A couple weeks ago, I started mixing matcha with hot water in the morning as an attempt to try and cut back on all the coffee I was consuming. Drinking matcha was (is) a bit of an acquired taste (think strong, earthy flavour) but after the first week, I found myself getting used to it and now I look forward to my little cup in the mornings before work. I haven’t quite convinced my espresso-loving husband to give it a go, but that’s okay. It just means more for me which is good because matcha powder is always packed in the tiniest tins. At least a little bit goes a long way.

Whenever I purchase a new tin of matcha, I always start daydreaming about what I could bake with it. I have quite a few cookie recipes that feature various grades of matcha powder (actually three recipes), but this recipe tops them all because it’s made with cream cheese and each cookie has a subtle hint of cheesecake-y flavour softly nestled into each bite. Matcha cheesecake without having to make an actual cheesecake? Yes, I had to pinch myself too to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.

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With all the pumpkin I’ve been eating this month, it’s a miracle my head hasn’t turned into one. I’m yet to make a pumpkin pie, but I’ve been making lots of pumpkin pie oatmeal for chilly morning breakfast (recipe here) and we finished off the pumpkin cake a couple weeks ago. As I type this, I have another little guy sitting on my desk that will likely be roasted and baked into something delicious. It may seem like I’m eating a lot of pumpkins now, but I know I’m really going to miss squash season once we’re knee deep in gingerbread and peppermint season.

These cookies are not made with pumpkin per say, but they have all the lovely spices that remind me of pumpkin pie and I couldn’t resist the chance to break into my food colouring and use my little pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter. My sister was visiting over the weekend and she kept commenting on how great the condo smelled every time we opened the oven door. I cheated and used a container of pumpkin pie spice, but you can use a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice if you don’t have any on hand.

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This week, I bring you….mini fruit pizza cookies! And I can already hear the murmurs through the crowd: “So wait, is this a mini fruit pizza or is it a cookie?”

It’s been a few days since we made and enjoyed them and I’m still trying to figure this out. When they taste this good, it’s best not to ask trivial questions.

The simplest way to describe these as a plain cookie slathered in cream cheese icing and covered in sliced fruit. Like a fruit pizza, only in nice individual sized portions that you don’t have to slice. Everyone gets their own cookie (or two or three) and they are super portable to take to a party where you can just put them on the table and you won’t have to worry about asking for a plate and utensils.

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Although Easter is over and I am sure that everyone is sick of carrot-related recipes, I couldn’t help but share this one. I have been meaning to make carrot cupcakes for a while now, only I couldn’t figure out how to make the cream cheese icing without being stuck eating the whole thing myself (see: Trevor’s lactose intolerance). It’s also worth pointing out that I refused to make carrot cupcakes with plain vanilla icing, which is practically criminal in my books. Carrot cake has to be paired with cream cheese icing, just like peanut butter and chocolate, mint and chocolate, everything and chocolate.

The only way I could make this recipe was if I used a milk free cream cheese substitute. I had been hearing about milk free cream cheese substitutes for some time now, only I was a little worried about how they would turn out. How close to cream cheese were we talking? Sure, it could look and smell like cream cheese, but I wanted something that tasted as close to the real thing as possible.

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I can’t believe it’s been over 3 weeks since I last blogged. Bad Jessica, bad, bad Jessica.

Sometimes you just need to get away though, and what better way is there than to surround yourself with family and food? The joke in our family is that no matter what kind of get-together we plan, there is always tons of food involved. My brother Nathan and I joke that we always gain weight when we go home to visit, but that’s what happens when you have a family that loves food. My Grandma cooked in a restaurant for over 20 years and my mom loves to have people over and feed them. No one leaves our home hungry.

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