From the category archives:

Desserts

Anatomy of a Chocolate Chip Cookie

July 11, 2011

What makes a chocolate chip cookie chewy? How can I make thicker cookies? Or thin and crisp cookies? I’m afraid I’ve gone and geeked out again (remember the last time?) and did a little chocolate chip cookie recipe analysis to get to the bottom of these questions. Most chocolate chip cookie recipes call for exactly [...]

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Good Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cupcakes – Happy 4th!

July 3, 2011

Just a short and sweet note to say Happy 4th of July (and, to my friends to the north, a belated Happy Canada Day!)! To help you celebrate, here’s a fabulous recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting. These cupcakes, from the back of the Hershey’s cocoa powder box, come together almost magically. [...]

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Cream Biscuit Strawberry Shortcake

June 14, 2011

It turns out that today, June 14, is National Strawberry Shortcake Day (who knew?). Far be it from me to let this opportunity to try the Cream Biscuit Strawberry Shortcake recipe I’ve been holding for months slip by. No offense to those Twinkie-like yellow strawberry shortcake sponge shells they sell in the produce department at [...]

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Chocolate Cream Pie with Cinnamon & Ancho Chile

June 9, 2011

In my seventh grade home ec class, circa 1987, we churned out such memorable delicacies as turkey tetrazzini, purple cows (that would be a tall glass of Shasta grape soda with a scoop of vanilla ice cream dropped in) and hamburger macaroni. But my favorite of them all was chocolate pudding pie. It called for [...]

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Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

June 2, 2011

There was a moment of calm when I doled out the homemade strawberry ice cream cones. On the faces of my daughter and two little friends who were at our house last weekend – ages 2, 3 and 4 – were looks of focus, determination and, dare I say, intensity as they sought to catch [...]

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Panna Cotta with Balsamic Strawberries

May 2, 2011

A little over six years ago my then-boyfriend and I were renting a condo in southern Orange County. One Sunday afternoon, after friends who had joined us for brunch had left, Mike suggested we go for a walk on the beach. This was the second time he’d made such a suggestion that weekend. The previous [...]

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Flourless Chocolate Cake with Strawberries

April 12, 2011

I stepped foot inside a gym this week for the first time in nearly four years. It was a little strange to be back. A lot has changed in the gym world. There are things like “zumba”, “barre method” and “Lululemon” that I’d only really known about casually via updates in my Facebook news feed. [...]

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Bunny Whoopie Pies

April 10, 2011

Oh, hello there. Look who just hopped in. Something happened as I was making these Bunny Whoopie Pies. I was supposed to end up with 12 little bunnies but somehow, true to their reputation… …they multiplied! And quickly took over the house.

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Brownie-Swirled Chocolate Chip Cookies + Baking Giveaway!

March 31, 2011

Last week’s visit to the Nestlé test kitchens definitely put me in the mood to bake cookies. I have been looking forward all week to share these with you, I was so pleased with how they came out. For these Brownie-Swirled Chocolate Chip Cookies, I combined two on-the-package Nestlé recipes – Mini Morsels Cookies and [...]

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Celebrating 2 Years With a PB&J Sandwich Cake & Giveaway!

March 23, 2011

Yes, it’s a CAKE! That seriously looks like a real peanut butter and jelly sandwich, doesn’t it? No kidding, within 1 minute of seeing Sneh’s Cakewich (that’s what this is called) on Cook Republic, I had one-click ordered a Cakewich pan from Amazon. This blog turns 2 years old today and I’m celebrating with a [...]