Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake Muffins/Cupcakes and Layered Carrot Cake

 

 

Caramel Brownies

Inspired by Smitten Kitchen, these are possibly the best brownies I have made or eaten. I will definitely make these again.

Servings: 72 brownies, 1-1/2-inch squares

Fresh 6 Tbsp. heavy cream 1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, divided, additional for greasing pans 4 eggs

Pantry 6 oz. unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate 3 cups granulated [...]

Browned Butter Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

This is a slight variation on Brown Butter Salted Caramel Cookies, a favorite of some of my colleagues.

Servings: 36 cookies

Fresh 1-1/4 cup (2-1/2 sticks) butter, divided, room temperature 2 eggs 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

Pantry 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided 1/2 cup light brown sugar 2-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, divided 2-3/4 [...]

Shortbread Cookie

This is my first shortbread cookie and I was surprised how easy it was – I will be making this again. It was a perfect accompaniment to a rich chocolate peanut butter ice cream Jim made. Cooks Illustrated provided the base recipe and I made a few adjustments.

Servings: 16

Fresh 14 Tbsp. [...]

White Chocolate Heart Cheesecake

Inspired by a photo from Cooking Classy and always in search of an improved cheesecake recipe, I put together the following recipe with beautiful and delicious results.

Servings: 16 slices

Fresh 6 oz. raspberries 5 Tbsp. butter, additional for greasing the pan 1-1/2 lbs. cream cheese, softened 4 eggs 1/2 tsp. lemon zest [...]

Mardi Gras King Cake

 

Browned Butter Banana Cupcakes

With a few over-ripe bananas, I looked for recipe alternatives to Banana Bread, since I’ve baked a half dozen banana breads in the past month. I found a few recipes on Pinterest and combined to created this banana cupcake with a honey cream frosting.

Servings: 24 cupcakes

Fresh 1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, [...]

Homemade Thin Mints

We were first inspired to make homemade Tagalongs, then we looked for the iconic Girl Scout recipe: Thin Mints. Thin Mints are not as hands-on time consuming as Tagalongs, but there are multiple freezing and chilling steps, so be prepared to dedicate an afternoon to this endeavor.

Servings: 48 cookies

Fresh 1/2 cup [...]

Raspberry – Toasted Walnut Tart

With extra raspberries in the refrigerator, leftover toasted walnuts in the freezer, and a roll of homemade pastry looking for a purpose, I pulled together a quick tart to bring into the office. Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes.

 

Servings: 16

Fresh 1 roll (8 oz.) puff pastry or pie crust for 1 pie 8 [...]

Homemade Oreo Cookies