Chocolate is one of those ingredients, things, flavors, indulgences, aphrodisiacs, that just melts you at the first bite. Maybe it’s a bit of a slower melt if you’re snapping into a 90% dark chocolate bar, but it’s still a melt. Speaking of dark chocolate, that exact nearly-100%-but-not-quite used to be my favorite chocolate – it’s like eating the most decadent slab of dirt. But really, it’s incredible. Don’t just take my word for it, go grab a bar when you’re able to leave the house and stand in line at the grocery store for 45 minutes (worth it). There’s definitely some crazy amazing dark chocolate specifically in Ecuador – ever…
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Gluten Free Toasted Coconut Cupcakes
It’s in weeks like these – stuck at home, always slightly on edge worrying about family members who we may not see for a few more months depending on shelter in place guidance – that the dreaminess of coconut can work some extra magic on our comfort-food-demanding diets. Now, I know coconut can be a divisive topic: texture-wise it’s one of the more controversial dessert ingredients, but you’ve gotta admit, creamy dreamy coconut frosting sounds like the tiny tropical note we need now (unless of course you actually live in a tropical location in which case you might be craving something totally temperate. If so, we’ve SO got you covered…
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Gluten Free Lemon Ricotta Cupcakes
A wise old wizard once said, “happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light,” and that classic Dumbledore quip seems especially pertinent now. These are uncertain, dark times, and it’s imperative that we all remember to turn on the light whenever we can. These gluten free lemon ricotta cupcakes were some of the most fun to make and photograph (and eat, of course) because they really are quite sunny, and in a regularly-gloomy city in a particularly gloomy time, they brought at least a bit of light into my dining room, and to the few friends who got special…
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Gluten Free Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream
For all of you who are staying close to home, for work, for safety, and for social distancing as is our collective responsibility, the days can sometimes stretch into forever as we look out onto quiet streets and wonder when life might inch back towards “normal.” I was feeling this intensely yesterday and really needed something sweet and indulgent to pick me up mid-week and mid-shelter-in-place-slump, so, of course, I turned to baking. Full disclosure – I don’t actually drink coffee (I never have, remarkably), but I LOVE coffee-flavored sweet things. Give me a pint of coffee ice cream or coffee panna cotta or a great coffee flan I had…
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Gingerbread Swiss Roll with Spiced Buttercream
This lovely russet Swiss Roll is a continuation of our Search for Delicious this holiday season, and the desire for soft (not rock-hard) gingerbread dessert items. Instead of heading in the direction of cookie-cutter vaguely-human shapes with limbs that may be harder to break than actual bones, we did a 180 and drafted a gingerbread version of our favorite (if you can’t tell from all of the other similar posts) recipe: the Swiss Roll. If you’re new to the blog, you may want to do a bit of background research on our burgeoning obsession with this light, aesthetically-pleasing sponge cake (see the Pistachio Rose roll, or the Chocolate Coffee roll,…
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Pumpkin Molasses Whoopie Pies
These little clam-like cookie sandwiches are apparently called whoopie pies – and what a delightful name. Upon investigation of the name origin, it seems the Amish were very fond of using up leftover cookie batter (I’ve personally never heard of having leftover anything when baking cookies – it all gets used) and Amish bakers turn the leftover dollops into these cream-filled drops of happiness. The story gets even better, though, because the name Whoopie Pie is said to come from the exclamation of joy each child makes if one of these treats is found in said child’s lunch box. Thanks to the Amish for these things and for Amish children…
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Pumpkin Swiss Roll
Tis the season for all things orange! And get ready for the onslaught of pumpkin recipes (which have undoubtedly already inundated your Instagram feeds, we’re a bit late on our side). Pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies or cakes or muffins have an enduring comfort to them that other baked goods may fall short on. The warmth of the color, quite simply, lends itself to cozy evenings and afternoons or time curled up on the couch next to a fire after a brisk walk down the street to crunch leaves and admire the brilliantly-hued trees. What I would love after such a walk, is to come inside and be met with a…
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Gluten Free Vanilla Almond Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream
Food could sincerely be an entirely new love language. Aside from the other ways people express their affection, making food for that special someone, or someones, is truly one of the greatest pleasures in life. At least for me. It’s a love that was instilled in me and my sister at a very young age by our mother, who takes her southern roots to heart whenever anyone new walks in the door or someone expresses the tiniest hint of hunger. Food is where the home is and where the heart can share its deepest and most inexpressible fondness for others. This gluten free carrot cake is one of those simple,…
