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Chocolate Mint Cake with Fresh Mint Buttercream Frosting
I spent the better part of my day in the kitchen today – but some really yummy things came out of it, and so it was work well worth it! I tried two new recipes – this chocolate mint cake and chicken parmesan casserole (I’ll post that next). They both turned out so, so good! This spring, I decided to grow some “easy” herbs – basil, rosemary and mint. So far, so good – it’s all still alive! Until today, I hadn’t used any of the mint and so I’ve been searching for something to do with it. My love for Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies made me naturally think of…
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Brownie Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache
My husband is a chocoholic. The guy loves anything chocolate. So for Father’s Day, I made him the ultimate chocolate dessert – a brownie bundt cake with chocolate ganache. The idea began last night when he was searching for chocolate (to which we only had chocolate ice cream), and he started throwing out chocolate wish-list ideas. “I want chocolate cake… no brownies… no a brownie cake. But not with icing, with ganache!” Viola. A quick Pinterest search and I had a plan for the next day. Brogan decided to help me make the Father’s Day cake – he’s getting good at measuring and stirring, so his assistance is more of a…
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Chocolate Cobbler
I can’t believe I’ve been blogging about food (and my recipes) for 9 months and have not shared chocolate cobbler with everyone. Shame on me. I was inspired to make this dessert 4 or 5 years ago after having something very similar at a restaurant… it was so good that I had to figure out how to make it. Well I found this recipe online (been too long, can’t recall the source) and it is a really good copycat. For a while there, this was my go-to… need a dessert? I’ll bring chocolate cobbler! So nudged by my husband having a chocolate sweet tooth lately and having company over for dinner on Sunday,…
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Mini Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
I felt like baking today and the two brown bananas sitting on my counter prompted me to create these little gems. These cupcakes were another ode to the good ole peanut butter, banana and honey sandwich of my childhood. I opted for mini cupcakes, mainly because I saw some cute little mini cupcake cups at Publix (and bought them, of course). To be honest, I’ve never made mini cupcakes, and thought it would be fun to do something different. Turns out, these cupcakes work perfectly in the mini variety. I know this because I had extra batter (after making 48 little guys) and made 6 standard sized cupcakes. I tried them…
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Chocolate Espresso Cake
Baking sweets is starting to be an every weekend occurrence. Whereas I used to be immune to the smell of something sweet and chocolaty baking in the oven, the sweet tooth I gained with my last pregnancy is still with me. Bummer. I asked Brogan what he wanted to bake today and he said birthday cake. Well, it’s no one’s birthday, so we just made cake. I modified a German Chocolate cake recipe I found in one of Blake’s chefy cookbooks by adding some instant coffee. I once watched an episode of Barefoot Contessa and Ina Garten swore by adding a little instant coffee to chocolate desserts because it would…
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Good ‘ole Chocolate Chip Cookies!
I get so excited when Brogan wants to cook with me, so the other evening when Brogan asked if we could make chocolate chip cookies, I said sure! So I changed dinner plans and made beanie weenies so that we’d have time to bake… it’s just fun to mix it up every once in a while! I got brave with this recipe and decided to make it up on the fly. You see, I started really baking about a year ago, and I had always been curious about the science of baking and unconfident in my abilities to wing it like I can when I’m cooking. But a year’s worth…
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Super Easy Pie Crust (and Pumpkin Pie)
When I found this recipe for pie crust on Pinterest, it seemed too good to be true. You mean to tell me that I can make a pie crust with four ingredients, without rolling it out, in the pie plate?? Why yes. Yes you can. When I first read that this crust was made with oil instead of butter, I was slightly put off. I put butter in everything! But I figured I’d give it a shot. To my pleasant surprise, this crust was good and flakey. To say I’m thrilled about this pie crust would be the understatement of the year. I stopped buying store-bought pie crusts a while…
