“All the Rest” is a grab bag of baking-related goodies and tips, including cakes & cupcakes, candies, breads & muffins, homemade ingredients, humble cookies, cookie cutters & tools, tags & packaging.
Dairy-Free Chocolate Mousse Bars are luscious treats that are so chocolatey and easy to make that there’s no reason not to have at least one every day! I really love to eat these mousse bars frozen and that’s how I serve them. The velvety mousse doesn't freeze hard and the crust provides a lovely crunch to make the perfect texture combination. That makes these bars a delicious frozen delicacy...and the perfect summer dessert.
My goddaughter loves Peanut Blossom Cookies. In fact, it’s her favorite cookie and I make them for her every year. I wondered if I could add a bit more flavor to this classic cookie and I found the solution in The Perfect Cookie from America’s Test Kitchen. The original recipe on the Hershey’s package of Kisses calls for shortening. While this ensures that the cookies don’t spread all over the baking sheet, shortening doesn’t bring a lot of flavor to the party....
Several years ago, I bought a packaged mix to make dog cookies. It contained a bag of dry ingredients to which you added peanut butter, eggs, and water. They were fun to make and the dogs loved them. Of course, the next time I went to buy the mix, it was no longer available. So I spent a few weeks trying other recipes, looking for one to match the one my little pooches liked best. I finally found this one on the King Arthur Flour website. It is so similar that it could have been the inspiration for the mix!
Feeling out of sorts these days? Know someone who could use a hug? Time for the ultimate comfort food: Trail Mix Cookies. They’re crispy on the edges, chewy on the inside and full of nuts and dried cranberries. They have a buttery, brown-sugar flavor that feels like a bear hug from your favorite person. My dad is that person for me. Who is your best hugger?
My daughter-in-law makes beautiful challah, the traditional braided bread so popular at Jewish celebrations. That made me curious about what kinds of foods might be associated with Passover, which begins on April 8TH this year. Being a cookie baker, I naturally gravitated toward the sweet end of the spectrum. When I discovered Matzo Crack, I had to give it a try. All I can say is “a-MAZ-ing!” Think of it as a combination candy and bar cookie, leaning more toward the candy side.
Chewy. Spicy. Sweet. Molasses perfection. Soft Molasses Cookies are a yummy antidote to the post-holiday blahs. You can pair them with a glass of milk OR a cup of coffee or tea. In fact, they’re so perfect that you can eat them all by themselves [and I speak from plenty of experience]. These soft and chewy cookies will warm your cookie-eating heart.
I discovered French Breakfast Puffs while I was in high school. A friend gave me the recipe and I was hooked. To be honest, all she gave me was a list of ingredients and said, “Put everything in a bowl, stir it together and bake.” That was the way I made these for years.
This was Mom’s “go to” recipe for cookies to take to a party or have at home during the holidays. It’s a wonderful mixture of fall spices, dates, and nuts with a tart lemony glaze. I’ve had many requests for the recipe and my nephew asks for persimmon bars at Christmas time. Thanks, Mom, for a wonderful treat and for the great memories.
These delicate and crumbly cookies are light and buttery. They are similar to Mexican Wedding Cakes, but these have their roots in Minnesota. When I was a child, Mom made these every Christmas. I thought they looked like little snowballs and tasted like heaven. I still like to add them to my Christmas cookie list because they bring back memories of happy Christmases past. Their unique shape is a beautiful addition to any plate of holiday cookies.
These garlic-y soft breadsticks were the perfect complement to our Thanksgiving feast this year. There’s something about homemade bread that brings joy to the table and homemade breadsticks are pure happiness packed into a small package.
When a loaf of homemade bread is just out of the oven and the whole house is filled with the smell of freshly baked bread, it’s a kind of torture to wait to eat it until it’s cooled enough to slice. But you know it’s worth the wait when you spread fresh butter on a slice and take that first bite...a soft, warm, yeasty slip of heaven.
