dessert recipes Archives - finding time for cooking

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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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.READ THE POST

Rosemary Chocolate Chip Olive Oil Cake

April 3, 2016

So, I really am struggling with calling this cake.

Rosemary Chocolate Chip Olive Oil Cake

It’s honestly not that sweet at all. It’s got a light crumb, and feels a lot like a zucchini or banana bread (maybe a bit less moist than banana bread).

rosemary chocolate chip olive oil cake baked

I was really intrigued by the sweet and savory combination, with the rosemary. To be honest, the flavor didn’t bowl me over, mostly because I felt like the chocolate overwhelmed things a bit. It was simple and good, but not earth-shattering.

rosemary chocolate chip olive oil cake rosemary

I’m a sucker for rosemary, and fresh herbs in general, and love the idea of using them in baking sweets. As I was eating this, I kept re-imagining it as a slightly different flavor combo, particularly citrus and herb. Maybe lemon and rosemary, or grapefruit and thyme? Something a little punchy to contrast with the earthiness of the herbs. Let me know if you have ideas! But regardless, this really was a lovely breakfast treat, and got totally devoured at work in an hour or two.READ THE POST

Almond Cake with Fruit Compote (gluten-free)

November 21, 2015

I’ve amassed a fairly impressive arsenal of gluten-free dessert recipes over the past few years, since my friends John & Bridgette went GF. And one of the biggest things I usually look for in these recipes is that they’re naturally free of gluten, rather than using weird ingredients to try and approximate the texture and taste of wheat recipes.

Almond Cake with Fruit Compote done

That’s why I’ve developed quite an affinity for almond meal. It’s super yummy, plus it has an awesome grainy texture—not perfect for every type of recipe, but helps provide a “crumb” to certain cakes and pastries. It’s also pretty easy to work with and really forgiving. I’ve kind of been on an almond cake kick lately for myself, because the flavor is perfect for this summer-to-fall transition time we’ve been in.

Almond Cake with Fruit Compote

Which brings us to the uber-moist flavor bomb we’re talking about today…

Almond Cake with Fruit Compote sliced

This recipe is from Cookie + Kate, and as soon as she posted it, I was dying to give it a try. The almond cake is the star, and is taken up a level by the combination of orange zest and cinnamon in the batter, and the maple syrup makes it super moist. It’s also literally the easiest batter to throw together. Then the slightly-sticky cake is stopped with a roasted fruit compote, which provides additional juice dripping down into the cake. I went with pears and raspberries, which in hindsight was way too much juice to deal with. But you can use whatever strikes your fancy. This is awesome as leftovers, particularly for breakfast.

Don’t judge.READ THE POST

Fresh Peach Coconut Milk Ice Cream

June 21, 2015

Peach season!!!!

I feel like that should have been all-caps. Because, not only is it peach season, but my VERY. FIRST. PEACH. was perfectly ripe. That has never happened in the history of ever. Farmers market FTW!

When I snagged these beauties last weekend and they were perfectly ripe and criminally juicy, I knew I had to do something amazing with them immediately. And it was balls-hot (the hyphen is important for adhering to AP style…) so ice cream was the logical conclusion.

This is my no-fail coconut milk ice cream. I’ve made it in many different flavors, including my absolute favorite in the world, peanut butter and honey with sea salt, as well as a slight variation of peanut butter and strawberry jam. It’s easy, adaptable, healthy, only as sweet as you want it to be, and naturally dairy-free. And did I mention easy? As long as you have a little frozen yogurt maker you’re golden. Otherwise I’d try stirring it every so often in the freezer and you’ll probably still get good results.READ THE POST

Maple Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies (Gluten-Free)

February 28, 2015

I’ve been super absent here lately.

It’s mostly because I’ve been working eleventy-billion hours, which means I’ve been exhausted and never home. And the tiny bit of free time that I’m able to grab has been devoted to trip planning for two big upcoming international trips. So suffice to say, I haven’t been cooking much lately, and haven’t had the energy to try new recipes. And the few new recipes I have tried have been kind of meh. And you deserve better than meh.

These are definitely not meh. They’re not the most amazingly glorious things you’ve ever put in your mouth, but they are delicious and sweet and pretty darn healthy when it comes down to it. As I’ve mentioned a few times, I’m always on the lookout for good gluten-free recipes that use normal ingredients.

They have an interesting texture—the dough acts a lot like no-bake cookie dough, quite sticky. And the baked cookies are crumbly (not dry, just break apart easily), and super chocolate-y, and really quite sweet.

These are made with oat flour, peanut butter, coconut oil, and maple syrup. You can use whatever kind of chocolate chips you want, but I tried these huge Ghiradelli dark chocolate discs. SO. MUCH. CHOCOLATE.

Overall these were a great gluten-free addition to my repertoire. They were super easy to throw together, and healthy enough that I didn’t feel guilty sneaking one or two with my coffee the next morning!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 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?? 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, natch), 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.READ THE POST

Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

October 26, 2014

A month ago I was crowing about the glorious chocolate stout cake with chocolate ganache I made for my birthday. It was fudgy and rich but not too sweet, with a depth from the stout. Basically perfect. Then, a couple days later, my friends asked if I could bring a dessert to their dinner party. They’re both gluten-free, and I have a number of go-to recipes. But I couldn’t get that chocolate cake out of my mind.

I knew I’d pinned a gluten-free quinoa cake months ago, but didn’t quite love the exact ingredient proportions. I found another, tweaked it a little, and used the same chocolate ganache as the other cake. I took the remaining three-fourths of my birthday cake and the quinoa cake to the party. I had to label them because they were identical, and honestly, I think people liked them equally. The only real difference you could tell was that the quinoa cake didn’t have the stout (on account of the gluten), but I plan to adapt it for a bourbon or similar at some point—just have to do my research on gluten and alcohol. And there was still some of the whole quinoa in it since my blender isn’t great, but if you use a food processor it will puree it and you’d never even know.READ THE POST

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.

Chocolate Stout Cake finished

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. 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*

Chocolate Stout Cake w Chocolate Ganache

Okay, back to the cake…READ THE POST