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National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day: Celebrate With These Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Today is Leap Day. For some of us, it means trading childrens’ tears for candy. For others, its an extra day to read, write, and/or bake.

If you’re the sort that can’t wait to spend the extra free time whipping up some treats for post-Leap Day festivities, you’re in luck. Tomorrow happens to be National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day. So to help you out, we’ve got this delicious recipe from our Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook.

Read on to learn how to make peanut butter swirl brownies. Yum!

Posted by Eric Smith

Score Some Exclusive Marshmallow Madness Recipe Cards On Facebook!

Marsh Madness is still going strong. This week you can look forward to unique recipes from Baked Bree, Barbara Bakes, and Foodie Bride.

Here on Homemade Quirk, we’re dishing out some exclusive recipe cards on Facebook. Head on over to the Quirk Books Facebook page to score some three printable cards with recipes for Ultimate Hot Chocolate, Homemade Marshmallow Creme, and Classic Vanilla Marshmallows.

Enjoy! And remember to keep up with the Marshmallow Madness bracket on Twitter (#MarshMadness) and to follow the campaign over on Serious Eats.

Posted by Eric Smith

Marsh Madness: Week One, West Coast Recap

Maple Bacon S’mores by Kitchen Konfidence

Wow. What a week.

Last week contenders in the Marsh Madness West Coast bracket posted their unbelievable recipes, each one just as creative as the last. Our partners Serious Eats have the recap, and you can scope out links to all the entries (plus a bonus!), below.

Kitchen Konfidence: Maple Bacon S’mores

Love Veggies & Yoga: Peanut Butter Cocoa Krispie S’mores

Teenie Cakes: Chai-Spiced Pistachio Marshmallows

Kitchen Parade: Orange-Kissed Marshmallows

And although she wasn’t in the official bracket, Sweets by Sillianah’s custom Blood Orange Marshmallows are just fantastic.

Check back here and on Serious Eats come Monday for another recap, and make sure you’re following the #MarshMadness hashtag on Twitter.

Posted by Eric Smith

Dr Anthony Debenedet Speaking @ TEDxDetroit 2011

On September 28th, 2011, Quirk author Dr Anthony DeBenedet (The Art of Roughhousing) participated in TEDxDetroit.

In his talk, The Future of Play, he speaks passionately about the importance of rough and tumble playtime, how it builds emotional intelligence, and how it can inspire creativity and imagination.

The video just hit YouTube, and you can scope it out above. Nice job, Anthony! We’re proud of you!

Posted by Eric Smith

Celebrate National Margarita Day: Treat Your Self to a Top-Shelf Margarita Cheesecake

Get ready to party, today is National Margarita Day! We could dish out the tried and true recipe for the standard margarita, but come on. Where’s the fun in that?

So put away those fancy glasses. Cancel your plans to hit the bar. I’ve got a fantastic recipe from Booze Cakes by Krystina Castella & Terry Lee Stone. Read on to learn how to make a Top-Shelf Margarita Cheesecake.

That’s right, you heard me. A margarita cheesecake.

Posted by Eric Smith

Marsh Madness: Sixteen Food Blogs Square Off For Best Marshmallow

Are you ready… for Marsh Madness?

No, that isn’t a typo. Starting today, we’re kicking off Marsh Madness with Serious Eats. It’s our version of March Madness, only we’re replacing basketballs with marshmallows .

We’ve created four brackets with sixteen super sweet bloggers, and each food blogger is crafting his or her own unique marshmallow. The recipes start with the original vanilla mallow recipe in Shauna Sever’s Marshmallow Madness, and then the sky is the limit.

At the end of the tournament, Shauna will select her favorite of the bunch, and we’ll award that food blogger with a Quirk Books cookbook library and $100 gift card to Williams-Sonoma.

We’ve got the full schedule and the entire bracket below. Check back regularly on Serious Eats for recaps on the marshmallows, bookmark the blogs and keep up with Marsh Madness on Twitter via #marshmadness.

 

Posted by Eric Smith