Desserts

The taxi driver failed to realize that 83rd was one way, so we had him drop us off at the corner and decided to hoof it the half block to Nicole’s Upper East Side apartment.

Whenever I’m looking for interesting recipes, I always turn to Pinterest for inspiration. The other day, I pinned these pumpkin donut muffins and got pretty excited — the taste of a donut without the grease of frying and not having to buy a special pan to bake donuts. Awesome.

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.

Pumpkin is everywhere, so it must be September. Starbucks brings back it’s famed pumpkin spiced latte. Pinterest is bloated with pumpkin recipes, and I’m totally fine with it. I make some pretty darn yummy pumpkin cookies (coming soon), but I wanted to try something new to kick off autumn.

During both of my pregnancies, I’ve had this strange obsession with all things lemon. There are nights where I drool just thinking about a tall glass of lemonade. For someone who was never really that into lemons or lemon products, this pregnancy ‘craving’ is quite the newfound obsession.

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.

I bought a gorgeous loaf of sourdough for another recipe, but before I had the chance to use it, my entire family contracted this nasty, week-long cold/flu bug. Rather than letting a stale loaf of bread go to waste, the only sensible option was to find a recipe that called for crusty bread.

I have a problem, a problem with all baked goods in the bar, blondie and brownie form. Who am I kidding? I could say the same thing about cookies too.

My husband and I were reminiscing about desserts that reminded us of our childhood. He was shocked that I’d never had his mom’s favorite, a Lemon Jell-O Cake. I had never even heard of cooking Jell-O into a cake.

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.

It was my husband’s birthday this week. I had high hopes of making him a layer cake of his favorite German chocolate cake, but with a new baby in the house, time slipped away from me. Since cookies are my husband’s favorite baked-good, I opted to turn his favorite cake into cookies instead.

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 made these brown butter cherry bars recipe with fresh cherries a few years back for a dinner party. I liked them so much, I wanted to share them with you.

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.

Posh In Progress turned 1 yesterday! To celebrate, I wanted to try something daring, a multiple layer cake with blue ombre frosting and our Posh logo.

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.

In honor of today, National Milk Chocolate Day, I started searching Pinterest for interesting milk chocolate recipes. Surprisingly, a lot of recipes don’t specify milk chocolate in their titles. It seems a lot more recipes use bittersweet or baker’s chocolate.

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.

Awhile back, my husband showed me the instructions for no ice cream maker homemade vanilla ice cream using ice cube trays and a food processor. It all seemed simple (and ingenious!), so I bought the ingredients to try it for myself.

One of my favorite bakeries in Phoenix makes the most delicious apple oatmeal cookies. I love that they use dried apples, so the texture is even chewier than your standard oatmeal cookies.

I didn’t try Nutella for the first time until about a year ago. Gasp. This is even more shocking because I’m a true peanut butter and chocolate lover. There is no better food flavor combination, in my humble, baked-good-obsessed opinion.

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.

For my daughter’s first birthday, I decided to make a homemade funfetti birthday cake for a couple reason. First, it’s cute and looks pretty. Second, I made a low-sugar healthy smash cake for my son’s first birthday, and he didn’t dig into it like I had hoped.

For my daughter’s first birthday, I made her a funfetti cake from scratch. I made way too much cake though, so I had almost an entire cake and enough frosting left to make funfetti cake pops.

Yay! It’s grilling season. My husband makes some mean grilled meats, but that’s so obvious. I like when he steps outside of the box–my favorite is the grilled pizza he makes on bricks or in a cast iron skillet.

Caramel, chocolate and marshmallows — oh my! This new phish food brownie recipe is everything I wanted to make two years ago but didn’t quite get right.

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.

It’s July in Phoenix so I’m constantly trying to find ways to stay cool. Homemade ice cream or other icy treats are probably my favorite way to cool down. Last summer, we made some homemade bomb pops, which were a fun summer treat.

The day before I left to come home from Paris, I realized I hadn’t gotten my husband any souvenirs. It’s not like forgot about him, it’s that he not really into ‘stuff’ and I know he wouldn’t be very excited about a Paris t-shirt.

Do you have a fall obsession with everything pumpkin like I do? I’m not sure why we all go crazy for our #PSL the minute it’s available at Starbucks, but there is just this undeniable connection between fall and #pumpkineverything. Right?

After researching homemade candy recipes, I couldn’t help but try making some myself. I haven’t met that many candies I didn’t like, but one of my favorites is junior mints — especially at movies.

I’ve had these mini marshmallows in my pantry for at least 6 months. For some reason, anytime I have a bunch of random ingredients like that, I feel compelled to create something. Mostly, because it seems wasteful not to use them before they get all stale.

Today is National Cheese Lover’s Day! I love cheese, so I felt compelled to create a cheese-based recipe. So, I had left-over puff pastry from this baked brie recipe and mascarpone from the holidays. After a quick Googling, I came up with this puff pastry and mascarpone cheese danish recipe.

Today is National Peanut Butter Day! To celebrate, I adapted a peanut butter balls recipe to create chocolate covered peanut butter hearts.

Silk invited me to create a recipe to pair with their new Nutchello drinks, which are dairy, soy and gluten free. I decided vegan strawberry scones made with coconut milk would be the perfect afternoon snack pairing with the new Toasted Coconut & Cashew Nutchello.

We celebrated my hubby’s birthday last weekend. For his birthday cake, I decided to make his favorite thing — cookies — but with a twist. I decided to make him a funfetti skillet cookie, which turned into a deep-dish sugar cookie with all the colorful sprinkles.

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?

It’s pretty cool how and why we decided to share this Southern Banana Pudding recipe with you. Keebler ask me to create a recipe that brought back childhood memories. My husband and I reminisced about our favorite cookies. It was so much fun!

I love baking with berries and making pies, like my Blueberry Pie Bars or my super easy Fresh Cherry Pie for example. Now that I know how to make a galette, it’s my new favorite thing. Why, you might ask? Well, it’s because I love how simple this amazing pie crust recipe is.

I recently had the opportunity to work with Kashi®, and they asked me to create a unique recipe using their new plant-based, gluten-free and vegan protein powder. I was intrigued. What creative recipe could I make that uses protein powder and tastes great?

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.

It’s National PB & J day on Sunday! So in honor of PB & J day, I had to share some of the amazing peanut butter and jelly desserts I rounded up.

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.

Asked me what one of my favorite hobbies is, baking would be at the top of the list. I absolutely love to bake. I find it so therapeutic. I’ve also got a major sweet tooth. If it wasn’t ultra-unhealthy, I’d probably live on desserts (and maybe this pizza).

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.

Have you heard of chickpea cookies? Sounds gross, right? Well, they aren’t! I don’t know how it’s possible, but when you add just the right amount of nut butter, honey and chocolate chips, they really do taste like some version of a chocolate chip cookie.

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.

I’m back with another pumpkin spice recipe! I just can’t help myself. It is my favorite time (and flavor) of the year. I’m extra excited about this avocado pumpkin spice cake recipe because – duh – it has fresh avocados!

It’s strawberry season and my family is so happy. Strawberries are my son’s favorite fruit, so I always stock up on them when it’s the prime season. This year, I went a little overboard and had way too many. That’s why I decided to try baking with fresh strawberries this time around.

A couple weeks ago, I made this apple slab pie recipe and I ended up having way too many apples to fit into the pie. What do you do with a bunch of diced apples that already have sugar and cinnamon on them? You make an easy apple crumble recipe, of course!

I had a few lemons and limes on hand and I wasn’t sure what to do with them. I’ve made many lemon recipes on my blog over the years, but I have never tried a lemon tart. Since I also had limes, I decided to try making a lemon lime tart from scratch.

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.

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.

It’s watermelon season and we are here for it! We love watermelon and had so much extra on hand. That’s why I decided to make these easy homemade watermelon popsicles. It is such a simple recipe and the best part is that it only uses real ingredients and no artificial flavors.

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.

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.

Starting traditions for my own little family is my favorite part of the holiday season. One tradition that unwittingly started a few years ago is baking these tasty glazed pumpkin cookies every fall.

Making traditional Italian food is one way I celebrate the holidays and my Italian heritage. I’ve made traditional Italian Christmas cookies before, now I wanted to try Italian Easter cookies.

Halloween is just a week away. I searched Pinterest to find totally fun Halloween desserts that I think both kids and adults would love. There are so many cute desserts out there. I’m always so impressed with other bloggers’ creativity and craftsmanship when it comes to fun desserts.

My baby boy, Rocco, turned two last month. For Rocco’s first birthday, I made him a low sugar smash cake decorated with cheerios. The cheerios were the dangling carrot to get him to try the cake. It worked, sort of.

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 are you celebrating this 4th of July? We’re planning a pretty low-key long weekend at home with trips to the local splash pads and a few dips in our pool. We will definitely throw some burgers or brats on the grill and make some yummy side dishes, but I want to make some fun and festive.

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 holidays, I always search for Italian-inspired recipes to try, as a way to connect to my heritage. Last year, it was Italian wedding cookies and Florentine lace cookies. This year, it’s homemade chocolate peppermint biscotti.

For my daughter’s birthday this year, we threw a zoo-themed birthday party. Her love of animals and trips to the zoo made it an obvious choice. I decided to try my hand at cake decorating, so I created zoo animal cupcakes — zebras, lions and tigers — to celebrate her big day.

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.

When I was in college, St Patrick’s Day was one of my favorite holidays. I loved the excuse to go out and drink green beer and green long islands (yes really). Now that I have kids, St. Patrick’s day is much more about fun foods. That’s why I wanted to share 10 fun St. Patrick’s Day desserts.

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.

My favorite candy bar, by far, is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. But, I actually love the holiday-shaped Reese’s even more. I don’t play favorites, I equally love the eggs, trees, pumpkins, and hearts. But there is something that I just love about the holiday-shaped Reese’s even more than the originals. That’s why I decided to make this copycat Reese’s eggs recipe. These homemade peanut butter eggs are so easy to make and almost as good as the original.

Are you looking for a really simple holiday dessert that’s as cute as it is tasty? Then you need to make these Santa hat brownies. Seriously, it doesn’t get easier than this. I am always a proponent of sharing semi-homemade recipes, especially during the holidays when people are very short on time. I actually shared this recipe on KTLA the other day, and everyone, including the hosts and crew, loved these brownie Santa hats.

If you’re a fan of Starbucks, you’ve probably tried their delicious Cranberry Bliss Bars. These sweet and festive treats are the perfect addition to your holiday menu. But with this copycat cranberry bliss bar recipe, you can enjoy them year-round.

Nutella and puff pastry are a match made in heaven, and when combined into heart-shaped treats, they make for a delightful dessert perfect for Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, or just because! These Nutella puff pastries are simple to make, yet they look and taste absolutely divine. In this post, I’ll walk you through how to make Nutella in puff pastry hearts, along with tips, variations, and serving suggestions.