My favorite brownies

Brownies are not my favorite dessert.  If I had to make a top ten list of sweets I love they probably wouldn’t make the list.  But despite that, sometimes I really, really want a brownie.  And whenever that craving hits it’s nice to have this simple, delicious recipe handy.  I’ve tried lots of brownie recipes, but I always come back to this one.  None of the others have been better, and they are frequently more work.  As I’ve mentioned before my boyfriend’s all time favorite dessert is chocolate chip cookies.  In his eyes the only dessert that comes close is these brownies.

Read the rest of this entry »

Good Versus Evil Whoopie Pies

On Sunday night I attended a Lost series finale party with a good versus evil theme.  Originally I’d planned on making Devil’s Food cupcakes and Angel Food cupcakes, but then I saw these whoopie pies in my brand new (and new favorite) cookbook Whoopie Pies.

Half chocolate cake, half vanilla cake, and then dipped in a dark chocolate glaze.  They perfectly fit the theme and tasted delicious.  I did hit one snag when making these:  I misread the recipe for the vanilla whoopies and put baking soda instead of baking powder.  That lead to these…

Read the rest of this entry »

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

I found the recipe for these adorable little cakes on the Coconut and Lime food blog.  I originally noticed this particular recipe because it featured pineapple and I love pineapple, but the reason I decided to make it is because the recipe uses a whole can of pineapple.

The appeal of a recipe that uses a whole can of pineapple may not be obvious, but as a frequent baker I end up with all sorts of containers of various leftover ingredients in my fridge: egg whites, egg yolk, pineapple juice, frosting, cream cheese glaze, dough scraps, chocolate glaze etc.  I put all of these things in little tupperware containers with the intention of using them somehow.  In reality they sit there for weeks (sometimes months) and I give up and throw them away.  The fact that this recipe utilized the whole can of pineapple really appealed to me because I wouldn’t have any leftover pineapple juice to throw away immediately (and feel guilty) or to save (and tie up one of my storage containers).

Read the rest of this entry »

Coconut Chocolate Chip Drop Cookies

Summer is the beginning of one of my favorite outdoor activities, and though there are many,  movies al fresco are top on my list.  Saturday night was the preview showing of “Holy Rollers,” on the lower east side. There was a promise of free Pilsner after the show so I was in. My ride was coming at 6pm and at 5pm I decided I wanted to bake something to bring to the movie. There are quite a few desserts one can easily prepare in an hour’s time with cleanup. Brownies are one, but with a cooking time of 40 minutes and a cooling time of 15, they exceeded my time limit. Rice Krispies treats are a super easy fast option, but i didn’t have the supplies on hand. So chocolate chip cookies sounded like a solid choice.

These cookies were the unfortunate demise of my hand mixer. In some freak cookie batter chocolate chip blending incident there was a snap or bump and the two whisks somehow became entangled with each other. *see unfortunate photographic evidence below. I probably should not have been using wire whisks to blend cookie dough, but one of my other paddles had fallen behind the oven, so I was left with these delicate egg beater things. They were not tested under chunky chocolate chip conditions.

mangled beaters

Read the rest of this entry »

Almond Ring Coffee Cake

Making this Raspberry Braid a few weeks ago was a huge confidence boost for me.  I used to shy away from yeast breads, but now I feel comfortable tackling more complicated recipes.  When I saw this Almond Ring Coffee Cake in the The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book I knew I wanted it to be my next project.

This recipe has a lot of things going for it.  First – it has almond paste.  I’ve recently discovered almond paste and can’t believe how delicious it is.  Second – like the the raspberry braid it features some simple tricks that make the bread look really fancy, but aren’t especially complicated.  Third – it’s an America’s Test Kitchen recipe.  If I’m going to make something that’s time consuming I like some certainty that the recipe is a good one.  America’s Test Kitchen publishes Cooks Illustrated magazine.  They take classic recipes and test them, and test them again, and again, and again until they’re perfect.  Occasionally the recipe will involve some extra steps, but there is a reason for each step.

Read the rest of this entry »

Panettone Bread Pudding

Recently my local supermarket gave out free boxed loaves of panettone in honor of Mother’s Day.  I’ve never had panettone before, but I imagined that it was dry and tasteless considering how long those yellow boxes seem to sit around grocery stores.  I’m pretty sure the reason I received this loaf was because the panettone was left over from the holidays and its July expiration date was rapidly approaching.  I put it on a shelf and decided I’d make bread pudding with it on the next cool evening.

Guess what? Panettone is delicious.  When I was cutting it into cubes I had a nibble.  It was so good that I contemplated not making bread pudding at all and just eating the loaf as toast.  The bread was really sweet and moist and had these amazing pieces of crystallized lemon peel in it.  I should probably be suspicious of how long its shelf life is, but it was really good so I’m not going to question it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Peanut Butter Cup Whoopie Pies

My Nana is the queen of whoopie pies.  She makes huge batches every Christmas and any other time they are requested.  They are requested quite often, because they are SO good.  This past Christmas she substituted her normal vanilla filling with peanut butter and chocolate, and it was a really nice change of pace.

Some important whoopie pie tips from my Nana:

1) Use a cookie scoop.  The size of the scoop isn’t so important – these work as mini or full size whoopie pies – but using the scoop is super important so all of your cakes are the same size.  You’ll also use the same size scoop to get the perfect amount of filling.

2) Individually wrap your pies in plastic wrap.  Whoopie pies are often classified as a cookie, but they are really cake.  They’ll stick together if you don’t wrap them.  I guess you could just put parchment paper between the layers, but the saran wrap serves the dual purpose of helping to keep the cakes moist. Read the rest of this entry »

Walnut Meringue Cookies

A few weeks ago some friends and I went to the Meatball Shop for dinner.  This is a restaurant that only sells – you guessed it – meatballs.  The meatballs were very good, but the ice cream sandwiches that are on the menu for dessert were AMAZING.  The cookies (chocolate chip, brownie, peanut butter, walnut meringue, and gingersnap) and the ice cream (chocolate, vanilla, mint, and caramel) are homemade.  You choose the cookie and ice cream combo of your choice.  I was leaning towards the peanut butter cookie with chocolate ice cream when the waiter recommended the walnut meringue with caramel ice cream.  He explained that he doesn’t usually like meringues, but that this cookie and ice cream combo is something special.  He was right.  I was totally blown away by how good the cookie was.  On the subway ride home I was already planning on attempting my own version. Read the rest of this entry »

‘McQuade’ Banana Bread

I am one of those people who hunts down brown bananas like it’s her job. I look for brown spottiness and mushiness, to me this is a positive trait in a banana because it means delicious banana-y baked goods. Once a banana has reached the dark brown-black mushiness I peel it, ziplock bag it, and freeze it. Once that bag has reached three or four mushy disgusting brown bananas… it is time for some serious banana bread making.

People are very protective of their banana bread recipes. My roommate Stef always recounts the sad tale of the recipe lost in the family move… that has yet to be replaced or recreated. Whenever I make banana bread in the apartment this story comes up again, and we always shed a tear over the bread that will never reach our lips.  This particular recipe I am sharing with all of you has been in my family since the age of 10.  It was published in our Otsego elementary school cookbook submitted by Pamela McQuade, a good friend of my brothers.  To this day we still refer to it as McQuade Banana Bread.

Read the rest of this entry »

Chocolate Sponge Cake with Mixed Berry Mousse

I realize this cake is a hot mess.  The mousse filling wasn’t as stiff as I’d hoped so it ran out of the sides of the cake.  After going up and down four flights of stairs, riding on two trains, and spending an hour out of the refrigerator the cake was an even hotter mess.

Read the rest of this entry »