Best Desserts of 2012
With New Year’s Eve drawing near, I started flipping through photos from 2012 to smile at the year’s fun memories. As I scrolled through the albums, I laughed… All of my pictures were of food! (Well okay, except for the summer vacation to Kauai. And the father-daughter trip to Arizona.)
So I can’t exactly share very many memories, seeing as I barely remember lots of them, but I can relive a few of my favorite recipes instead! Continue reading for recipes.
Sprinkle A Little Cheer
I dragged my mom out to Ross in the afternoon on Black Friday, well after the early-morning shoppers had collapsed into their beds for a long nap. As we strode past the perfumes and workout gear, a Christmas display called out my name.
Not one to resist a little holiday cheer, I doubled back to gaze at the goods. As I turned away from the stockings and candles, a muffin pan swayed on the hanging rack as another customer walked past.
This wasn’t just any old muffin pan. No, this was a bright green silicon muffin pan with cups shaped like gingerbread men, stockings, and Christmas trees. Continue reading for recipe.
Blossoming
I am a wallflower. A terrible, terrible wallflower. I stand in the corner by myself and simply smile at people like a mute mime as they brush past me to fill a plate with chips and dip, crackers and cheese, or those little pigs-in-a-blanket concoctions. Since I enjoy those awkward evening oh so much, I usually decline politely and spend the night on my own couch with a slice of chocolate cake instead.
Recently, a group of ladies from work invited me to their Girl’s Night In. Because I barely remembered half of their names, I nearly gave out some late apologetic excuse, but then came the bait that lured me in… Continue reading for recipe.
Two Cakes in One, Twice the Fun!
After presenting Dad with a lemon-lemon bundt cake for four years in a row, I baked him his other favorite cake for his birthday last year, in the form of German-ish chocolate cupcakes. As another year elapsed, I debated over what to make in 2012. Lemon-lemon? German chocolate? Both? Neither?
Dad planned a backpacking trip up in the mountains for his birthday this year, so I had a little extra time to dither over his dessert. After scratching my head long enough to look like Einstein, the light bulb in my head finally flickered on. I would combine the two! Continue reading for recipe.
My Kryptonite
If I were a superhero, I’d be so easy to beat. I have way too many weaknesses: dark chocolate, dangly earrings, Target tank tops, super sales, illustrated cookbooks… A trip to Walmart last month combined the last two, and as I pawed through a bin overflowing with bargain books, I felt my self-restraint shoot straight out the window.
I walked out of the store with two new cookbooks tucked into my bags. At home, I poured over each one, slowly tracing my finger down the list of ingredients and drooling over the full-page photograph accompanying each recipe. I slid scraps of paper between the pages to mark my favorites and scribbled down a grocery list. Continue reading for recipe.
Excited About Elements
I’m a nerd. A really big nerd. And at work, I’m surrounded by other hilarious (and sweet) nerdy people. So last week, I took a little time off to do something else pretty nerdy: I baked the Periodic Table out of cupcakes.
A coworker and I planned the whole dessert months ago. With the cupcakes as the centerpiece of a celebration picnic, we wanted a large variety of flavor combinations, so we chose eight cakes and four frostings: Continue reading for recipe.
(Happy) Birthday
Every year, thousands of parents dim the lights, grab the camera, and stand in front of their child. “Make a wish!” they exclaim before snapping a photo of their kid’s puffed up cheeks blowing out the glowing birthday candles.
I dread this moment. I never know which singing face to look at, so I stare awkwardly at the cake in front of me, outwardly smiling but inwardly sweating.
What should I wish for? Continue reading for recipe.
When You Give a Girl Some Cupcakes, She’s Going to Ask for a Fork to Go With Them…
Last Friday night, my phone buzzed and a text message from my neighbor flashed across the screen:
Hey i wanted 2 thank u for all the treats this year. If ur ever bk in town or so cal give me a ring. Hope u enjoy the cupcakes
Wow, they baked me cupcakes, how sweet! I thought. And how did they know I was craving cake?? Not five minutes earlier, I had decided to walk to Safeway for a slice of chocolate cake with thick fudgy frosting!
When I unlocked the front door, a plain white plastic grocery bag hung swinging from the door handle. I would’ve thought they’d just put them on a paper plate… I peered inside and gasped.
A tin of four gourmet cupcakes. Not one, not two, not three, but four. Expensive lovely cupcakes. Just for me. Aww!! Continue reading.
The Grown-Up Way to Play With Your Food
As a little girl, I stuck raspberries on the tips of my fingers and popped them into my mouth, one by one. They looked like a cross between bumpy red fingernail polish and Mom’s sewing thimble, although I carefully hid from her while eating my fruit fingers to avoid a lecture on not playing with my food. But she must have smiled at my stained fingernails!
When Safeway advertised a two-for-one on raspberries last week, I grew nostalgic as I picked up a couple cartons. Despite avoiding the strong temptation to stick some on my fingers, I still noticed that a chocolate chip fit perfectly into the hole. And the chocolate-stuffed raspberry nestled beautifully into a mini cupcake tin filled with lemon cake batter. And cream cheese tasted delicious with each individual component, so it was natural to use it as a frosting. Continue reading for recipe.
Spirited Sweets
“Trick or treat!” How many times in one night will a seven-year-old shout those three words? If they average around three pieces of candy per house, and they haul in an entire pillowcase full of sweets… Well, that’s a whole lot of doorbells to ring!
We don’t see very many ghosts or witches wandering around our neighborhood. They gravitate more towards the smaller houses that are closer together (less time spent walking between doors!) and away from hilling housing developments or apartment complex stairs. Which takes a lot of the fun out of Halloween—I love seeing their faces light up when I dump a huge handful of candy into their sacks! Continue reading for recipe.
Foods for the Soul 