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 […]

Cocoa Halva Sesame Hamantashen

Every year since I did 10 Days of Hamantashen in 2020, I keep telling myself some version of, “I don’t need to make a bunch of flavors this year”, or “Remember how stressful that was last year?”, or the ever-favorite “Stop creating more work for myself.” But then the “Wellll, it doesn’t take that long […]

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 […]

Cinnamon-Eggnog Scones with Blonde Chocolate

I must say that I love the lazy “holiday hangover” days between Christmas and New Year’s, when you don’t know what day it is without thinking about it for a sec, when you’re still snacking on holiday cookies, and when most of the events are over. Let me preface this next bit by saying that […]

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 […]

Sicilian Cuccidati (Christmas Fruit & Nut Cookies)

As you might remember if you’ve been following this blog for a while, I have a deep affinity for Italy, and while it took me a while to come around to Italian desserts, they’ve really grown on me over the years. These are my favorite Italian holiday cookies, called Cuccidati (coo-chee-DAH-tee), as requested a few […]

Latke Cookies

It is Day 6 of Chanukah 2022, and I have made precisely ZERO latkes so far during this holiday week. Eaten, yes; cooked, nope. I am planning to this weekend, but since my winter break from school started very late this year (today!), I haven’t gotten to the mess of grating and frying just yet. […]

Double-Chocolate Peppermint Rice Crispy Treats

I’ve never been much of a peppermint person. With a couple of exceptions (here and here), it’s not a flavor that I generally gravitate towards in my baking or candy-eating. However, those two recipes have opened my mind a bit more to the possibilities, especially when combined with chocolate. Not to mention that when planning […]