Frosted Pumpkin Bars

Oh heavens! These are Tasty with a capital "T". I have been craving pumpkin goodies, and as you probably know if you've ever made a pumpkin confection, you always have more pureed pumpkin in a can than you actually need. So you get to make several pumpkin treats. It is a great deal if you ask me. I mean you don't want to waste any food do you? No, that's what I thought.

German Donuts

If you ask any of my uncles what they wish my grandma would make more often, they'd promptly respond "keekles." Also known as fasnachts or Küchle if you're German (or spudnuts if you're an Idahoan), they're basically a donut made from a potato enriched dough. We all have fond memories of fall days at grandma's house with gallons upon gallons of cider and mountains of freshly made keekles rolled in powdered sugar, enough to satisfy the entire Koeberle clan. 

Traditionally these donuts are served on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras), obviously because of all the gluttony they inspire. My grandma's newspaper clipping with the original recipe tells the story of a little girl who ate 15 donuts all in one sitting...her mother encouraged her to repent afterwards, but the girl remained unrepentant, proud even, of her donut binge. Such is the way with keekles. I know from experience (though you might want to ask my sister Kate how she felt after eating 8 before you try it yourself).

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

It's that time of year when we start baking more and more. We use up our supply of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. Our homes smell wonderful and our pants get a little snug. So let it begin with these heavenly Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.

(The little white dots are powdered sugar that I didn't mix in well enough.)

If you LOVE cinnamon rolls as much as me, I imagine that these will enter in your repertoire of great recipes. The taste of pumpkin is quite mild as is the addition of wheat flour. The dough turns out soft, the cinnamon is spicy and delicious, and the topping is ubber rich. Yes, I did love this recipe. Now my only "issue" is that I have a tray of them for my husband and I to eat, or as he suggested perhaps we could share a few (hard for me to let go of homemade cinnamon rolls though). Well, and I guess I do have another "issue". I now have quite a bit of left over pumpkin puree. I suppose I'll just have to make something else delicious today, perhaps something like our Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, Pumpkin Bread, or our Pumpkin Cookies. (A hard decision to be sure.)

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

This is really my last recipe from The All-American Dessert Book. I think I have about 8 posted on our blog--if you haven't realized by now that this is one of my favorite cookbooks ever, I'm going to be direct and just tell you: THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE COOKBOOKS EVER! But I feel a little overzealous having posted all these Nancy Baggett recipes (they're just so good I can't help it), so after today, if you want to try a traditional American delight, you'll have to go buy the book yourself. It's totally worth it.

There. Now that we've gotten that out of the way let me tell you about our recipe today. Whoopie pies are a traditional American treat that all Americans should try if only because 1) they're delicious; 2) they're a part of history! And I love history, especially east coast history; their roots come from New England/Pennsylvania. They're called "whoopie" pies because when the children would see momma laying out these sweet treats, they would shout "Whoopie! Pies!" Or so the story goes.

Peach Day

The peaches around here have been great, and I've still been able to find them fresh at he farmer's markets. I'm hoping the same is true for you since our friend Lindsey has three fantastic peach recipes she's going to share with you today. 

I love fall.  I love going back to school, buying school supplies, feeling the crisp in the air, watching the leaves start to change, eating apples and peaches.  But my favorite thing about fall is "Peach Day."  Or that is what I call it.  Every year I go to Allred Orchards and buy a bushel of peaches.  Peach day really does take the whole day from the time I wake up until when I go to bed.  This year I made freezer peaches, freezer peach jam, and two peach pies.  

After I purchase the peaches I start by blanching the whole bushel.  This is my least favorite part of peach day because it takes forever, it is hot, and makes a huge mess.  By the end of peach day it looks like war has occurred in my kitchen between me and peaches.  First I made fifty bags of freezer peaches.  Once the peaches are frozen, they can be used to make the best peach smoothies, pies, cobbler, or for general snacking. 

Cinnamon Babka

As I sit here trying to decide what to say about this bread, my left hand is sticky with cinnamon-sugar goo (I'm typing one-handed). There's a flaky crumb resting on my shirt. My last bite is a blend of buttery babka mixed with cinnamon goodness. That should really tell you all you need to know about it. But in all honesty, I was a little afraid to share this recipe with you. I was afraid that you would be afraid when you saw how many steps there are, that you'd be deterred by the 3 hours the dough needs to rise. I'm here to tell you to have no fear! It's a lot of waiting, yes, but well worth it. Think cinnamon roll without frosting. Only better.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

When I decided to try out a recipe for a peanut butter and jelly cookie, I didn't want to take any old peanut butter cookie and drop some jam in the middle. I wanted something a little more unique and subtle. I found what I was looking for with Giada. These are chocolate peanut butter cookies with a dollop of (homemade) raspberry jam in the center. In a word, irresistible.

The only downside is that they didn't store as well as some cookies; although I'm a known critic of "old" food (more than 2 days is too old for me!), I thought they lost some of their luster on day 2. Not that you'll have any left at that point, but I wouldn't recommend making a double batch in hopes of passing them out to the kids all week long. Make, eat, and enjoy them while they're warm.

Texas Sheet Cake

Welcome to chaos. That's what I've been thinking the past 24 hours that my entire family, babies, grandparents, in-laws and all, have been gathered at my parents' house. It's not that there are so many of us, but more that we're noisy, opinionated, and always hungry. And boy do we have a serious sweet tooth (sweet teeth? sweet tooths?). Finding a way to satiate said sweet tooth is a lot easier with this cake because it's not a sissy-sized 9 x 13. It's a Texas-sized jumbo cake to feed the masses. So while we debate where to go, when to get up, and what to eat, at least we'll have plenty of sheet cake to munch on.

Peaches with Sweet Basil Syrup

Last night I made the perfect summer dinner. None of the dishes were particularly related to each other, but they were all made with ingredients fresh from the farmer's market, topped with basil and parsley (the only things the squirrels haven't shown interest in) from my garden. For dessert: fresh peaches in a lovely basil-infused syrup, uninhibited by butter or flour. Just peaches as they were meant to be during July, simple and sweet. 

Frozen Brownie Sundaes

Okay, so this post is up a bit late today, but it is NOT too late to make these for your Independence Day celebration tomorrow. And trust me, after being in the scorching sun all day, you are going to WANT something cold and sweet. And this IS your answer. Brownie, Skor bar, ice cream, and strawberry. Seriously, all this in one dessert.

Black and White Angel Food Cake

Yesterday I pulled out the eggs and cracked 12 of them, separated the whites from the yolks, and let the whites stand on my counter for about 45 minutes. I put the yolks in the fridge and they shriveled; guess I should have put them in a Tupperware or something. Oops.  I grated some chocolate and ended up with brown, chocolatey fingers. And then I whipped the eggs into a massive froth. I turned on the oven, yes even in this temperature, and was delighted when I pulled a beautiful cake out 40 minutes later. The hard part was waiting for it to cool enough to glaze it and eat a piece with some cold milk. But it was worth the wait!

Chocolate Sponge Cake

I've made this cake for visitors three times in the past 6 weeks or so, and all of my guests have been suitably impressed (or they were very gracious guests/good liars). And yet it's really quite simple. With only 6 ingredients that I'm sure you have in the cupboard, you could go make it right now if you wanted to. Well, except for the parchment paper. Using parchment paper is pretty much a necessity with this cake. I suppose you could try it with aluminum foil, but I don't really recommend it. Go get some parchment paper and then make this cake and fill it with almost anything: ganache, raspberry jam, chopped strawberries, lemon curd? (I've been thinking about trying that one. Thoughts?), cream cheese frosting (or a mascarpone icing, which I did once and it was fabulous), powdered sugar...let me know if you have any other ideas.

Orange Jello Salad

Yup, it's a classic creamy jello salad. The one that you always laugh about, but when it presents itself at a party always gets gobbled up quickly. If you want to make it look a little fancier go ahead and put some cut fruit on top right before it finishes setting. Yesterday, I decided to make one for my Book Club later in the evening to add to a tropical themed buffet table. I hoped everyone would love it...

Baked Rice Pudding

We didn't eat a lot of rice when I was a kid. Maybe less than once a month. Actually, I think the only time rice ever really made an appearance was in my mom's rice pudding, which I generally associate with our Monday family night desserts and the orangey-brown casserole dish it was always baked in. My momma believed that rice pudding should have lots of cinnamon on top (which often turned into a slightly scary looking but very tasty cinnamon-pudding crust) and be served with a dash of milk and a very large dollop of ice cream. That was dessert rice pudding.

The next morning the same rice pudding suspiciously appeared as our morning meal, but this time without the ice cream. That was breakfast rice pudding. There's a clear difference. I'm surprised you didn't notice how very clear it is.

Snickerdoodles

Cinnamon and sugar coat these sweet cookies. Snickerdoodles are very similar to your basic sugar cookie, only you don't have to go to the arduous trouble of rolling out and cutting dough. 

And although the name has the word "snicker" in it, there are no broken pieces of the popular candy bar in here, just good ole' fashion ingredients like butter, sugar, flour, etc. So where did the funny name come from you ask? Well, here is what I found on wikipedia: The Joy of Cooking claims that snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German wordSchneckennudeln (lit. "snail noodles"), a kind of pastry. A different author suggests that the word "snicker" comes from the German word Schnecke, which describe a snail shape. Yet another hypothesis suggests that the name has no particular meaning or purpose and is simply a whimsically named cookie that originated from a New England tradition of fanciful cookie names.

Rhubarb Crumb Bars

This morning I was dreaming about writing a book called Rhubarb: the Under-appreciated Vegetable Fruit Plant. Luckily, that's as far as a I got, which is a good thing because it's a pretty lame title. It's a plant that can't make up its mind to which culinary variety it belongs; it looks and chops up an awful lot like celery, but is rarely eaten by Americans in anything but pie (though I've been longing to try this savory rhubarb dish). But I happen to love rhubarb. The tartness, the vibrant color, how well it pairs with orange or strawberry, how it feels like early summer when I eat it. 

Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes

Tempted? You should be. These Decadent Cupcakes are just that: supremely decadent or, in regards to food, excessively rich and delicious. Now dicitionary.com defines decadence as: the act or process of falling into an inferior condition or state; deterioration; decay. But I'll choose to ignore that definition and tell you that it also defines decadence as: unrestrained or excessive self-indulgence. Maybe that isn't any more positive? But, I can tell you this- if you make these you will enjoy every minute of their goodness in your mouth.

Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I have been on a quest as of late. A quest I say, to find the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. Thus far I have tried about 4 different recipes. One was a complete, yes, complete failure. They were flat and had way too much butter in them - hard to believe, but it can happen. Kelly, my twolittlechefs cohort, suggested I try the recipe we have on our blog. Naturally I did. And they were quite good. They didn't turn out totally flat and they tasted great. 

Now, before I go any further I must make a confession: I am not much of a chocolate chip cookie fan. Yup, I said it. I know, not very American of me is it, but my half Canadian-half American husband is a big chocolate chip cookie fan. And me, wanting to be a good wifey, needs a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. Me: I'd much rather have PB cookies, or better yet our Oatmeal PB Cookie Sandwiches, but I need a great chocolate chip cookie recipe. And so far, I think this is the best. 

Almond Butter Cookies

I'd like to introduce our very first gluten-free cookie. These lil babies don't have a smidge of anything resembling flour--no gluten free flour, no rice flour, no sorghum or buckwheat flour. And yet they're still a cookie. Or maybe a better name for them would be "almond butter chews." They're really really chewy. But I like that in a cookie.

Dump Cake (Cobbler)

Back and forth, back and forth. I had a hard time deciding if I should post this recipe on our little cooking blog here. Because while it was a tasty treat, I have to admit, it wasn't the best dessert I've ever had, don't get me wrong, it was good, just not the best dessert we've ever posted. But it does have several redeeming qualities.