Baked Sunday Mornings: A Trio of Truffles

I love chocolate. I really do. A LOT. But for some reason, chocolate truffles, at best, illicit a lukewarm reaction for me– they are not my preferred chocolate delivery system. And you know what I enjoy even less than eating chocolate truffles? Making chocolate truffles. I admit that I groaned when I saw this week’s […]

Baked Sunday Mornings: Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chunks

Ah, 2008– a quaint time when I didn’t yet understand that sprinkling salt on baked goods brings out their flavor, and scooping dough before chilling is easier, and letting dough rest in the fridge for a couple of days yields tastier cookies. Fast-forward 9 years, and I now know to incorporate those tricks, whether or […]

Baked Sunday Mornings: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf

Today is a special baking day. My baking-blogging group, Baked Sunday Mornings, has just wrapped three years of working our way through all 75 recipes in Baked Occasions, the 4th cookbook from BAKED in New York City. We are now going old-school and taking it back to Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, the very first book published […]

Rome: Ciambelline al Vino with Dipping Chocolate

There’s a very good reason why Rome is so storied and romanticized and revered. It deserves it. I first visited Rome on an organized bus tour with my mom in 1999, then with a girlfriend a few months later while studying abroad in Paris in college. Those visits were very short, but I instantly knew […]

Baked Sunday Mornings: Lebkuchen

Orange. Lemon. Coriander. Ginger. Cocoa. Rum. Honey. Almonds. Many people would say all yummy things, yes? But have you ever put them all into one recipe? Specifically, a cookie recipe? Germany, YOU SO CRAZY. These German holiday cookies from Baked Occasions, called Lebkuchen, are the second-to-last recipe in the book for Baked Sunday Mornings. They include all these ingredients […]

Lombardia: Torta Sbriciolata with Cocoa, Ricotta & Chocolate Chips

Last year I waxed poetic about a cake from northern Italy that I had discovered called torta sbriciolata (sbree-cho-LAH-tah), which consists of a crumbly base and top layer sandwiching a creamy or fruity filling. And I was all, “This cake is amazing!” and “This cake is so easy!” and “I’m going to post so many flavors […]

Baked Sunday Mornings: Chocolate Pop Tarts with Peanut Butter & Jam Filling

Some weeks I feel like I’m really progressing in my baking and making important strides in understanding baking chemistry… This was not one of those weeks. Between going back to work after having the summer off, ruining a batch of homemade puff pastry, and being involved in several Italian dessert projects for my upcoming Italy […]

Baked Sunday Mornings: Peanut Butter Blossoms

I’ll admit it– I am a chocolate snob. And I’m perfectly fine with that. If I’m eating chocolate out of hand, it’s definitely going to be a good quality bar or truffle or candy. And for baking? It’s going to be Guittard, TCHO, or Valrhona, because the quality of your chocolate makes a big difference […]

Salted Chocolate Sesame Rice Crispy Treats

Snap-Crackle-Pop will never be the same. I, like so many other dutiful American bakers, made my rice crispy treats using the recipe on the Rice Krispies cereal box, never questioning whether there were better marshmallow-laced specimens out there. But then, people like Deb Perelman and Joanne Chang taught me that rice crispy treats could be […]

Baked Sunday Mornings: Exceedingly Chocolaty Crinkles

Baked Sunday Mornings is celebrating Christmas in July… and I like it. We’re embarking on our last 5 recipes from Baked Occasions, which is really hard to believe! Most of our remaining recipes are holiday cookies, and Exceedingly Chocolaty Crinkles are among my favorites, as this was one of the recipes that I tested when our blogger group did […]