Sweet Nectar(ines) of the Gods

Summer is here and so are delicious nectarines, one of my favorite fruits. In fact, I went a little overboard at the grocery store the other day and came home with a whole bag of them. Not such a bad thing, as it got me thinking about new recipes. Why eat a plain old nectarine when you can have nectarine upside-down cake or nectarines with basil and fried mozzarella? Am I right? Here are some of the ideas I considered whipping up. In the end, my sweet tooth prevailed and I made the upside-down cake. It's absolutely delicious with a scoop or two of Talenti Butter Pecan ice cream. So good!

Fried mozzarella, basil, and balsamic

Upside-down cake

Pancakes. Sweet and simple.

Pizza

Mixology Monday: Key Lime Delight

Here's a fun dessert-inspired cocktail that's sure to please anyone with a sweet tooth. It's called Key Lime Delight and it contains a whipped cream vodka that appears to be quickly gaining popularity among the lady folk. Cheers to Mondays!

Photo courtesy of Smirnoff.com

Key Lime Delight:

1.5 oz. Smirnoff Whipped Cream vodka
0.75 oz simple syrup
3 dashes of orange bitters
A squeeze or two from a fresh lime
Ginger ale

Mix the first four ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake for 30 seconds. Strain into a glass and top with a float of ginger ale.

Valentine's Day Treats

Instead of blowing money on an overpriced restaurant meal last Valentine's Day, I made my husband heart-shaped peanut butter French toast instead. It was a fun way to start the day and I'd love to repeat the experience, though what's the fun in having the same thing again? So I'm on the hunt for something equally fun and delicious to surprise him with this year. Here are some of my favorite treats so far. They all look yummy!

Doily-shaped cheese with Ritz crackers and strawberries

 Heart-shaped Rice Krispies treats

Heart Fruit Kabobs - pineapple, canteloupe, and watermelon.

LOVE pancakes. Easy to do with a batter dispenser. 

Monday Munchies

After a wonderful weekend in Vancouver followed by some time off from blogging and other projects, I feel recharged and ready to jump back into the swing of normal life this week. How about you? 

Here's a fun little snack idea from Mom on Timeout. It calls for refrigerated sugar cookie mix from the store, but I think it would be just as delicious with boxed cookies (iced lemon or maybe even shortbread). Yum!

You can read the full recipe here. 

Caramel From a Crock Pot

Did you know you can make homemade caramel sauce with your crock pot? All you need is a can of condensed milk and water. That's it! Sounds deliciously simple, doesn't it? Head on over to A Geek in Glasses for the full set of super easy instructions.

Candy Cakes

January is a busy month for birthdays in our family and with our oven out of service at the moment, baking cakes isn't an option for creating celebratory sweets.  I got to thinking about alternative solutions and somewhere in my Internet searching, I came across Sweet Servings.  She created a candy cake, you guys! Maybe this kind of thing has been around for a while, but it's news to me. What a neat idea!

The one that Cindy from Sweet Servings created.

Doesn't this candy cake look like fun? I love the addition of noisemakers.

Powdered Sugar & Lace on a Cake

I love this idea from My Two Butterflies for decorating a cake with powdered sugar and lace. If you're low on time it beats frosting a cake, though I suppose if you love frosting this wouldn't be the dessert topper for you. I'm curious if it actually holds or if it blows away the minute you try and cut a piece of cake. Has anyone out there tried this decorating technique before?

Apple Crisp - The Shocking Results

So it turns out that I can cook a pretty delicious apple crisp! As promised, here are the pictures from my little baking adventure yesterday. The apple coring and slicing takes a long time, but it's so worth it. I cranked up the Christmas music, put on an apron and got to work and an hour or so later, I had a warm, gooey dessert that practically changed my life it was so good. Highly recommend this recipe!

It took everything I had not to eat the apples raw like this. Don't they look good?

This is what the crisp looked like just before going into the oven. A whole lotta brown sugar and oats.

The result, fresh out of the oven.  The scoop of vanilla ice cream took me over the edge. Heavenly!

Wicked Witches Legs

I love this Halloween-themed treat idea from Sweetology. It's a simple mix of paper, tape, plastic wrap and Oreo cookies and no baking or glue is required. I love the easy stuff! This idea works across other holidays as well (think: santa boots and red/green Oreos for Christmas treats).

Carrot & Zucchini Bars

I recently came across this delicious recipe for carrot & zucchini bars (hat tip: Feeding My Temple) and it brought me right back to my childhood. When I was younger, I lived across the street from a woman who loved to bake and zucchini bread was one of her staples. It was amazing!  What I love about this particular recipe is that it has zucchini AND carrots - lots of vegetables in a dessert? Brilliant.

The Secret to Perfectly Layered Cakes

I've always wondered who has the time to make beautiful layered cakes like the one below. It looks like a lot of work. BUT, now I know the secret - the Piece of Cake Layer Slicing Kit. Brilliant!

Mmm... layered cake!

The World's Most Expensive Cupcake

They call it The Golden Phoenix and it hails from a bakery in Dubai. It's made from the world's finest chocolate and real, edible gold flakes and goes for the shocking price of $1,050! Can you imagine?

You can see how it's made here.

The Perfect Brunch Food?

A week ago, I had myself a little baking extravaganza that resulted in a chocolate bourbon pecan tart and something equally drool-worthy called orange marmalade bread pudding. Sounds delicious, right? Some tempting photos are below. Here's how it's made:

Make sure you have:

• 1 loaf of challah or egg bread sliced into 12 pieces
• 6 tbsp of unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 3/4 cups of whole milk
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup orange marmalade
• Whipped cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously butter a 9"x11" baking dish.

Spread the challah slices evenly with the butter. Cut the slices crosswise in half and lay in the baking dish so they overlap slightly.

In a bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, milk, cream, sugar, salt, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. (This will look just like french toast batter). Pour the mixture evenly over the bread and let stand for 30 minutes so the bread soaks it up. Occasionally press down on the bread for added absorption.

Bake the pudding for 30 minutes. While baking, warm the marmalade in a small saucepan over medium to low heat until it liquifies. Remove the pudding from the oven and spread the marmalade sauce over it. Return the dish to the oven and bake until the top is crispy (about 10 more minutes). Remove from oven and let cool. Before serving, add fresh whipped cream.

Fresh out of the oven! Add fresh whipped cream and it tastes like a creamsicle.

A closer look at the texture. It's a creamy, citrus-flavored delight.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Tart Recipe

Instead of doing the outdoor activities we had planned for Saturday, we stayed inside all day due to a horrible, unexpected downpour that lasted for hours. (This is Seattle, after all.)  I was bored so I pulled an old cookbook off the shelf and flipped through it. Several hours later, I ended up with two delicious, fresh-baked desserts, the first of which I'm going to share with you today.

Dark Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Tart

• 1/3 cup of dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup of light corn syrup
• 2 tbsp of flour
• 2 large eggs, 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tbsp good quality bourbon
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups of pecan halves
• 1/3 cup of dark chocolate chips
• Pillsbury pre-made pie dough crust
• Whipped cream for garnish

Roll out the pie crust and line a 10 inch, greased tart pan with it. Arrange pecans over the crust.  Chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

In a bowl, whisk together the sugars, corn syrup, flour, salt, whole eggs, egg yolk, bourbon, vanilla, dark chocolate and melted butter.  Once mixed, pour over pecans and pie crust. Place in oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until mixture is puffed, brown and bubbling. Serve with heaping dollops of whipped cream. 

This dessert goes down well with a small glass of bourbon after dinner, but it's versatile and could also be served as a brunch accompaniment or an afternoon snack with coffee. There's three great reasons to eat more pie! 

I laid the pecans carefully on top of the crust in a circular pattern. 

Fresh out of the oven. Not bad! The whole house smelled wonderful.

My first sampling of the finished product... followed by a second, and maybe third sampling? Baking is dangerous!

Mini Blueberry Tarts

You may have noticed the absence of blog posts recently. Based on how sick I've been the last few days, you'd think I caught SARS or something equally life-threatening. Thankfully, it's just a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad cold and I'm finally starting to feel better! 

Now... where were we? Ah yes, inspirational things. Like this miniature blueberry tart. Doesn't it look refreshing? It's so compact and cute, perfect for a summer patio party and festive enough for something like a 4th of July celebration. You can get the full recipe at Baking with Blondie. 

Oreo Pudding Pie

Doesn't this dessert from Lil' Luna look delicious?  The combination of Oreo cookies and white chocolate pudding has me drooling!

Celebrating Spring

Since today is the first day of spring (goodbye, winter!), I'm feeling inspired to celebrate with something sweet.  Of course it's always a good time for sweets, right?

1. Frosted sugar cookies - Mrs. Fields
2. Robin's nest brownies - photo courtesy of The Naptime Chef
3. Bunny cupcakes -  Mom Logic
4. Terra cotta cupcake pots - Frog Prince Paperie

Happy 100th Birthday, Oreo Cookies!

The Oreo cookie turns 100 years old tomorrow! 

To celebrate this birthday milestone, Kraft will be releasing a limited-edition cookie filled with colorful birthday cake sprinkles.  If you're one of Oreo's 23 million Facebook fans (what a reach!), then you no doubt already know this special cookie will be hitting grocery store shelves very soon.

Happy dunking!

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Pecan Streusel

Over the holidays, I was given a cookbook called Home Baked Comfort, by Kim Laidlaw.  If you love baked goods and you don't already have this one, I highly recommend you run out and get it. It has the most wonderful recipes for unique desserts like whoopie pies with salted dulce de leche, plum upside down cake and apricot pistachio tarts.  I'm drooling already.

Last night I took a stab at pumpkin coffee cake with brown sugar pecan streusel. The full recipe can be found here.

Freshly glazed and still warm from the oven

The results of my taste testing.  "I'll just have a small bite" turned into
"I'll have a big slice."  Easy to do with this recipe!  

Here's the cookbook - go out and get it!

Donut Snowman Treat

I love this idea for a snowman treat from A Little Tipsy. I would never think to put donuts on a stick, but it works! The mini chocolate chips, candies and green licorice are a nice touch too. I'd probably use an orange gum drop for the nose versus using an actual carrot (not sure kids will eat carrots with donuts?), but other than that I think this sweet treat is a winner!