Recipes

National Donut Day.

Guys! It’s National Donut Day! Why didn’t I take the day off of work to celebrate? Silly me! I’ll celebrate this momentous occasion by rounding up three of my favorite mini-donut recipes from blog posts of the past — hope you enjoy some of my favorite sweet treats today and celebrate too!

  • Apple Cider Donut Cupcakes. These are addictive, and what I would consider my favorite Fall donut recipe (that’s a thing, right?).
  • Donut S’mores Pops. I’m a genius for dunking chocolate mini donuts into melted marshmallows and crumbled graham crackers, right? I’m a MAD genius for then putting them on a popsicle stick and making them into donut-pops.
  • Mini-Donut Birthday Cake. I made this for my donut-loving girlfriend for her birthday (a fun story, I thought it would be a great idea to carry this cake on my lap in the car ride over to her house without a cake carrier, things almost ended in a major chocolate-covered disaster, but it was delicious nonetheless!)Processed with VSCOcam with f2 presetProcessed with VSCOcam with c1 preset

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Recipes

Funfetti Cheesecake Bites.

I found the most darling sprinkles in the Easter section at Target and had to find a way to use them this weekend (to justify buying another bottle of sprinkles, you know?). I took a classic cheesecake recipe and stirred them into the batter for a funfetti-style look — don’t they look like they’re watercolored on top? I also mixed up the recipe and used gluten free cookies in lieu of a graham cracker crust to make them gluten-free for a few the guests and my in-law’s Easter dinner — a simple swap-out and they tasted nearly the same! And for a festive look I nestled them in some Easter grass on a big serving plate — like little eggs in a basket.

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Recipes

Chocolate Chip Cake.

Do you have one of those family recipes that is a given menu item at every gathering? My husband’s family always makes a special chocolate cake with chocolate sauce, our neighbors growing up always served rice krispy treats at every birthday party, and at our house that dessert item is Chocolate Chip Cake. This cake is the one that gets requested by everyone for their birthdays, and it’s such a crowd-pleaser. I think the sour cream batter is what makes it so addictive. It’s one of the recipes that’s been around forever — so long in fact that I wasn’t even sure where it came from. I had to call my mom, who in turn had to call my grandmother to find out. It turns out it was from a neighbor of my grandparents who made the cake for parties, no frosting meant it was less messy for the kids! And now it’s my turn to pass it along, full recipe below! (PS: see that lovely cake stand pictured? I’m partnering with the fine folks at AHeirloom to give one away on my instagram account this week — be sure to head over to enter to win!)Ingredients:

  • 1 stick of butter at room temperature
  • 1 cup of sugar, plus 1/4 cup for topping
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup of sour cream
  • 2 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 2 cups of flour
  • 1.5 tsp of baking powder
  • 1 tsp of baking soda
  • 1 package of chocolate chips

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • Cream together 1 stick of butter, 1 cup of sugar, and 2 eggs with an electric mixer.
  • Add in 1 cup of sour cream and 2 tsp of vanilla extract, continue to mix together.
  • Sift 2 cups of flour, 1.5 tsp of baking powder, and 1 tsp of baking soda; stir dry mixture into wet ingredients.
  • Pour half of the batter into a 9×13 baking dish and then layer half of the chocolate chips on top.
  • Add second half of batter and top with the rest of the chocolate chips. Sprinkle the top with 1/4 of sugar.
  • Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, let the cake cool before cutting.

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Recipes

Movie Theater Candy Cookies.

I needed a sweet treat to snack on during the Oscars and thought I’d have a little fun updating a classic: the chocolate chip cookie. Martha Stewart’s soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe is just about the most perfect cookie specimen there is, but I couldn’t help but mix it up for the biggest movie night of the year with some movie theater candy. I followed the original recipe, and then swapped out the chocolate chips for a mixture of M&Ms, Reese’s Pieces, and Raisnets. Spoiler alert: they were crazy tasty. I’m thinking these will be an annual Oscars night staple!

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Recipes

Neapolitan Rice Krispy Treats.

Do you have one of those recipes in your back pocket that works for just about any occasion? Mine is so simple it’s almost embarrassing: Rice Krispy Treats! It’s the one thing that I always get asked to make for friends’ parties. For a recent holiday party I decided to add a fresh twist to my classic recipe and make a Neapolitan version with classic flavor layers of chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice cream. It takes just a simple modification of the  traditional Rice Krispy Treat recipe, full instructions below:

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Following the traditional instructions to make Rice Krispy Treats, prepare the ingredients and press a layer of the classic flavor into a lightly greased baking pan. Work quickly to add the next layer so they don’t cool too much — the strawberry layer is exactly the same recipe as the classic Rice Kripy Treat, but when you’re melting the butter and marshmallows together you want to add in 4 drops of pink food coloring and 1 tsp of strawberry extract (you can usually find these near the vanilla extract in the baking aisle!). Press the strawberry mixture directly on top of the classic layer. Next, make the chocolate layer with the same classic recipe, but mix in Cocoa Krispies in lieu of Rice Krispies. Then, pour the Cocoa mixture on top of the Strawberry layer and cover with a large piece of parchment paper. Use a rolling-pin to roll over the parchment paper and press the layers down. Set them aside and let cool completely to solidify. When you’re ready to serve them, flip the baking dish upside down with the parchment paper on the table, slowly lift the dish up and reveal the compressed layers. All that’s left to do is to cut them up into squares with a serrated knife, and try not to eat them all in one sitting!

Recipes

Apple Cider Donut Cupcakes.

Ready for this little sweet-treat mash-up? I was scheming up something to bring to a birthday party this weekend and saw The Faux Martha’s recipe for apple cider baked donuts.  I wanted to try the recipe out so I decided to make a batch of mini-donuts and pop them on top of classic vanilla cupcakes (I used a box mix for those, no judging!). In case you were curious if topping cupcakes with donuts was a good idea, let me tell you: it was a great idea. And a few leftover donuts for breakfast the day after weren’t too bad either. IMG_4673.JPGIMG_4678.JPGIMG_4680.JPGIMG_4677.JPG

Recipes

4th of July Weekend.

This was one of those weekends where I totally forgot to break out my real camera because I was too busy having fun. Hurricane Arthur did little to deter my patriotic celebrations — I went to a friend’s beach house and we had a rainy night in with a lobster dinner, my frozen berry cheesecake jars for dessert, and a whole lot of cards against humanity. Once the weather cleared up we hit the beach for some book reading and sun bathing — it was bliss. I am having some major Monday-blues after such a good long weekend — anyone else? 20140706-200421-72261579.jpg20140706-200423-72263059.jpg20140706-200422-72262320.jpg

 

 

Recipes

Donut S’mores Pops.

I hope you’re sitting down while reading this, because I’m about to share a recipe with you that combine donuts… and s’mores. Yup, you read that right! With National Donut Day later this week, I knew I had to put my thinking cap on to take my love for donuts to the next level.  What I came up with is the easiest of easy recipes with just four tasty ingredients: donuts, marshmallows, graham cracker crumbs, and butter.  I took store-bought mini-chocolate donuts and skewered them with cake-pop sticks. Then I melted about a half a bag of marshmallows with 1 tbsp of butter over low heat (stirring constantly) until it had a smooth consistency. Dunk those chocolate donuts into the melted marshmallows, and then while it’s still hot, dip them into the graham cracker crumbles. Then set them out on a piece of parchment paper until they cool (or feel free to sneak a bite of a hot one, I won’t judge you). How cute is that? I am definitely bringing these to BBQs this summer — it’s a tasty little treat that’s perfect for us city-dwellers that don’t have a fire for s’mores making!

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Recipes

Macarons.

This weekend I tackled a fun item on my 30 before 30 list: baking macarons from scratch! I took a class last summer (and marked that off my list too!) which was super helpful background when trying to recreate them on my own. The verdict: I was 50/50 on macaron success. I made a batch of lemon macarons that were  a bust, they lost their shape and cooked unevenly. But batch #2 — a raspberry macaron with raspberry champagne butter-cream filling — came out great. They weren’t perfect, but they were tasty and looked pretty good! I filled up a footed bowl with them and brought them off to Easter celebrations.

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Recipes

Thankful For Pie.

I got a head start this weekend on holiday baking, who says pies are just for Thanksgiving day? I’m a big of fan of individual-sized desserts (as evidenced here and here), after a heavy meal and lots of snacking, I always still want dessert, but just need a little taste to tie me over. So I made the recipe for classic pumpkin pie (I use a top secret family recipe…the one printed on the Libby’s pumpkin puree can!) and used a mini-muffin tin to bake the ingredients off in bite-sized pies. Mini-pies just weren’t cute enough though, I had to up the adorable factor and  use my alphabet cookie cutters to spell out a little a seasonal message. I think I’m going to do the same thing for Thanksgiving later this week! What kind of recipes are you baking up for the holidays?

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