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A few weeks ago, I made a whole batch of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes for my cousin’s bridal shower. Somewhere in the rush to get them done along with a batch for the Share Our Strength’s blogger bake sale, I did not leave enough for V to enjoy. Oops! So I promised him we would [...]
The weather’s been pretty weird huh? Warm and cold, warm and cold, cold and rainy, warm and rainy. It seems our first heat wave is arriving this week in the northeast so maybe summer is finally here? I’ve put together a short list of summer recipes from the blog archives. I hope you find it [...]
I needed to make a carrot birthday cake over the weekend and had very little time to mess around with a recipe. So I went straight to what I think is a pretty reliable source for some good basic recipes- King Arthur Flour. I was right. This cake turned out fabulous and I highly recommend [...]
After a long bike ride this morning, I came home feeling more energized and motivated. So I finally picked up and started reading this book that’s been sitting on my coffee table for over a week. I’m glad I finally opened the book. I realized this is no ordinary cookbook! Modern Art Desserts is written [...]
My whole family loves Mexican food. So if there’s ever a reason to have some nachos, margaritas, guacomole, salsa, or whatever else, we are totally in. Cinco de Mayo, another perfect excuse, is coming up! So I thought I’d share with you my favorite Mexican dessert choice- fried ice cream. That got me thinking. Is [...]
This cocktail is so easy and a great alternative to post dinner coffee for entertaining guests. But first, I have some news to share. I’ve started to contribute recipes to a fabulous new recipe site called Food Fanatic. The site is a collection of stories and recipes from some really amazing food bloggers. Each blogger [...]
You might already know that we’re a little almond joy obsessed in this house. We’ve tried out almond joy cake and almond joy brownies. Now it’s time for some mini cheesecakes. The crust is made from almond flour and coconut and the cheesecake layer is blended with coconut flakes and almond slices. It’s all topped off [...]
Today is Holi, an energetic Hindu festival of colors that signifies the arrival of spring. If you’ve ever seen pictures or encountered it, you would see people dancing and throwing colored powder paints and water all over each other. (No really, google it.) It’s quite a mess but so colorful. To celebrate, I had attempted [...]
A few weeks ago, I made molten lava chocolate cakes. As I pulled the last two out of the freezer, I was feeling a little guilty. I confess. I ate them secretly and out of sight from my now gluten free husband. So I decided to make more. This time gluten free. Why not? After [...]
?=3.14=March 14th….It’s Pi Day and yes I’m being a dork today and posting a recipe for a pie. Mini coconut ganache pies to be exact. But I have another good reason for this recipe. You see, S has recently gone gluten free and has a habit of searching the kitchen constantly for snacks. I’ve heard [...]
With no electricity for a week after Hurricane Sandy, I felt like time was stolen away from me. It completely threw me off. What? It’s November already? V didn’t even trick or treat yet! It was only two days ago that I realized Diwali is only days away! I still have presents to buy and cookies to make. I’m keeping my fingers [...]
No doubt, if you regularly read baking blogs you have probably seen an article or two on whether to use rolled fondant or buttercream on your cake. Fondant is a mixture of sugar, glucose and gelatin that is pliable and can be rolled out. Buttercream is a mixture of butter and sugar that you spread [...]
It’s been slow on the blog since we’ve been away many days of summer and spent the last few weeks traveling in Vancouver and Alaska. It’s now September so its back to school and back to routine. I’ve been waiting for the day where I wake up feeling refreshed with a clear mind to start [...]
One of my earliest posts was a recipe on fresh mango cupcakes made vegan. It surprises me that after so many posts, “mango cupcakes” is still the top keyword search that leads people to my blog. Truthfully, I was never really satisfied with that first recipe. The cakes were really moist but reminded me a [...]
If you are a regular reader, you may know that I create a July 4th dessert buffet every year to enjoy as we watch the fireworks over the Hudson. I still have yet to put together ideas for this year’s buffet. However, in the last few weeks, I’ve had numerous emails requesting the recipe for [...]
I think donuts will forever make me think of my dad. My parents use to run a small business and there was (and still is) a Dunkin Donuts right next door. So my dad would pick up a boxed dozen every so often on his way back home. We’d get home from school and there [...]
Well, Memorial Day is here and you know what that means…summer! So I thought it would be great to kick off with a recipe for ice cream. It’s also mango season and I had some mango crazed family over last weekend. I needed a quick dessert addition to my dinner plans so I thought why [...]
Last night I decided I was going to make some chocolate chip muffins . On a whim at the last second I decided to add a little extra flavor with some espresso. So I replaced the milk in my muffin recipe with a cup of strong coffee and added in some instant espresso powder. The [...]
I’m not a huge lover of Indian sweets or mithai, but there are a few exceptions. This one is something my mom made quite often and not one that would pop up in a box of mixed mithai. So to me, this, like her baklava, was unique. I decided that in the spirit of Mother’s [...]
Last weekend was the third annual food blogger bake sale for Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign to end childhood hunger. Food bloggers gathered in various locations across the country to hold bake sales. I was with the team in Westfield, NJ. It was a great success thanks to all the bloggers that made baked goods [...]
I’m picky when it comes to presentation. I keep two rulers right next to all the baking tools in my kitchen drawer because I need to cut my brownies, blondies, scones or whatever into perfect equal shapes. You may recall that I posted about finding the perfect chocolate sprinkles before. So it won’t surprise you that last [...]
Last May I was lucky enough to have participated in an amazing national event. Twenty six separate bake sales took place across the nation on the same day to raise money to support Share Our Strength. Share Our Strength is a national non-profit whose goal is to end childhood hunger. I don’t think I realized how [...]
This is a continuation post of the Almond Joy inspired treats. The brownies were just a side treat but here’s what I did for S’s birthday cake. It’s the richest, softest vanilla cake I’ve ever made. It’s four layers of cake with coconut almond filling, coconut fudge filling, and topped with ganache. I happened to have a can of [...]
As promised in my last post, I’ve brought to you a candy bar inspired recipe. Last week, was S’s birthday, so I started off with his favorite candy bar, Almond Joy, as inspiration. So the first recipe is for these lovely brownies. I was worried at first that the chocolate over powered the coconut flavor [...]
I’m always searching for inspiration. I probably spend more time than I should on places like Foodgawker and Pinterest. But sometimes great inspirations can come from things we’ve had again again, like candy bars! Last week, I wanted to make some desserts for S’s birthday so I thought about candy bars. Almond Joy is one [...]
Searching for inspiration, I asked V what his favorite kind of cake would be. “Vanilla and chocolate mixed mommy”. And so began my search for the perfect marble pound cake recipe. I started with a base recipe from culinary school and my fancy bundt pan. The result? A cake that was way too buttery and [...]
Chocolate babka, a sweet yeasted cake filled with chocolate and cinnamon. It just sounds so delicious. I’ve read about others making it on several blog sites. Quite often the post starts off something like this… “The only reference I have to chocolate babka comes from Seinfeld”….yadda yadda yadda… Well, not to sound like everyone else but [...]
I’ve taking a break from my kitchen this week so there has not been much baking going on here. However, I wanted to share some exciting news with you and wish everyone Happy Holidays. First, I hope everyone had a fabulous week enjoying the holiday season. I certainly did since I was away some place [...]
It’s far from spring cleaning time but I’ve been cleaning and de-cluttering the house for a while now. I figured it’s the best time to make some donations and try to sell off some unused items. Anyways while sifting through various random papers, I came across this recipe for spiced walnuts that I wrote down [...]
Occasionally, I try to fuse Indian flavors into my desserts or turn my traditional Indian recipes into something not so traditional. I’ve never truly loved traditional Indian sweets but I am learning to experiment with flavors more and more. Cardamom has become a favorite. Gnaana is an Indian parenting resource with a great retail site as [...]
I love pumpkin and the smell of apples and cinnamon together. This is what obviously comes to mind when trying to think up a Thanksgiving dessert. But aren’t we forgetting something? There are some gorgeous pears out there right now. So, while I’m not quite ready for my peppermint, I’m saying goodbye to my pumpkins. [...]
For the first time ever, V asked me if we could make some cookies. He almost never expresses any interest in my baked goods. (So odd for a kid, but he does not have much of a sweet tooth.) It was too cute. How could I say no? So we made some cookies together. Sometimes [...]
So it seems the summer escaped from me. I had plans. Lots of plans. But somewhere between MIL’s broken femur, a cousin’s big fat Indian wedding, a visiting cousin, an earthquake, and a hurricane it all got lost. (Ok- I’ll admit the earthquake comment was just for drama. Apparently, NYC did have one but I did [...]
Last weekend, my mom offered me some freshly baked naan khatai. She had made two versions, one that tasted fairly plain and the other with rose essence, cardamom and nutmeg spices. Then she took out a tin of cocoa powder (most likely left there by me or sibling) and asked me what she can do with it. [...]
The last of my husband’s bachelor friends was visiting one day and asked if I had any suggestions for an easy to make dessert. Of course, I had to tease and ask…you mean to impress women? Before I had a chance to answer, our other friend started telling us about how affogato was really simple [...]
Wondering what salt has to do with desserts? An avid baker knows that all dessert dishes have a pinch of salt in them, but that’s not what this is about. Many years ago S and I went to check out Pichet Ong’s restaurant P*ONG in New York City. I chose this restaurant purely based on some [...]
I love my morning coffee and I’m always looking for something to dunk in it. It’s usually my toast. Occasionally, I’ve indulged in some store bought biscotti, but I have yet to find one that I really love. I’ve been meaning to tryout some homemade versions for a while and now I wish I had [...]
I found myself with a ton of left over berries from a very gluttonous Fourth of July weekend. Since berries don’t stay fresh for very long, I thought it would be easiest to just use them up in our daily fruit smoothie. But as I was doing the usual post party refrigerator and bar clean [...]
It’s been too too long since my last post. I’m not even sure how time slipped away like that. Last week was a busy one of planning and prepping a dessert buffet for our annual Fourth of July fireworks viewing party. I truly admire the great bloggers out there that posted a July fourth idea [...]
A few weeks ago, I finally had the opportunity to stop by Levain Bakery in New York City. All I really knew about them is that they were famous for their chocolate chip cookies. I have to admit that these are not your ordinary chocolate chip cookies. For starters, they are jumbo in size- and [...]
This past weekend was Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale. Share Our Strength is a national non-profit working to end childhood hunger in America. Bake sales were held all across the country on Saturday to raise funds and awareness. I was lucky to participate in one after being contacted by Maggy of Three Many [...]
Sauces are an easy way to dress up your main item. They can influence both the taste and look of your plate. They can brighten up the appearance of an otherwise drab main item. While it’s tempting to choose a bright color for contrast, it’s essential to make sure the flavor pairs well with the main item. No matter how [...]
I was originally going to post this for Mother’s Day but it’s been a little hectic. So here I am writing about Mother’s Day even though it’s probably already long forgotten. I wanted to share a few thoughts and give you a recipe for baklava made my mom’s way. What I say here is strictly my opinion and I [...]
It’s been a while, but I’m back for another Monday Musing. I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend, especially all the moms out there. I spent my Saturday shopping with my husband and V, who was running around Williams Sonoma and Crate and Barrel to pick a mother’s day present. Although his dad was trying to guide him [...]
Somewhere between when I started this blog and learning my way around a DSLR and Twitter, I think I lost sight of my original vision. I’ve always loved plating desserts and really wanted to focus on it. So I’ve decided to attempt a blog series, Finale Fridays. I hope to post something related to the art of the [...]
Working with yeast has never been one of my favorite things. Recently I’ve noticed that I’m not alone either. I’ve been reading other blogs and there is a group out there that would rather avoid using it. Makes sense. Yeast is a tricky ingredient and you need a very specific environment for it to work [...]
What’s my most essential dessert making tool? No it’s not the Kitchen Aide stand mixer. The one kitchen tool that I find essential is this little trusty offset spatula. An offset spatula has a metal blade and is attached to the handle with an angle. They come in a variety of sizes, but the little [...]
Where did March go? As always, It feels like I just posted last month’s challenge yesterday. The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. This challenge looked delicious from the [...]
So this post is a little overdue. Last week I posted some links I found for desserts containing Meyer lemons. I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my Meyer lemons. So, of course, I went back to my first instinct which was to make a pound cake. As [...]
Meyer lemons are quite different from true lemons. The skin is thinner and has a slight orange tint. The flavor is sweeter making it perfect for baked goodies. I just picked up a bag during my last Trader Joe’s trip. Now, what should I do with them. Hmmm… Here are some great links I’ve found [...]
