Desserts


My husband’s first Father’s Day was the perfect excuse to make his favorite summer dessert, peach cobbler. There is no shortage of peach cobbler recipes online, with endless variations on the theme. My husband reassured me that recipes, in general but especially for this dish, were guides and not the gospel, as his “Big Mama” pretty much went by taste. I decided to adapt this recipe. It had a strong rating even after over 1400 reviews. How could I go wrong?

I just recently joined Pinterest. The thing I like most about Pinterest is the rush of creative ideas, interesting recipes and DIY projects I have at my fingertips. When I saw a ‘Phish Food’ brownie recipe, I immediately thought about my sister’s upcoming birthday. She isn’t much for sweets, and usually opts for carrot cake on her birthday, but she has always had a thing for Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food frozen yogurt. I can recall our early twenties when we lived together in Minnesota, every now and then a pint would spend a few days in our freezer as she’d savor a spoonful at a time. I thought home-made Phish Food-inspired brownies would be a perfect little something for her birthday.

For a few short weeks each year, it is stone-fruit season. As I previously highlighted the peach, when I saw these plums at the Farmer’s market, I couldn’t help but pick up a bunch and feverishly search for an interesting recipe to use the lovely purple jewels. Ironically, I found another UK dessert, so had to translate it like I did for my brownie recipe. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream, this cake made for a nice ending to a summer-night.

I start jonesing for citrus fruits when the temperature rises. When I’m thirsty, I think lemonade (“that cool refreshing drink”). At the farmer’s market, I get all buddy-buddy with my favorite grapefruit vendor, which means laughing at his reoccurring jokes about the clash between morning toothpaste/mouthwash and citrus.

For Rocco’s first birthday cake, I set out to find a healthier alternative to the ‘smash cake’ tradition. I was overweight as a young adult, so introducing my son to healthy foods and building a solid foundation of good nutrition is very important to me. Since beginning solids six months ago, I’ve all but avoided giving him processed foods or foods high in sugar.

I decided to make these scrumptious apple blondies bars because October is national apple month, and they are my go-to fruit — especially pink ladies. I’ve tried my hand at baked apples and apple pie, but that has been the extent of my use of apples, other than eating them raw with a little peanut butter.

When you think of St. Patrick’s Day, do you think of chocolate covered beer and pretzel caramels? Probably not, but maybe I can change your mind. When I think of St. Patty’s day, the first thing that comes to mind is Guinness, the second thing is the green beer and green long islands they served at the Red Shed, a divey bar I frequented in college.

Juicy, red strawberries lined nearly every stand at the farmer’s market last Saturday. You know it’s strawberry season when you can get three crates for under $10—we paid a mere $6 for all these gorgeous gems. So what to do with our overabundance of strawberries? We decided on an elevated version of strawberry shortcake by making orange pound cake with strawberry coulis.

I wanted to make a special treat for the kids in honor of the holiday weekend. Our good friends from Phoenix, Sean and Amy, were in Newport Beach for Memorial Day weekend. They have two kids, Patrick and Ellen, who are almost 3 and 5. I figured homemade bomb pops, made with fresh fruit, were a great way to kick off summer while also being patriotic — they’re kinda red, white and blue, if you squint a little.

Not sure what dessert to make this 4th of July? These quick and easy peach turnovers will not let you down. They are so super simple to make, and really delicious. All you need is fresh peaches, puff pastry, and a few other ingredients. I liked this recipe for easy peach turnovers so much, I shared it with SheKnows.

One of my favorite parts of summers as a kid were trips to my friends’ cottages in northern Wisconsin and vacations at my grandparent’s lake house in upper Michigan. I loved everything about it (well, except the mosquitoes). Trips to the lake meant boating, swimming, walks on the beach, sandcastles, bonfires, and grilling out. And a weekend up north wasn’t complete without s’mores.

Last week, I found my freezer chock-full of frozen blueberries. The only problem was, we were moving in a few days (more on that later) and I didn’t want them to go to waste. I looked up numerous dessert recipes trying to find one that would use the most berries–since I had four pounds to use quickly.

Over the holidays, along with sugar cookies, I made some of my childhood favorites — puppy chow and special k bars. If you haven’t tried these no-oven-required recipes before, you should. They are ridiculously easy to make and really yummy. The perfect chocolate and peanut butter desserts recipes ring in the new year and a new year of life.

You know when you have a bunch of leftover baking ingredients sitting around? I realized the other day, I had all these leftovers from previous recipes (phish food brownies). With extra marshmallows, chocolate chips, and toffee chips, I searched for a recipe idea and came up with an everything cookie recipe.

Do you own special pans or cooking utensils that you never use? For me, it’s my mini bundt pan. I’ve made a few mini bundt recipes in the past (lemon, sock-it-to-me), but it often sits unused. I was trying to think of a good use for it, and I saw how people have used the back of muffin tins to make a cookie cup. Bingo! What if I used the insides of the bundt pan to make chocolate cookie cups?

Coca-Cola™ asked me to participate in their “Share a Coke and a Song Campaign.” I was excited to participate because they asked me to think about songs that remind me of important memories while also creating a fun tutorial to highlight a summer moment. For me, my major summer highlight is graduating. I decided to create candy graduation caps to top my favorite cupcakes as a way to celebrate this major life event.

I created this super simple chocolate croissant recipe for an upcoming cafe party tutorial (check back on Friday!). One of the things I miss most about Europe is all of the little cafes with delicious coffee and even yummier pastries. You really can’t go wrong with any of the tasty baked goods in those cafes, but my absolute favorite is the pain au chocolat – aka – chocolate croissants.

The two flavors that stuck with me from my trip to Argentina (besides the meat) was dulce de leche and espresso. My Argentinian friend gave me a jar of dulce de leche before I left, so I wanted to create a recipe that incorporated both espresso and dulce de leche. This espresso-spiked dulce de leche brownie recipe is the delicious outcome.

I love pumpkin spice baked goods. Every fall, it’s become a tradition for me to make at least a few versions of pumpkin spice goodies. My husband always requests pumpkin pancakes and these pumpkin cookies. I’ve also branched out and made these pumpkin Nutella bars, and pumpkin scones, both of which were a big hit at work.

I decided to make these honey-oat no-bake homemade cereal bars because my kids are obsessed with ‘Papa’s cereal’. Somewhere along the way, Honey Bunches of Oats became known as Papa’s cereal in our house. It’s pretty darn cute when they ask for it, but I hate when they eat it because the tiny little flakes and oats end up all over the floor and them. I often find little flakes in my daughter’s hair.

How are you spending this Valentine’s day? We are planning a simple date-night at home. I will make my hubby a nice homemade meal and dessert so we can enjoy some time together over a nice meal. When it comes to desserts, I like them sweet, but I also like a little salty flavor thrown in. It’s so hard to choose just one flavor, so I combined them and made these chocolate chip cookie popcorn bars.

It’s officially berry season, and I couldn’t be happier. I love when I can get fresh berries at the supermarket for under a dollar. It feels like such a win. My family loves most fruit, but my daughter especially loves fresh blueberries. I bought so many packs last week, I quickly realized I needed to do something with them.

How do you celebrate Easter with your family? Brunch is a major Easter tradition in many households and since my family loves breakfast foods, I’m planning to create a whole spread for them. I’ve never made sticky cinnamon buns before, so when I teamed up with Pillsbury™, I was excited to create these sticky cinnamon buns.

I’ve made pie crust before, but I’ve never made a fresh fruit pie. I’ve made turnovers and galettes, but never a homemade pie from scratch. After a very stressful week at work, I came home and decided to bake. Given that there weren’t many groceries in the house, I didn’t have a lot of options. I opted to make a cherry pie with fresh cherries because I had all the ingredients I needed. Plus, I really love to use summer produce when it’s at it’s peak.

Moving back to California, one of the things I looked most forward to was all of the produce. I had no idea that I would actually find a lemon tree, with ripe lemons, in my yard! The first day we arrived, my kids were super excited to see the vibrant yellow lemons hanging, very ripely, from the tree off of our patio.

Last week, I mentioned how excited I am to have a lemon tree in our yard. I shared 5 of my favorite lemon recipes, and I’ve been contemplating what to make next. When I saw this glazed lemon cookies recipe, I knew it was something I wanted to try. I’m such a fan of a vibrant lemon flavor. I love that this recipe calls for so much fresh lemon juice and zest.

Do you have any recipes that remind you of your childhood? This Special K Bars recipe definitely does. This was one of my very favorite treats my mom would make when I was a kid. There’s something about the peanut butter and chocolate combination that I (still) can’t get enough of. It is by far my favorite flavor combination.

I’ve made a lot of apple recipes over the years. You can check out my apple recipes here. But I haven’t tried baking with pears. It is pear season, so I thought I’d try to find a really easy recipe that still looks elevated. That’s why this simple pear cake recipe is perfect. It is honestly the easiest recipe ever. It’s totally fool-proof and you can substitute apples if you don’t have pears.

It’s the end of January – which is also oatmeal month, so I had to share the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies recipe. I used this oatmeal cookie recipe as the base for a lot of other recipes, including these oatmeal scotchies. If you don’t like chocolate, you can replace the chocolate chips with nuts, raisins, cranberries, white chocolate, peanut butter, or butterscotch chips.

It’s girl scout cookie season! My good friend from Arizona sent me an email asking me to support her daughter’s troop. Of course, I was happy to order (several) boxes to show my support, and because I LOVE girl scout cookies! What’s your favorite flavor? Mine is the thin mint cookies, by far. This year, I decided to try something new with one of the sleeves of cookies. I decided to make easy thin mint brownies. This is a semi-homemade recipe using thin mint cookies. I promise, these are so yummy! You need to try it for yourself.

It’s strawberry season! I love fresh strawberries this time of year. They are so sweet and gorgeous. I’ve made a few strawberry recipes over the years, so this year I wanted to try something new. I had never heard of spoon cake or spoon bread before so I decided to try a strawberry spoon bread recipe.

Did you know today is National Donut Day? Depending on where you live, you can score up to six free donuts today. None of the free donut locations are anywhere near me. I won’t be scoring any free donuts today, but donuts are still on my mind. I decided I wanted to find some baked donut recipes so I could still enjoy the donut goodness without all the calories.

I love cookie bars. Literally, anything that resembles a cookie in bar form (brownies included), I’m here for it. I received a bunch of random ingredients in one of my press boxes, so I had this giant bag of toffee. I didn’t know what to do with it, so I decided to start searching for recipes. After a lot of searching, I chose to make shortbread toffee bars and I’m so glad I did. Let me tell you, these didn’t last more than a day or two in my house! They are that good.

One of my favorite flavors is the lemon lime combination. I absolutely love the tart flavor. It’s even better if it’s sweet and tart, which is why these lemon lime cookie bars are one of my new favorite recipes. The best part is that this is literally such a simple recipe. Even if you’re not much of a baker, I’m sure these will turn out perfectly for you.

I was talking with a friend about the holidays and he mentioned the best dessert he’d ever eaten was a homemade chocolate rum cake. Sure, the baker was actually a professional chef. But, I’ve never even heard of, let alone, had a chocolate rum cake, so I had to try. There are so many different chocolate rum cakes out there, but after searching through lots of recipes, this one seemed to have the most stellar reviews. I changed a few things up to make this my own, but I can definitely tell you it’s really delicious.

Today is National Zucchini Bread day! I’ve always loved veggie bread. Pumpkin bread (check out my pumpkin recipes) and zucchini bread are two of my favorite things to bake and enjoy because they are so simple to make and always taste delicious. My mom didn’t bake a ton when I was a kid, but she did always make the most delicious pumpkin and zucchini bread, so I suppose it has some nostalgic feelings for me. This is my first time trying a vegan zucchini bread recipe and I love how it turned out. Read on to see how I changed up this recipe.

Peaches, with their luscious and juicy texture, are a delightful fruit that embodies the essence of summer. Combining the rich flavors of peaches with a buttery and flaky crust, a peach crostata is a classic Italian dessert that your whole family will love. In this blog post, I’ll explore the art of making a mouthwatering peach crostata, along with a brief introduction to crostata itself. So, put on your apron, and let’s get started!

If you’ve ever found yourself torn between a brownie and a classic chocolate chip cookie, then chocolate chocolate chip cookie bars are your new dessert obsession. These bars are everything you love about cookies — rich, buttery, gooey centers — baked in a single pan and loaded with double the chocolate. No need to scoop out dough or wait for batch after batch to bake. One pan, one delicious mess of fudgy, chewy goodness.

Fall baking is my favorite kind of baking, and nothing says autumn more than pumpkin cupcakes. They’re warm, cozy, and full of spice, perfect for everything from a Halloween party to a Thanksgiving dessert table. This season, I baked a batch a delicious pumpkin spice cupcakes recipe and topped them with swirls of buttercream frosting and adorable little candy melt pumpkins.

If you’ve been searching for an easy Italian tiramisu recipe that tastes like it came straight from a cozy café in Rome, you’re in the right place. This is a true classic tiramisu recipe made from scratch, including the ladyfingers. Using homemade ladyfingers gives you a softer, more flavorful base and takes this from good to unforgettable.

Whatever you call them, snowballs, Russian tea cakes, Italian wedding cookies, or even Italian Wedding Christmas cookies, these powdery nutty cookies are a mainstay on most Christmas cookie platters. Despite their popularity, I had never made them before. My mom didn’t make these at Christmas, and I only had them a few times when we received cookies from other holiday bakers.

Cinco de Mayo is just a couple weeks away. I’m getting my margarita recipes ready, and scouting out the best guacamole recipe. But those are so obvious. I mean, I always have those things on Cinco de Mayo. I wanted to add something else fun to my menu, so I searched for interesting churro recipes. Mostly, I found what you’d expect–homemade versions of churros you’d find at a theme park.

How this Green Bay, Wisconsin girl came to make Sock It To Me Cake from scratch is a bit of an interesting story. Jade and I were chatting about recipes that remind us of the holidays. He mentioned how Sock It To Me cake became a holiday tradition for his family because his mother loved it so much, his family often made it for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other special occasions. They even left it out for Santa one year!

During the summer, I often travel overseas for work. When I come home, catching up with my babies and husband is a priority. But, after a long trip, jet lag has me dragging my body around like a zombie. Lastly, I live in Arizona. In the summer, temperatures routinely reach over 100 degrees before 10 a.m. Putting this all together for you, when I think about summer activities for toddlers, I need: 1) fun, 2) easy, and 3) cool – literally.

I love to bake. It is so therapeutic and a really great stress-reliever. The holidays can be so stressful and finding gifts for everyone can feel like such a challenge. That’s why I love to give baked goods as gifts. This year, I created these little Christmas tree brownies and found cute little white boxes, perfect for gift-giving.

Easter is a little over a month away. Now that my kids are a little older, I’m going to put a little more effort in to making it fun for them. I already started thinking about ways I could decorate, like with this little Easter Bunny candy jar. Last year, I found a bunch of creative uses for PEEPs. This year, I’m searching for cute Easter desserts recipes to try.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving pie? I like sweet potato, pumpkin, and apple too. But honestly, I do love pecan pie. I love how sweet it is and I love the texture combinations. I’ve made homemade pecan pie a few times, but never tried bite-sized ones or muffin-tin-sized ones. I decided to try both this past week. The mini-sized ones in the muffin-tin were the winners in my family. The normal muffin-tin-sized ones were my favorite for serving guests because they are so much prettier than the tiny ones. Either way, these mini pecan pies are so good and literally bite-sized.
























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