Inspired Recipes – Page 3 – The Inspired Parent

Rum Balls

These Rum Balls are wonderfully dangerous. They may very well be my favorite holiday treat…or at least in the top three. They’re super simple — you’re basically making a batch of brownies, spiking them with rum & coating them with decorative sanding sugar or sweetened coconut. Best part is they store extremely well for 7-9 days in an air-tight container in the refrigerator so you can easily make them ahead of time to have on hand as you finish preparing your other cookies or holiday treats.

Where they become dangerous is that it’s oh-so-simple to just grab one here or there when they call your name as you open the refrigerator door. Hopefully by the time your holiday party rolls around there will still be a few left for your cookie tray!

Happy Baking!

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Cranberry Chocolate Chip Macaroons

This year at Thanksgiving I purchased an extra package of fresh cranberries so we could try a few new cookie recipes. I’ve always loved plain coconut macaroons but we decided to change them up a little — figured the lovely pop of red from the cranberries would help liven these up a bit on holiday cookie trays.

We made some with chocolate chips & some without — the three of us preferred them with the added bit of chocolate but they were truly good either way. We prefer using bittersweet dark chocolate chips for these since they help balance the sweetness of the cookie. Our favorite chips are Ghirardelli or Guittard, if you can find them at your local shop.

On a storage note, storing coconut macaroons can be a bit tricky — if you put them in a storage bag, they tend to get soggy so your best bet is putting them in an air-tight cookie tin once they have fully cooled. Our best advice is to bake these close to your party — preferably no longer than 1-2 days beforehand for the best texture when serving.

Thankfully, this is a very simple cookie to whip together so it’s perfect for a last-minute event.

Enjoy & happy baking!

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Vegetable Soup with Italian Sausage

We have a bit of a love affair with different soup noodles…so many fun shapes & any of them will go perfectly with this super easy & versatile soup. Our daughter chose Garofalo Farfalline Pasta this time around but any of your favorites will be a great addition. For this latest batch of soup, we used Johnsonville Mild Italian Sausage but love using different sausages from our local butcher shop and spicier varieties as well.

Once the soup has been ladled into the bowls, we typically finish things off with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of freshly grated imported Pecorino Romano, which we always have on hand in our home. Yum!

Have fun, play with your seasonings and flavors — soup is one of the easiest meals to change up to suit your mood.

Enjoy & happy cooking!

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Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

This banana bread is moist, flavorful, simple & versatile — it’s been our go-to banana bread recipe for over a decade. Not in the mood for chocolate chips? Toss in some dried cranberries or some toasted walnuts — even a plain slice never disappoints!

It’s easy to double the recipe to make two loaves. If you can find them, we like to use Ghirardelli or Guittard chocolate chips — you can use semi-sweet but we prefer using bittersweet to balance things out a bit. The bread can be wrapped in plastic & kept at room temperature for up to three days — but it never lasts that long at our place!

Enjoy!

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