Desserts, Recipes & Baking Blog

Archive for January, 2012

Classic Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
January 29th, 2012
Carrot cake has always held a special place in my heart. (It has also been known to hold a special place on my belly over the years, but that’s another story.)
When playing the “If You Were on Death Row and Had to Choose Your Last Meal, What Would It Be?” game, carrot cake would make the cut. (Carrot cake or a deep, rich pecan pie. Or something caramelly and chocolatey, oozing together. Sorry- carried away there for a sec.)

The 4 Keys to a Kick-Ass Carrot Cake:
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Ginger Chewy Cookies
January 28th, 2012
These cookies are everything that cookies want to be when they grow up.

Cookies know that being chewy in the middle is a bit of a prerequisite for popularity in the cookie department. Cookies also know that ginger = flavor excellence, which every cookie strives for. And there’s something about ginger that’s sneaky, because it’s comforting to most and yet also sort of sophisticated and spicy. These cookies are smart. They know how to please crowds- which come to think of it, you might not be looking to do if you just want a massive batch for yourself.
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Banana Nut Bread
January 27th, 2012
This one’s a winner.

If you like your banana bread dense and bananaey and amazing, then get yourself ripening a bunch of bananas pronto. The riper the banana, the better the bread. Truer words have never been spoken.
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Mint Chocolate Fudge Brownies
January 26th, 2012
This one is obvious.

You take a proven winner (the World’s Best Fudge Brownie) and stuff it with something mint-tastic.

In this case, Ghiradelli’s Dark Chocolate & Mint Filled Bar fits the bill. In moments of laziness I have thrown a box of Junior Mints into the batter instead of taking the extra four minutes to layer the bar into the brownie batter, but you won’t get a layered surface of minty wonder (like in the picture off to the right- see that mint pocket? Does that excite you as much as it does me?) unless you use the bar. So read up and see how it goes.
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Sweet Cherry Pie
January 25th, 2012
Sometimes fruit calls out to you in the grocery store, when it’s impossibly fresh, just asking to be baked into a double buttery crust. When cherries are in season, heed that voice. Even though they are as expensive as hell.
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Fudgy Orange Brownie Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing
January 20th, 2012
Planning a dinner party? Maybe a party of one (that being you)? Then you’ve found the dessert to serve.

Chocolate and orange have been romantically involved for years, so it’s time to forge your own relationship with the two flavors. Take this oranged-up adaptation of the World’s Best Fudge Brownie and toss it into a cake pan… slather some orange cream cheese icing on top and watch the sparks fly.

Oh- please note my newest serendipitous technique, as made evident in the photo. See where the icing snuck into the cake in an odd but strangely appealing way? Yeah well, keep reading and learn the trick of the More Sweets, Please trade :).
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Butterscotch Blondies with Caramel Icing
January 19th, 2012
Don’t underestimate the powerful effect that icing can have on an already-spectacular dessert, let alone the smell of your kitchen when making it. For these Blondies, feel free to get creative and substitute white chocolate chips for the butterscotch ones in the recipe below. The purist in me keeps Blondies blonde, but if you’re feeling crazy, throw the semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips in instead.
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Cracker Choco-Toffee Brittle
January 17th, 2012
This one amazes me.

I like to think that the most popular desserts are the ones that you have to work hard for, but I’m amazed every holiday season when I make this pantry standby. People go nuts for this easy-to-make dessert (seriously- they are just about as easy to make as Rice Crispy treats- another shocking crowd-pleaser), so who am I to argue with an easy recipe? Easy + loved by all = More Sweets, Please favorite.

(Oh, and give the recipe a shake up this year like I did… use a crumbled cookie as the base instead of a Saltine. It screws up the name of the dessert, but I can overlook that.)
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Rich Chocolate Pudding
January 16th, 2012
I feel guilty about this dessert in general.
Not because it’s rich and chocolatey (no guilt to be had there, folks), but because it’s really easy to make and I want people to think I toiled for them. If remembering to whisk every once in a while and deciding between what kind of chocolate to use is up your alley of complexity, get cracking on this one.
(I also feel guilty because I gave the Husband one serving and portioned the rest off for the neighbors. You might choose to be more generous to your own family.)
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Magic Gooey Cookie Bars
January 15th, 2012
I’m a little bit embarrassed to post this recipe, but screw it.

Maybe I’m a teeny bit snobby when it comes to desserts (something I don’t work at being, but when you learn the merits of baking things from scratch… it happens?). I was raised on (glorious) birthday cakes that my Mom taught me how to make from an early age. Her inspirations were Betty Crocker & Duncan Hines- so clearly I wasn’t brought up to be a sweets snob. As much as I think the right thing to do these days is to bake a cake with an old-school recipe from a grandmother, let’s be honest- Betty & Duncan have their s*@t together.
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Cat in the Kitchen. Not Good.
January 12th, 2012
Andy has never met a dessert he hasn’t liked (oh, that’s not true- he didn’t like the microwaved brownies and I can’t say I blame him). For the most part this is flattering to me, as a baker always appreciates a fan, but when said cat is found licking your freshly plated Magic Gooey Cookie Bars, all charm is lost. His hair was also found on the remaining bars in the pan. A recipe for disaster.
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Easy Herby Parmesan Focaccia
January 9th, 2012
The Husband hinted that I hadn’t made focaccia in a while, so I snapped out of my (life-long, decidedly permanent) sweet spell and put on the savory hat.

For some reason I always think that it takes So Long to make focaccia, so I don’t do it often. Yet every time I pull out the recipe and begin, I’m reminded that it’s actually quite easy… and if you skip the step of fermenting the yeast ahead of time (which I have done here for this recipe), it’s actually a pretty quick bread to make. In light of that, I might fill our kitchen with the smell of yeasty, herby, cheesy wonder a bit more often.
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Chocolate Peppermint Patties
January 6th, 2012
Chocolate and mint have been having a sizzling affair on the well-known couple known as chocolate and caramel. Make these patties and find out why.

(Oh- as for the peppermint oil in the recipe- you’ll want to order it online like I had to, since peppermint extract won’t do the trick to get that rich, cool feeling in the mouth…)
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Never (Ever) Again Microwave Brownies
January 4th, 2012
Word to the wise: gourmet brownies aren’t born in the microwave.

Unless you are okay with a crappy-looking crust and happen to think that it’s acceptable for brownies to take just as long to bake in the microwave as they do in the oven. So if that’s what you’re after, then microwave away. But if you’re after a simple 33 minutes and a crust that you don’t have to bury under icing (hold on- that’s not always a bad thing)- then stick with the oven.
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Repulsive White Chocolate Cookie Bars
January 3rd, 2012
Oh, I was so disappointed by these.

Take a foolproof classic- like the Magic Gooey Cookie Bar- and screw it up colossally by trying to be fancy and adding shaved mounds of white chocolate to the top of the gooey sweetened condensed layer. Yes, I was trying to be smart by using up a block of white chocolate, and yes, I thought that these cookie bars were the whore of the dessert bar world- accepting of anything, per se, but I was really wrong- at least in the looks department. Check the picture out, and agree with me that they are so not appetizing.
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The Pecanless Pecan Pie
January 3rd, 2012
Most will balk, but some will get it right away.

If you’re all about the gooey innards of a rich, smooth, quality pecan pie, and you are generally happy with the pecans but veer on the side of “leave ’em” (vs. “take ’em”), then we understand one another.

So take the recipe for the More Sweets Please Decadent Deep-Dish Pecan Pie (excellent in it’s own right, of course), and make this complicated recipe adjustment in order to shine the spotlight on the goo:
Omit the pecans.
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Flaky Double Pie Crust
January 2nd, 2012
Looking for your official standby pie crust? That reliable staple that does justice to your favorite pie or tart? I think you’ll be happy with this fella- he’s easy to work with, and tasty to boot. The butter gives it the flavor and texture you know you want, and the shortening acts as the structure insurance policy- with an extra bit of flakiness. Enjoy.
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Incredible Gluten & Dairy-Free Black Bean Brownies
January 2nd, 2012
Admit it- you’re curious. Is it possible to have the words “incredible” and “black bean” in the same title when it comes to brownies? I wouldn’t lead you astray.

So here’s the thing. You just don’t tell people that black beans are the secret ingredient that replaces the flour (and most of the fat), because people will get all weird on you. The key is to have them try one or two, get hooked, and then tell them they ate something healthy. Sneaky black bean brownies.
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