Brown Sugar No-Pound Cake

Brown Sugar No-Pound Cake

There is nothing quite like pound cake, especially when it’s dipped in fondue. Anyone with me?

The thing is, pound cake can be a little too crazy decadent. The pound cakes of yore would actually sweat butter, if you know what I’m saying. But how else to get a lovely pound-ish cake without the butter?

Brown sugar to the rescue! Thanks to the higher moisture content of my favorite sugar choice, this cake can be made with healthy canola oil and still be the perfect cake to dip in fondue or leave plain. Sounds like a winner to me!

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Butterscotch Blondies

Butterscotch Blondies

Do you ever go on a brown sugar kick?

Okay, that’s my life. I admit it. I have an ongoing love affair with brown sugar that is never going to end. Last week, we accidentally ran out of brown sugar, and I thought I was going to sit on the kitchen floor and cry. No baker worth her salt (or sugar, in this case) can do without the good stuff.

To apologize to brown sugar everywhere and make amends, I made these blondies. Blondies are the quintessential ode to brown sugar, a bar cookie packed with caramelized goodness. Plus, these are filled with butterscotch chips. That’s the life, baby!

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The Easiest Blondie Base

The Easiest Blondie Base

Being a social butterfly and all, I get invited places with some degree of frequency. And when I’m attending a party or gathering at someone’s house, it’s pretty likely I’ll be asked to bring dessert.

I guess it makes sense. After all, I’m the dessert girl. But every now and then, could I bring a bottle of tequila instead? Sharing is caring, ya know.

Oh, well. When I’m asked last-minute to bring a dessert somewhere, an old faithful recipe is the one to save me every time. No, I’m not talking about passing off slice and bake as my own, though that’s tempting. I’m talking about an easy bar cookie. These blondies are chewy, thick, easily customized and, most important, fast.

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Cinnamon Sugar Cookie Chips Coffee Cake

Cinnamon Sugar Cookie Chips Coffee Cake

Breakfast is calling. It’s wondering why cookie chips took so long to get into coffee cake.

Cinnamon is one of those dark horses. I forget about it for weeks, sometimes months, at a time. And then without warning, I eat a dessert with cinnamon, and wham! I can’t stop.

When I tried Hannah Max cinnamon sugar cookie chips for the first time to decide how to bake with them, I had to slap my own hand to stop it from reaching back into the bag. The cinnamon sugar flavor is more addictive than I expected. It’s always fun when life runs contrary to expectation in a good way!

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White Nectarine Upside-Down Cake

White Nectarine Upside-Down Cake

Gotta be honest with you: I don’t usually bake with fruit.

Have you noticed? Seriously, it’s not typically my bag. When you’re addicted to chocolate and peanut butter, fruit falls by the wayside. At least, it does in baked goods.

Now fruit on its own, raw, is a different animal entirely. And my number one favorite fruit of all time is the white nectarine. When perfectly ripe, it’s sweet and juicy and better than anything. I hate to do anything to them but eat them as they are. But every now and then, you get a less than amazing batch. Actually, more than that. So that’s when you bake them into cake!

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Smoky Salted Almond Fudge

Smoky Salted Almond Fudge

It’s Day 1 of Fudge Week! I’ve teamed up with the fabulous and incomparable Gayle from Pumpkin N’ Spice. We’re bringing you fudge today, Wednesday and Friday, just in time for you to make some fabulous food gifts this holiday season. Be sure to check out Gayle’s blog!

I’m starting off the week with my all-time favorite fudge recipe. This one knocks my socks off every single time, and I make it only once a year. Otherwise, well, I’d never eat anything else.

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Peanut Butter Intensity Bars

Peanut Butter Intensity Bars

Hey, it’s been almost a week since I’ve posted a PB and chocolate recipe. In my world, that’s one week too long!

There are times when life gets a little intense, friends. This is one of those times. It’s been a rough month, and reading the newspaper really doesn’t help. I don’t understand how people can watch the news before they go to bed. Do they want to have nightmares? Lie awake in their beds imagining worst-case scenarios?

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Candy Overload Blondies

Candy Overload Blondies

I like to keep my chocolate in the freezer. Have you tried it? If not, I highly recommend. The whole consistency and texture and flavor just changes in this magical way when chocolate is frozen.

What eventually happens is that the front drawer in my freezer is full of goodies: M & Ms, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips. If it’s got chocolate, it’s in there! So every now and then I have to get rid of whatever is in there and then replenish gradually. It’s the circle of life.

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Caramelized Pecan And Pumpkin Fudge

Caramelized Pecan and Pumpkin Fudge

Remember when dessert used to be a simple affair? A brownie. A cookie. A piece of chocolate fudge, plain.

Well, folks, them days are over. And thank heaven they are, because dessert is being pushed farther than ever before, all because of food blogging. How can anyone possibly object? We’re baking as fast as genius food manufacturers are developing newer products.

Like Nestlé’s pumpkin spice-flavored morsels. I saw them at Target and bought 4 bags. I had to play with them! And the first recipe they yielded is this caramelized pecan and pumpkin spice fudge.

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Soft-Baked Caramel Cookies

Soft-Baked Caramel Cookies

This past week was Back to School Night. Not for my kids: for me. I’m a teacher, and once a year I do my best to impress the parents as they figure out who the crazy lady at the front is.

As much as I love meeting everyone, it’s an exhausting day. Most teachers go to work, teach all day, and then just stay for the event. We can be there for way too long, and it’s tiring. So this year, I brought these cookies in to boost morale among my colleagues!

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