Dessert Recipes & Other Sweet Treats

It’s no secret that I love sweets. But not just any sweets…really good homemade ones, none of that store-bought nonsense for me. So I have a huge arsenal of the best dessert recipes across a wide spectrum—from more traditional cakes, pies, puddings, and cookies, to slightly more exotic babkas, biscotti, pavlovas, and choux.

I’ve got some great family secret recipes (like my mom’s amazing molasses cookies), a bunch of great gluten-free desserts if you need them, and desserts that are perfect for summer parties or holiday gatherings.

Not sure where to start?? Here are a few of my faves:

You can browse my full recipe index or a more visual index here, or explore the archives below…

Addictive Dark Chocolate, Peanut Butter, & Tahini Bark

February 20, 2019

I haven’t been quite this obsessed with something in quite some time.

And of all things it’s a *bark* recipe, which I am historically just “meh” on. But this delicious blend of rich, bittersweet chocolate and punchy peanut butter chips, lifted up slightly by nutty tahini and a crunch of sea salt, is like amazing not-actually-that-bad-for-you crack.

The most critical thing in making this amazing is to use a high-quality dark chocolate. Since the chocolate is the base and the entire carrier of this recipe, using a cheaper and lower quality kind will definitely result in a mediocre product. That doesn’t mean you need something insanely expensive, just more along the lines of Ghiradelli vs. Hershey’s. Trust me, it’s worth it!

I love this so much that I’d love to find a way to make it just as yummy, but using a healthier alternative to peanut butter chips. The actual chemistry of how bark sets isn’t really my area of expertise, so I’m going to do some fiddling and researching to see if this is feasible…as much as I love peanut butter chips, they’re not super great for me and this would be quite a really nice healthy indulgence.

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Whole Wheat Cranberry Pistachio Orange Shortbread Cookies

December 9, 2018

A couple years ago, my sister sent me an email out of nowhere with this recipe and a note that said “This has to be on your blog!” And I’ll be honest…it kind of took me a while to get to it.

But I played around with the recipe, making for a co-worker on maternity leave, for my own personal consumption, and then to take to work. And somehow never got around to posting the final version that I love dearly.

And guys, these cookies are weird. They have no leavening agent and no eggs…which shouldn’t work, but it totally does. In fact, they could be vegan if you substituted coconut oil for butter (though I haven’t tried that from a texture standpoint).

Side note, this cookie dough is AMAZING. Like, try not to eat it all raw before baking it, I DARE YOU. And because there are no eggs, you don’t have to worry about raw egg in it (which…I don’t, but I know some people do).

One of the great things about this kind of recipe, where you make the dough into a log and then slice pieces off, is that you can make parts of it at a time super easily. So the last time I made this, I baked up about half the dough right after dinner, and then two days later sliced up the rest and baked it when I had my whole family over for dinner again. Bonus points because they’re really quite healthy.

Crushing. It.

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Peanut Butter Banana Bread

December 1, 2018

Elvis was onto something.

Not that it was news to me, but peanut butter and banana will always be a magic combo. This bread just emphasizes the point. That’s right, friends, we’re talking about peanut butter banana bread today!

I’ve gotten to the point where I now just buy bananas every couple weeks, knowing full well I have no intention of actually eating them while they’re good. So expect some more tasty banana treats coming your way!

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Lemon Elderflower Cake With Strawberry Jam (Happy Birthday To Me!)

November 10, 2018

When I saw that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were having a lemon and elderflower cake at their wedding, I may or may not have fist-pumped.

The second I heard that flavor combo, I was SOLD.

As I’ve mentioned before, I started a tradition several years ago of finding a recipe that seemed a little fancier and more complicated than I typically tackle, and making that for my birthday. It’s given me absolute gems such as:

I MEAN YUMMMM. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I’ve got pretty great taste.

So this year I was kind of waffling, looked through tons of recipes but nothing was really jumping out to me until I saw two different recipes for an elderflower lemon cake. I took both and kind of combined and adapted, and loved the result! But con’t let the amount of ingredients and steps put you off, I actually threw this together pretty easily in between making dinner and pausing my TV show for a bit. Since my birthday is in September, the actual posting of this is *even* more belated that the making of it (which was about a week behind, since I was out of the country on my actual birthday).

I mean, if it’s good enough for Harry and Meghan, it’s good enough for me 🙂

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Cherry Almond Scones

October 14, 2018

This recipe is…there are no words for how good these scones are.

No. Words.

I’m a noted lover of scones (as seen here, here, and here), and there are very few flavor combinations I love more than cherry and almond. So as I was poring over various cherry recipes to use my plethora of fresh cherries (and awesome new cherry pitter), I came across this one and it immediately jumped to the top of the “must make” list.

I made a few small tweaks to the original recipe, most notably cutting way back on the glaze. I don’t think they need a ton, just enough to get a bit of extra sweet and a punch of almond flavor. I’m well known for adding almond extract to EVERYTHING.

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Orange Cinnamon-Sugar Twist Bread

September 20, 2018

Every time I go to Chicago for work lately, I’ve stayed at The Godfrey for convenience, and had a lovely run along the River Walk in the early morning. Then, as a reward, I’ve stopped at Beatrix and gotten the biggest latte they have a morning bun.

Their morning buns are an inspiration, like a cinnamon roll’s way cooler cousin…dough that’s slightly sweet with some lamination and a hint of orange zest, a cinnamon-sugar filling that’s positively gooey inside, and some sugar on the outside. No frosting, nothing overly sickly. Perfection.

So I’ve been lingering on this particular recipe on Pinterest lately, since it ticks the same flavor boxes as my beloved morning buns. I finally decided to tackle it a couple weeks ago and was SO happy I did!

One of the biggest changes I made was adding orange zest into the dough itself, versus just in the glaze. That slight hint of orange in the dough with a subtle cinnamon-sugar filling is just sublime. Additionally, I adapted the glaze by eliminating the butter and decreasing the amount quite a bit. I think the changes work SUPER well and make it a little less sweet, which is more my style.

I’d also recommend not being daunted by the number of steps in the recipe. It’s not a difficult recipe, and other than braiding the split layered dough ropes (it’s a bit messy!), it’s totally doable as long as you have the time. Don’t rush it and it’ll be a breeze!

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Bourbon Cherry Crisp with Brown Butter Streusel

September 12, 2018

This is one of the better ideas I’ve had in a while…

I’ve been totally obsessed with cherries lately, partly because they’re absolutely delicious and have been everywhere at the grocery store, and partly because I recently got a cherry pitter and can now have this fruit candy easily anytime I want (without hand-pitting and looking like I’ve murdered someone…).

Bourbon has also been everywhere in my life lately, since starting my new job at Brown-Forman in Louisville. Pretty much any bourbon will work for this, I used the bottle that happened to be open, which was a lovely Old Forester 100 proof. Combined with the brown butter, cinnamon, and cherries, this was BOMB.

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Orange, Apricot, & Pistachio Biscotti

July 23, 2018

Now isn’t *that* a match made in heaven?!

I feel bad because it’s been challenging getting new posts up as regularly as I normally would. I could blame it on travel schedules, the new job, and the continual process of settling into the new house. And all of that is 100% true. But you know the real reason?? I’ve just had trouble finding recipes that taste as good as they should when I make them. It’s not that I haven’t been baking and cooking, but rather that the recipes I’ve tried in the last month have all been fairly underwhelming—and not something I want to share with you.

Until this, that is.

I don’t know why I’ve been slightly obsessed with the idea of biscotti lately. It’s off-season, to be honest…more of a fall and winter food in my mind. But for some strange reason every time I see a new biscotti flavor combo, I’m smitten. So I finally decided to try a new one out. There was an orange, apricot, and almond recipe I’d been wanting to try, but I swapped in pistachios (and toasted them for more flavor) since that’s what I had on hand.

I was pretty skeptical about the recipe not having any fats, or any liquid except the egg and orange juice. But the more I thought about it, it made sense…a fat would make it more moist and soft, and that’s the opposite of a good biscotti. The orange zest and juice bring a brightness here, while the apricots bring the sweet. I’m glad it’s only lightly sweet, since that lets the fruit flavors really linger on your tongue. This one’s a winner for sure.

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Cinnamon-Walnut Challah…And Some New Digs

June 16, 2018

Oh hello there!

Yes, I know it’s been a hot minute since last we met here. But things have been a little insane around here, due to relocating (in my tiny Corolla), living in a temporary furnished apartment for a couple months (with the WORST kitchen supplies! Also, the cats were not fans…), house hunting, finalizing my move from Atlanta, and closing on a house here in Louisville. Oh yeah, and starting a major new job. So yeah, a lot’s been happening.

But I have a mountain of deliciousness to make it up to you today.

The great news is that I’m back in a fully-functioning kitchen and raring to go. I had to have them pipe in a propane line and install a new gas range because I was not dealing with that electric stove nonsense. Isn’t she pretty????

So that’s where I’ve been hiding for the last couple months. And without further ado, I bring you the yummiest stuffed challah bread you’ve ever had. Butter and walnuts and cinnamon and brown sugar meld into a magical mess inside a soft enriched dough (yes, I’ve been watching GBBO). But it’s surprisingly easy to pull together and got rave reviews from my co-workers. Totally worth the little bit of extra effort.

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Spiced Chocolate Tahini Swirl Bread

March 5, 2018

This is one of those cases where I randomly saw something on Pinterest on a Sunday and was like, UM YES. It just got stuck in my head, and I *had* to make it that very day. Sometimes I can get intimidated by braided breads, but for whatever reason that weekend I decided that I would kick this bread’s butt.

And overall, I was very happy with how it turned out. The dough itself was lovely and soft, and the combination of the warm spices and the gooey chocolate (I used part semi-sweet, part dark) was just heavenly on a cold winter morning. I took it work and it was devoured.

And honestly, the braiding was too scary either. I still struggle to get the ends really pinched together and the insides totally baked and not doughy, while not overcooking things. I’ve applied every Paul Hollywood technique I know. I’m guessing it’s a “practice makes perfect” thing, but overall I was quite proud of how this turned out!

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Brown Butter Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Cookies

January 28, 2018

This recipe did something I didn’t think possible—I think I might have a new favorite cookie.

For years, my family’s molasses cookies have occupied the main cookie-shaped place in my heart, with their combination of warm spices and biting dark molasses. And these brown butter cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies definitely share some of the same DNA. Subtly sweet but not overpowering, spiced, textured, and soft, these will make your house smell amazing and bring all the co-workers to the yard.

In fact, the first time I made this recipe, my only note was something I never thought I’d say, which was, “Waaayyyy too much cinnamon chip. Pull that crap back.”

So I cut the cinnamon chips by more than half, and am completely in love with the result—the more subtle cinnamon chip presence allows the brown butter flavor to really shine through in all its rich, nutty glory. Add the oatmeal texture and you have a cookie made in heaven.

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Bourbon Pear Crumble Pie

December 28, 2017

“This is the best dessert I’ve ever had”. Actual quote from my dad.

I don’t know that I can disagree. As I was trying to figure out what to make for Thanksgiving this year, I knew I wanted to make something fruit-based (because no one else was, and that’s my jam), and since my mom had about 17 pounds of fresh pears sitting around—and I loooove pears—figured it would be pear-based.

This wasn’t my first pear rodeo—I made a super delish caramel pear pie with oat crumble one year (a bit sweet for me but still soooo good) and one of my go-to recipes is a healthy pear-apple pie with streusel topping.

But I wanted to try a new recipe out, so with that in mind, I pored over my Pinterest dessert board and hit upon this recipe. I knew I had a winner…bourbon pear pie was already going to be amazing, but add that crumble topping and there’s no way it won’t be amazing.

I ended up accidentally making quite a bit more filling and topping than could fit in my pie crust (I should have used the deep-dish pan), so I just poured the extra filling into a small pyrex dish, threw the extra topping on, and baked it as its own little bourbon pear crisp. It was amazing, so if you have extra I highly recommend going that route.

And when you tell people that you’re bringing a bourbon pear pie, they end to get pretty excited…READ THE POST

Dark Chocolate Stout Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting + Happy Birthday to Me!

October 29, 2017

My tradition of ugly but delicious birthday cakes continues…

A cake decorator I will never be.

This cake, however, is suuuuuper delish. I really wasn’t feelin’ it this year. I was so tired and stressed that I didn’t even know if I wanted to bother making something. My birthday was on a Tuesday (blah) in a super crazy week (among other things we were moving offices, had big deadlines, and I was getting ready to leave the country), and I knew it would be a super long day.

So looked for something simple but that really tugged at me. And, man, peanut butter and a dark chocolate stout cake can get me every time.READ THE POST

Almond Magic Cake

February 5, 2017

It’s been a long time since I’ve been so obsessed with a recipe. I pinned it years ago, and somehow forgot about it, though the idea was fascinating. Then over winter break this year I stumbled back across it and knew I had to give it a try. So behold, almond magic cake.

Because I did make one major change to the recipe. The original is for a vanilla cake, but my M.O. in life is, why make something vanilla when it can be almond-flavored instead??

This cake is really easy to throw together, and yields the most amazing, creamy, custardy, flan-y cake. I ended up making it again a few days later, in a gluten-free version (to be posted here later once I’ve perfected it). Give this a try, you won’t be disappointed!READ THE POST

Snickerdoodle Zucchini Bread

January 22, 2017

This bread is the BOMB!

Cinnamon-sugar is my kryptonite in general, so it’s no surprise that I was drawn to this recipe. It’s all the best things about my snickerdoodle bread (which is amazing, but also will make a major dent in your calories for the day), combined with a bit of whole wheat flour and fiber from zucchini.

Make no mistake, this is definitely a breakfast dessert, but it’s now only a bit of splurge rather than a complete diet derail.

The hardest thing is finding the cinnamon chips—if you see them, buy like 6 bags! (Though this may be part of the scarcity problem…). I think Hershey’s discontinued theirs, so I’ve been buying them on the Amazon black market, and will need to look elsewhere soon.

Cinnamon chips are seriously the best, and appropriate in all manner of delicious breakfast and dessert recipes.

This was a hit at work. And I had trouble keeping my hands off it. I had a piece with my morning espresso, but went back several times throughout the day for another bite. I probably had three pieces total, one bite at a time!READ THE POST

Birthday Vanilla Spice Coke Cake with Salted Peanut Butter Frosting

October 10, 2016

Every year (minus last year), I make myself a special birthday cake. I try to pick something that’s really captured my imagination, that seems a bit fancy and more complex than I’d usually convince myself to tackle. Something special.

This year, for reasons I can’t even quite explain to myself, I made a vanilla spice Coke cake with salted peanut frosting.

Yes, you read that right.

It’s kind of conceptual…while I’m not a fan myself, boiled peanuts in Coke is considered a Southern delicacy. Consider this the deconstructed cake version. But without the weird texture issues.

It was really a gameday decision. I’d pored over my whole Pinterest dessert board and nothing was really jumping out at me. But then I finally got it into my head that this vanilla spice Coke cake was going to be my base. I’ve never had a traditional Coca-Cola cake, but my understanding is that it’s almost always chocolate. When I ran across this recipe from Local Milk, I was intrigued…the way the flavor profile was described so beautifully, and as an interesting transition into fall,I decided it had to happen.

But the frosting that went along with it was just way too finicky for my exhausted and busy self to deal with. I looked at tons of different recipes but nothing really felt right, until I saw this salted peanut frosting. Since I love all things peanut butter, I was on board right away, and I thought that it would be a fun complement to the cake. While this was a bit overly sweet for my tastes (or maybe that was because I also ate a gallon of queso, so I felt a bit ill), the flavor was bomb and the cake was insanely moist.

I’ll definitely be revisiting this recipe down the road, and not just for a special occasion—the cake base itself (minus frosting the layers) was super easy and fast. As you can tell, frosting cakes is not my particular skill set.

So happy birthday to me, and cut yourself a huge slice of cake and pour a Coke!READ THE POST

Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Frosting

February 7, 2015

“Life is too short for self-hatred and celery sticks.” ~ Marilyn Wann

That quote basically encapsulates my struggle right now. I love food. I don’t believe in diets, because I think that permanently denying yourself foods will just make you want them more. Plus, why take all the fun out of life?? But I am trying to be good most of the time right now.

And looking at these pictures is pure torture, because I remember how GOOOOOOD these Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls were.

But I have a secret. I’m not really into cinnamon rolls. Except *these* cinnamon rolls. These cinnamon rolls are like if you just took the gooey center of the roll (the only good part) and made it ALL of the roll.

THESE CINNAMON ROLLS ARE EVERYTHING.

People had raved about The Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon roll recipe, so when I decided to try my hand at cinnamon rolls I knew I had to try these ones. I was scared, honestly. Cinnamon rolls look like so much work, and I’ve never thought they were worth the effort. Boy, was I wrong.

These are 5-star levels of gooey, they’re sweet, they’re maple-y, the bread is moist and soft. Perfect. They’re perfect.

And they were actually not that hard to make. Yes, there were a few steps, but they weren’t hard or even super time consuming. I just had to plan ahead in terms of starting them the night before, but otherwise they came together pretty easily.

How decadent are these cinnamon rolls with maple frosting??

Well, I polished off the last four (DON’T JUDGE.) the morning that I gave blood (so I could start eating healthy the next day, naturally), and when my cholesterol results came back they were like 50 points higher than normal. It was insane. Granted, I’d also had like seven of them the day before. Still. Crazy.

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Chocolate Stout Cake with Ganache…Birthday Celebration Part 2!

September 28, 2014

Let me start by saying that this cake is way easier than it sounds. There’s something about “ganache” that sounds so fancy and unattainable.

This was the birthday cake I picked out this year, something kind of fancy but also quite simple—just good chocolate and good beer. (Although I’m sensing a theme of chocolate + alcohol birthday cakes…). This is a Smitten Kitchen recipe and it’s basically perfect. The cake itself has a dense richness, a little bittersweet from the combination of the stout and the darker Dutch-process cocoa. I also went a little scant on the sugar so the sweetness wasn’t overwhelming. I went ahead and frosted mine right away, which made the inside moist and fudgy, which is how I prefer my cake.

I’d never made a ganache before and thought it was going to be complicated and temperamental, but it was really quite simple and very fast. You want to use good quality chocolate to get the smoothest, creamiest texture and rich flavor. (I now have a more detailed post on how to make ganache, including two different easy methods.)

Overall, I would make this cake again in a heartbeat!

And then there was this gloriousness. That’s right, my co-worker wrapped my birthday wine bottles with the one and only James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser. They get me. They really get me.

*sigh*

Okay, back to this chocolate stout cake…READ THE POST

Smitten Kitchen’s Whole Lemon Tart…Birthday Celebration Part 1

September 21, 2014

A few years ago I decided that, for my birthday, I’d make myself a dessert that’s just a little fancier than normal. Something I’ve been lusting after but required more time or effort than I’m typically willing to put into things. Since I don’t tend to like store-bought desserts that much, it was a way of making sure I got something I’d really like. And, boy, has it produced good results so far?! Two years ago I made these amazing vanilla almond cupcakes with peach jam filling, and last year I tried out Smitten Kitchen’s red wine chocolate cake.

This year, since it’s a “technicolor” birthday (as my co-worker says), I decided that I didn’t have to pick between the two desserts I was eyeing. So this is part one of 30th birthdaypalooza, and Smitten Kitchen has once again done me a solid.

This lemon tart is absolutely jam-packed with flavor. While I love lemon things, I am often turned off by lemon flavor that’s cloying or fake tasting, which is always a danger. But this tart is so bright and fresh and in-your-face with its real lemonness. Lemon-ity?

What’s also fascinating is that you throw the entire lemon into the filling (not whole, that would be weird…). Hence “whole lemon tart”. I don’t know why that makes a huge difference, but it does.

And while it *looks* like there are a million steps in the recipe below, it’s really not that difficult or time consuming. As long as you have time during a couple parts of the day (so you can make the tart crust and let it chill, then freeze a little, then bake), you’re golden. And the butter—oh, the butter! This tart is lemon-y, creamy, tangy, rich, custardy goodness.

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Moist Strawberry Shortcake (for a Large Group)

July 22, 2014

Does this picture not just epitomize summer?

I was back home in Kansas a couple weekends ago with my family for a memorial service, which involved a LOT of people and a LOT of cooking. Friday night we had a smaller get-together (maybe 15 people?), and we needed to figure out a dessert to feed the masses.

Strawberry shortcake is my go-to summer dessert when I have people over.

It’s basically perfect—juicy strawberries, just a hint of sugar, fluffy cake, pillowy whipped cream. Healthy(ish). And the easiest thing to throw together for an impromptu get-together.

While angel food cake will do in a pinch, usually I try to go the extra mile and make traditional homemade shortcakes, kind of scone- or biscuit-like (or like this oat & brown sugar version).

They’re not hard to make, but they’re not good for big groups and are not as great when you make them ahead of time—like biscuits, they’re great fresh but get tougher and stale once cool.

When I started thinking about dessert for a bunch of people (plus getting dinner on the table), I knew that individual shortcakes would be too much trouble. I knew I wanted something that made a lot, and something that would stay moist so we could make it several hours ahead.

After quite a bit of digging, I discovered this recipe, and was quite pleased with the results.

It literally took less than five minutes to mix the ingredients together and throw it in the oven, and it was super moist, not too sweet, and basically perfect for soaking up strawberry juices.

My brother-in-law gave it his stamp of approval, and finished off the leftovers the next day. While it’s not quite as pretty as the traditional shortcakes, it’s got great texture and is delicious!READ THE POST

Honey-Roasted Peaches with Cream

May 26, 2014

Some things are perfect in their simplicity, and these honey-roasted peaches definitely qualify.

I didn’t plan to buy peaches last weekend, but when I walked into the produce section I was almost knocked over by the amazing smell of ripe peaches. They were so soft you had to hold them super gently so they didn’t bruise. Fuzzy. Juicy. Amazing.

Since I was trying to eat really well this week, and already had like five things I was planning to make, I wanted something simple and super healthy.

This dessert feels fancy in a completely undeserved way. You seriously just cut fruit in half, drizzle a little honey and butter over it, and bake for a while.

And the result is a dessert that embodies summer, adds a little class to any dinner, and takes five minutes, tops, to prepare. Sign me up!

Also, peaches. They’re the best!

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Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars

May 25, 2014

Y’all, I have never once cooked with rhubarb before this recipe. In fact, I could probably count the number of times I’ve had rhubarb on, like, half a hand. Which is creepy when you think about it (half a hand, that is, not rhubarb).

ANYWAY. What I was getting at was that these strawberry rhubarb crumb bars are a delightful and easy breakfast option, or even a (not as sweet) dessert.

There’s something about rhubarb that screams spring…maybe it has a really short seasonality or something? I’m definitely not a rhubarb expert.

What I *do* know is that rhubarb is quiiiiiite tart, which is why it’s usually paired with very sweet fruits like strawberries, and takes a little extra sugar to make it edible.

These bars look like a dessert (and they could be, with a few tweaks), but they’re really a healthy, fiber-ful, antioxidant-filled whole grain breakfast treat.

The star of these is obviously the strawberries and rhubarb (which is like a girly-looking, super tart celery), but the crust and crumble topping has a lovely light sweetness to it, made hearty by the oats and whole wheat flour.

On a side note, I’ll bet the first person to bite into a rhubarb stalk expecting something either sweet or celery-like later seriously reconsidered their willingness to try new things. It is NOT good raw. I’m guessing it was entertaining to watch, though…

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Plum Pound Cake with Almond Crumble

April 27, 2014

I’ve been on a weird plum kick, and this plum pound cake is a symptom. It’s not a fruit I grew up eating, and if you asked me to name my top five or ten fruits, not sure plums would make the list.

But recently they’ve been calling to me, with their weird thick, bitter skin and their totally unpredictable insides. Sometimes it’s mealy and bland, but sometimes you get rewarded with sweet, juicy, awesomeness.

This plum pound cake bears a resemblance to both the plum torte and the pear torte adaptation I’ve made over the past few months, but this is more of a pound cake—denser, not quite as sweet, and with a crumbly almond topping instead of the light cinnamon sugar of the others.

The original recipe is in metric amounts and in Polish. Since I don’t speak Polish (and Google Translator apparently doesn’t very well either), I took some liberties with amounts and ingredients.

And pretty much everything else. So, there’s that. Despite my completely winging it, the end result was pretty doggone good.

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Grandma’s Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

March 27, 2014

I don’t like banana bread. There—I said it. Cue the shock and hand-wringing and exclamations of my lack of humanity. I’ve heard it all. But I still don’t like banana bread.

THIS chocolate chip banana bread, however, is pretty freaking awesome.

I got the chance to fly out to eastern Washington in late January with my dad to visit my Grandma and some other family on his side. I see most of them maaayyybe every decade, often longer, so it was a great chance to catch up and reconnect.

My grandma had baked some banana bread that I ended up snacking on all weekend. It was dense and moist, like a flat little cake, and studded with chocolate chips. I loved it.

She gave me her recipe and I played with it a little, including using all whole wheat flour, leaving out the coconut (partly because I forgot), and using dark chocolate chips.

I also baked it in two shallow dishes instead of making a regular-size loaf, which I think actually was the best thing I could have done for even cooking and keeping everything moist.

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Black Bean Brownies with Honey – The Runner-Up

March 22, 2014

I’ve got another gluten-free gem comin’ at ya…this time it’s black bean brownies with honey.

Now I know I shared a black bean brownie recipe last week, and to me it’s absolute perfection. They’ve got amazing texture, taste great, have more protein and fiber than regular brownies, and aren’t packed with sugar (like most black bean brownie recipes are). You’d never even know they have beans in them and are gluten-free.

However, I know that some people want to avoid refined sugars, and so having an option made with honey is ideal. I’ve got your back.

These were my runner-up recipe in my great search for awesome black bean brownies. The reason these couldn’t win the top spot is that the honey does change the texture a little. Specifically, it’s white sugar that gives the tops of the brownies that crisp, slightly crackly look, and you just can’t replicate that with honey.

These are great in their own right…they’re very moist and light, very fudge-y.

If you’re trying not to use white sugar, this recipe is a great alternative, and crazy easy.

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The Best Black Bean Brownies (Naturally Gluten-Free)

March 15, 2014

Soooooo, I have been on the hunt for the best black bean brownie recipe. Why, you ask?

Honestly, I’m not sure. I got it into my head a couple months ago after I tried out my healthy deep-dish chocolate chip cookie pie, which is also chock-full of fiber and gluten-free. Having friends who are gluten-sensitive, I’m always on the lookout for GF dessert recipes for dinner parties.

I’d seen people pin different black bean brownie recipes, but every time I checked out the ingredients I was shocked at how much sugar they called for—I guess to compensate for the lack of other unhealthy things.

So I started browsing through all sorts of recipes and trying several of them find one that was still fairly healthy without compromising on taste or texture. AND I HAVE FOUND IT.

These black bean brownies are perfect. They’re fudge-y and rich but light and not too sweet, and just as good days later as they were fresh out of the oven.

My co-workers were shocked when I told them that they were gluten-free and made of beans. You also blend all the ingredients in a food processor, so there are no bowls to clean, no stirring—just blend, pour, and bake.

FAQs (because I can hear you asking): Do these brownies taste like beans? No. Do they have a weird texture? No. Will anyone be able to tell they have beans in them? No. Will they make me toot? Possibly…that’s really between you and your intestines.

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Soft, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

February 16, 2014

I’m on a hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. This is probably not it (for my personal preferences), but it IS good, so I wanted to share. Specifically, this is a really good recipe for soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies, but for me I like a little more crisp.

This particular recipe’s claim to fame is cornstarch, which gives the cookies a fluffiness and softness that many chocolate chip cookies are missing.

These are a little sweet for my tastes (mine run more toward these whole wheat dark chocolate chip cookies) but they had a great, traditional chocolate chip cookie flavor and were quite easy to whip up.

If you have an amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe I should try, send it to me…I am determined to find the perfect recipe!READ THE POST

Amazing Pear Torte, adaptation from Smitten Kitchen

February 12, 2014

I am so obsessed with this pear torte. SO OBSESSED.

You’ll recall that I made Smitten Kitchen’s take on a famous plum torte recipe, which was amazing—lightly sweet, with a slightly crunchy cinnamon-sugar topping, and the plums turning into these pockets of soft, sweet, gooey goodness.

And I remember wondering at the time whether pears would do the same, because I love them dearly. I finally got around to giving this a try, and yes, it’s just as good—pear torte FTW!

You can either eat this straight out of the oven, or let it sit overnight and the juices from the fruit and the skin become even more entrenched in the cake. It’s hard to wait that long, but totally worth it.

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Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Mug Cake

January 29, 2014

Oh boy, I’ve been wanting to try this chocolate peanut butter mug cake for quite a while, but the universe kept conspiring against me.

Mostly by making me too full after my traditional Saturday night Thai food to even think about dessert. I know, life’s rough.

But after our eventful snow day in Atlanta yesterday, I decided it was time for a treat. Yet again, I didn’t prepare for the snowpocalypse. And by “snowpocalypse”, I mean 1-2 inches of snow that literally ruined Atlanta. People stranded in their cars for 20+ hours, having to abandon them on the highway and walk to safety and warmth.

Parts of it enforced my lack of faith in humanity (yes, I’m looking at you, asshat who knowingly ran the red light and blocked a major intersection for 20 minutes), while others were pretty amazing (thousands of people offering up spare rooms, couches, bringing food to stranded drivers).

My 90-minute drive home (vs. 20 usually) looked like a walk in the park by comparison, and while I don’t have much food at home, I do have wine and I can make this amazing mug cake.

Mug cake recipes are hit-and-miss, but this one was a winner for me. First, you can never miss with (double) chocolate and peanut butter, and the texture was fudgy and creamy and awesome. The fact that it doesn’t use eggs is handy as well.

It helps to start with a super cute mug. This is one of my favorites, it actually was the first mug in my somewhat-eclectic collection. Got it in Seattle at Pike’s Place Market back in college.READ THE POST

Caramel-Glazed Apple Bread

January 5, 2014

It’s weird. As a self-proclaimed caramel hater (okay, maybe “hate” is strong, but “non-lover”), I somehow made two different awesome recipes within a couple weeks back in November where caramel was the star. The first was the caramel pear crumble pie I made for Thanksgiving, and the second was this fall-worthy gem—caramel apple bread.

Obviously, apple and cinnamon are a can’t-miss combination. But the caramel glaze really elevates this bread beyond what a regular powdered sugar glaze would. It gives not just a sweetness but a warmth, and the burnt sugar caramel flavor deepens everything.

This is one of those beautiful quick bread recipes that’s super easy to throw together—I mean, the bread takes as long as it takes to chop the apples, basically. And you get not one, but two, loaves of sweet bread that can feed hungry overnight guests for breakfast, delight your co-workers, or punt as an easy dessert.

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November Cakes a.k.a. Gooey Delicious Orange Buns

December 29, 2013

Have you ever read a piece of fiction that describes some kind of food in such rich, real detail that the food becomes real to you?

It’s a talent, writing about completely made-up food in a way that’s so real to the reader that they have a visceral need to create (re-create?) the food in their world. As an avid reader, I’ve certainly run across these kinds of fictional foods from time to time, but rarely has a recipe captured my imagination like the November Cakes from Maggie Stiefvater’s “The Scorpio Races”.

In the middle of a chill, windy, haunting Irish November, Stiefvater describes these rolls as “oozing honey and butter, rivulets of the creamy frosting joining the honey in the pit of my hand.” Pretty amazing, right?

I actually tried a recipe for this a year or two ago, but was disappointed with the dry, somewhat bland results. When I saw this particular recipe and heard people rave about it, I knew I had to give it another try.

And these were everything promised. The dough itself isn’t that sweet, just an orange-tinged yeast roll. It’s the combination of the honey-caramel glaze (which I also spiked with orange extract) soaking into the rolls and the sweet white orange-flavored icing on top that elevates this to complete indulgence.READ THE POST

Caramel Pear Pie with Oat Crumble

December 14, 2013

Apparently, making some kind of pear pie is becoming my new Thanksgiving tradition. My family always has so much food that I just try to fill in gaps or find something a little interesting to contribute.

Last year I wanted a fruit dessert, since we had so much rich stuff. I made my healthy apple-pear pie with streusel topping, which was exactly what we needed in the midst of all the sweets.

This year I didn’t really have anything specific in mind. Then, I ran across this caramel pear pie recipe from A Cozy Kitchen and knew that I had to make it right away. While I don’t really get that excited about caramel, I absolutely LOVE pears and any kind of crumble topping.

Oh, and then I made this amazing pear crumble bourbon pie the next year!

What’s really magical about this pie happens while it bakes. What starts as a simple streusel topping—oats, sugar, spices, butter—turns into a golden melt-in-your-mouth crust when the caramel bubbles up and marries up with the streusel.

Seriously, it’s amazing. On the whole, the pie was just a TAD sweet for me. I prefer something mildly sweet but not too rich, but for a Thanksgiving treat it was great!READ THE POST

Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

November 29, 2013

I actually made this about a month ago, but haven’t had a chance to bring its greatness to you yet. I love ricotta, and I love lemon, so this is a recipe tailor-made for me.

First of all, it’s super easy—just blend everything together, throw it in a pan, and call it a day. But secondly, it can do double duty as both a breakfast and a dessert.

This lemon ricotta pound cake is the perfect antidote to holiday food excesses.

It’s light and sweet and tart, so a great alternative to all of the heavy, rich desserts we’re usually consuming this time of year. It would be great to have on hand for company to just snack on whenever they want.

If I had any complaints about this recipe, they would probably be about the texture, which can be a little dry, but since it’s pound cake that’s really more the nature of the beast. It’s good on its own, but even better with some tea or coffee.

I had some overflow batter, so I greased up a ramekin and baked little individual pound cakes. Next time I think I’d use a few more ramekins and do shallower mini cakes, or else it can get a little bread-y.READ THE POST

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

November 25, 2013

This one’s for you banana bread lovers out there…

…of which I am not one. It’s one of my shameful foodie secrets. I’ve tried loving banana bread, I really have. And I don’t hate it. I just don’t LOVE it.

So when I saw this recipe that includes cinnamon and chocolate chips (two of my favorite things!), I thought that this would be the open door into me loving all banana baked goods…muffins, breads, and cake, oh my! (well, actually I love banana cake, so that doesn’t really count.)

Overall this cinnamon chocolate chip banana bread had awesome texture and flavor, and the whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat) made it dense (read: hearty and filling) without being heavy.

The cinnamon almost made it a touch too intense—in some ways, I felt like the recipe would be better with EITHER the chocolate chips or cinnamon—but both worked really well with the banana. So while it didn’t change my mind, it IS probably the best banana bread I’ve had.READ THE POST

Obsession Alert: Marian Burros’ Plum Torte

November 18, 2013

Smitten Kitchen, man…she never lets me down. Her take on Marian Burros’s plum torte is now going down as one of my new all-time faves.

Plums have never been high on my list of fruits—they look cool but are fairly bland tasting. But cut them in half, sprinkle them with cinnamon-sugar, and bake them into a fluffy cake batter, and apparently these babies soften into sweet, juicy gems.

One of the shocking things was how easy this recipe was. No complicated instructions or finicky ingredients, just mix up a very simple batter, place the plums cut-side down, and sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar. It only took maybe 15 minutes total to assemble, then into the oven it goes!

If you can stand it, wait to eat the cake until the next day, which allows the juices to seep into the surrounding cake and meld everything into the most amazing texture and flavor.

This plum torte recipe was so good that I now want to try making it with ALL THE FRUITS! (I did try it with pears and it’s so good!)READ THE POST

Honey Apple Tart

November 10, 2013

Fall is most definitely here in Georgia. It’s been kind of teasing us for weeks—we’d have gorgeous 70-80 degree days, but then it would randomly get down to 40 at night, only to be back at 75 a few days later. Then we got a little rain and I was afraid that the leaves would all fall off the trees before turning the beautiful colors we usually get.

That would have made me so sad, because fall down here in the South is one of my favorite things.

The trees turn every shade imaginable between red, orange, yellow, and green, there’s the smell of a bite in the air without it being really cold, the days are still beautiful but you can turn your fireplace on at night. And now we finally got it.

I’m trying to take as many walks as possible before it gets cold, just get outside and appreciate how beautiful things are this time of year.

My mom was in town last weekend and we took two long walks on the various national recreation trails, breathing deeply and just taking our time. It’s been dark when I get to work and dark when I leave, so seeing the sun was amazing.

When my mom came, she brought down a bunch of apples from my grandma’s apple tree in Kansas. They’re really small, soft, sweet apples, perfect for recipes that don’t require long cooking or baking.

We were making an epic dinner on Sunday and decided to top it off with an apple tart. Normally we’d make a crisp or something, but that didn’t seem to do these apples justice.

I poked around on Pinterest for a while and found this apple honey tart, which was perfect in its simplicity. Since the rest of our dinner was so time-consuming, we wanted a dessert that was very easy and could be assembled quickly.

The texture and flavor was amazing—it was so pretty and delicious that you’d think that it required a bunch of ingredients and time. But we the only thing that took time was slicing the apples, everything else took maybe 5-10 minutes, tops. READ THE POST

Gluten-Free Chocolate Financiers

October 24, 2013

As someone who loves all things gluten-ful (I did grow up on a wheat farm, after all), the whole idea of gluten-free makes me sad.

But the reality of gluten-free *baking* makes me even sadder. And it’s a reality for lots of people. I never really thought about it much until recently, when I had a friend who had realized he had a pretty decent level of gluten-intolerance and so he and his wife have gone gluten-free.

This guy used to devour all my cookies, load up on waffles, and eat my leftover pasta, so this is a majorly big deal. So I’ve tried to start playing around with alternative, gluten-free dessert recipes…and have discovered that it’s really hard!

See, the thing about most gluten-free recipes that I’ve found is that—in addition to their strange and interesting flour alternatives—they often call for some weird ingredients to use as a binding agent, since that’s normally where the gluten comes in.

But as much as I love cooking with real ingredients and whole foods, I just shrink back from recipes that include things like xantham gum that don’t sound like they’re that natural. So, other than puddings and custards, the pickings are slim.

Then I found this gem of a recipe…

I’ve since found some gluten-free faves…see them here!

I wasn’t even looking for a gluten-free recipe when I found it. I was (as I tend to do) going down a rabbit hole on Smitten Kitchen’s site and hopping from link to link. I was browsing the red wine chocolate cake when I found these.

They’re called chocolate financiers (pronounced all fancy and French like “fee-nahn-see-ay”), and they’re made with almond flour. I don’t know the full history, but they probably weren’t even meant to be gluten-free initially—just delicious. In fact, the traditional ones aren’t even chocolate as far as I know.

I whipped these suckers up in five minutes flat, and so they were done in about 15-20 minutes from start to finish. The almond flour gives them an interesting consistency, somewhere between a brownie and a cookie. Kind of fudgy. All delicious.

And the Dutch dark cocoa powder adds a super special flavor, as does the hint of almond extract in there. If you don’t have almond flour, you can get it at Trader Joe’s, probably in the health section of your grocery store, and most certainly online (Amazon Prime is your friend!). You will wow people with these, and they are a super speedy crowd pleaser to have in your dessert arsenal!READ THE POST

Apple Cinnamon Chip Coffee Cake

October 20, 2013

I think fall may finally be sneaking up on us here in Georgia. We’ve had a gorgeous late summer and early fall…making up for the terrible, rainy spring and summer we had. Even in mid-October we’ve had temps in the upper 70s and even 80s. I was laying out at the pool last weekend. For real. The pool was tarped over and there was only one chair left, but I was there.

Then this week it turned gray and rainy and a little chilly.

This guy just wanted to cuddle. I don’t blame him. I’m not ready for fall weather, but I do think I’m ready for fall food.

And is there a more quintessentially-fall dish than one combining apples, cinnamon, and streusel topping?? I think maybe not.

I’ll be honest—I don’t think I’ve ever tried out a traditional coffee cake recipe besides the one I grew up on (my mom’s, which is amazing). I mean, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

So last week when it was my turn to make treats for a co-worker’s birthday, and knowing that she loves cinnamon-y things, I figured I’d whip up my mom’s coffee cake.

But then I was browsing Pinterest and found a recipe I’d pinned a long time ago for an apple cinnamon chip coffee cake.

“Hmm…” I thought, “Intriguing. I have all this homemade apple butter and I stocked up on cinnamon chips. Maybe this is fate.” [I typed “fat” the first time and almost left it because that seemed apropos as well]

But I made a number of adjustments, such as using half a bag of cinnamon chips instead of a whole bag (which really seemed like overkill).

The biggest change I made, though, was swapping out the basic powdered sugar glaze the recipe suggested for the sweet and slightly crunchy cinnamon-sugar streusel topping that’s more traditional for coffee cakes. And it was amazing!

This cake was so moist, even a couple days after I made it (I had to make it Sunday and serve it Tuesday). The cinnamon chips in the cake were like tiny little gems of awesome studded throughout.READ THE POST

Birthday Red Wine Chocolate Cake!

October 10, 2013

I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food.
~W.C. Fields

Sometimes I have incredibly coherent, well-phrased, occasionally-beautiful thoughts. And then sometimes, like when I saw this recipe for the first time, I just blurt things out.

UM. WHAT. YES.

That’s pretty much how that conversation went in my head.

Last year my birthday fell on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) which was very sad from a food and wine standpoint. This year, it fell on the 8th day, the day after the Feast of Tabernacles, and unfortunately I spent the majority of it in airports and airplanes trying to get home from Steamboat Springs. I did get to have a lovely dinner with my parents the night before, however, and brunch with my mom that morning before I left. And I happened upon a lovely wine bar (Cru) during my 3-hour layover in Denver and celebrated in my own way—with flights of Cabernet and some creamy tiramisu. So not all was lost.

I started a little ritual last year for my birthday, where I’d pick a dessert recipe that had really captured my imagination for some reason—maybe it felt a little fancy, needed a special occasion, was a little more work—and make it for my birthday. Except, scheduling being what it is in my life, it basically ends up being somewhere within a month window of my birthday. Which is kind of the same thing. I just wanted something that felt a little special, and an excuse to make something fun. Last year it was my vanilla almond cupcakes with homemade peach jam filling. And this year it’s this awesomeness.

Growing up, birthdays weren’t really a big thing. But to me, I like to make a tiny bit of fuss for it. Not go overboard, but just a little something special.

This cake really is special. First, there’s the Dutch cocoa (vs. regular), which has so much more depth than regular cocoa powder. Then you add the red wine and a hint of cinnamon, and this cake just perfectly encapsulates indulgence. It’s everything that’s great about being a grown-up. It’s rich but not sweet, super moist but dense, just amazing.

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Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

October 6, 2013

Sometimes I feel like snickerdoodles are kind of the red-headed stepchild of cookies. How often do you see them in sandwich shops or on restaurant menus? Pinterest is chock-full of chocolate chip cookies, lemon cookies, chocolate cookies, and peanut butter cookies, but only occasionally do you see a snickerdoodle pop up.

I think these brown butter snickerdoodles should change that, however.

I rarely think about them until it’s right in front of me. And only then do I remember how much I totally LOVE them. I mean, cinnamon sugar and tangy cream of tartar? What’s not to love??

Then I saw this recipe and was super intrigued, because not only do I love cinnamon sugar, but I have recently discovered how much I love browned butter. It just adds a whole other dimension to cooking and baking, a depth of flavor beyond what regular butter can bring. And it’s really quite easy.

Browning butter, while a tiny bit more time consuming than just throwing in solid sticks of butter, is totally worth it. The most important thing is to continually stir it, so the bits browning on the bottom don’t begin to burn. Say that five times fast…

These cookies had an awesome richness to them, with the normal bite of a snickerdoodle as well as a silkiness from the brown butter. My co-workers raved about them, and I’ll definitely be re-creating them soon.
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Healthy Deep-Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie (Gluten-Free)

September 5, 2013

I can tell what you’re thinking. That “healthy” and “deep-dish chocolate chip cookie pie” don’t belong together. It’s an oxymoron. I must be off my meds.

And to be fair, this should really be called “healthier“, not “healthy”. Because dessert will never be carrot sticks—it’s just a fact of life. Dessert CAN be made healthier, though, without giving up taste or awesomeness. And that’s what we’re doing here today.

This dish is pretty intense. Despite some major ingredient substitutions, it’s rich and sweet and soft and gooey. Plus lower in sugar and full of fiber and protein. And gluten-free.

I might go so far as to say I like it better than I’d like a regular deep-dish cookie pie (which has never been to my particular taste).

As you may have guessed, this healthy delight has a secret ingredient. No, it’s not the tears of a baby duck, or the hoof of a firstborn unicorn. What is it, then?READ THE POST

Lemon Zucchini Bread

July 29, 2013

Yeah, I know, it’s weird. We have regular zucchini bread. We have chocolate zucchini bread (seriously, it’s awesome!). We have snickerdoodle zucchini bread. But lemon zucchini bread?? Color me intrigued…

My love affair with lemon is legendary and long-standing. But something about this recipe kind of weirded me out, so I kept passing over it and trying other things. Then I told myself to put my big girl pants on and give it a try.

First, I had to shred zucchini, and anyone who knows me can tell you that I absolutely HATE shredding things—mostly because I usually end up shredding my fingers too. But I survived. (Also, you can use a food processor.)

And lemon zest is the best! It’s basically an excuse to make any recipe.

I also decided to make this recipe a little healthier so it would be a good breakfast food (vs. a dessert), so I used way less glaze than the recipe called for.READ THE POST

Super Healthy Chocolate Avocado Pudding

July 21, 2013

I think it’s safe to say that I LOVE avocado. I stockpile avocado recipes. I add them to recipes that don’t even call for them. Mostly I just eat them straight out of their shells with salt and pepper (I mean, it’s a food that already comes in a bowl!).

But I had never thought of using them to make dessert.

Never, that is, until sammysamgurl at Mouthwatering Motivation commented on my chicken & avocado enchiladas post and asked if I’d ever tried chocolate avocado pudding.

It sounded weird and awesome, and I knew I had to give it a try. Even better? It’s gluten-free, paleo, low carb, and full of protein, fiber, and good fat. It basically should have its dessert card revoked. Except it’s also totally unique and delicious.READ THE POST

Oat Brown Sugar Strawberry Shortcake…and Happy Birthday ‘Merica!

July 4, 2013

Happy 4th of July! Here in Atlanta, everyone will be swimming…and by swimming, I mean trying to avoid floating away in a flash flood, not hanging out poolside. I will hopefully be avoiding the worst of the rain down on the Gulf Coast, but we’ll see how that goes.

Oh, yeah, back to ‘Merica. You know, apple pie tends to get all the glory when it comes to “American desserts”. But for my money, nothing is more American than strawberry shortcake.

First of all, it’s got the colors working in its favor. I mean, just look at it. And it’s got the sweet/cold/creamy combination that apple pie just can’t match. There’s no question that my go-to summer dessert is strawberry shortcake. This one’s a little different, though.

And what makes it different is the oat flour. I happened across this recipe on A Cozy Kitchen and was immediately intrigued.

The oat and brown sugar combo definitely sounded up my alley. I’d also never used oat flour, so I was curious about how it differed. It was kind of amazing actually, because it added this whole new, cool texture to the shortcakes. They were moist and fluffy when they shouldn’t have been (I mean, look how thin I accidentally cut them).

They were even moist and fluffy the next day, which everyone knows is death to biscuits. So I totally recommend going the extra mile and making the oat flour. It’s so easy, it’s not even an extra mile, really. Not even an extra kilometer. Extra few feet…?
READ THE POST

No-Bake Cookies…a.k.a. Haystacks

June 27, 2013

Sometimes I forget how much I love these chocolate haystacks. When I mentally flip through desserts I want to make, somehow I never think of these.

Maybe it’s because the first couple times I made them, they never set up. I had this delicious, totally liquid, gooey mess, but no actual cookies. I finally figured out that I wasn’t boiling the mixture for long enough, which meant it would never set up.

ANYHOO…

Gooey cookie mess is all in the past, and these chocolate no-bake cookies are glorious and delicious and chocolate-y and peanut buttery and awesome.

I made them last weekend because some friends had just bought a house and were moving, so I wanted to contribute to the “moving day lunch” but couldn’t actually help them move due to my bum hip.

It was gross and humid this weekend, so turning the oven on didn’t sound fun, and a few of the people were gluten-intolerant, so I needed something gluten-free.

After thumbing through and discarding a bunch of recipes, I all of the sudden thought of these. They were perfect for the occasion, and a great blast from the past as well.READ THE POST

Healthy Cardamom-Almond Peach Crisp

June 23, 2013

When I realized last weekend that the lovely farm stand peaches I’d bought needed to be used up sooner rather than later, I started thinking through my options and what I had on-hand.

As I’ve mentioned before, my peach crisp is one of my go-to recipes, a lightly sweet, super summery dessert that checks all my major boxes. Healthy? Check. Perfect mix of spices? Check. Fiber & fruit? Check.

But I wanted to do something a little special, tweak my same-old recipe and try something different. And that’s when I landed on cardamom. The more I use it, the more I think that cardamom is a criminally underutilized spice in our cuisine.

It’s most often found in Indian recipes and chai tea, but it’s also great combined with certain sweeter flavors—particularly pears, peaches, and chocolate. It’s fairly expensive (similar to saffron and vanilla), but a little goes a long way and so you can buy it once and have it on-hand for a long time.

So I added some cardamom to the crisp to give it a kick, as well as some almond extract which pairs wonderfully with both peaches and cardamom. Result? A delish cardamom-almond peach crisp that’s easy, healthy, and perfect!

I can’t wait to experiment with cardamom more, particularly with chocolate, as it’s so unusual—the warmth of ginger with the bite of pepper.READ THE POST

No-Bake Reese’s Peanut Butter Bars: A Family Fave

June 16, 2013

These no-bake peanut butter bars may change your life.

No, really. They’re the best thing ever. And they’re perfect for the summer heat.

This recipe has been in my family for as long as I can remember. It’s the perfect chocolate-peanut butter-graham cracker combo. The only way you wouldn’t like them is if you don’t like peanut butter, and then I just don’t know what to do for you. Because peanut butter is the best.

On a complete tangent, I was doing some research for work on Cinnamon Toast Crunch—CTC in my world. I seriously lived on CTC and other crazy, terrible things my freshman year of college, though it’s been years since I’ve let myself buy that kind of cereal. But in the course of my research today I learned that they have PEANUT BUTTER Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It was all I could do not to run across the street to Kroger and buy it immediately.READ THE POST

Easy Chocolate Lava Cakes

May 12, 2013

It’s Mother’s Day here in the States, and I’d planned to do a post on my mom’s coffee cake recipe, which is the best thing ever and perfect for Mother’s Day brunch or breakfast in bed. Alas, I’m still getting used to the lighting in my new kitchen and I HATE the pics I took of the recipe, so I’ll have to make it again (I know, the sacrifices I make…).

So in lieu of cinnamon-sugar goodness, I bring you the gooey, chocolate-y goodness of chocolate lava cakes.

I adapted this from a lemon white chocolate lava cake recipe my mom and I tried a few months ago. What’s great about these vs. a lot of chocolate souffle-like recipes is that you don’t end up wasting gobs of egg whites or egg yolks due to separation, and they’re not temperamental at all (no sad, deflated souffles here!).

Also, they are the easiest thing ever and take under a half hour from start to finish. And with them being chocolate, they’re a total crowd-pleaser.

Want proof that these are the easiest, fastest thing ever? Well, a few months ago, when I tried the recipe for the first time, I had my family in town and a friend over. We’d made a big, elaborate dinner and were sitting on the couch in a food coma, drinking wine and talking.

I got up and went into the kitchen—open kitchen, I might add, so they could see me—made these and put them in the oven, then came back to the living room and sat back down. About 10 minutes later, my mom goes, “Should we go ahead and get dessert going?” “It’ll be ready in about 5 minutes,” I said. They couldn’t believe I’d thrown this together in mere minutes with no fuss at all.READ THE POST

Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie

May 5, 2013

To me, pecan pie is one of the most awesome traditional Southern foods. And maple BOURBON pecan pie???

Well, that takes things to a whole different level. I love pecan pie. And I love a good whiskey. And pie. That’s really good, too.

My mom found this recipe in a magazine a while back, and we finally got around to trying it for Thanksgiving last year (and it’s on my list of best Thanksgiving recipes now). It was so good that I made it again for the Night to Be Much Observed this year, and it got rave reviews.

The maple adds a little extra sweetness and the bourbon adds a smokiness and depth—all topped off (or bottomed-off) with my Aunt Kristy’s awesome whole wheat and oil pie crust!READ THE POST

Healthy Lemon Cornstarch Pudding

April 17, 2013

Oh man, guys, it has been one heck of a week! Last Wednesday we closed on my first home, started painting our faces off, moved, and it’s been a whirlwind ever since. I haven’t had much time for cooking, but I am excited to get started again. I just might have to change my blog heading, because “adventures in a tiny kitchen” doesn’t really fit anymore—my kitchen is so much bigger and nicer! Can’t wait to put it through its paces.

I made this a few weeks ago, and absolutely loved it. As I mentioned a long time ago, chocolate cornstarch pudding is one of my family’s secret recipes, a summer go-to for me when I’m craving something cold and a little sweet. I particularly love that recipe because it doesn’t require any kind of gelatin or anything like that, just simple cornstarch. But a while back I got to thinking about it and how, in theory, that recipe could be adapted a million different ways.

I’m sure it’s no surprise that lemon was the first flavor that came to mind. Adapting it into a lemon cornstarch pudding was incredibly simple, just leaving out the cocoa powder and adding fresh lemon zest, juice, and a TINY bit of lemon extract to make it extra…lemon-y.

The resulting flavor was so fresh and sweet and tart, I wanted to make gallons of it. As it was, I devoured it in a few sittings! Now I want to try orange, lime, all the flavors!READ THE POST

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