Nanaimo Bars

Recently, I attended a dessert club. This is like a book club, but instead of reading and then discussing books, everyone makes a dessert and then shares it. Awesome, right!? The theme for the first dessert club was "new recipes." I've been wanting to try this recipe for Nanaimo Bars for quite sometime so this was a perfect chance. And, there is no baking required! Some stove top work but other than that, just spreading and cooling. I was thrilled that they turned out looking as good (or almost) as the picture online. They are named after a city in British Columbia where a woman invented the recipe. They are very sweet and rich but so delicious. I liked them best cold out of the refrigerator and in some way the taste reminds me of an oreo cookie. Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

Though blueberry season is over, these muffins (thank you for posting this recipe, Kari!) can be made with frozen blueberries (that's what I used) and will still be the most delicious blueberry muffins. They do take a little more work than a standard blueberry muffin but they are worth it. Just that sugary coating on top, yum! The batch lasted about 18 hours at our house.

Coconut Lime Granita

This summer I was on a lime kick. Any recipe, sweet or savory, with lime on the ingredient list made it onto my to-try list. I was squeezing lime in my water. And, my favorite flavor combination was coconut-lime. I mentioned this flavor craving to my friend Kari, who has the most amazing baking blog, and the coconut-lime craze got her too. After I saw her post on Coconut Lime Granita, I had to make it. It was so easy and so delicious! No time for a photo of this tasty dessert at our house, I was too interested in eating it.

Cinnamon Rolls

The smell of these cinnamon rolls baking on Christmas morning while we opened presents was wonderful. The recipe is aptly named "Clone of a Cinnabon". These cinnamon rolls, and the to die for frosting, are amazing! I don't have a bread machine and used my stand mixer instead. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in the bowl of the mixer. Mix in the sugar, butter (I think butter is better), salt, and eggs. Add flour and mix. With the dough hook, knead the dough into a large ball. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, or until doubled in size. Continue with #2 in the directions. I also followed the advice of one of the reviewers of the recipe who suggested flipping the pan over after it comes out of the oven. This is essential! I turned the pan upside down onto a cookie sheet. The sugary filling coated the entire roll. Yum, yum, yum. And the frosting is so good! These are irresistible--I think I might have eaten half of them in two days. Enjoy!

Buche de Noel

For a challenge and treat, I decided to challenge myself and make a Buche de Noel for Christmas. We had Christmas dinner with some friends and I only had to make a salad and dessert so I had the time to try this decadent dessert. A few years in a row my parents bought a Buche de Noel from a little French Bakery and we'd have that with our Christmas dinner. It was always so delicious and beautiful! With meringue mushrooms and leaves it truly looked like a log in the forest. I was really worried about making the actual cake, or genoise, which needed to be rolled and stored in the fridge, then unrolled, filled, rerolled, then frosted. I found this Martha Stewart recipe and tried that. Well, the cake did not turn out. It was almost paper thin and rolling it was a major task. I may have overbaked it but something else was really wrong, I wasn't sure. But, determined to make the Buche de Noel, I tried this recipe. I was thrilled when the genoise turned out. An electric mixer with a whisk is a must. I beat those eggs like crazy! After it was rolled in the towel, I wrapped the entire thing in plastic wrap and refrigerated it overnight. The filling in the Allrecipes recipe is basically just chocolate whipped cream, which is fine with me. Delicious and easy. However, the cake is already very rich so I recommend cutting the cocoa powder in the filling to 1/3 or 1/4 cup. The Allrecipes recipe doesn't include a frosting so I took a shot at Martha Stewart's. Well, once again I was met with failure (I nearly shed some tears over all that wasted butter). So, I tried a simple chocolate buttercream using this vanilla buttercream recipe, just adding cocoa powder. It's difficult not to eat the frosting with a spoon. It was easy to spread on the cake. I cut of the end of the cake for the top "branch" on the log. I shaved some milk and dark chocolate over the top and dusted the entire thing with powdered sugar for a snowy effect. For my first Buche de Noel, I think the overall result was pretty good. The dessert was very rich. I'm going do research over the next year and try another Buche de Noel next year. Send me any tips you may have!

Banana Muffins

If you're looking for a new way to use those overripe bananas, here it is! This muffin recipe that I found on my friend Kari's awesome baking blog, is easy and delicious and even a little bit healthy, too (whole wheat flour and oats and bananas!). We love them for a mid-morning snack and they freeze really well, too! Enjoy!

Peach Raspberry Crisp

I've wanted to post this recipe before peach season was over and I think I'm a little late. But, keep it in mind for next year! This peach crisp is amazing and the addition of raspberries . . . delicious! The topping is very rich but wow, is it good! Obviously the above picture is before the topping and baking but I just love the color combination. I halved this recipe. As apple season approaches, try Ina's apple version of this dessert. Don't you just love Fall?! For another great peach dessert, try this peach blueberry crostata.

Peanut Butter Brownies

Here's an easy way to make a box mix of brownies extra delicious! This recipe is adapted from Pillsbury. I had the bigger box of brownie mix so increased everything for a 9x13 size.

Your favorite brownie mix (for 9x13 brownies)
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 cup honey
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
4 T butter

Prepare brownie batter. Mix peanut butter and honey together. Grease 9x13 pan. Pour half of batter in pan. Using 1/2 cup of pb mixture, drop teaspoonfuls evenly over the brownie batter. Spread remaining batter in pan. Bake according to box directions (I baked mine for about 30 minutes at 350). Let cool completely. Spread remaining peanut butter mixture over cooled brownies. Melt chocolate chips and butter together in microwave. Mix and spread over peanut butter. Let cool completely. Delish!

Baby Shower Treats

Recently some friends (thank you Christi, Taryn, & Tessa) threw a fabulous baby shower for me with dessert on the menu: fresh fruit, a chocolate fountain, and plenty of treats. It was so fun and the food was amazing so I had to post some of the recipes here. These darling cupcakes had the most delicious frosting. Here is the recipe they used for the cupcakes and frosting. This will be your new favorite buttercream!

Taryn used a Giada recipe to make these light and airy meringues. She left out the espresso powder--they were perfect with the mini chocolate chips! For another great meringue dessert, click here.

I love raspberry and chocolate together so these Chocolate Raspberry Bars were the perfect treat! It's another recipe from Giada.

These darling onesie-shaped sugar cookies frosted with royal icing were the shower favors. Too cute! Here are instructions from Martha Stewart. Taryn's trick for icing the cookies is to put the royal icing in squeeze bottles. Make your edge, then fill and spread. It works so well!While I'm drooling over desserts, here's a recipe for Strawberry Shortcake Cookies my friend Erin sent to me. Thank you Erin! These are delicious and different. They taste like mini strawberry scones. For added sweetness I topped them with a powdered sugar glaze. Erin also had the great idea of topping them with whipped cream. Yum! A fun summer dessert.

Lemon Meringe Cupcakes

First off, please do a Google Image Search for Lemon Meringue Cupcakes so you can see how cute these cupcakes can really be. My piping didn't turn out the way I wanted to but you get the idea. This recipe is from a little magazine called "Crazy for Cupcakes" that my mom picked up at the grocery store and sent to me. I bought lemon curd at the store and thought it was good and easier than making it, but I'm sure homemade would be better. Here's a recipe that might work. I made regular sized cupcakes but I think the presentation would be better in the jumbo size. I couldn't find a lemon cake mix so used a vanilla and added lemon juice and zest but I couldn't taste it at all. One of my problems with the piping was that I didn't beat the meringue enough, and I didn't work fast enough when I piped it on, all my squeezing kind of took the life out of the meringue, I think. But, they still were a great spring treat, and the meringue on top is much different than your normal frosting. Here's the recipe:

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

1 package lemon cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare
3/4 cup prepared lemon curd
4 egg whites, at room temp
6 Tablespoons sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 9 jumbo muffin cups with paper baking cups.
2. Prepare cake mix according to package directions. spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling two-thirds full. Bake 23 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pans 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool on wire racks. Increase oven temp to 375.
3. Use serrate knife to cut off tops of cupcakes even with tops of baking cups (Do not remove paper baking cups). Scoop out small hole in center of each cupcake with teaspoon; fill hole with generous tablespoon lemon curd. Replace cupcake tops.
4. Beat egg whites in medium bowl with electric mixer at high speed until soft peaks form. Continue beating while gradually adding sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. Pipe meringue onto top of each cupcake, or spread meringue over cupcakes and use small spatula to create peaks.
5. Place cupcakes on baking sheet. Bake 5 to 6 minutes or until peaks of meringue are golden.

Variation: This recipe also makes 24 standard cupcakes. Line muffin pans with paper baking cups; prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions. Scoop out teaspoon-size hole in each cupcake and fill with generous teaspoon lemon curd. Pipe or sread about 1/3 cup meringue over each cupcake; bake as directed above.

Strawberry Shortcake

We have been eating a lot of strawberries lately since they are now in season and on sale. I tried this recipe for the strawberry shortcake and loved it. I just used the shortcake part of the recipe, then added sugared strawberries, and fresh whipped cream. This is a biscuit-type shortcake not a fluffy cake-like shortcake but it is delicious. Grating the butter makes it so easy to incorporate and I used very cold, not frozen, butter and it worked fine. I also opted to skip the egg washing step. And, to make it easier, I just divided the dough into six portions and shaped them into rounds with my hands. Yummy summer dessert!

Alligator Cupcake Cake

I have to brag and say this is one of my proudest baking (really decorating) achievements. I made this alligator cupcake cake for Jack's birthday. It was actually quite easy thanks to the idea from the Hello, Cupcake cookbook. Check it out!

Happy Valentine's Day!

These are my favorite Valentine's treats. You'll need:

Your favorite sugar cookie dough, well chilled
Heart cookie cutters
Seedless Raspberry Jam
Powdered Sugar
Water

Roll dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut equal number large hearts and large hearts with smallest heart cut from center. Bake according to dough recipe. Slightly warm jam in microwave and mix well with spoon. To make glaze, mix powdered sugar and water and spread a thin layer on cut-out cookies (after cooled). Brush whole cookes with a small amount of jam. Add cut out cookies to top. Spoon a small amount of extra jam into center of cookies. Eat and love!

Back to the Blog with Chocoalte Cake!

Oh my goodness, I've been the biggest slacker on my blog lately. It's been over a month since I've posted anything. I have made a few new things in the past month so I'm going to get a lot of posts done right now. First up, a fabulous dessert! Thanks to Taryn for this recipe for a chocolate cake. I made it for Matt's birthday and it was delicious and so easy!

Chocolate Cake to "Dah" For:
1 box chocolate cake mix (any kind of chocolate, I used Devil's Food)

3 oz. milk chocolate instant pudding (must be instant pudding)

8 oz. sour cream

9 oz. chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet)

1 cup oil

1/2 cup water

3 eggs

Mix cake mix and pudding, then add all other ingredients. Bake @ 350degrees for 60 minutes. (Check @ 50 minutes) Do Not Overcook.

I baked the cake in two 9-inch rounds and put a layer of chocolate whipped cream in between the layers. Then, I frosted the cake with plain, sweetened whipped cream. Delicious! Taryn suggested chopping up your favorite candy bar to add in between the layers and sprinkle on top.

Cocoa Chimichanga

What a delicious, easy, and different dessert. Try this recipe. Adding whipped cream probably ruins the whole "healthy dessert" idea but I couldn't resist.

Caramel Banana Cupcakes

Thank you to Erin for sending me this recipe for this amazing cupcakes. If you like bananas and caramel, you will love these. Oh my goodness, the frosting, I can't even tell you how good it is (probably because it's pretty much pure butter, but really, if you're going to have dessert, you might as well really have dessert!). These cupcakes take a lot of work so if you do make them, be sure to have a good amount of time set aside, and know that you will be washing your mixing bowl a few times throughout the process (I don't think I would have made these without my stand mixer). I made the full batch and came out with 16 cupcakes. For the frosting, I cut the butter to 1 1/2 sticks and still had extra frosting. I also needed to cut the cooking time down by about 5 minutes (probably because I have a hot oven and was using a dark, non-stick pan). After you make these you will probably want to stick a caramel in the middle of all of your cupcakes. I loved biting into them and finding the gooey caramel! Let me know your secret if you're able to restrain yourself from sneaking a few caramels while your making these. I certainly wasn't.

Sweet Bruschetta

Thanks to my mom who told me about this delicious sweet bruschetta. She had it at a little Italian restaurant and told me how good it was and how the restaurant made it. It is so delicious and different. The restaurant drizzled the bruschetta with olive oil but I tried honey which really made it sweet and a dessert bruschetta.

Italian bread, toasted (I used TJ's Tuscan pane)
Mascarpone Cheese
Fig Preserves
Thinly sliced apple
Honey

Spread cheese over toasted bread. Add preserves over cheese. Top with apple. Drizzle with honey. Yum!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Try this recipe that my friend Taryn posted on her blog. These cookies are delicious! I had no will power when I made these!

Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream

One box Devil's Food Cake Mix and required ingredients
One Pint Heavy Whipping Cream
Powdered Sugar
1/4 cup chocolate chips, melted

Bake cake in two round cake pans. Let cool and slice off any mounds if necessary. Whip cream and add powdered sugar to taste. Spread 1 cup whipped cream on bottom layer and add top layer. Set aside 3/4 cup whipped cream and mix melted chocolate in with remaining cream. Spread chocolate whipped cream on top and sides of cake. Add remaining plain whipped cream to top of cake. Yum!

Peach Blueberry Crostata

This is one of my favorite summer desserts. I should have posted it earlier since blueberries and peaches will soon be out of season. Here is the recipe. I don't have a pizza stone. I just cook it on a lightly floured cookie sheet and it turns out fine. I love this dessert!