Carrot Cake Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

People of the internet.  Stop whatever it is that you're doing.  Look at this cookie, hovering in the ether.  Don't you want to just reach through your computer screen, grab a hold of that sucker and just devour it?

Yes, I thought so too.

Go get yourself some carrots, a bottle of Maker's Mark, some raisins and a lemon.  You are going to need a few more things but these are a very good start.

Happy Father's Day, Papa Fierce

Happy Father's Day to our Papa Fierce!

Somebody just said "Hey! Who wants pie!"

In honor of our dad, we're both going to go to the grocery store under the pretense of picking up milk, eggs and bread.  We'll go straight to the deli counter, order a half a pound each of at least six different sliced cold cuts and cheese, then we'll swing by the snack aisle and pick up a few bags of chips.  (Ruffled, if you please.)  Man cannot live on bread alone, so the saying goes.  Man needs some deli meat to survive.

In continuing our Parental Unit Appreciation Series, here's a few things we've learned from our dad over the years.

1. The early bird gets the black raspberries on their cereal in the morning.  Growing up, we had raspberry bushes in our backyard and our dad was always the one out in the garden first, stockpiling the fruit for breakfast.  It pays to get up early when fresh fruit is involved. 
2. Dessert is a must, even if its just some jam on toast.
3. The one condiment we will always have on hand, in at least seven different varieties, is jam.  See #2.
4. When dining out with the family, say you aren't hungry and just order soup and salad.  Then make sure to load up on everyone else's entree.  It helps to get an extra dinner plate from the waiter to do this properly.  Papa Fierce has perfected this trick to the point where we know what's going to happen once the "I'm not that hungry" comes out of his mouth. Guard your entrees.
5. Make sure you always have a few varieties of cold cuts on hand so when no one wants to cook, a sandwich is always an option.  Trust us: a sandwich is ALWAYS an option.
6. Are you still hungry?  Offer to help. Papa Fierce is always ready to do some of the sous-chef work of peeling apples or pitting cherries to jump start the pie-making process.  He once deveined two pounds of shrimp on Christmas Day in no time flat only to get to that shrimp cocktail awaiting him. 

Don't forget to thank your own father for the foibles that make your family so much fun. And if you see our Dad, tell him The Sisters Fierce love him, but could he please just save us some deli meat. 

Crunchy Granola

Oh, granola.  You are such a fickle creature, aren't you?  Crunchy or chewy.  Bars or ... cereal.  With chocolate or without.  Coconut?  Maybe.  There are as many varieties of granola as there are fish in the sea.  Okay, maybe not that many.  But you get my point.

In college I spent a year overseas and became addicted to an unpronounceable brand of granola that to this day makes my heart swoon.  We bought it from the cheap German warehouse grocery store - and I mean, I bought it by the kilo (if you know your conversions, that's really not that much).  Hunks of dark chocolate lurked throughout and stumbling upon them was a revelation.  I ate it for breakfast, I ate it for dessert.  I ate it for a snack, straight out of the box, anytime, all the time.  This granola?  This shit was GOOD.  And I loved it.

Raspberry Brownies

I went on vacation, right? This girl who loves to bake, who loves to eat delicious things, went on vacation. Without bringing her most favorite cookbook in the whole wide world (if you've been reading the recipes I don't have to tell you which one this is. If you're curious, do some research). 

I knew I would be relying on modern conveniences like stealing your condo neighbor's wi-fi to check your email, and get recipes. We ate delicious seafood (no, not the kind you're thinking, the subject of my most favorite juvenile joke), white fish topped with green apple compote and fried garlic chips, I swear I'm going to try my hand at that sometime soon, like September. You know, after my sister fulfills goal #2 of Cooking An Entire Fish.