Cook the Book: Cheesy Herbed Popovers
[Photograph: Caroline Russock] Long before I felt comfortable baking bread at home, popovers were a part of my "fancy dinner for friends" repertoire. They were quick and easy, but also held the same magical appeal as a homemade, freshly baked yeasted loaf—at least for my college-aged buddies. I loved baking them not only for the oohs and ahhs, but also because I enjoyed watching the dramatic rise over the rim of the muffin tin that they baked in. Nowadays, I am far from intimidated when it comes to baking a loaf of bread, yeast and all, and my baking projects are a little more complicated.
Blog Archive cake batter rice crispy treats
I probably should have poured a nice stiff drink recipe for you all on this loveliest of lovely tax days. Especially for my fellow small business owners who just gave half of their revenue back to the government. Good grief, I won’t even go there.
carrot cake with maple-cream cheese frosting
After months and months and months of the kind studying, stressing and panicked all-nighters I only vaguely remember from college in part because I am very, very old and in part because, no, I did not graduate with a 4.0, my friend Alice finally took her very big exam this past weekend. In an effort to compensate for the dozens of parties and outings and merriment she’s missed since the summer, her fiance had a surprise party (and a clean loft, swoon) waiting for her when she got home. Me? I made cupcakes, carrot cupcakes to be specific because carrot cake is Alice’s favorite. But do you know what I have come to realize about people who say their favorite cake is carrot cake? It’s really the cream cheese frosting (and perhaps the orange and green carrots eloquently piped on top) that they love.
Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie with Caramel and Sea Salt
Bjork has one single specialty when it comes to cooking, and its name is Ze Big Cookie. And yes, you do have to say ze. Bjork’s rules. It’s cookie dough (definitely not homemade) (wait.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups
Soooooo… you know that episode of Sex and the City where Miranda has to dump dish soap on top of chocolate cake just so she will stop eating it?? Uh. Yeeeeeah. These are like… of that caliber. And that totally almost happened to me.
Grown Up S’mores
The man or woman behind the S’more is nothing short of a genius. Seriously, who would have thought to combine a graham cracker, a Hershey bar and some marshmallows? Whomever they were, they knocked it out of the sweet treat park. As with most things I bake or cook, a little something thrown in with an alcohol content, always rings my bell. So when I came across these grown up S’mores in Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth by Jill O’Connor, I pounced on a great new dessert. Seriously pick this book up for anyone, including yourself, with a love of all things sugary and sweet.
Butterbeer Cupcakes
As promised last week, here is another post dedicated to my jaunt to sunny Florida. But instead of featuring their famous fruit, this time I’m focusing one of their famous attractions — The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Last spring we spent our entire trip at Disney World (as evidenced by my Mickey Cupcakes), but since then Universal has opened Harry Potter land, and so Ryan, my brother Scott, and I had a reason to go back in 2011. I’ve always loved Island of Adventures because of their really great roller coasters, but now with this whimsical addition, the park is even more of a “must see” in Orlando. I had seen these cupcakes on Amy Bites before we left, and knew I’d want to give them a try after I had sampled “real” Butterbeer at the park and as a way to celebrate our trip. We really enjoyed their rendition of Diagon Alley and Hogwart’s — the buildings were kind of tilted in towards the walkway so you really felt like you were there.
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
Skinny pumpkin cupcakes, perfect for Halloween parties, Thanksgiving or anytime you want a low fat pumpkin treat. This recipe couldn't be easier, I used a box of Golden Vanilla cake mix, some canned pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and water. No oil, butter or eggs added and the results were amazing! These cupcakes are delicious naked, without frosting, but I thought creating a pumpkin spiced cream cheese frosting would be the perfect topping. If you want to get fancy and pipe it on like I did in the photos, you may have to make a little extra frosting, maybe 1 1/2 batches. But if you are making them for yourself and using spatula to smear some on, the amount listed here will be enough.
Dark Chocolate Mexican Spice Cookies (gf)
2 cups icing sugar, sifted ⅓ cup good quality cocoa, sifted ½ teaspoon each ground cinnamon and allspice pinch cayenne pepper, optional
