The Daring Bakers Make Milan Cookies

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

The Daring Bakers have made all sorts of challenging desserts, some before my time and some since I joined two years ago. I’ll never forget my first, the Strawberry Mirror Cake, which challenged both my skills and patience; or last year’s Filbert Gateau, which tasted fabulous but took me 15 hours to make; or the Opera Cake and the weeks I spent planning and practicing for it. Yes, we have done our share of difficult challenges. This month the challenge was easier though no less enjoyable, and actually it couldn’t have come at a better time as I need a little breathing room until summer vacation time is over and the kids are back in school. Read more

Campfire Pies

When we began planning our annual trip to the Meyers family cabin in the Adirondacks, Michael announced that he wanted to make campfire pies, a favorite from his childhood camping trips. I racked my brain from my Girl Scout camping years but could not conjure up an image of what campfire pies might look like. We always made s’mores and banana boats, but I could not remember ever once making campfire pies. He gave me a brief description and assured me I would like them. Read more

Volcano Birthday Cake

For Top Gun’s fifth birthday, he requested a volcano birthday cake with dinosaurs. For some reason, he associates volcanoes with dinosaurs, so we obliged and made a chocolate volcano birthday cake with chocolate frosting and colored vanilla frosting with five toy dinosaurs—one for each year—strategically placed on top, making a sort of volcano diorama. He was so excited when he came home from school and found the cake sitting in the kitchen, though he felt we had not included enough dinosaurs in the diorama, so he ran upstairs and pulled another from his collection and plopped it down exactly where he thought it should go. Read more

Whole Wheat Blueberry Buckle

Early blueberries have started coming into the markets and grocery stores and we brought a big bunch home last week, eager for a chance to enjoy some of the delicious fruits. We use them in pies, muffins, ice cream, cakes, tarts, on top of a bowl of oatmeal, or just to eat out of hand. The boys usually have their fingers in the bowl of blueberries when we make something with them.

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The Daring Bakers Make Strudel

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of Make Life Sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague, by Rick Rodgers.

I felt a lot of excitement for this challenge because I adore puff pastry and have wanted to try making my own for some time, and of course anything with apples, spices, and rum-soaked raisins just has to be good, right? And besides, this gave me a chance to play around with my long-forgotten high school German and prepare for my trip to Germany in a few weeks! Read more

Lemon Thyme Sorbet

We have English thyme and lemon thyme, both of which grow prolifically in our garden. I’ve become rather fond of the flavor lemon thyme adds to poultry, fish, and even desserts such as this refreshing lemon thyme sorbet. Last month I sampled some lemon thyme butter cookies that knocked my socks off, and I’ve held off making them for fear that I might eat them all myself. I must find an occasion to make them and give them away so I can justify tasting just one again.

Somehow, I managed to get the boys hooked on lemon sorbet. They’ve always liked tart citrus flavors, even going so far as to nosh on lime slices, but their level of devotion caught me by surprise. They hung all over me as I photographed this and shared it with delight. Read more

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