Let me tell you a story about a recipe that almost never was. No, that isn't right. Let me tell you a story about a recipe that was almost never shared. Here's what happened. I had a couple of graham cracker pie crusts that had to be used up before Passover. I also had a couple of packages of Tofutti cream cheese in my fridge. Are you seeing a pattern? Yep, I knew I was going to be making cheesecake. Non-dairy cheesecake, to be precise. As I said, I had more than one crust, so I decided to go against my golden rule and double a recipe the first time I tried it. It came out of the oven looking gorgeous, so I was totally excited. My father was around, so I offered him a piece. And he … [Read more...]
Chocolate Chip Pancake Cookies
It's the (not so) wonderful time of year again. All around me, observant Jewish housewives are desperately cleaning out their pantries, trying to use up any chometz ingredients (leavened grain products, forbidden on Passover). I did an inventory of my pantry recently, and was kind of horrified at the amount of stuff I have to use up before Passover comes in a couple of weeks. I think the most surprising thing I found was a box of pancake mix. Not to knock those who love pre-made mixes, but I am dead against them. A recipe calling for cake mix is an insult to my abilities as a baker. I periodically make pancakes- from scratch. I don't know how this box came to exist in my pantry, but I did a … [Read more...]
Nutella Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies
As a baker who doesn't taste her own goodies, I have to admit something that may sound a little creepy. When you taste my baked goods, I scrutinize your reaction. Your words may say "this is delicious," but your eyes may say "I've tasted better." And conversely, your words may be unenthusiastic, but if you come back to my desk four or five times in a day, I know you really loved what I made. There are certain expressions that my tasters make that I have learned to treasure. One of my favorite is the one that was elicited not once, not twice, but each and every time that someone tasted these cookies. It's a look of surprise. Imagine you are a coworker of mine. You're used to decadent treats … [Read more...]
Zebra Cake
I've seen this cake many times, all over the Internet. Each time, I doubted my ability to make it look as good as it did in the picture. And so this gorgeous cake sat in the back of my mental "to bake" list for months. I'm not sure what finally pushed me to go ahead and try baking a zebra cake, but I suspect it had something to do with needing something gorgeous to photograph with my amazing new camera. Turns out, I'm thrilled that I finally made this. Yeah, it was delicious. Yeah, it totally wowed everyone who saw it, but there's something else. This cake was totally easy to make. You'll have to just believe me, until you actually try it. It does take an extra couple of minutes, but … [Read more...]
Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Cookies
I spent my first year after high school in a fairly well supervised school dorm. Lunch was provided to us at school, and suppers were served in a large lunch room in the second floor of the school building. Breakfast was where we had a little leeway. Each Sunday we had to give in a grocery list of items we wanted for the week's breakfast. The list was typically comprised of bread, fruit, oatmeal and cereal. Snacks, however, weren't provided by the school. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. And as poor students, there was certainly a necessity for free snacks. So we got creative. We improvised. We discovered that the folks in charge of our grocery order didn't differentiate … [Read more...]
Mini Double Chocolate Trifles…and Exciting News!
It all started about 7, maybe 8 months ago. It was at least a month or two before this blog was even a germ of an idea in the back of my mind. I had been baking goodies and sending pictures of them off to my friends. They liked my ideas, occasionally asked for a recipe, but they really weren't getting the full picture (excuse the pun) when they were seeing things like this: Almost too embarrassing to post, but I had to show how far I've come. I suddenly realized that learning more about photography, specifically food photography, shouldn't be too hard. I work at a company that is known as the go-to place for all kinds of camera equipment. Even better, my company is known to have … [Read more...]
Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies
I firmly believe that all people in this world can be divided into two categories: 1) Those who love chocolate, and, 2) Those who don't yet love chocolate. Needless to say, I fall distinctly into the first category. I also believe that we first category dwellers are happier creatures. We live secure in our knowledge that there's a magic potion called chocolate Professor Snape's big secret, promise not to tell? that can make everything better. Well, everything except broccoli. But that doesn't really count. To you second category folks, all I can say is...I hope your epiphany moment comes soon, and you join us happy people in the magical world of chocolate cravings. Until then, don't make … [Read more...]
Chocolate Covered Oatmeal Bars
I have a confession to make. I am terrible at reading and following directions. Take instruction manuals, for example. It isn't uncommon to find the instruction manual to an electronic device I bought a year ago sitting in a drawer, still sealed in it's plastic wrap. Instruction manuals, I reason, are for people of lesser intelligence. It may sound like I am bragging mightily here, so I will make a confession too, to even things out, y'know. I don't know that I can sit and read a manual. I don't have the attention span. Or the patience. And yet I have both the attention span and the patience to apply sprinkles to a chocolate covered pretzel with a pair of tweezers, to make sure it looks … [Read more...]
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
The other day I was talking to one of my coworkers about...what else? Cookies. He was mentioning his preferences in cookie flavors, when he made a shocking statement. "I don't like chocolate. And I don't like peanut butter." I opened my mouth in shock and horror. "My wife," he continued, "always says-" and at the exact same moment as he finished his wife's statement, I was verbalizing the exact same sentiment. "What is wrong with you?!" This may be insulting to some, especially to said coworker who had such nice things to say about my blog, but I truly believe that it's difficult to be happy without chocolate. Throw in some peanut butter? That's pretty much bliss. Assuming you are among … [Read more...]
Nutella Filled Puff Pastry Pockets
I didn't have a good reason to make this dessert. Ok, in the interest of honesty, I rarely have a good reason to make any dessert. But this one seemed a whole let less logical than most. Most treats that I make are a chance for me to experiment and have some fun in the kitchen. This wasn't like that. I took one delicious ingredient, Nutella (or in my case, a non-dairy version of it) and stuffed it inside another super delicious ingredient, namely, puff pastry. It's simple math, really. How could it equal anything but delicious? And just like that I pretty much gave you my recipe. It's that very simplicity that makes me glad I made this dessert. The number one complaint that I get from … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- Next Page »