Lemon Scented Olive Oil Cookies with Almond Glaze
I’ll admit, I think olive oil is sexy. Extra Virgin Olive Oil especially, sends me over the moon. The rich, full and nutty smell, the beautiful translucent green color, and the way the taste coats my mouth. It’s just gorgeous. I’ve been known to buy a fresh baguette on the way home from work and simply eat warm bread with plates full of olive oil. I think I’ve also put the stuff in my hair as a conditioner, and on my hands as a lotion. But that’s sounding like a whole other blog, so let’s not get into that.
Lemon Scented Olive Oil Cookies with Almond Glaze. Sounds like there’s a lot going on in one humble cookie, right? It’s amazing how the flavors and sweetness meld together to create a unique, yet strangely familiar taste treat. These essentially taste like a darling lemon sugar cookie, but with a slight (sexy) hint of olive oil. I tested these on unsuspecting, but die hard cookie fans, and they couldn’t put their finger on the olive oil without me pointing it out. The verdict- two thumbs up.
Cookies, Recipes | Comment (1)
Gingerbread Pancakes with Homemade Pancake Syrup
Am I starting to bore you? Here I am with another pancake post. I would almost feel bad about posting so many delicious pancake treats, but I can’t help myself. I’m serious. I’ll look you straight in the eye and tell you that I really just can’t help myself. I must make pancakes about once a week. I have them for dinner. I wake up early and make them for breakfast. And, because we’re all friends I’ll admit this, I freeze old pancakes and take them to work and reheat them in the toaster for lunch. So you see, I have a serious pancake obsession!
Breakfast, Recipes | Comments (9)Living the Good Life- with Grits
I know this is a bit of a departure for me. But seriously- check out these grits with grilled sweet corn, grilled onions, jalapeno peppers and sharp cheddar cheese. Amazingly delicious!
Grits are a corn based, sometimes breakfast, sometimes dinner, always delicious cereal type food. Is that clear? Grits are similar to something like polenta, which is another corn product. Essentially grits are coarsely ground corn. They’re popular in the Southern United States, where they know how to do them up right with butter, cheese and bacon. Bless them for they’re fantastic use of fat. Seriously.
My grits were cooked in water and salt, then graced with a generous pat of butter. I grilled up some fresh sweet corn, onions and jalapeno pepper until they were nice a browned then layered that on top of the cooked grits. The whole dish was topped with a handful of grated sharp cheddar. I had a tub of sour cream ready too, just in case I needed an extra dollop of richness…. but I decided to be reasonable and skipped the sour cream.
Breakfast, Recipes | Comments (13)Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread
Did you know that they sell quick bread box mixes in grocery stores!? I think that’s so strange. Fake flour, loads of sugar, and ultra dehydrated blueberries in a box to be mixed with water and eggs. This concerns me… deeply. Exactly how quick does a quick bread have to be to make it in this world?
I think homemade quick breads are dreamy. With enough creativity and guts, you can throw just about anything into a quick bread and call it delicious. This go around I tried zucchini and sweet potato. The combination produced a full and unique flavor: not too heavy on the zucchini or sweet potato flavors. And of course, because I’m me, I also loaded the bread with spices, nuts and cranberries. You can modify if to your taste, I make room for that in the recipe. Because, yes, I care.
Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream with Hot Fudge
I know. I’ve been coming up with some pretty strange combinations lately. This ice cream and hot fudge combination may be the strangest yet. Remember that homemade hot fudge sauce from last week? Well, after trying it on nearly everything in my kitchen, it seemed that the proper thing to do was make some ice cream. Blueberry sour cream ice cream sounded perfect for the approaching summer, and I crossed my fingers that it would work with hot fudge.
The combination was unusual, but fantastic!! The ice cream is a beautiful blue purple, and the blueberry flavors are highlighted by the light, slight tang of the sour cream. Smothering that mess in dark chocolate hot fudge adds a depth and richness to the light ice cream. It’s absolutely delicious! Like one of those fancy, strange sounding desserts at a hip and trendy restuarant. Continue reading »
Frozen, Recipes | Comments (22)Black Raspberry Muffins
I’m a sucker for treats warm out of the oven. But really, who isn’t!? One of my favorite things to burn my mouth on is muffins fresh out of the oven. I thought I’d treat myself to some classic blueberry muffins, but when I saw frozen black raspberries in the grocery store, classic blueberry went right out the window. The raspberries add loads of flavor and tons of sexy purple black coloring. These muffins are perfect, fresh out of the oven for a weekend breakfast, and then freeze well for a mid week breakfast treat. And I sure do like my breakfast treats. I can’t help myself.
Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce
I made some glorious dark chocolate hot fudge this afternoon. In the 20 minutes it took me to whip it up, I looked around the kitchen and found countless things to douse in hot fudge.
Sliced bananas were a clear choice. Simple and delicious and showed off the richness of the warm dark chocolate. Ice cream is an obvious choice, but you’ll have to hold your breath for a future post on that.
And then…. I started to lose my mind in hot fudge land. How about hot fudge on black raspberry muffins? cold cereal? crackers? sour dough bread? jasmine rice? waffles?
Yea. I know. A little out of control. It’s just that this sauce was so easy to make, and seems to versatile.
What’s your favorite thing to smother in hot fudge?
Frozen, Recipes | Comments (23)Whole Wheat Banana Walnut Pancakes with Vanilla-Brown Sugar Syrup
I love waking up about half an hour early on Wednesdays to make pancakes for breakfast. They really take very little time to throw together, and they make a world of difference to my day. I can’t save my pancakes only for special weekend breakfasts. Sometimes (every Wednesday) I need that weekend indulgence before I throw on the chef’s coat and dive into the big kitchen.
Whole Wheat Banana Walnut Pancakes are surprisingly light, healthy, and keep me full well into the afternoon. Drizzled with homemade Vanilla-Brown Sugar Syrup and served with a side of fresh fruit, I can indulge in the comforts of a lazy Sunday morning, even on a daunting weekday.
Breakfast, Recipes | Comments (17)Super Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ok… with this recipe I’ve totally been busted. It’s late April and here I am with a pumpkin post. That can only mean one thing- I’ve had a can of pumpkin in my pantry since last Thanksgiving. Absurd! I know! That little pumpkin gem must have gotten pushed to the back of the line in the past few months. Well, it’s seen the light of day in these most delicious cookies.
These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are a combination of cookie, cake and pancake and quick bread. They’re super soft, moist and cakey. They’re full of pumpkin and spice flavor, and the chocolate just sends them over the top.
I know I can’t be the only one with a lonely can of pumpkin in the pantry. These cookies are a simple and delicious was to celebrate that forgotten can! Throw some vanilla ice cream in, and life has suddenly improved. It’s as easy as that!
Old School Fudge Brownies with walnuts
There are countless reason why I love making brownies. All they require is a bowl and wooden spoon. They’re moist and satisfy that deep chocolate craving. But more sentimentally, brownies are one of the first things I remember making with my sister growing up. We’d take out one bowl, one pan, follow the directions on the back of the unsweetened chocolate box, and about 45 minutes later- warm brownies! We’d burn our fingers trying to get the hot brownies out of the pan. But it was worth it to sit down with a plate of warm brownies and cold milk to watch episode after episode of I Love Lucy. Those were the days. These old school Fudge Brownies with walnuts and chocolate chunks were made in an effort to reach back to those days eating brownies on the living room floor with my sister. The amazing thing is that one bite into the warm chocolate took me right back to being 10 years old, baking with my sister. It’s pretty remarkable what a brownie can do! Continue reading »
Cakes, Recipes | Comments (24)Blackberry Peach Bread Pudding with toasted pecans
Bread pudding exists in the sweet space between breakfast and dessert. With all of the milk in the recipe, bread pudding feels like eating the most ridiculously rich breakfast cereal. I suppose for most people, it’s a bonafide dessert. Perhaps I’m just trying to find as many ways as possible to eat dessert for breakfast.
I’ll admit, I only recently warmed up to bread pudding. My Dad absolutely loves the stuff, so I was inspired to create my own. I think I had this conception that bread pudding was simply soggy bread mixed with cinnamon, milk and raisins. Not so! This dish can be made with as many combinations as you can dream up. With this recipe, I wrestled my preconceived notions of bread pudding to the ground. I decided to combine bread pudding and cobbler. I know… pretty awesome! Now we’re getting into the realm of respectable breakfasts… or desserts.
Bread, Breakfast, Recipes | Comments (4)Cranberry Orange Almond Oatmeal
I’m a huge breakfast fanatic. I usually go for something hearty, healthy and full of surprise goodies. That’s not to say that I don’t sometimes reach for a donut and some coffee, but this go around I opted for old-fashioned oatmeal with the gorgeous flavors of cranberry, orange and almond. I threw in a bit of brown sugar for good measure, and surrounded my oatmeal with cold milk. It was a delightful breakfast- satisfying but not too heavy. It’s the kind of breakfast that convinces you you’re ready to take on the world. Brilliant Continue reading »
Breakfast, Recipes | Comments (19)Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake
Chocolate and orange are like a dream to me. Although my dream last night had nothing to do with chocolate and orange, and everything to do with watching some bizarre alley cat trying to eat giant hissing grasshoppers, or something. I woke up wanting a thick slice of this cake for breakfast. You know, to make everything right in the world again. It’s that simple.
Cakes, Recipes | Comments (26)Lemon Whoopie Pies
Forget about saving room for dessert. One of these lemon whoopie pies is a whole meal in itself! These beauties are not the delicate, petite, wallflower cookie. They bake up into a beast of a cookie. They’re doubley soft, cakey cookie goodness filled with a lemony cream cheese filling.
These are not a snacking cookie. They’re a “sit down and shut up and eat your freakin cookie” cookie. That’s not too hard to do, right?
Cookies, Recipes | Comments (34)Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding
Sometimes I just need the comfort of pudding to make things right in my world. There is something about the smooth texture, slight chill and sweet chocolate goodness that can ease anything from extracted wisdom teeth to a broken heart. It can even ease the pain of a crazy concoction your Mom may have tried to pass off as dinner.
I would say that this pudding is also comforting because it’s the way Mom used to make… but my Mom never actually made pudding. It’s fine really, no hard feelings! I have oodles of love for my Mom. Hot dog casserole was more her kitchen niche. And even that sometimes turned out purple. I think the purple had something to do with cabbage, which is totally bad news. As if hot dog casserole isn’t bad enough news. Oh Mom. She’ll never live down that tragic dinner.
Now, back to the chocolate!
Red Velvet Black and White Cookies
Ok, you might need to sit down for this one. This is going to be good. I don’t know where to start with these cookies. Red Velvet Black and White Cookies- they brilliantly combine the tradition of black and white cookies with the near religion that is red velvet cake. The cookie is soft, moist and cakey, and the frosting… shut up! They were SO incredibly good… and this is coming from me… I practically eat cookies for a living!
When it comes to Black and White Cookies, I think I have a problem. They are absolutely my favorite cookie in the world. I like Black and White Cookies more than I like…. I dunno: puppies. Yea, and who doesn’t like puppies!? So it’s pretty serious.
Cookies, Recipes, Snacks | Comments (39)Gooey Chocolate Cakes
It’s Tuesday and I’m back with Dorie. She and I had broken up for a few weeks- some misunderstanding with snails and flan, but we’ve got it all sorted out. A love like ours, afterall, couldn’t be denied for long. So we’re back and better than ever with a gooey chocolate love to show for it!
Cakes, Cupcakes, Recipes, Tuesdays With Dorie | Comments (33)Yes, there’s pie under all that goodness.
Ok everyone… take a deep breath. It’s time for pie!
This beast of a pie is Peabody’s Grandmother’s Lime Conspiracy Pie with marshmallows.
It is a result of the convergence of several things in my mind and in my pantry.
A friend mentioned a pie topped with tiny colorful marshmallows. Sounds like a great idea, right? On the same day, Peabody posted a recipe for the most amazing and bizarre lime jello salad. The fruity marshmallows were on sale at the grocery and the rest of the ingredients practically jumped out of the pantry. I put everything on hold. I just had to make this pie.
And then, this pie took on a life of it’s own. I felt like Dr Frankenstein, except my pie didn’t learn compassion or love. Nonetheless it sat there in my fridge with it’s colorful marshmallows and sweet oozing topping, practically begging to be touched up and gawked at. And what a camera whore… don’t even get me started on that!
Recipes, pie | Comments (15)Two Bite Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Remember those Low Fat Chocolate Muffins I was working on last week? Well I’ve found a winner! These Two Bite Chocolate Chunk Muffins are sure to satisfy that nagging chocolate craving. Now, if you have a craving for something like… I dunno… dark chocolate cheesecake with extra thick hot fudge, then I suggest you kindly decline one of these muffins and go find that cheesecake. That sounds like a no nonsense craving. But if a light, chocolatey bite is just what you need, then these will certainly do the trick.
Breakfast, Recipes | Comments (18)Strawberry Ricotta Cupcakes
This morning I started the day thinking about Easter as a child. It was the holiday as exciting as Christmas. There were personalized Easter baskets filled with candies and chocolates on a bed of fake plastic grass. There was always some sort of delicious ham and potato meal And the Easter egg hunt. Oh… the hunt! The hunt is the sole reason I could sit through church is my Easter dress, itchy tights and Sunday shoes. It was my little sister and I tearing through the house and backyard trying to find as many plastic eggs as we could. It was brutal, and there was no mercy. Flower beds were trampled, the house cat was scared from its house, tears were shed… it was the hunt, and it was serious. The coveted Easter eggs to find of the hunt were the silent one. Silent? Yes! Without the rattle of little chocolate candies, we knew those particular eggs were filled with cash. Oh how my sister and I would fight for those eggs. Thinking about it now, I have to shake my head at what greedy little children we must have been. Continue reading »
Cupcakes, Holiday, Recipes | Comments (17)Corn and Orange- the muffin
Can I get away with calling this an Easter muffin? Easter bunnies eat corn. Don’t they? Well, if they existed, they’d eat corn… right?
Didn’t Bugs Bunny eat corn? No, that was carrots. Oh crap. It was carrots, not corn. And here I am with Corn and Orange Muffins on Easter weekend.
I’ll admit, this is a little awkward.
And now I just feel silly. Carrots. Not corn.
Breakfast, Recipes | Comments (9)Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
I often find myself with several bags of chocolate chips roaming freely in my cabinets. Today I found large milk chocolate chips, mini semi-sweet chips and white chocolate chips. When I bake cookies, I usually chop chocolate from a large bar of good chocolate, so it’s strange that I would find so many varieties of chips in my life. Well, life gave me chips, and I made cookies. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Cookies, Recipes | Comments (19)
Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream
I’ll be the first to admit that I have gotten prematurely excited about strawberry season. I’ve already played with strawberry sugar paper, and here I am with strawberry ice cream. It’s not even April! Strawberries aren’t at their peak flavor yet, but I see baskets of them in every market I visit. I just can’t help myself, so I buy and I bake. I should tell you now- it’s going to be a long berry season. Long, glorious and delicious!
Frozen, Recipes | Comments (17)Apricot Cornmeal Cookies
Slice and bake sugar cookies are so much fun to play around with. If you can dream it up, you can throw it in sugar cookies. This time around I chose sweet dried apricots and cornmeal for crunch.
I always have a log of sugar cookie dough stashed in the freezer for those moments when I need a quick birthday gift. Note about me: I terrible at remembering birthdays. I absolutely LOVE birthdays, but selfishly, only seem to remember my own. I’m pretty sure this makes me a jerk. For this, I am sorry.
Cookies, Recipes | Comments (6)Cream Cheese Frosting 101
These are simple Lemon Scented Buttermilk Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting, decorated with fondant flowers and edible pearls.
Cream cheese frosting is one of my favorite toppings for cakes and cupcakes! From citrus scented cakes, to rich chocolate cupcakes, cream cheese frosting is a decadent and versatile cake topping.
Cream cheese frosting is also fairly easy to make. But what happens when cream cheese frosting goes wrong?
Have you ever found yourself with a mixing bowl full of curdled cream cheese frosting? Ugh! How frustrating! It’s more than frustrating… it’s an outrage, and I’m here to get to the bottom of it.
Recipes, Tips and Tricks | Comments (18)Red Velvet Whopper- the cupcake
How do I describe the taste of Red Velvet cake? Well, it’s not vanilla cake, but it’s certainly not all chocolate. Red Velvet cake, for lack of a more creative vocabulary, tastes like sweet red cake. Without rich and decadent frosting, this cake is light, moist, quite tasty and yes, red. My favorite Red Velvet cake is relentlessly smothered in brown sugar cream cheese frosting. The recipe for both just a jump away.
Cakes, Cupcakes, Recipes | Comments (24)Russian Grandmothers’ Apple Pie Cake
The title to both this post and this dessert is a little hum drum. Russian Grandmothers’ Apple Pie Cake… it just doesn’t set off fireworks in my head. And frankly, I always feel a bit off put when apostrophes are in strange places (here I am considering s’ strange). I was an English major in college, and I still just feel put out with the apostrophe after the s. I actually have to think about the Pie Cake, and who, and how many Grandmothers it belonges to. It’s a lot. I know! Well let’s just clear things up right now and say that this Apple Pie Cake belongs to many Russian Grandmothers. That’s what the whole s’ was trying to tell us.
I would also like to informally change the name of this recipe to The Apple Pie Cake that belongs to Many Russian Grandmothers. I don’t think Dorie will mind.
Grammar lesson, over.
Recipe and more cake talk after the big jump.
Cakes, Recipes, Tuesdays With Dorie | Comments (25)Strawberry Vanilla Cake Bites
This spring- green is the new pink, and navy is the new black. Trust me, I just know these things.
Are cake bites the new cupcake?
Cupcakes are all the rage, but these cake bites, they might just have something to em. These Strawberry Vanilla treats were inspired by Hilary and Bakerella. I fell hard for their Red Velvet Cupcake Balls and had to create my own.
So here you are! Cake shaped candy! What a wonderful world!
Cakes, Recipes | Comments (14)Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake with wild blueberries
Lemon and blueberry are my go-to ( by ‘go-to’ I actually mean lazy) combination. I’ve never had a bad day if lemon and blueberry joined forces at breakfast. It’s true, they never fail me.
Too bad I can’t say the same thing for the fail dogs. Have you seen the creatures? They are dogs (that have little to do with baking, blueberries or lemon) who have tried and failed in one way or another. They make me laugh. They make me cry. I was a cat person until the fail dogs changed my life.
Now back to the Lemon Poppyseed Bread with wild blueberries…
Bread, Breakfast, Recipes | Comments (13)Brown Butter and Cardamom Spiced Sugar Paper with Cream and Strawberries
This dessert was born out of the current circumstance of my life. Big things are changing for me in the next few months. While it all feels good and exciting, I have to admit that big change makes me anxious. You might think that when I get anxious, I bake. That makes sense, right? Well I actually clean (a lot!) when I get nervous. I called this afternoon’s kitchen scrubbing extravaganza “spring cleaning”. That’s how I justified my nerves. It is almost spring, after all.
My spring cleaning, in turn, reminded me of strawberries. I love strawberries, and impatiently await their arrival in April. Clearly, I couldn’t wait until April. Once my kitchen sparkled, I went out in search of strawberries, to make my spring themed day more complete.
With the strawberries I created Browned Butter Cardamom Spiced Sugar Paper. Sugar Paper is just a fancy name for Fillo dough layered with butter and sugar and spice. This dessert was a wonderful respite to my cleaning frenzy. With spring comes change. Somewhere in the cleaning and baking, I began to feel more comfortable with that.
Recipes | Comments (23)
