Cosmo Cookie Bars - A Cocktail w/o the Alcohol

These "cosmo" cookie bars have a cranberry-orange filling, and a crust flavored with lime zest. If you like the fresh tanginess of a traditional lemon bar, you'll probably like this spin on the bar. Fun colors too!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes - Happy Holidays!

My brother has an incredible camera lens . . .

I brought these mini cupcakes to family gatherings over the holidays. These chocolate cupcakes are filled with salted caramel, sprinkled with some coarse sea salt, piped with dark chocolate frosting, and additionally topped with a little more sea salt garnish.




Have chocolate and sea salt always been paired together, or is that a recent fad? In any case, I love how the combo tastes and sounds so gourmet.

Milo | A Dog's Life

Rub my belly please.


I like to fetch my ball and then roll around with it. Why chew my ball while standing when I can do it while lying down?

Marble Chocolate Turkey Cupcakes - Thanksgiving Part 2

This was inspired by a holiday coupon book, with pictures of Betty Crocker creations. The cupcakes are marbled vanilla and chocolate (made with cocoa powder for a dark chocolate flavor), with vanilla pudding mix. The frosting is silky smooth dark chocolate. The turkey feathers are piped semi-sweet and white chocolate, with a Hershey's kiss head.


Making both batches of cupcakes made me late to Thanksgiving dinner, but I was a baker-obsessed.

Pumpkin Brown Butter Cupcakes - Thanksgiving Part 1

You know that yummy sweet-savory buttery goodness that lines the layers of a cinnamon bun? Well, imagine that captured in a cupcake! Here, browned butter is incorporated into a pumpkin-sage cake, with browned butter icing on top. I've made the icing into a thicker consistency so that it holds form (for easier transport to Thanksgiving dinner). However, with the addition of more milk, this icing can drip off the edges of the cupcake for a nice gooey effect as well.

I have been working on my chocolate tempering work, so these cupcakes are topped with a bit of white chocolate flair.

Pumpkin Cupcakes - Happy Halloween!

For the office Halloween event this year, I handed out chocolate chip walnut cookies and these pumpkin cupcakes—with cream cheese buttercream and handmade marzipan pumpkins—in lieu of the usual candy fare.

Hm, well, that's not entirely true. I admit I put out some Almond Joys and Snickers to get rid of the surplus from my Costco variety pack, after having picked out all the Crunch and Twix for myself =)

These cupcakes were made at 2am once again, but well worth it to see the trick-or-treaters at work look so eager and happy. I never received cupcakes for Halloween as a kid, but I guess I like to hand out what I would have liked to receive!

Chocolate Cupcakes - Spun Sugar Crowns

My co-worker gave me a Cooks Illustrated recipe for Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling, which I tested out over the weekend. These are delicious and indeed quite ultimate!

The rich, moist chocolate cake is made with melted bittersweet chocolate, and has a hint of coffee in it that really enhances the chocolate flavor. The cupcake is also filled with a smooth, creamy ganache. Out of the oven, this cupcake tastes and looks like a chocolate soufflé. I chose a dark chocolate frosting that has a soft and smooth texture much like the ganache filling.


For the topping, we decided to experiment with spun sugar crowns. It is going to take us some more practice to fine-tune this skill, but we were able to put together a couple crowns and spirals. Anyone have tips for cleaning caramelized (or crystallized) sugar from saucepans?