kept in the pecans.

She mentions that in most recipes, her cookies tend to spread out in the oven, but these look gorgeous, like they barely stretched an inch. (Maybe the oatmeal had something to do with it?)

Either way, I commend VF for being innovative. Plus, the chocolate pieces are a great contrast to the brownish cookie.

Here's VF's re-done recipe here.

Journalist Joanne Chen, an unabashed, lifelong lover of sweets, had a hard time understanding why that's not the universal reaction. In The Taste of Sweet, she examines the physical, psychological and historical relationship between sweet flavors and humans, and discovers some pretty extraordinary things about our tongues, brains, societal perceptions, and why some folks will always have room for dessert.


Read her 10 Surprising Facts About Our Relationship with Sweets, take her Are You A Supertaster Quiz and come back here to share your scores and pose your questions to Joanne Chen in the comments thread. She'll answer them in an upcoming blog post. How sweet is that?


Buy The Taste Of Sweet


And for those who would enjoy further insight into the questions/results of the Are You A Supertaster?, quiz, the author offers the following, "Researchers have detected a link between overweight subjects and non-tasting tendencies. Severe ear infections may also cause less intense taste experiences.

Of course, biology isn't destiny, and much of what we eat results from culture and learning. So while the quiz offers a good idea of your taste profile, sensory specialists can provide a better assessment by running taste tests, analyzing your tongue, and counting your taste buds."

Um, wow.

That mountain of colorful, sugary pancakes comes to you by the fine folks at IHOP, who have put together this concoction to celebrate the movie Horton Hears A Who, starring the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, that was released a few weeks ago.

This thing is just chock full of stuff that will make kids run around all day long, or maybe stay in bed with a tummy ache. Colored syrup, a lollipop shoved in the middle like the flag on top of a mountain top. And what are those, jelly beans or bubble gum pieces?

Has anyone tried this?