Desserts

Delightful Peach Pie

As soon as I learned about the Pie Party for July 5th, 2011, I counted myself in and started trying to narrow down my pie-options. The more options I have, the faster I melt into indecision and confoundedness, so I limited myself to summertime essentials which around here runs to blueberries, blackberries, and peaches. Not that we don't absolutely ...

Easy Chocolate Chess Pie

Three words: Chocolate Chess Pie. Add "Easy" to the title because this easy-as-pie pie is a quick, rich, people-pleasing winner. And did I mention "chocolate"? Advice? Make two Chocolate Chess Pies while you're at it, because this recipe doubles up easily, and one Chocolate Chess Pie won't stay around for long! Where did this pie come ...

Southern Chocolate Pound Cake with Chocolate Pecan Icing

Chocolate and pecans: Made for each other, right? My Southern Chocolate Pound Cake delivers delight in every bite, even without this magnificent fudgy-pecan glaze. Enjoy it plain or embellished --- either way, it's do-able pound cake heaven. Valentine's Day Thoughts Flowers, candy, cards, candlelit dinners, chocolate: That's my word-association ...

Chile-Spiked Chocolate Pots: Luscious Easy Dessert from The Chile Pepper Bible

I fell in love with chiles and the heat they bring to the kitchen and the table during my time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. Chile peppers may have originated botanically in my particular portion of the world, but here in the American South, we never did take to them much in terms of everyday cooking. Exceptions abound, particularly in ...

Edna Lewis’s Tyler Pie

Bright and tangy lemon flavor meets luscious Southern chess pie goodness in Edna Lewis's Tyler Pie. Stir it together in a jiffy, and then celebrate Chef Lewis's culinary genius with pie-loving family and friends! Custard meets chess meets lemonade, with luscious results sure to win you all the praise! What is Tyler Pie? Tyler pie hails from ...

Creole Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

When you say "Comfort Food!" I say: Bread Pudding. Make mine New Orleans-style, because the Big Easy is the home of this simple Creole Bread Pudding recipe. How about we let the good times roll, right into your kitchen? Bread Pudding = Simple, Smart, Satisfying, and Sweet Bread pudding is a home-cooking classic, beloved across the USA and ...

Mardi Gras King Cake

Welcome to my home-made Mardi Gras celebration! King Cake helps the good times roll in New Orleans and all the Mardi Gras-celebrating regions. My Mardi Gras King Cake recipe shows you bake up those good times and bring that colorful sweetness into your home kitchen! The City of New Orleans knows how to throw a party, and Mardi Gras is their ...

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Pumpkin Frosting and Spooky Sprinkles #HalloweenTreatsWeek

Halloween calls for treats and goodies, so here's a double-delight from me in cupcake form: My pumpkin spice cupcakes, topped with creamy pumpkin frosting and a confetti of varying spooky-season sprinkles! These are fun to eat, fun to make, and fun to share! This is my second post for #HalloweenTreatsWeek! I received samples from some of the ...

Easy Egg Custard Pie

Scalding the Milk? First pie I ever made, and it still delights me in every way. Scalding the milk is a technique seldom used in today's recipe instructions; it's gone the way of sifting flour and testing cake layers for doneness with a toothpick or a spear of broomstraw. It was part of basic cooking and baking when I took up the art and craft as ...

Easy Buttermilk Pie

Wishing for the rich tangy goodness of cheesecake, but short on time to fuss? My Easy Buttermilk Pie uses only six ingredients, and gets stirred together with a fork. Made in minutes, it's what you need for your Thanksgiving celebration. What is Buttermilk Pie? Buttermilk Pie is an old-timer which was surely edged over to the ...

Summer Berry Trifle #summerdessertweek

Layers of lusciousness, from fine butter cake and juicy berries in syrup to whipped cream, custard, and lots of sweet berry goodness. My Summer Berry Trifle is an easy, endlessly-variable dessert which seems fancy at first glance. In fact, it's more fun than fancy, and here's how to make one you will love! This post and recipe were created for ...

Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Icing / #summerdessertweek

Cupcakes? Always a big "Yes!" because they are: Portable! Hand-Held! Ready-to-share! Colorful! and cupcakes say "Celebrate!" My Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Icing are easy to make, easy to take, and easy to love. This post and recipe were created for #SummerDessertWeek! I was sent samples by some of the sponsor companies but as always opinions ...

Peach and Nectarine Torte #SummerDessertWeek

One layer, one pan, one simple batter-mixing session, and you're ready to share a marvelously elegant and simply delicious Peach and Nectarine Torte. Peaches and nectarines, butter and brown sugar, plain or glazed: it's a keeper you'll love and make again. This post and recipe were created for #SummerDessertWeek! I was sent samples by some of ...

Blackberry Roly Poly for #summerdessertweek

Sweet, ripe, and juicy blackberries say Summertime, and this old-time favorite recipe shows them off beautifully. Blackberry Roly Poly is fun to say, fun to make, and fun to share at any summertime celebration! This post and recipe were created for #SummerDessertWeek! I was sent samples by some of the sponsor companies but as always opinions are ...

Pumpkin Poke Cake with Whipped Cream, Pecans, and Caramel Sauce

Wintertime is baking season and this easy Pumpkin Caramel Poke Cake combines a luscious caramel, pillowy whipped cream, and crunchy pecans with a simple pumpkin sheet cake. Simple to make and a breeze to take along to potlucks or delight guests at home. I love the rich, sunny color of pumpkin, and keep canned pumpkin puree in my pantry all ...

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pecan-Gingersnap Crust

If you're looking for a fabulous, can-do, beautiful and luscious holiday dessert, Pumpkin Cheesecake is the answer. This recipe makes the best one I've ever had, right down to its Gingersnap-Pecan Crust! Sweet and yet tangy, simple and yet complex, familiar and yet endlessly variable, cheesecake is a glorious dessert which is easy for cooks to ...

“Cake: I Love You!” Is One Brilliant, Beautiful, Must-Have Cookbook

If you love sweet treats, beautiful irresistible desserts, simple home-made goodies, and elegant expressions of the professional pastry chef's genius, you will love Jill O'Connor and her latest cookbook. Entitled Cake, I Love You: Decadent, Delectable, and Do-Able Recipes, this bright, delight-filled book is a whimsical valentine to the pleasures ...

Apple Pear Persimmon Pie

This year I followed through on my long-time intention to find out about the many National (fill-in-the-blank-with-an ingredient or dish) Day which occur throughout the year. Intention? Perhaps not, since I did not act up on it for a long time. But then, I did! Early in January I looked up resources on these declared days, and wrote some onto my ...

Turtle Mocha Brownies

My friend Nicolette shares my love for cooking and baking, and tracking down irresistible recipes which she kindly share with me. This one comes from a whole entire book of brownie brilliance, entitled The Brownie Experience: A Cookbook for Brownie Lovers, by Lisa Tanner. Nicolette adds a little espresso powder to make these mocha rather than ...

Ricotta Custards with Persimmon-Ginger Compote

My first instinct when an occasion calls for dessert is to think of pies, cakes, puddings, and other whole confections, which are divided up into servings when it's time to eat. Individual desserts make sense for pastry chefs preparing goodies for special occasions, but seem fussy and challenging to me at home. Until one like this comes along, and ...

Galette Des Rois : French-Style King Cake for the Twelfth Day of Christmas

Happy Twelfth Day of Christmas! We are still celebrating here, and I had the best time making my first Galette des Rois, the traditional dessert enjoyed on January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany. I love this cake, and was delighted with the recipe on the King Arthur Flour website. It was clear and easy to follow and came out beautifully. Delicious, ...

Persimmon Upside-Down Cake

I love persimmons and the feeling only deepens as their long cold-weather season continues. No matter how many I bring home, whether we eat them outright or in pound cake, cookies, pies or persimmon pudding, I keep wanting more. My latest adventure is starring this uniquely lovely fruit in an old-time favorite, upside-down cake.The two kinds of ...

Easy Persimmon Cookies

What's orange, delicious, and available in the produce section from fall to winter? Persimmons! They look like very firm, plump tomatoes, but taste like a peach-pumpkin combo you will love. My easy persimmon cookies give you another reason to enjoy these produce stars! Persimmons Make Wonderful Cookies! I didn't grow up with persimmon ...

My Thanksgiving Pies in Southern Living Magazine

Since I love fall so much, this time of year always brings me joy, but this particular year, autumn has been providing an extra-special delight. As a longtime reader and fan of Southern Living magazine, I have dreamed of seeing my byline and recipes among its pages. This year my dream came true, when the November issue arrived, full of beautiful ...

Sweet Potato Desserts for Your Thanksgiving Table, From “Fine Cooking” and Me

I am so proud and so happy to have had the opportunity to work with Fine Cooking Magazine on this sweet story on sweet potatoes for their October/November Issue. It's still on the stands most places, since much of the focus is on holiday cooking. We did the story months in advance, as is always the case in writing for food magazines, and I knew it ...

Easy Almond Cookies

I bake right through the heat of summer, because I love the routines of baking and I love to eat and share the results of my endeavors. But there's special pleasure in the return of autumn weather, which is increasingly evident in my part of North Carolina, day by day. Today's the official First Day of Fall, so I'm celebrating with these wonderful ...

Nancie’s Favorite Fourth of July Cake

Need an easy-to-make, easy-to-take cake for Fourth of July celebrations? Here's just what you need! My Red, White, and Blueberry 4th of July Cake, baked in a square cake pan, covered with vanilla frosting and decked out in the Red, White, and Blue! Fun, easy, and so delicious --- Ready, Set, BAKE! This Red White and Blueberry 4th of July Cake ...

Thai Coconut Ice Cream with Caramelized Pineapple: A Sweet Vegan Treat!

This beautiful photograph graces my new cookbook, Simply Vegetarian Thai Cooking: 125 Real Thai Recipes, but I assure you it is not how I serve luscious coconut ice cream at home. I love the beautiful way professional food photographers and food stylists present food, just as I love the atmospheric travel scenes in fashion magazines, and the ...

Rhubarb Pie

Rhubarb: The springtime treat which makes mighty fine pies, tarts, muffins, and compotes, all with beautiful color and tangy flavor. Easy to prep, fun to cook with, and delicious in its signature British-American form: Rhubarb Pie! What is Rhubarb? When I came across an armload of fresh ruby-red rhubarb at my local supermarket this spring, my ...

The Newlywed Cookbook: Better-Than-Boxed Chocolate Cake for the Sweetest Man

This chocolate cake is completely delicious, and not the least formal, which I’ve learned, from the staunchly loyal, old-fashioned cake lovers in my family, is a very good thing. When my friend Sarah Copeland, author of the wonderful blog Edible Living, told me that she was writing a cookbook, I made room on my kitchen shelf right away. Sarah's ...

Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake

This classic cinnamon pecan coffee cake makes an excellent centerpiece for special mornings. It's a celebration breakfast in my family, because my mother always served it to our family prior to the gift-fest around the Christmas tree. She made it ahead of time and warmed it up gently in the oven, covered with foil. I do the same thing, but we go ...

Doughnut Bread Pudding? Yes, please…

This is delicious and you can make it at home. I came across the recipe on Leite's Culinaria, which is a food-and-cooking destination which I recommend to you with enthusiasm and pleasure. There you'll find excellent writing, superb and varied recipes, gorgeous photographs, opinions, ideas, and all-around food fun. My friend Jess Thomson has ...

Nancie’s Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake

Nancie's Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake Enjoy this simple, delicious cake for breakfast, a tea party, or a midnight snack. If you can’t pick your own blueberries in the Shenandoah Valley, don’t worry. The cake comes out just fine using fresh blueberries from wherever you are, or even frozen berries from the grocery store. This recipe comes from ...