Carrot Cake CupcakesI found this recipe for moist and fluffy carrot cake cupcakes from SugarSpunRun.com. You can use regular sized or jumbo-sized muffin tins. If making jumbo-sized, be sure to double this recipe. This serves 12. Be sure to check out the recipe for the Whipped Cream Cheese FrostingWhipped Cream Cheese FrostingThis is the perfect frosting for carrot cake, and it is easy. It is super creamy, rich, soft, sweet and tangy. There are other recipes that use butter instead of whipping cream but I find that to be very heavy and too sweet because of the 4 cups of powdered sugar.Pumpkin Apple Butter PieIn November of 2014, I downloaded this recipe from the New York Times. It actually called for applesauce but I switched to apple butter. This pie is one of my favorites I make every year for Thanksgiving. I like this recipe because the addition of apple butter enhances a regular pumpkin pie with the taste of apples and spices. When buying a good pumpkin pie spice, make sure it includes cinnamon, ginger, lemon peel, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom. But if you have these spices at home, you can use them in equal amounts adding up to 1 ½ teaspoons. Linda’s Chocolate Peanut Butter CookiesWho doesn’t like a peanut butter cookie? But when you add in chocolate chips, you are in a delicious place. Dave and I first tasted Linda’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies while visiting her and her husband Mark at their Pocono Mountain condo. She got the recipe from “Hershey’s Best-Loved Recipes” cookbook. I like that she uses a small ice cream scoop so that all the cookies are the same size and not too large. After all, who eats only one cookie and especially these!German Hazelnut MacaroonsRecently my German tutor, Dagmar, placed the “10 Best German Christmas Cookie Recipes” on her Facebook page. Lebkuchen (gingerbread) is in the top 10 and one of my favorites. However, German Hazelnut Macaroons also made the list. Since this brought back childhood memories of Christmas in Germany, I was excited to make a couple batches of these chewy and sweet delights for the holidays. Because they are only made with egg whites, ground hazelnuts, cinnamon and sugar, they are naturally light, gluten free and dairy free. Traditionally, Germans use round baking wafers on a cookie sheet where a spoonful of dough is placed on top before baking. But this recipe had a nice substitute by dipping the bottom of the baked cookies in melted chocolate. This lends to a more festive macaroon! Linda’s Oatmeal Molasses CookiesLinda Getz is a sailing friend who makes some of the best cookies. While many oatmeal cookies can be dry and tasteless, Linda’s Oatmeal Molasses Cookies are moist and delicious. Because I only had craisins on hand when I made these, I substituted those for raisins. Due to the combination of oats, chopped nuts and molasses, I also think these cookies are relatively healthy!Peach CobblerSince peaches are in season this month, I decided to test a recipe for Peach Cobbler. One summer in my college years, I was staying with a friend and she made a fruit cobbler. Not only did it look easy to make, it was full of fruit, pie crust and it was delicious. So this summer, I decided it was time for me to make a cobbler for the first time. After testing a few recipes, I was happy with this one. A few weeks ago, I went to visit my Uncle Al and his wife Shirley. They both know a thing or two about pies and cobblers, so I had to make sure that this cobbler would fit the bill!Linda’s Ginger Molasses CookiesLinda’s Ginger Molasses Cookies are delicious. While Dave and I were visiting Linda and her husband Mark this winter, she made these cookies and we all enjoyed them. This recipe reminds me of Lebkuchen or an easy German Gingerbread that we typically have at Christmas. Next time I make these cookies, I am going to double the recipe because these were devoured quickly!Pineapple Coconut Cake with MarzipanThis year I decided to make a Pineapple Coconut Cake with Marzipan for my birthday. I love this recipe as the pineapple makes the cake moist and the marzipan adds a nice almond flavor. Also, the hardened chocolate glaze really takes this cake over the top! Dave’s Dark Chocolate, Coconut, & Peanut Butter WedgesRecently my husband went on a keto friendly diet in which you eliminate all carbohydrates and sugar. Eventually, he craved for something sweet. Because the weight loss was going successfully, we had to find a good dessert that would fit his diet. Dave’s dark chocolate, coconut, and peanut butter wedges are tasty treats. We added coconut to the recipe to give it a natural sweetness and more flavor. The keto friendly ingredients are in parentheses. These wedges improve with time if they even last that long!Caribbean Rum Mini Bundt CakesYou can find rum cakes on most of the Caribbean islands although the recipes differ slightly. There is rum in the cake so this is probably a more suitable dessert for adults. For this recipe, I made these as Caribbean Rum Mini Bundt Cakes. The vanilla and eggs offer a moist texture and rich flavor, which is delicious. But the modern-day Bundt cake recipe and shape was originally European and more of a brioche cake called Kugelhupf. Then in the 1950s, the style of the mold changed and became popular in North America. That is when the Nordic Ware cookware company started manufacturing the cast aluminum pans for all families to enjoy. Nonetheless, this is a delicious cake you can enjoy at the holidays or anytime of the yearChocolate Covered StrawberriesChocolate has been enjoyed as far back as 1100 BC and strawberries were found growing wild as early as 234 BC. But it wasn’t until Lorraine Lorusso combined the two in the 1960s in her shop called Stop N’ Shop in Chicago, Illinois. She would take tempered (melted) chocolate and dip in what ever berries were in season. This treat was an immediate success. Chocolate covered strawberries are now enjoyed all year around as ripe strawberries are available being imported from warmer countries. And this is one of the more popular gifts given during Valentine’s Day. Making chocolate covered strawberries is incredibly easy as there are only two ingredients. What I also love about this recipe is that they are much cheaper to make than buying them in a store. And your loved ones will be impressed you made this yourself as a special gift!Raspberry CheesecakeI have been making cheesecake for years and never found a keeper recipe until now. One major problem with some cheesecake recipes is that it’s easy to over cook them and when cooled, cracks develop in the middle. But this is an easy recipe and I have two tips, get a 9-inch springform pan and use a meat thermometer to test when the cheesecake is done baking. Another plus is that this recipe doesn’t require a water bath in the oven. Also, other recipes use flour, but this is a lighter version with no flour. I have found this recipe for raspberry cheesecake to be foolproof. And you don’t have to use raspberries for the topping sauce as any other berry, such as blueberries or strawberries, works as well!Strawberry Compote with Ice CreamI learned about this recipe for Strawberry Compote while visiting my Danish Aunt Karen. In Danish it is called jordbeergraed. She told me that this dessert is a Danish summer favorite with whipped cream or ice cream and topped with crunchy almonds. What I love about a fruit compote is that it’s easy and delicious. Enjoy!Easy Lemon BarsWhen thinking of what you would like to bring as a dessert to a picnic … a lemon bar is a great idea. What makes lemon bars so popular is that the crust is like a Scottish shortbread and the filling is a lemon custard. American lemon bars are a similar taste to the British lemon tart or French tarte au citron. Only this version is much easier to make. While Betty Crocker was never a real person, we have to give credit to the Betty Crocker research and development kitchen. That is where the lemon bar mix was developed in 1963. But the mix includes some artificial ingredients. This classic Easy Lemon Bar recipe uses real lemon juice and just five ingredients. For ideas about juicing lemons, be sure to see my Citrus category under Great Tools. This delicious dessert is good for a week in the refrigerator if it even lasts that long!Black Forest Chocolate Cherry CupcakesI enjoyed having a slice of black forest cherry cake when growing up in Germany. This is a famous cake that you find in practically every German bakery. The German name is Swarzwalder Kirschtorte, which is literally translated to Black Forest Cherry Torte. The cake is not named, though, exclusively for the black forest region in southwestern Germany. But also, for the special cherry liquor called kirsch that is mixed with cherries layered in the cake. When I first started making this dessert, I did it the traditional style as a cake. But with time, I altered the recipe to cupcakes. The black forest chocolate cherry cupcakes are not meant to be overly sweet or heavy because they are surprisingly light, delicious and rich in chocolate and cherry flavor.Deep-Dish Pecan Pumpkin PieThis has been my go to pie for Thanksgiving for years. The concept of the deep-dish pecan pumpkin pie is twofold. You literally get a taste of pumpkin pie and pecan pie in one bite because of the layers. You will notice in the list of ingredients, that there is redundancy…especially with sugar. That is because it is easier to make the pumpkin layer and pecan layer in separate bowls. And when you are ready for a piece of the pie, I think some whipped cream seals the deal. This recipe serves 8.Coconut-Cranberry Bars with PecansCoconut-cranberry bars with pecans are delicious and festive looking sweets. I love the combination of the coconut, cranberry, pecans and chocolate chips. What is fun about these bars is that you can pick a combination of your chocolate chips. In this recipe, I choose bittersweet because I like dark chocolate and butterscotch chocolate chips as I like that flavor as well. But instead of butterscotch, you can use mint, white or what other chocolate chips you enjoy.
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