dessert Archives -

November 25, 2016

Nutcracker Sweet Holiday Cake

This post is sponsored by Celestial Seasonings and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I grew up drinking Celestial Seasonings and honestly love their line of teas.

With Ryan’s parents hosting Thanksgiving this year, I actually took the day off from cooking and enjoyed a slow morning at home with the kids and working on our Thanksgiving tree together. It’s hard to believe, but his parents specifically instruct me not to bring anything for the meal. Although it feels a bit strange not to be cooking on a holiday which is so centered around food, this year I embraced it and focused my heart on simply being thankful.

July 28, 2016

Blueberry Almond Breakfast Crisp

Every July I make the same blueberry pie– it’s a favorite mid-summer tradition that I look forward to every year. Lately however, we seem to be eating more than our fair share of dessert, so I thought I’d change things up a bit and turn our summer dessert into a treat worthy of eating for breakfast. The almond paste crumble is what makes the pie truly special, but since almond paste is fairly dense with sugar, I increased the oats to almond paste ratio to make a crumble which is still markedly almond in flavor yet more subtly sweet. I also replaced the sugar in the blueberry filling with a mere touch of maple syrup for a more natural sweetness. Coconut oil took the place of butter and the resulting crisp was just what I had wanted- sweet but not too sweet, and with plenty of the almond oat crumble. When served warm from the oven, the blueberries are plump and juicy; if you prefer the filling to be on the thicker side, it sets up a bit more after it’s chilled. We enjoy it both ways. For an extra treat, serve with a dollop of vanilla bean creme fraiche.

June 9, 2016

Chocolate Beet Bread

With the brief drop in temperatures and an extra large batch of beets from my csa share, it felt right to turn on the oven once again to bake up this chocolate loaf. After some deliberating I settled on calling this a bread rather than a cake. While it feels slightly indulgent for breakfast, it’s a bit less sweet than most cakes and those beets make it extra redeeming. The beets also keep the bread moist and soft and add a subtle earthiness to deepen the chocolate. I like it simple and unadorned especially for breakfast, but if you’d like to serve it as a dessert, a drizzle of chocolate ganache would help dress it up and add a touch of richness or a quick dusting of confectioners sugar would also do nicely. Serve warm and along with a dollop of whipped coconut cream. [Read more…] about Chocolate Beet Bread