From the category archives:

Desserts

Chocolate Chip Mousse

March 3, 2010

Late on Sunday afternoon I did the unthinkable. I made chocolate mousse without high-end chocolate.
Company was coming. The oven was occupied with Apple Roasted Chicken. And I had very little time to devote to dessert. So, I opened the baking cupboard and grabbed the first thing I saw — a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
What [...]

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Black Forest Chocolate Cookies

February 2, 2010

Sneaking in under the wire. It’s still Groundhog Day. And all I can think of is Bill Murray sitting in a Punxsatawney diner, stuffing his face full of donuts with impunity.
According to the groundhog, we have six more weeks of winter coming, which makes me want to stuff my face with donuts, too. Only I [...]

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Vanilla Cupcakes

January 20, 2010

Why the pretty cakes?
I’m celebrating. I finally hit Murphy where he lives. Thinks he can break my oven on Christmas morning and get away with it? No way.
Sure, he wagged a $300 repair bill under my nose and then pulled it and the rug out from under me by making the parts obsolete. I admit, [...]

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Marcy Goldman’s Apple-Raspberry Patchwork Crostata

January 6, 2010

We have a tradition in our house. One of us usually kicks off the new year with a kitchen disaster. Last year, I discovered dried beans can, in fact, go stale. This year? I botched the pastry. What else?
I learned the hard way parchment paper isn’t always my friend. On the upside, I didn’t burn [...]

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Concord Grape Sorbet

November 3, 2009

The comments are rolling in in response to the cookbook give away. Your fabulous ideas make me want to rent a delightful, impractically located venue and throw a great big bash. (If you missed the post, Rose Murray’s wonderful A Taste of Canada is up for grabs. To enter the draw, all you have to [...]

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Concord Grape Galette

October 13, 2009

Pastry is fickle. One day you’re rolling dough like it’s a bolt of white velvet and pulling a golden bubbling dessert from the oven. The results are so fine you briefly consider embroidering “Pie Guru” on your apron. Only you don’t know how to sew, so you put that idea away for when people ask [...]

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Two Quick and Easy Apple Recipes

October 1, 2009

It’s been quite the week. Over the weekend I co-hosted a 24-hour playwriting contest for the playwright development centre I’m involved with. While my co-host and I ensured the entrants never ran out of coffee or junk food, a dozen writers pounded out scripts on laptops in the Rotunda of Kitchener City Hall — under [...]

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Dutch Chocolate Cake Gets Tarted Up

September 17, 2009

It’s official. I’m a Bad Sister. Capital letters earned.
This post is a public apology to my sister Robin with the hopes that sincere groveling and pretty pictures illustrating the possible Make-Up Cake will help.
My blunder? I forgot my sister’s birthday. Totally and completely.
Now, forgetting a birthday is forgivable. But when the birthday girl calls you [...]

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Mocha Ice Cream

September 1, 2009

This is the dessert that helped salvage last week’s birthday fiasco. It’s rich, it’s mocha-y, it’s almost like a truffle. It can stand on its own as a decadent treat, or elevate a mediocre cake to the realm of greatness — providing you like the taste of coffee.
Delicious as this may be, whatever you do, [...]

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Double Berry Crumble Squares

August 27, 2009

She doesn’t know it yet, but Julie Van Rosendaal is my new BFF. I loved her Grazing snacks, but the Double Berry Crumble Squares from her book, One Smart Cookie, sealed the deal. Delicious and with only 1/3 cup of butter for the whole pan? Julie, her recipes and I are going to be spending [...]