Stellina Sweets

Baked Sunday Mornings: Lime Tarragon Cookies

I was really not expecting to like these. Or maybe I should say, I was highly skeptical. Licorice is one of my least favorite flavors in existence, and tarragon tastes […]

Other Musings

Bounty of the Winter Desert: Why Israel Really Is the Promised Land

Normally this blog is shamelessly focused on dessert, but I […]

Baked Sunday Mornings

Baked Sunday Mornings: Oopsy Daisy Cake (aka Milk Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cake)

I finally did it. Good god. After a number of […]

Fruit Desserts

Sweet & Sour Serendipity: Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

I was afraid of this thing called “rhubarb” for so […]

Breads & Doughs

Go Ahead, Flake My Day: Super Flaky All-Butter Pie Crust

Anyone else avoid making pie dough because it seems hard? […]

Baked Sunday Mornings

Baked Sunday Mornings: Malted Vanilla Milkshakes

Let me tell you… this recipe could not have come along at a better time. We’ve had triple-digit heat in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past week, and […]

Other Musings

A Sweet Ending: San Francisco Pastry Crawl (Part 4/Epilogue)

So. After three days of obscene pastry indulgence, my San […]

Chocolate

Not TCHO Mama’s Chocolate: San Francisco Pastry Crawl (Part 3 ½)

On Day 3 of my recent San Francisco Pastry Crawl, […]

Other Musings

Desperately Seeking Sugar: San Francisco Pastry Crawl (Part 3)

As if Day 2 of my San Francisco Pastry Crawl […]

Other Musings

Rolling Deep in the Mission: San Francisco Pastry Crawl (Part 2)

Much of my Spring Break week back in April was […]

Other Musings

Proud of My San Francisco Values: San Francisco Pastry Crawl (Part 1)

When I travel, most of the time my first thought […]

Baked Sunday Mornings

Baked Sunday Mornings: Mississippi Mud Pie (aka Muddy Mississippi Cake)

I’ve had over a month of pretty successful baking (no […]

Baked Sunday Mornings

Baked Sunday Mornings: Malted Madeleines

“And soon, mechanically, dispirited after a dreary day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked […]

Other Musings

A Sweet, Delicious Death: Killed By Dessert

So, I’m just going to come out and say it: I have a problem. The San Francisco pastry scene, which I’ve only recently begun to discover in all its splendor, […]

Baked Sunday Mornings

Baked Sunday Mornings: Alfajores

Alpha-what, now?! I speak 3 languages and consider myself pretty worldly, and I definitely make a point of investigating pastries any time I travel; and yet, I didn’t know what […]

Baked Sunday Mornings

Baked Sunday Mornings: Triple Rum Black Pepper Cake

99 bottles of rum on the wall, 99 bottles of […]

Cakes

The Bee’s Knees: Pull-Apart Honey-Cola Cake with Lemon-Vanilla Bean Crème Anglaise

I live in California. What we call “winter” is a […]

Baked Sunday Mornings

Baked Sunday Mornings: Sunrise Key Lime Tarts

This has been a very busy week of pastry research for me– simultaneously glorious and oh-so-gluttonous… As I was on Spring Break from work, I had the opportunity to play […]

Baked Sunday Mornings

Baked Sunday Mornings: Aunt Sassy Cake

Updated photo from Spring 2013 remake– update at the bottom! Pistachios are such curious little nuts. I don’t think I’ve ever really examined them before– I generally just crack them open […]

Baked Sunday Mornings

Baked Sunday Mornings: Cheddar Corn Soufflé

In preparing for this Cheddar Corn Soufflé recipe, I was a little nervous–all those wives-tales about soufflés falling if you make too much noise or turn on the light or […]