Desserts

It’s Cookie Season! Rosemary Apricot Oatmeal Cookies

It’s Cookie Season! Rosemary Apricot Oatmeal Cookies

Cookies are everywhere right now. People are gathering for festive neighborhood cookie exchanges and boxes of carefully-curated homemade cookies are being left on doorsteps around the world. There are a lot of cookie cookbooks available at bookstores now, too–The Great Minnesota Cookie Book, King Arthur…

The Cranberry Binge! Orange-Cranberry Bundt Cake

The Cranberry Binge! Orange-Cranberry Bundt Cake

  I know. It’s ANOTHER cranberry recipe. What can I say? I’m on a cranberry binge. It happens.  Maybe this binge is a latent expression of my angst over those many years when that wiggly cranberry-sauce-in-a-can graced our Thanksgiving table–you know, the one with the…

Browned Butter Cranberry and Apple Cake

Browned Butter Cranberry and Apple Cake

This great little cake would look wonderful on your holiday buffet table. It is a Browned Butter Cranberry and Apple Cake. The browned butter is a genius addition to the cake. The whole cranberries in the cake give a surprise burst of tart flavor to…

‘Tis The Season: Banana-Pumpkin Bread

‘Tis The Season: Banana-Pumpkin Bread

OK. We missed it. February 23 was National Banana Bread Day. Bummer. Here’s a way to make up for our banana gaffe–combine bananas with your seasonal pumpkin bread. (National Pumpkin Bread Day was October 30. We missed that one, too.) First commercially imported to the…

Woo-hoo! We’re Six. Join us for a Halvah Blondie.

Woo-hoo! We’re Six. Join us for a Halvah Blondie.

  Six. Years. Old. Who could even imagine it? Won’t you join us for a piece of Salted Halvah Blondie to celebrate Blue Cayenne’s sixth birthday? The birthday cake recipe is  from Claire Saffitz’ Dessert Person cookbook and it is sweet and savory and very…

Plum Tart

Plum Tart

  With fall tiptoeing in, it’s tough to find plums now. Luckily, I was able to find some squishy prune plums at my local Farmers Market. Actually, my Farmers Market is a Middle Eastern market that carries a large array of fruits and vegetables, usually…

Ube Ice Cream: Purple Yams in Your Ice Cream?

Ube Ice Cream: Purple Yams in Your Ice Cream?

Ube, aka purple yam, is a tuber native to the Philippines. It is closely related to the sweet potato. Starchy and sweet, the purple yam is widely used in desserts in the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia, but it can also be served as a…

Vanilla Bliss! Vanilla Raspberry Cake Bars

Vanilla Bliss! Vanilla Raspberry Cake Bars

This is a beautiful little cake cookie whatever–delicious, white chocolatey, and just a wee bit cookie textured. This recipe is an adapted version of the Lemon Vanilla Dream Bars recipe from the great little book Pure Vanilla by Shauna Sever (Amazon).  You will find recipe…

“It’s Not Apricot!”  Fruit Galette

“It’s Not Apricot!” Fruit Galette

I’ve told you before how I feel about stone fruits. They rock my world. But, alas, the season is coming to an abrupt end and I find myself scouring the produce aisles of my local markets for the last stone fruits of the season. I’m…

Apricot Upside-Down Cake

Apricot Upside-Down Cake

I’m pretty sure that Marie Antoinette had THIS Apricot Upside-Down Cake in mind when she said “Let them eat cake.” It’s to die for.   Here’s the recipe:   This recipe is adapted from a Vallery Lomas recipe in The New York Times. You can…