Browsing Tag

desserts

Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Browned Butter Walnut Laurel Wreath Bundt Cake

Today is a milestone, one that I likely didn’t think would ever happen. Today is the 15th anniversary to this here little website. Who knew that I had it in me to keep a hobby (and some days, a salvation) going for this long. I sure didn’t, and I don’t think that a lot of people did, and that is ok. But here I am, nearly 3800 recipes later — some abject failures on the first go. Maybe there is another 15 years to go. There are some plans for this year (like I am finally going to write that cookbook; stay tuned!) but no, no one is going to convince me to audition for the Great British Baking Show.

So I made a cake to celebrate. It’s a Browned Butter Walnut Laurel Wreath Bundt Cake and it is quite yummy.

Continue Reading
Cookies, Sweet Snacks

Bakery-Style Triple Chocolate Cookies, Dressed up for Valentines Day

I’ve gotten to be pretty known for my “Biggie” cookies — the oversized, deli-style cookies as big as your hand. So I decided to make a rile chocolate variety of them to include with the Valentine’s Day set. As with the others, these are huge (about 4-4 1/2 inches in diameter), both crunchy on the edges and gooey in the middle. The M&Ms didn’t still particularly stick well so when I make these in the future, I think that I will still with White Chocolate Melting Wafers as the decoration.

Continue Reading
Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Easy “Fruit on Top” Mixed Berry Cobbler

Let’s talk about this “Cobbler” for a sec. First of all, it’s delicious. It’s modified from an America’s Test Kitchen / Cooks Country recipe, which described it as a “cobbler”. So, in my mind cobblers have the fruit on the bottom, no bottom crust and then a top crust of crumble, biscuit dough or a batter. So, it’s not really a cobbler. It’s also not really a pie, which would have at minimum a bottom crust and this has a bottom batter. I don’t really know what to call it, except yummy.

I also don’t really know when to eat it. It would be a great afternoon tea or coffee thing. It would be a great dessert thing with some ice cream and it would even make a fantastic breakfast casserole with maple syrup. So, I guess that is up to you. It comes together in a flash with mostly pantry ingredients: sweetened condensed milk, milk, butter, flour, baking power, salt and a touch of vanilla for the base. I used mixed berries, but you could also use just one berry type, or cherries or even chopped up peaches. Frozen berries / fruit work great here (bake 10 minutes or so longer) and best of all, it isn’t overly sweet.

Perhaps one of the easiest and quickest recipes I have done in a long time. I had it ready to go before the oven had even preheated.

Continue Reading
Cookies, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Apricot Hazelnut Shortbread Crumble Bars

Snowy and cold (and will soon be colder!) weekend in Maine visiting my mom, so I decided to raid the pantry to see what type of combination that I would bake with and as usual, I ended up with a crumble bar combo. As you know, they are my “go to” treat. This time with hazelnuts and apricot jam… a little bit of sunshine with the golden color and tartness of the apricots.

Continue Reading
Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Sea Salt Caramel Apple Pie

I’ve got an event or two coming up this week where dessert may be called for so I started off by baking this Sea Salt Caramel Apple Pie. Went a little overboard with the lattice work, but that’s ok I have a tendency to do that with pie. It’s sweet, it’s salty and I can’t wit to try it with some cinnamon or vanilla bean ice cream. Fun fact, I used Ludacrisp apples, which I had never used before, much less even hear of before. The Ludacrisp apple is a new variety and is described as “sweet, juicy, tropical-flavored hybrid (Honeycrisp/Fuji hybrid) known for its crisp texture, bold scarlet color, and unique taste reminiscent of pineapple and Juicy Fruit gum”. Really? It’s apparently a good all-around apple, great for snacking, salads, and baking, and named playfully after the rapper Ludacris, because who wouldn’t want an apple sort named after them. I wonder if there is a Katja apple.

Continue Reading