Recently in Desserts Category

40-garlic clove chicken with roasted brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes.

This recipe is from Fine Cooking magazine, which doesn't allow free access to their online recipe forum, but I did find the recipe on another website here (please ignore the grammar and the hash-smoking references).

It was absolutely delicious and will DEFINITELY be made again during the winter. It's the perfect, savory, comfort food for cooler weather. Mmmm.... The kids weren't wild about the plain garlic on the baguette (although I thought they would be), so I will probably take the garlic and improvise a simple garlic toast next time (mix the roasted garlic cloves with butter, parmesan and herbs and spread on bread, then lightly toast it).

For dessert, I made Pumpkin Creme Brulees (which were DELICIOUS) with little maple shortbread "leaf" cookies, for garnish, and Ice Cream Sundaes with Pomegranate Caramel Sauce, topped with whipped cream and fresh pomegranate arils (for my little brother, who doesn't like pumpkin)

Girl asked for these apples recently, saying that she hadn't had them in "a million years." They are easy and very nutritious. They're PERFECT with pork, but would also be great with chicken or even with breakfast.

I didn't know what to expect, at all, from this contest. I had no idea how many cakes there would be or how many of them would be "professional" ones, but my mom categorized the victory as a "smackdown". I wasn't there, but I'm just positive that my sweet, supportive mom was able to be objective (yeah, right) in her assessment. Actually, the judges were impartial third parties and the provenance of the cakes was not marked. In any case, I have a blue ribbon coming my way. Mom made sure to remind me that this is an annual event. Yikes! As long as it's not a "State Fair" theme every year, I'm sure I can come up with something.

Final version of the full-sized cake. Lots of practicing and sketching went into making this cake and I'm pretty proud of the way it turned out.

It's not perfect; there are definitely a few things that I'll do differently next time (lifting rolled fondant up and draping it over a cake is a TWO PERSON job!), but not bad at all, for an amateur.

I'll let you know how it does in the competition.

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, my mom is an employee of the State of Texas. Because of this, every year she participates in the State Employee Charitable Campaign. The campaign is gearing up this week, in conjunction with the Texas State Fair. They are having a kick-off party on Tuesday, with a "State Fair" theme and all participating employees are being asked to donate a cake for a cake walk/cake judging. I am thrilled that Mom asked me to make her cake. It is going to be Texas-shaped, draped with red fondant and decorated with a bandana pattern and rope trim. I don't have much experience working with fondant and have even less experience piping intricate patterns, so I made a test run with a cupcake today. I am pretty pleased with how it worked out and have already figured out what modifications I will make with the coloring, rope trim, piping, etc. when I make the cake tomorrow. In the meantime, Boy and Girl really enjoyed sharing this for dessert tonight:

I'll finish the cake tomorrow afternoon and will posted photos when it's all done.

These are SOOOOOO good! My photo isn't as good as the one on Fine Cooking's website, but Fine Cooking doesn't like to share their recipes, so that's really just a tease. I did, however, find that someone else has posted the recipe to Cooking Light's online discussion forum. It can be found here, but, shhh....don't tell. I don't want that anonymous poster to get in trouble with Fine Cooking's lawyers.

I cannot TELL you how good these are. They are AMAZING. Check out some of the reviews!
If you decide to make these, here's a hint: 3 cups of blueberries is about 2 dry pint-sized containers. If you follow the recipe precisely, you'll have about 1/3 cup of blueberries leftover (I tossed them in the freezer to use in smoothies), but next time, I'll just throw the remaining ones in.

succulent Black Mission figs, fragrant toasted pecans and creamy Maytag blue cheese

The kids are off at school; I have a bit of time to myself during the day on a regular basis now. Hubby is even out of town on a business trip, so my schedule is completely my own. I took advantage of this rare opportunity to create a snack/brunch (it really should be a dessert) for myself that NO ONE else in my family will eat, but I LOVE, but rarely get to indulge. Seriously, no one will touch this but me (Hubby hates figs, Girl hates almost all nuts and Boy hates "stinky cheese"). I am absolutely loving life right now. I'm reading the third of Ruth Reichl's books (Garlic and Sapphires) while nibbling on this tasty treat and watching the hummingbirds play out of the corner of my eye. The only thing that would make it perfect would be a diminutive glass of port, but it is 10:00 am and even I would find that a little too indulgent.

We made these fun star-shaped cookies using this favorite recipe. We frosted them with poured fondant icing and then decorated with various sprinkles. They were quite good - we'll be munching on them for the next couple of days.

Boy and Girl, passing out patriotic trinkets

Boy and Girl, on the picnic blanket

Mmmm....

I have a Williams Sonoma Kids Baking cookbook that I've had set aside for a while now, thinking it would be fun to do some baking with the kids over the summer. Well, now that summer is here, I thought that I would make these for dessert with Boy and Girl last night. Of course, we had them all prepared (no baking!) and ready to go and then saw in the recipe: "Let chill at least 4 hours before serving.". Boo! Hiss!

So, anyway, we didn't get to enjoy them until lunchtime today, but they were scrumptious. I can't find a link to the recipe online and, for legal reasons, don't want to copy/retype the recipe from the cookbook, but the basic gist is:
1) Graham cracker crust (similar to a cheesecake crust, with melted butter mixed in, but no baking). Line the pan with buttered foil.
2) Melt some chocolate chips with a can of Eagle Brand (about a half-and-half ratio, with a little vanilla and a pinch of salt) and spread that over the crust.
3) Sprinkle mini marshmallows and large chunks of graham crackers. Chill for 4 hours. Use the foil to lift the entire (8 X 8) pan of bars out and cut with a sharp knife into 16 pieces.

I would highly recommend this cookbook, for anyone with kids that are burgeoning "foodies". It has lots of fun-looking recipes for things like Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, Homemade Pretzels, Ice Cream Cake and Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake. Keep an eye out for us to try more of these soon.

I recently received a hostess gift of a cute potted herb garden that contained some lemon thyme (and oregano and variegated sage). The thyme was growing particularly vigorously, so I went in search of a recipe that would make good use of it. I found this one on epicurious.

These were really tasty, unique and easy. I would recommend reading the epicurious reviews before you decide whether or not to make them. It seems that most people either LOVE them or HATE them. I did add more lemon zest and more lemon juice, as was recommend in the reviews. I must be honest and say that these were not a big hit with Boy and Girl. I think that they would have liked them a lot without the thyme in them, but that would sort of defeat my original purpose, yes? I liked them quite a bit, but would serve them in the future as more of a appetizer or (with a glass of chardonnay) snack, rather than as a dessert. I also must disclose that I am a sucker for ANYTHING citrus. I'll take lemon or orange ANYTHING over chocolate any day of the week, so I may have a bit of a bias. Anyway, they were easy and the dough could be stored in the freezer for last-minute hostess needs.