Posts Tagged ‘dessert’
snickerdoodles
This past weekend was a whirlwind of activity, much of which required favors being received and thank yous being doled out in spades. Buying a couch, borrowing a friend’s truck, asking a neighbor to help move said couch, etc, all warranted more than just a verbal acknowledgment, so I of course baked some delicious treats as an extra thank-you.
Snickerdoodles (which by the way, is the most fun cookie name ever) are one of those easy, but special things to make and eat. You don’t see them often enough at bakeries or coffee shops, despite the fact they’re delicious, simple, and can last for days if properly stored. I had been craving them the past few weeks and then suddenly they popped up in my Martha Stewart Cookie-a-Day newsletter. C’est parfait!
These are insanely good eaten warm so I recommend either eating them fresh from the oven (which believe me, I did… in great quantities) or microwaving the cookies for 15 seconds before devouring. Don’t worry, the amount of fat in the dough prevents them from drying out. It’s a good thing.
salty-sweet marshmallow squares
I feel like I write this a lot on here, but these were a going-away treat for another coworker who left to pursue other ventures. Unlike most of my former coworkers however, Robbie left to pursue something extra awesome: becoming a full-time chocolatier. I found out only in the past couple months after he gave me a sample of his very own single origin bean-to-bar formula, which was delicious and just so, well, cool. People don’t realize just how insanely labor intensive it is to create chocolate – let alone in an apartment kitchen, but Robbie outlines it quite well on his blog, Chocolate Baar.
Baking for someone who creates their own chocolate… well, it’s a little intimidating. You can go two routes – try to be über impressive and froufrou going over the top, or celebrating something simple and classic. Robbie said his favorite things were simple treats, like chocolate chip cookies, so I knew classic was the way to go. And a craving for marshmallow squares sealed the deal.
I jazzed these up by using really, really good chocolate (sadly not Robbie’s – but Askinosie has the same eco-conscious single-origin mindset, which is wonderful) and playing with salty-sweet by sprinkling chopped salted cashews and honey roasted peanuts on top. So I suppose you could say I combined the two previously mentioned categories. It’s a classic simple dessert in a frilly dress, which honestly, are the best kind of treats (in my opinion).
Puffed rice.
banana-peanut butter ‘ice cream’
Some may call this lazy, others (like myself) call it genius.
I saw this on The Kitchn a few days ago, and could not wait to try it. 2-ingredient ice cream you could make and eat within a few hours? Sign me up! All you have to do is chop, freeze, and blend a banana. The natural texture and fat within the fruit lets it blend into a thick, smooth consistency instead of getting crumbly. Stir in some honey roasted peanut butter (ohh, my dearest friend) and you’ve got 2-ingredient ‘ice cream.’
The consistency straight from the blending is like thick soft serve, but you can also freeze it and eat it like normal ice cream too. You can really go nuts with accompaniments (Nutella, chocolate chips, walnuts, etc, spring to mind) so just have fun with it. Plus it can be allergy/lactose/vegan friendly!
Icy bananas.
vegan fig bars
-adjusts sword on my belt-
A challenge has been presented! And when a challenge is presented, I shall answer.
My friend Casey recently complimented my blog, but also lamented the lack of vegan-friendly recipes on my site. I’m not one to lie – I don’t eat vegan and rarely cook that way. If there are any vegan recipes on here, it’s purely coincidental. Until now. I promised Casey I would bake vegan, and now I face the gauntlet with this!
I didn’t want to cop out by saying grilled fruit with soy ice cream or coconut milk based pudding or something easy like that. I also didn’t want something that required a list of weird, hard-to-find substitute ingredients. I wanted to find something delicious to bake and have the treat just happen to be vegan. And here it is. It’s like a fig newton cookie or toaster strudel on crack. A chewy oatmeal crust with a thick and rich filling of dried figs and dates, sweetened with pure maple syrup. Topped with a super easy vanilla glaze, these are the perfect treat to follow dinner, or even start your day with a good cup of coffee. So here’s to you, Casey! I hope you like them.
tuscaloosa tollhouse pie
I’ve lost 2 of my favorite Gingers in the past week. First Conan’s tear-jerking last hurrah on NBC, and then I found out one of my favorite people at work, Chris the resident snarky redhead, was leaving. So of course, I put pastries on the pain. And since Chris probably has the biggest sweet tooth in the building (next to mine), I knew I wanted to bake something pretty over-the-top while hopefully continuing my pie crusade for his goodbye dessert.
And wow, does this cover over-the-top. It’s basically cookie dough pie. With walnuts. And Irish whiskey.
Are you still with me? Good.
This pie is one of those great things you could most likely throw together since the ingredients are all pretty standard baking (and drinking) fare. I keep everything except the walnuts in my baking pantry, and the whiskey I used was actually from a teeny bottle of 12-year-old Jameson my friend Robbie got me while she was interning for Irish parliament (thanks, Robbie!). It comes together incredibly fast which is good because once you taste the filling it will take the hand of God to stop you from eating the rest of it.
So rich and chocolatey and indulgent… it’s got one of those pecan pie-esque ooey gooey sticky fillings, except it’s chocolate and walnuts and… you really, really need to serve this with milk. Or ice cream. Or both. And maybe a gym pass.
Check that pie crust out!
Need I say more?
