Follow along as I document my adventures in baking. I hope it inspires you to try something new.
Thanks for visiting,
Sarah
This is a fun and easy no-recipe, recipe for Frozen Bon Bons: creamy balls of ice cream with a sweet or salty crunchy coating. Pile them high in a parfait glass or pop them on some sticks and hand them out grateful friends and family.
Paris Brest is a decadent French pastry made from the same crisp, pâte à choux dough as cream puffs, generously filled with a luxurious hazelnut praline cream. They are defined by their circular shape, reminiscent of a bicycle wheel.
A Mille-Feuille recipe designed for home bakers. Make crisp, buttery pastry layered with a luscious vanilla diplomat cream at home with step-by-step instructions.
I know cookie lists usually come out at holiday time, but I happen to love a good cookie any time of year, don’t you? And while I love a good chocolate chip cookie as much as the next gal, the internet is bursting with mouth-watering ideas for cookies of all kinds, so I’m here with some non-chocolate-chip-cookie cookie inspiration for your weekend baking. This list has 6 (really 7) of my favorites from the last year.
Soft, buttery burger or sandwich buns. Give these a try, and I promise you’ll never go back to the grocery store variety. Get the recipe.
Sometimes simple is best. A little lemon zest, a little vanilla, a little powdered sugar. These light, cake-like cookies don’t need to be “extra" to be incredible.
This cool and creamy tart is an elegant dessert that offers a little something for everyone. Sweet, juicy berries and a vanilla cream cheese filling are surrounded by a buttery, crumbly, chocolate crust satisfying both fruit lovers and chocolate fanatics alike. The color combination makes this perfect for your Fourth of July backyard picnic.
With sharp cheddar, spicy scallions and jalapeño, these savory corn muffins deliver high-impact flavor in every bite.
This simple, beautiful cake is ideal for those spring or summer nights when you want to delight family or friends with a surprise weeknight dessert. It comes together quickly and no fancy equipment is needed - just a whisk. The lemon is allowed to really shine thanks to the light flavor of ricotta and restrained amount of sugar.
Orange Cream Scones are the ultimate weekend comfort food. Perfect when you’re craving something a bit "extra" but not extra-effort. I love the simple joy of breaking them apart and letting them melt in my mouth. Cream scones flaky, tender and a little less crumbly than butter scones. I know you’ll love them as much as I do.
These Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Sandwiches are everything you love about the classic, homey Strawberry Shortcake: that magical combo of a buttery baked good, fresh strawberries, and whipped cream all bundled together in three cool, creamy bites.
An easy recipe for crispy, buttery, Blueberry Hand Pies. A classic summer treat.
I have trouble scrolling past any cheese filled bread recipe that pops up in my feed. Gruyere Spiral Loaves? Went out and bought gruyere immediately. Parmesan Shortbread Crackers? Ate them all. Cheesy Gougeres? Mais bien sur. You too? Then you might want to check out the Savory Babka recipe by Melissa Clark for New York Times Cooking. Buttery brioche dough is swirled with a savory mixture of ricotta, parmesan, garlic, scallion, and finely chopped fresh basil. I opted for the olive option (kalamata) rather than the bacon. The smell wafting from the oven alone was enough to spark joy.
My Apricot Pistachio no-churn ice cream is more of a grown up frozen custard – not too sweet, with a hint of spicy heat from candied ginger. Juices from the apricots are whipped in to the base, then it’s swirled with loads of buttery pistachios and chopped fresh apricots so there’s a bountiful mix of flavors in every creamy spoonful.
Here’s a perfectly sized little Apricot Ginger Upside Down Cake designed for those days when you have cake cravings but don’t want to end up with a bunch of leftovers staring at you all week. This 6-inch number is crowned with a pinwheel of caramelized apricot slices and hidden diced candied ginger for that surprise bit of sweet heat when you take your first bite. The brown sugar and buttermilk cake has a melt-in-your-mouth texture, and is sweet and tart and spicy and fruity all at once.
This week started off with the Memorial Day holiday which signals the start of summer here in the U.S. and it’s also “retro dessert" week in my bakeoff group, so I chose a classic Strawberry Shortcake to celebrate both. Nothing says summertime to me like a pile of juicy strawberries and whipped cream.
These easy, almost no-bake apricot almond granola bars are everything I wish the store bought varieties were: nutty, chewy, full of fruit and flavor. And with no refined sugar it’s even a healthy-ish snack. The light sprinkling of dark chocolate on top really brings out the apricot and ties it all together.
Blueberry Panna Cotta is a gorgeous custard, both in presentation and flavor. It’s easy to put together and ideal during the summer when blueberries are in season and there’s little interest in turning the oven on. Even though the blueberries pack a visual punch, the taste is mellow and complements the more traditional honey-vanilla notes beautifully. Be sure to sample your blueberries first to ensure they are nice and sweet before starting the recipe.
I love the combination of strawberry and orange in this chia seed pudding. Strawberries can be wonderfully sweet on their own, but the citrus brightens them up and adds a little complexity to an otherwise simple pudding. The layer of strawberry sauce makes these pretty enough to serve for a Sunday brunch, and since you make them ahead, all you have to do is garnish them when serving. They can easily be made vegan by using almond or coconut yogurt.
Well, yes of course there are some bars missing from that wire rack. That’s how I know that these oatmeal bars are ooey and gooey and lick-your-fingers chocolatey leaving you reaching for another. I mean, I knew they’d be amazing going in just given the ingredient list. Old fashioned oats, bittersweet chocolate, peanut butter, brown sugar…how can you go wrong? The nutty, old fashioned oats separate these from a blondie and give them an amazing chewy texture.
