There are some recipes that are so ingrained in the family history we don’t mess with them at all, well, at least not much… My mom, my daughter, and my niece all list angel food cake as their favorite, a it is often a birthday cake request. My granddaughter’s birthday is two days before my…
Category: Desserts
Fresh Mandarin Orange Upside Down Cornmeal Cake
What fun, to cook fruit on the bottom of a cake in a light caramel, then invert it to show it off! I accidentally ended up with a large sack of fresh Mandarin oranges recently. The oranges were beautiful! Organically grown in the US, I knew they would have lovely flavor and I was right….
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Love Your Heart Chocolate Pudding
You don’t have to compromise flavor to make a delicious chocolate dessert that is heart healthy and still says “I love you!” It’s fun to make a special treat on Valentine’s Day, but sometimes dietary restrictions can leave you scratching your head to make a dessert that is both delicious and healthful. After my husband’s heart…
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Right Now, the World Needs Apple Crisp
And this one’s a blushing delight! You know it’s Autumn when you catch that first whiff of apples cooking, especially apple crisp, and right now, the whole world needs a nice big portion. Irresistible! Who can resist the site, the smell, the texture of the crispy top, and spicy softened apples? In this version, I’ve…
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Grilled Peaches with Ginger Rum Sauce
It’s Peach Season and we simply can’t get enough! This is the week when it seems we have every wonderful local fruit possible. Muskmelons, blueberries and raspberries, tasty apples, plums, and the show-off of the season – fresh, juicy peaches. I stopped at the farm stand and smelled the peaches the second I walked through…
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Strawberry Orange Crêpes with Nutella Sauce
Strawberries, chocolate, hazelnut, and a hint of orange make this a memorable breakfast. My guests at the inn always loved crêpes, any kind of crêpe, sweet or savory. When it is strawberry season, and they are starting their annual bounty so nothing else will do, of course. It’s a show-off kind of breakfast that is remarkably…
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Lemon “Half a Pound” Cake with White Chocolate Frosting
Our family loves anything lemon! The more lemon the better. So, a birthday cake for my granddaughter this week featured lemon in several ways! I have often turned my mother’s pound cake recipe into a lemon pound cake, so delicious, but it does make a lot. For smaller gatherings, a half a recipe makes a…
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Irish Cream Cheesecake, dairy free
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Although the March Winds are blowing and the temperatures below freezing, we had several glorious days last week where it felt like spring and we could enjoy being outside in our shirtsleeves. So fleeting these delights! Once I heard the forecast of possible 60 degrees, it took me about one minute…
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Dark Chocolate Truffle Tart
You’ll want to make this one again and again, I have! This is one of my favorite go-to desserts, especially if I’m bringing a dessert to an event or entertaining –– it makes a lot! A simple but decadent chocolate dessert, just give yourself plenty of time and start early in the day. Actual hands-on…
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Christmas Clementine Cake
Eat this orange cake plain, or pretty it up, it’s up to you. Added bonus, this is also gluten- and dairy-free.
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Snow Day Ginger Spice Cookies
My cookie-baking ritual begins with brewing my little pot of stove-top espresso. I’ll use just a little for my ginger cookie recipe, and the rest is my own little treat. I need a treat too because my confession is that unless I am making them with a kid, I really don’t like baking cookies.
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Sylvia’s Sour Cream Coconut Coffee Cake
There is good news and bad news. The good news is that the cake is absolutely delicious! The crumb was tender and smooth, the cake moist and flavorful. The bad news, for me at least, is that it tastes nothing like mother’s!
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Nantucket Cranberry Pie
Tart and tangy, sweet and satisfying. This pie is easy to make, and can easily move from everyday to holiday dinner dessert. We love our cranberries in New England. Their pop of tartness and vibrant red color move from sweet to savory with ease. What would the Thanksgiving table be without cranberry sauce or relish?…
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Cranberry Butter Rum Apples Baked in Cider
It’s apple harvest time, and our county has some of the best in the world! We enjoy apples fresh from the tree, applesauce, apple muffins, apple cakes and bread. Baked apples are a special treat, and in our home they hold lots of memories of making them together. Of course, there are so many ways…
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Apple Crisp Muffins
What’s better than an apple muffin? How about one topped with apple crisp? Everyone loves the crispy part of the apple crisp the best, so why not let it rest on a muffin instead of a pan of apple slices? These muffins have lots of apple flavor, but if you want to add even more, soak the raisins or cranberries…
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Cornmeal Cake with Plums and Rosemary
It’s a great year for plums, and these sweet treasurers pair well with Rosemary and orange in this cornmeal dessert. I found a beautiful mixed box of plums at a local farm stand recently, and every variety and color was delicious! Sweet, juicy, plump, and tangy! It certainly seems to be a good year for plums,…
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Lemon and Lavender Shortbread Cookies
Shortbread cookies are simple and delicious. With the addition of just a few things, they are all ready for a party. Planning for a Zoom baby shower, I was looking for a treat for us all to share together since we would not be physically present. I decided a shortbread cookie would be tasty, and…
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Peach and Raspberry Crisp
A couple touches of ginger make this seasonal treat just a bit different! These are the moments in the New England summer when we think we have everything we could possibly want. There’s corn and tomatoes in abundance, just about every other vegetable, so many treasures it is hard to find enough meals to squeeze…
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Mixed Berry Clafoutis
It’s a baked pancake, but more custardy, not quite a flan but kind of, and in a class of its own. Although traditionally the French dessert clafoutis is made with cherries, you can use any fruit you like. It is also delicious using a mix of berries, and since we are at the peak of…
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Very Berry Coffee Cake
The berries are everywhere, and we never run out of recipes using these treasurers. The grandkids and I joke that sometimes the berries don’t make it all the way home, so we have to buy double! My mom loved making coffee cakes, usually simple recipes with a light streusel topping. She made these little cakes…
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Blueberry and Orange Slump
Sometimes it’s called a slump, sometimes it’s called a grunt, but silly name aside, this New England classic is a quick and easy blueberry dessert made on top of the stove. Blueberry season has arrived in Southern Vermont and that means high summer! What could be better than a blueberry plucked fresh and popped in…
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Cherry & Ginger Squares
The cherries are here! Let’s bake something. We wait all year, and it all starts to happen at once. Fruit treasures in Vermont are fleeting, precious jewels! We watch the rhubarb plants grow, and then the strawberries appear. While they are still coming strong, the cherries make their appearance and fruit desserts are just a…
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Brandied Cherries
A perfect cherry suspended in a spiced brandy. These treasures will delight all year long, and they are one of the easiest kitchen gifts to make! Local is always best, of course Make these when local cherries are ripe, firm, and beautifully colored. If you can get them, try using a mix of sour and…
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Strawberry and Rose Crêpe Tower
A festive take on a strawberry Crêpe. My garden roses are blooming like crazy, and I’m always inspired by their fragrance to create something special in the kitchen. This year, I decided that since the strawberries are so wonderful, I would start there, with roses, their late spring friend, providing the accent. People love crêpes,…
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Mom’s Mayonnaise Cake, with a Twist
It’s a simple cake, no fuss and no frills. Quick to put together, and filled with memories. Once in a while, after school, if we were lucky, we found a chocolate mayonnaise cake waiting for us. We needed a treat this week, so I revisited this old recipe, which I’m sure was a standard in…
