Baked Sunday Mornings: Classic Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

When I saw that this recipe for Classic Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting (from the Cinnamon chapter of Baked Elements) was coming up, I got really excited– it’s been a while since we’ve made a complicated cake! I was imagining my thick, hearty, stacked layers smothered in spiced cream cheese, and that gratifying feeling of plunging my big knife through one…two…three layers of cake and filling….

Funfetti Coconut Macaroons

Did anyone else feel like Passover snuck up on them this year? Maybe because it’s on the early side this year, it just didn’t dawn on me, say, last week to stock up on matzah, and there I was yesterday, mad-scrambling to multiple supermarkets in desperate search of a few boxes. At one Safeway, the […]

Cranberry Pecan Bread

Aside from turkey, on any given holiday table, my least favorite thing is very often the cranberry sauce. Perhaps I had one too many cloying canned versions as a kid, or the ones I had were simply too tart; for whatever reason, I usually pass the cranberry bowl to the next person swiftly. But then […]

Cannoli Sandwich Cookies

Happy 2023, friends! Do you have bright, colorful, nutrient-rich salads and soups on deck for January? ME TOO, and I am so excited about them. And alsoooo… I’m still baking. A lot. See, my baking tends to roll with my breaks from school, and our winter break started so late this year, just two days […]

Earl Grey Shortbread Snowflakes with Blood Orange Glaze

We’re all still eating cookies, yes? This has been such a fun cookie year for me, and I keep happily finding reasons to make more. In this hazy week between Christmas/Chanukah and New Year’s, I find that “lunch” consists of grazing on cookies throughout the afternoons on most days, and I can’t really say that […]

Toasted Sesame Pan-Banging Cookies

While sesame is not a traditional Thanksgiving ingredient, I will always associate this particular cookie recipe with Thanksgiving, gratitude, and transformation. Two years ago, which feels like so much longer, during the pandemic holiday season of 2020 when I was holed up in my quarantine cocoon (and not mad about it), I discovered, rather late […]

Basilicata: Crostata al Caprino (Italian Goat Cheese Tart)

If you’ve read this blog in the past, you may have a vague recollection that I was writing a series about Italian desserts at one point. As I’ve been less active in the past few years, I sort of trailed off, but it’s always been something I wanted to return to. The premise was that […]

Knafeh Cheesecake

Among the many things happening at this time of year as we collectively hurtle towards the summer is the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which celebrates the summer grain harvest and commemorates the Jewish people receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai after their exodus from Egypt. This joyful occasion is ushered in by gathering with loved […]

Mexican Hot Chocolate Rice Crispy Hearts

Does everyone else love rice crispy treats like I do, or do I have some sort of abnormal obsession? I love baking – cakes, cookies, tarts, all the yummy things. But I can’t think of anything else that brings more joy to both adults and kids as rice crispy treats, IMHO. So I wanted to […]

Maltese Ricotta Pie with Honey-Lemon Syrup & Pistachios

We’re somehow wrapping up January, and while it would be absurd to complain about weather in San Francisco, I can’t help but notice my mind wandering to memories of warm, dreamy destinations that have felt particularly far-off for about two years. Specifically at the moment, I’m thinking about a brief, yet impactful trip that I […]