Desserts, Recipes & Baking Blog

Archive for March, 2012

Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Muffins
March 31st, 2012
Fluffy, moist, healthy (sort of), and just the right amount of sweetness from the cinnamon chips… that’s what these muffins are all about, baby. And once you slather a pat of butter on each half when still warm from the oven, you’ll have the right amount of salty richness, too.

Other than the cinnamon chips, the key to this recipe is the buttermilk~ it gives it a nice depth and tang. The good news is that buttermilk is low in fat, and with oatmeal as a star player in this recipe, you won’t need to fear the muffin top- and I’m talking about the kind that spills over your jeans, not the literal top of the muffin. (But you knew that.)

Enjoy!
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Espresso Shortbread Cookies
March 28th, 2012
This recipe takes The Classic Shortbread Cookie and kicks it up a notch or two- and not just on the caffeine front. If the thought of a (purely sublime) plain shortbread cookie is a bit, well, plain… then add in that one special ingredient that will keep you (and any others who get to taste these cookies) coming back for more: e s p r e s s o. Buzz, buzz, busy baker!
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Impossibly Healthy Banana Bread with Dark Chocolate Chunks
March 25th, 2012
I grew up loving banana bread, and had no idea the Fannie Farmer Cookbook recipe my Mom used was a virtually fat-free one until finding the recipe online last year. (I have distinct memories of spreading gratuitous amounts of margarine on the bread– negating the whole fat-free thing, of course. Not that I cared about fat when I was nine years old.) (And yes, we used margarine. But my Mom also smoked a pack a day when she was pregnant and so we can chalk that and the margarine thing up to “they didn’t know better back then”.)

I stumbled upon my own Official Favorite Banana Bread Recipe around 1999 and have been almost faithful to it ever since. (I found a fluffy chocolate banana muffin recipe that caused my eye to wander last year, but it was a short-lived affair.)
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Hazelnut Meringue Puffs with Fresh Fruit & Cream
March 24th, 2012
Who doesn’t love light, fresh, hazelnut-spiked meringue cookies layered with fruit and fresh whipped cream? (If you don’t, then click here to read about a decadent chocolate dessert instead, without fruit of any kind. Goodbye.)

Back to the meringue. Made without an ounce of fat (really… except for the little whipped cream layer), and relatively easy to make (easy but time consuming: full disclaimer), they reek of spring or summer- even when it’s a bleak wintery day. (Whipped cream and fruit makes everything seem like spring. It’s a fact.)

Back to the meringue, again. I have made this as a full-fledged cake (usually remembering to remove the parchment circles under the meringue layers before assembling, except for that one time in 2007), and as individual servings as pictured. So in addition to being not-altogether-unhealthy, and easy-ish to make, it’s a versatile dessert. Why don’t I make these more often?
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Coconut Macaroons… 2 Ways
March 21st, 2012
Some desserts surprise me. While I have always had a deep and meaningful affection for macaroons, I understand that not everyone likes the same things that I do. (Case in point- licorice allsorts. You either love them- like me- or hate them with a venomous, candy-licorice-coated passion.) So I am pleasantly surprised when macaroons go like hotcakes- I’m pleased that others like what I like, and pleased that others like a dessert that’s so wonderfully easy to make. Double win.

I have been making a simple macaroon classic forever, which just happens to be gluten-free (for those of you who care)… and it’s Recipe #1 below. I also added an egg white version- Recipe #2- which just happens to be dairy-free (for the even smaller amount of you who care). FYI- when The Husband (a.k.a. kitchen guinea pig) was forced to choose his preference in a blind macaroon tasting event, he chose the classic (Recipe #1). Sweetened condensed milk is hard to compete with, Mr. and Mrs. Egg White.
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Espresso Tiramisu
March 18th, 2012
Tiramisu is more than just a little bit glorious. Take cookies soaked with espresso, and layer with a goopy filling of mascarpone cheese & whipping cream. Sprinkle bittersweet chocolate in between the layers, and not only do you have an amplified mocha situation going on, but you have the finishing touch to the dessert that Italians have indulged in for years.

I was given a challenge this past week to put a massive package of ladyfingers to use (thank you, Gina- I love being put to the test), so other than using a dozen to make Rum Balls 3 Ways, I knew that tiramisu was in the cards for the weekend. (That and Irish Cream brownies and shamrock shortbread cookies for St. Patty’s, and oatmeal muffins, banana muffins, and tarts. Just a bit obsessed?)
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Rum Balls 3 Ways: Rum & Raisin, Mango & Coconut, Double Chocolate
March 17th, 2012
I have said this before, but I think that the marriage of sweets and alcohol is a wonderful thing.
Any opportunity to combine two vices seems like a recipe for fun… and in the grand scheme of things, adding rum to a little dessert ball isn’t all that evil. (Eating 35 out of the 40 balls might be bad, but even still- you won’t get drunk off these with only 2 ounces of rum in the whole batch. Sorry to disappoint you, if a rum ball buzz was what you were after.)

Take your pick of the three variations below… or do what I do- make all three and then figure out what to do with them. (Won’t be a tough problem to solve.)
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The Alluring Scent of Burning Plastic.
March 17th, 2012
Baking involves all five senses, for sure. I enjoy baking in large part because of the smells that butter, sugar and other wonderful things create after baking together for 20 minutes or so. You know what I’m talking about: the dessert-in-the-oven-smell.

I don’t enjoy the smell of burning saran wrap, however, and I don’t recommend that you recreate this recipe for disaster, either. So learn from my mistake: when letting dough rise in a “nice warm place”, don’t get all smart and put your bowl on the stovetop of a hot oven (hot from baking something like Butterscotch Blondies with Caramel Icing, for example).
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Cornmeal Cheddar Chipotle Biscuits
March 14th, 2012
Ho-ly cow, fellow biscuit lover- these biscuits are the real deal: cheezy and savory with just a touch spicy chipotle heat to keep them honest.

(It’s questionable to me why I still crave cheese biscuits at all, in light of the many part-time shifts I spent toiling in the kitchen at Red Lobster in the 90s… baking their “Cheddar Bay Biscuits”, slathering them with their “Liquid Buttery Sauce”. People ate those freaking biscuits up like they were going out of style. I could barely keep up with the biscuit-binging demands of the typical Red Lobster customer. I am surprised that talking about cheese biscuits doesn’t give me a nervous tick.)
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Bailey’s Irish Cream Fudge Brownies
March 11th, 2012
So here’s how this one is going to go down- take the World’s Best Fudge Brownies (your staple brownie, your go-to, your bingeworthy crutch of a recipe) and make it suitable for St. Patrick by adding Irish Cream in three separate stages:

1. In the batter- naturally. That one was obvious.

2. Brushed over the brownie just before taking it out of the oven… so it seeps in and infuses the crust with its Irish Creamy goodness.

3. In a glaze drizzled over the top of the finished and cooled fudgy splendor of a dessert.

Despite the triple threat of Irish Cream, it’s strangely not overwhelming. Some might say they don’t even recognize the flavor- they’ll just wonder why the brownies are so darned good. In a St. Patty’s kind of way. Cheers…
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Nuts… or Not.
March 11th, 2012
I was planning to add pecans to my festive Bailey’s Irish Cream Fudge Brownies, but for some reason I changed my mind at the last minute. It might be because they looked like this when I took them out of the oven (see picture). (Cringe.)

“I thought I smelled something burning”, said The Husband. (A little late, mind you.)

Lesson learned: leave the timer on when “lightly toasting” nuts in the oven. Rookie move, rookie move.
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Icewine Sabayon
March 10th, 2012
I love wine, and since I also have a sweet tooth, icewine is my friend.
What’s a girl to do with an intense dessert wine that tastes like honey, apricot, tangerine and pineapple? Drink it, naturally. (And why not bake with it, too?)

This Icewine Sabayon recipe has been burning a hole in the black binder where I keep the hundreds of pages of recipes I fantasize about baking one day. So after having ice wine on a recent trip to Toronto (Inniskillin, no less- do it right!), I was officially inspired to blow the dust off this easy-to-make, mousse-like recipe.

(Sabayon, by the way, is like zabaglione- if that means anything to you. Basically this is a custardy/moussey dessert, and is perfect with fresh fruit at the end of a meal. Serve it with the Icewine, of course… and enjoy liberally.)
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White Chocolate Macadamia Nut & Lime Cookies
March 7th, 2012
Sometimes it’s worth it to mess with a good thing.

We are all quite aware of that classic combo known as white chocolate and macadamia: a marriage made in a rich, white, soft-textured heaven. (Some might say that the combo is a better match than that other famous medly known as chocolate chip and pecan… but I don’t want to spark a debate. All sweets are treated equally here, friends.)

Back to messing with a proven winner- why not zest a lime and throw it into the white chocolate & nut batter? Why not juice some of that lime and throw that in, too? We all know that a little zing can offset the sweetness- and even enhance it in a wonderful new way. I dare you to eat just six when they’re cool enough to touch.
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Zesty Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with Glaze
March 4th, 2012
Muffins are perfect for lazy bakers.

You know how it goes- you have a hankering to bake something… and you have a lemon in the fridge calling out to be zested, and yet you don’t want to go to the trouble of beating anything together. And you don’t want to go to the trouble of bringing a stick of butter to that perfect room temperature either (please tell me you’ve accidentally melted many a stick in the microwave in an impatient quest to soften butter, too).
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The Pie Fry… a Recipe for Disaster.
March 4th, 2012
Pies are usually baked in a wonderfully warm oven, and they are usually baked to completion in said oven. Pies don’t normally “finish” baking in a frying pan, as a rule of thumb. Except in my house.

Sometimes things don’t happen the way they are supposed to in the kitchen (as I know all to well), and sometimes when an urge strikes to bake miniature pies for a dinner party, they take a swerve off course.

Take for example these sweet little pecan pies…
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The Classic Shortbread Cookie
March 1st, 2012
I am a believer that no better smell can come from an oven than a perfectly-baked plain-jane shortbread cookie. This is a very big statement. And yet it’s surprising to me, because the basic shortbread is nothing more than butter, sugar, salt and flour creamed together into a seemingly innocent dough. How is this possible?
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