Chocolate Pretzel Monster Cookies are a fun kitchen project to make with kids. Think of huge oatmeal cookies but jazzed up with pretzels and chocolate mini eggs and various pantry staples. Yum!

If you’re looking for a baking project to make with the kids, these Chocolate Pretzel Monster Cookies are simply the best.

Nutty and crunchy, soft and chewy, they are an impressively huge cookie, made even more fun with the addition of chocolate mini eggs and salty pretzels.

I’m willing to bet you have all of the ingredients right now, and if not, the recipe is easily adaptable for substitutes.

Naturally-sweetened and inherently moist, this chocolate beet snack cake features winter beets – peels and all, in a comforting treat.

The winter months don’t have to feel limiting when you’re a seasonal eater. It’s the perfect time to take shelter in the kitchen and pack the oven full of roast vegetables and baked goods.

It seems like my stove is always blistering hot, ready to receive a steady rotation of breakfast muffins and sheet pan suppers.

For years now this Chocolate Beet Snack Cake has been a family favourite, as much for its deep flavour as the sentiment of home it evokes. I know you’re going to love it, too.

Happy December! It’s the last month of the decade, so let’s wrap it up with a celebratory dessert or two, shall we?

I’ve been wanting to write this post for at least four Christmases now, but it never felt quite right. Last December we had just moved into a new home, but with most of my kitchen equipment still in boxes, my holiday baking was minimal.

However, we’ve just celebrated one terrific year in Nova Scotia and I am feeling very festive. On any given day in the Simple Bites kitchen there are oranges drying, lemons preserving, pie crusts chilling and gingerbread baking.

The holidays are a time to be a little extra … so make a splash and play in the kitchen. The Twelve Days of Holiday Baking Projects are meant to inspire you to tie on an apron, break out the cookie cutters and create a festive masterpiece.

Fall baking is a home kitchen tradition, just as much as spring cleaning and summer grilling are established seasonal rituals.

For me, the cooler weather sparks a return to baking projects and the desire to transform the kitchen into a cozy space. What better way than with a pan of spiced Pear Gingerbread in the oven and an accompanying pot of applesauce bubbling on the stove.

Fall is also a return to routines — and a sure way to keep the school kids happy is to tuck a thick slice of Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake in their lunchbox.