Follow along as I document my adventures in baking. I hope it inspires you to try something new.
Thanks for visiting,
Sarah
All tagged Easy
This beauty is an easy poppy seed almond cake with a light, brushed-on, citrus glaze. Just beat together the wet ingredients, beat in the dry ingredients and pour it in the pan. It came out light, moist (sorry), flavorful and delicious. I'll definitely make this one again. And really, any activity that ends in fabulous cake is a good activity, yes?
All the best flavors of fall go into this wholesome whole wheat, slightly sweet focaccia. Juicy in-season pears, rosemary infused olive oil, earthy walnuts, a touch of cinnamon. Enjoy it on its own or as part of a rustic cheese platter.
These tequila and Grand Marnier infused bars are a creamy, salty, boozy, citrusy treat that you keep in the freezer until you're ready to dig in. They're obviously an ideal spring/summer indulgence, but I'm sure would be appreciated on any bright, sunny day. I mean, is there ever a bad time for a Margarita?
Panna Cotta on it's own is a simple and lovely, honey-flavored milk custard. But a mellow lemon curd is a beautiful accompaniment. It adds brightness and another level of flavor.
For Valentines Day this year I made an attempt at recreating a first date meal with a decadent, cheddar whisky fondue and homemade delicious, buttery soft and chewy garlic breadsticks. (
Coconuty, cardamom spiced rice pudding that’s sweet, rich, and creamy and with chopped dried dates and apricots dotted throughout, you experience different flavors in every bite.
Crisp-on-the-edges, soft-and-chewy-in-the-middle peanut butter cookies. The waffle cones add crunch and a toasty, almost toffee-like flavor, and the yogurt covered pretzels add a slight salty/sweet tang. The yogurt pretzel coating caramelizes in the oven adding an additional depth of flavor and crispy outer cookie edges. This cookie definitely passed the "do I want to immediately grab another one" test.
Crisp pastry filled with raspberry jam, bittersweet chocolate, toasted pecans, and diced dried cranberries. I made this raspberry rugelach recipe from New York Times Cooking last year and fell in love with the sweet, bite size treats.
Gorgeously spiced gingerbread cookies sweetened with brown sugar and molasses so they have a little bit of a chew to them. Delicious. You’ll definitely have trouble stopping at one!
Fresh from the oven, I kind of wanted to call these Ginger Chocolate Cookies, but once cooled, the chocolatey flavor started to shine and the wonderful warmth and chewiness from the molasses came out, so I guess we’ll go with the author’s original name for them: Chocolate Molasses Cookies! Whatever you call them, they’re scrumptious, bold in flavor and perfect for holiday cookie gifting - if you can bear to give them away!
A friend introduced me to these orange Citrus Shortbread Cookies during our cookie baking party last Christmas. And even though I was sent home with quite a few, I loved them so much that I made more to include in my holiday gift baskets. The bright citrus flavor of these buttery, crumbly cookies is to die for.
These Pecan Shortbread Bars have that sweet and salty thing going that I can’t get enough of. The maple and brown sugar coated pecans are layered right on top of a thin, buttery, pat-in-pan shortbread crust for all the flavors of a pecan pie in an easier to execute form.
Rich, crisp, and chocolatey, around 19 spare seems about right to me. With espresso powder, chopped chocolate and hazelnuts mixed into the batter they hold their own when paired with a strong cup of coffee or latte.
Not quite a blondie, not quite a cake, but tender, chocolatey, with a little crunch from the pecans and full of warm fall flavors. These pumpkin bars are an easy, stir-together recipe, no mixer or beaters required.
I’m so glad that I hopped onto the Apple Cider Doughnut bandwagon this fall! This baked doughnut version have that sweet/tart thing going on - tart from boiled apple cider balanced by a classic crunchy sweet cinnamon sugar coating. Tender and satisfying, they’re best when warm straight from the oven. Yum.
Happy Halloween! To celebrate, I made this Pumpkin Roll Cake filled with a decadent cream cheese filling accompanied by little homemade Peanut Butter Candy Pumpkins. Pumpkin and cream cheese is a classic combination with the sweet, tanginess of the filling complimenting the spiced cake. I put this cake in a Halloween setting, but it would be great alternative to pumpkin pie at your Thanksgiving table. Maybe just leave out the jack-o-lantern :)
A little chew, a little crunch, and a whole lotta pumpkin spice make these the ultimate fall chocolate chip cookie. They’re packed with rolled oats, toasted pumpkin seeds, chocolate chips and pumpkin (of course), and sweetened with brown sugar and maple syrup. All the autumn goodness.
I love the toasty crunch of pecans and the slight, sweet heat from the mix of warm, fall spices and crystalized ginger in this pumpkin bread. I put together this recipe in an attempt to recreate the one my mom used to make. Somehow we’d never see her making her amazing pumpkin bread, but it would magically appear on fall weekend mornings, beautifully spiced, lightly sweet, and just on the right side of moist. I still like mine for breakfast, spread with a little cream cheese with a strong cup of coffee.
Well, here I am, living up to my previous confession that I can’t resist a recipe with cheese baked into it. This gorgeous pie by Erin Jeanne McDowel has a healthy quantity of cheddar cheese baked into the all-butter pie crust. I mean, how could I let that go unmade? The filling is a simple combination of tangy, smoky roasted tomatoes and corn, studded with spicy scallions and fresh basil. A mouthwatering balance of flavors, and the ultimate transitional meal as we go from summer to fall.
Extra soft and fluffy buns swirled with a decadent, chocolate-tahini filling, then drizzled in a light tahini glaze. My husband (and photographer) Dan took one bite, glanced over at me with a smile, and said “Oh my god”. That made me pretty happy.
