Fruit

  • Nectarine Tart with Ginger Cookie Crust

    Nectarine Tart with Ginger Cookie Crust

    September 11th, 2013

    With all of those nectarines going on, this dessert looks pretty darned healthy, doesn’t it? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not exactly guilt-free.  (If you want to pig out without the cloak of shame and guilt to weigh you down, try the Angel Food Cake, or the Guilt-Free Mandarin Orange Cake, or the Healthy Peanut […]

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  • Raspberry Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

    September 7th, 2013

    These are almost too freaking cute to eat, but I’m sure you’ll get over it and down a few anyways.  What the heck- down a dozen- they’re mini cupcakes, for God’s sake! Okay, so there are some people that go all crazy for the combo of raspberry and chocolate.  (If it’s not for you, don’t abandon […]

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  • Cherry Almond Crisp

    Cherry Almond Crisp

    August 28th, 2013

    I couldn’t not sneak a bit of coconut into this cherry almond crisp. I think I was channeling one of my all-time favorite holiday bars into this summery dessert… you know the one, the Cherry Chew Bars… you basically meld cherries with coconut and nuts and sugary goo, and you’re a happy camper.  (Wow.  Thinking of […]

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  • Blueberry Almond Cake

    Blueberry Almond Cake

    August 21st, 2013

    Oh, blueberries. I am almost as obsessed with blueberries as I am with sugar and Sauvignon Blanc.  (As separate obsessions- not sugar mixed into the wine, duh.  Although that does give me an idea for a dessert, not a lot unlike the Icewine Sabayon I made a while ago, but I digress.  I am supposed […]

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  • Strawberry Jam Tartelts

    Strawberry Jam Tartlets

    August 15th, 2013

    Who doesn’t like fresh strawberries? Really- if you can find that person, bring him or her to me and I’ll get to the bottom of whatever scarring childhood incident caused the aversion.  A good old-fashioned force-feeding of this strawberry tartlet should cure anyone of their indifference, believe you me.  (Eating anything labelled as a “tartlet” […]

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  • Peach Cobbler

    Peach Cobbler

    May 25th, 2013

    I recently announced my intention to pay more attention to the Fruit when baking, in light of the whole spring season thing going on outdoors.  (Oh, and because I have been baking with a whole hell of a lot of chocolate lately, which is really quite a wonderful thing and a problem not worth correcting, […]

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  • Apricot Almond Bars

    Apricot Almond Bars

    April 24th, 2013

    I feel a little bit bad about something. I feel like I have been a little too focused on chocolate as of late (like the Tunnel of Fudge Cake, and the Brownie Scrap Pile.  Oh, and the Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse, don’t forget that one).  I’m so not apologizing- I know it’s fundamentally wrong to […]

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  • Chocolate Covered Strawberries

    Chocolate Covered Strawberries

    February 6th, 2013

    Love is in the air! So do something about it and stuff a giant chocolate-covered strawberry in your loved one’s mouth. BONUS 1:  This is a ridiculously easy treat to make, so you can do it right before your fancy-schmancy Valentine’s dinner and not be all covered in flour or glazy from a hot oven. […]

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  • Honey Pear Upside Down Cake

    Honey Pear Upside Down Cake

    November 21st, 2012

      Upside down cake isn’t just for pineapples, you know. Pears don’t get enough airtime in the dessert world, do they?  No one ever hears about a pear pie, or a pear crumble.  No one makes (or wants, let’s be real) chocolate-covered pears.  So when pears are plentiful in the grocery store, and you’re feeling […]

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  • Strawberry Bread

    Strawberry Bread

    August 22nd, 2012

    The name sounds rather lackluster, but don’t be fooled… it’s a seriously killer bread that verges on cake territory (especially when you slather frosting overtop as I did in this particular round).  I made this for the first time last year and have been dying to get back at it, but wanted to wait for […]

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  • Pineapple Coconut Galette

    July 25th, 2012

    It’s almost too cute to eat. But that would be stupid, to not eat something this good. Here’s how the whole galette thing works (for me, at least): you take the leftover pie dough from a real pie you’re making (like the Decadent Deep Dish Pecan Pie or the Proper Peach Pie) and roll it […]

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  • Healthy & Easy Peach Cake

    Healthy & Easy Peach Cake

    July 21st, 2012

    Is it possible for something to be good for you and easy at the same time? Anything that has whole wheat in it, is virtually fat free, and can be made by tossing the ingredients into a blender is a friend of mine. Oh, and if it tastes wicked too, then I’m a fan for life. (Wicked meant in the east coast way of saying ‘cool’- not ‘evil’, although that works too.)

    So this cake is a takeoff on the Guilt-Free Mandarin Orange Cake that I have love love loved for years (yes, worthy of three love’s). Why not substitute the mandarin oranges for peaches, I ask? Why not substitute whole wheat pastry flour for the tried and true (but slightly less fibrous) all-purpose white wonder? (Note- whole wheat pastry flour is much friendlier to the taste buds than whole wheat flour is- it’s almost interchangeable with regular flour, so sneak it in everywhere you can.)

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  • Proper Peach Pie with Flaky Lattice Crust

    July 14th, 2012

    What would you say if someone offered you a fresh peach pie, laced with a bit of cinnamon and ginger (but almost indiscernibly so), and baked with a flaky, buttery crust? You’d say ‘yes please’, and you can’t even pretend you wouldn’t.

    I have been making a crapload of pies lately, so it was much to my surprise last week when The Husband asked me this:
    “When are you going to make me a real pie?”

    I looked at him (lovingly) like he was an idiot, and asked him this:
    “Are you an idiot? All I’ve been making are pies.”
    (Seriously- I just made Strawboffee Pie, Banoffee Pie, and S’mores Pie in like the last three weeks. I have been a pie making machine.)

    And in the way that The Husband picked up from the many Brits he’d been working with, he said this:
    “Yeah, but I want a proper pie.”

    He’s right. I have been making imposter pies as of late, ripoff pies. If a pie doesn’t have a crust (especially a flaky buttery one), then is it really a pie? Does a graham cracker crust (or a McVitie’s Digestive Biscuit crust for the Brits) count as pie, just because it’s baked in a pie plate? (Technically yes, but The Husband wanted a pie with a crust and fruit.)
    After I conceded that I had been depriving him of real pie (having not made one since the Good Old Fashioned Raisin Pie, which I technically made for his Dad anyway), and after apologizing for making his life so miserable because of this, he asked for apple pie. I promptly shot him down, because everyone knows that apple pies are for fall. After suggesting peach pie, he simmered down, like a baby with a pacifier. A pie pacifier.

    So this one’s for you, Husband- a proper peach pie.

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  • Strawberry Jam & Cream Cheese Pastry Bars

    Strawberry Jam & Cream Cheese Pastry Bars

    July 7th, 2012

    I have been baking with strawberries quite a bit lately, and I’m not even going to apologize for it. (I am thinking of strawberry shortcake as I type this, and so you’ll probably end up seeing that dessert here soon.)
    If you don’t like strawberries then a.) I don’t know if we can continue with this relationship, b.) you can always swap the strawberries for another fruit of your choice, and c.) hold on for another three months for when I go through my pumpkin phase. Pumpkins in, strawberries out. Fall- it’s a ‘comin.

    But back to the dessert at hand.

    Can I tell you how much I love puff pastry? (Can I tell you how uncomfortable I feel calling it “puff pastry” instead of “puffed pastry”?) One day I am going to be a bakeasaurus and make the puffed pastry on my ownsome, but for now the freezer pastry will do just fine. It’s lovely to thaw pastry that has already been slaved over by someone else (although I still can’t bring myself to buy a frozen pie crust, which makes no sense at all). I have noticed over the years that you can stuff pretty much anything you want inside of two rolled out pieces of puff pastry, as long as you seal the edges well. It’ll bake up and you’ll have a successful dessert in front of you (hopefully just you, so you don’t have to share.)

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  • Bluenana Muffins

    June 23rd, 2012

    Muffins… bread… they are interchangeable, so don’t judge me because the photo screams “bread” while the title reads “muffin”.

    Don’t you always have a couple of browning bananas hanging around on the counter, too spotty to eat? Hold onto them and let them get more black than yellow, then smoosh them up into this muffin/bread recipe (which can be made in a jiffy). Next thing you know, you have a muffin that’s full of berrylicious antioxidants and your counter is cleared of ugly, ripening fruit.

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  • Strawboffee Pie

    June 20th, 2012

    Work with me on this one, okay?

    There’s this heavenly dessert known as Banoffee Pie, and if you’ve heard of it you’re nodding your head right now because you agree that it was made in heaven. Picture the layers starting from the bottom: cookie crumb crust, thick layer of toffee, sliced bananas, fresh whipped cream, chocolate shavings. Now you understand.
    I was introduced to this masterpiece on a trip to Ireland with my Dad and sister back in 2003… and I have no plausible reason as to why I haven’t made it since my sister and I wolfed down that inaugural piece in a pub somewhere around Waterford. Or maybe Wexford. I have denied The Husband (who was not on said trip) the pleasures of Banoffee Pie, and that makes me a shameful wife. Up until now.

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  • Crazy-Good Raspberry Cake

    June 10th, 2012

    When organic raspberries are on sale at Whole Foods, one has to spring into action and buy 75 containers (give or take 69).  It’s one of those “buy now, figure out what the hell to do with them later” situations, one of those “seize life” sort of moments.  (Maybe not that profound of an occurrence, […]

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  • Pina Colada Bread

    June 6th, 2012

    Pineapple + coconut = yum. And since Malibu rum = fun, why not combine all three ingredients into a simple bread (that is also just as happy to be a muffin, by the way), that’s the life of the party?

    (But for real- where has Malibu Rum been all my life? I have been a devoted Kahlua fan for years, but coconut rum? I overlooked it in my formative ‘learning how to drink’ years. What a shame. So now I’m finding ways to add it to baked goods… lucky you.)

    In case you happen to not love cows, this recipe is dairy-free (but worry not- if you don’t have coconut milk on hand, regular milk will certainly do). This recipe also uses coconut oil (if you have it), adding a even deeper coconut flavor. Naturally coconut itself makes an appearance (in and on the bread)- so you technically have four levels of coconut going on (in the rum, the milk, the oil and the nut). It’s crazy. Only pineapple can compete with that kind of intensity.

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