Snickerdoodles: Cinnamon Sugar Cookies (+Giveaway)

Snickerdoodles are perfect during this holiday season. They're just as delicious as plain sugar cookies, but with a touch of freshly ground cinnamon. The cookie dough is rolled into small dough balls and then rolled in cinnamon sugar. Once they're nicely coated, the cookies are flattened, and when they're baked, a whimsical, crinkled cinnamon top is formed.

What makes this batch of cookies very special is the use of Bourbon Barrel Foods smoked salt, smoked sugar and pure vanilla extract. It turned out to be a marvelous choice as it added another dimension to the Christmas cookies.

If you want to try out this recipe, head over to BourbonBarrelFoods.com. Their products are some of the best new ingredients I’ve tried in a long time, and I highly recommend them for your sweet and savory cooking. And today only, you have a chance to win an assortment of Bourbon Barrel products by entering on the 25 Days of Giveaways page.

Make sure you're a fan of PhamFatale Facebook fan page and Bourbon Barrel Foods or follow @Phamfatalecom and tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy, you can just copy and paste this tweet if you’d like: "BBF Holiday Package #Giveaway from @Phamfatalecom and @BourbonBarrel: http://bit.ly/sp4V7y".

Ginger Lemon Cake Recipe (+Giveaway)

I tend to bake a lot more during the holidays. Unlike cooking, where recipes can be loosely interpreted and still come out great, baking is about being accurate and using the precise amount of the specific ingredients called for. That puts even more emphasis on selecting the best of the limited ingredients you have control over, whether it's flour, eggs or butter. To that end, my pantry is always stocked with various Bob's Red Mill products, and today one lucky PhamFatale reader is going to receive a $50 gift certificate from Bob!

Today I made an almond cake flavored with ginger and lemon-flavored white chocolate. The main ingredient is almond meal, which makes the dessert gluten-free. Since it's the holidays, I splurged on more decadent elements by topping the cake with a ginger lemon whipped cream and garnished it with sliced almonds as a reminder of the flavor of the cake. Who am I kidding? If you’re a regular reader you know I don’t need much of an excuse to tend towards the decadent!

Make sure you're a fan of PhamFatale Facebook fan page and Bob's Red Mill, or follow @Phamfatalecom and tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy, you can just copy and paste this tweet if you’d like: "Bob's Red Mill $50 Gift Certificate #Giveaway from @Phamfatalecom and @Bobs_Red_Mill: http://bit.ly/sp4V7y".

Citrus Chocolate Cookie Recipe

Sugar cookies are synonymous with the holidays. It seems as though I find myself making a batch every couple of days around this time of year. To speed up the process I keep dough frozen for quick use when the family needs a sugar cookie fix. This particular version is flavored with citrus and chocolate. I paired the cookies with a simple orange icing and decorated them with edible Pham Fatale peel-&-press stickers from Ticings. I completed the decorations by sprinkling crystallized rose-petal sugar. The pink color from the sugar matched our custom-made PhamFatale logos. Adorable, no?

I’ve used cute Ticings baking decorations several times over the past couple of months. I’m not very good with piping bags, so these decorations come in really handy. If you’d like to get your own on Ticings® decorations, the awesome folks at Ticings have agreed to be a part of our 25 Days of Giveaways, so you can add holiday art to your classic baking. Just enter today on the Pham Fatale 25 Days of Giveaways page. And if you don’t end up winning, don’t despair! Ticings is offering free shipping to Pham Fatale readers. Just use the promo code “PHAM” on your order.

Make sure you're a fan of PhamFatale Facebook fan page and Ticings, or follow @Phamfatalecom and tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy, you can just copy and paste this tweet if you’d like: "Ticings edible dessert toppers $30 value #Giveaway from @Phamfatalecom and @ticing: http://bit.ly/sp4V7y". Good luck everyone!

Watermelon Iced Tea Drink Recipe

It's watermelon season again, which means that it's supposed to be really wam here in Northern California, but alas, we're experiencing another cold spell. For those of you enjoying balmier temperatures, I present my incredibly refreshing watermelon iced tea drink.

I flavored the drink with fresh mint and agave nectar; you could omit the syrup depending on the sweetness of the watermelon. In addition to being delicious, this refreshing drink has multiple health benefits thanks to the green tea. It really is the perfect summer drink!

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake Recipe

The secret of this moist raspberry cake recipe is buttermilk. It creates a light, fluffy texture that goes beautifully with a hot cup of tea. You could add any berries you like. This time I paired fresh raspberries with crunchy pistachios.

I baked the cakes in 6 mini molds and topped each dessert with fresh raspberries and crushed pistachios as a reminder of the flavors used in the cake batter. Heavenly!