Quick breads are wonderful to make. They work out great for a variety of occasions… quick breakfast… afternoon tea… last night snack… or even “just because”. They great to eat by yourself and even better to eat with others. Fruity or nutty… sweet, savory or plain… quick breads are terrific. Last weekend I had some ready-to-bake-with bananas and went in search of something other than the standard banana bread. Hey… not that there’s anything wrong with standard banana bread, mind you, I just wanted to bake something different. Am I ever glad I made this recipe because as far as I’m concerned any quick bread that is just as fresh and moist on day 7 as it was on day 2, well, that recipe is definitely a keeper!
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Posted in Chocolate, bread, cinnamon, fruit | 15 Comments »
My Wilton cake decorating course #3 has sadly come to an end and this was the final cake I made for class. Hard to believe that barely a month ago I’d never worked with fondant before and now? Well, all I can say is I just love doing fondant cakes! I started doing cake decorating over ten years ago but it’s just now that I’ve learned fondant techniques. I was so intimidated for sooooooooo long but quite honestly fondant is incredibly versatile, pretty darn forgiving… and a whole lotta fun :) It’s SO much fun that I’m doing my very first giveaway – all with the intended purpose of sharing the fun with one lucky reader!
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Posted in Fondant, cake, giveaways | 126 Comments »
You’ve probably noticed I’ve been on a cherry kick lately. Hope you’re okay with that because it’s not about to end any time soon :) While I’ve made turnovers before, I’ve kinda cheated and used frozen puff-pastry dough. This time I decided to make them totally from scratch… dough and all. If you’ve got cherries – or other fruit – this is one seriously tasty way to put them to good use. Dress them up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream as a dessert or dress them way down with nothing at all (yes, that means nekkid!) as breakfast. Either way, whatever the need, you’ll want to make these!
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Posted in fruit | 7 Comments »
As we near the close of another month that means it’s time for another Daring Bakers reveal. The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network. We had the choice of making one… or both… of the cookie recipes and I chose the Milans. They’re very similar to Pepperidge Farm’s Milanos which are close to being our favorite store-bought cookies so of course I had to make the Milans. Ha!… as if I had a choice! LOL!!
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Posted in Chocolate, cookies, daring bakers | 26 Comments »
As much as I love lemon, I’m always on the lookout for another lemony dessert recipe. And when I can’t really find one… I make it up! Such is the case with this ice cream recipe. Terrific custard-based lemon ice cream with chopped, macerated, fresh strawberries added in. When strawberries are added to lemonade, they call it “Strawberry Lemonade”… so I decided to name this my recipe for Strawberry Lemonade Ice Cream (please overlook the fact there’s no *lemonade* involved! LOL!).
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Posted in fruit, ice cream, lemon | 10 Comments »
