From the category archives:

Desserts

Tangerine Tart with Cookie Crust

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For more than a decade, I’ve held onto this Sunset Magazine page. You see, the prolific tangerine tree that came with this house disappeared the day our yard was demo’d for landscaping. Waaaaa. Not sure why I never just bought fruit to make the tart; maybe I was insecure.

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Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Biscotti. Good dunking cookie, but not so fond of anise flavor. By consulting several basic recipes in my “collection” (read: stuffed binder), I devised a Chocolate Almond Biscotti. No anise, yes almond extract. And a chocolate coating because, uh let’s think here… CHOCOLATE. Larry gave the basic cookie a thumbs-up even before the second [...]

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Marcella’s Fudge

This is a big plus to attending Thanksgiving on my side of the family: Marcella’s Fudge may be eaten before dinner. It is right there with the appetizers.
Most of us thought Marcella was a relative from the Old Country (Wisconsin). My sister, Janie and I only just asked this year… turns out Marcella was [...]

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Double-Ginger Chocolate Chunk Cookies from More Magazine

More Magazine is me me me. Besides being written for Women Of A Certain Age, the magazine publishes decent recipes. Such as “Cookies for Grown-ups.” I’m a grown-up and so is Larry. We like grown-up flavors and this particular recipe in the November 2009 More Magazine was definitely US: Double Ginger. AND Chocolate. AND [...]

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Pumpkin Pie Rice Pudding

Making fresh pumpkin puree the other day yielded 9 cups of potential. Larry and I like pumpkin pie, but we also like rice pudding, so I googled around for recipes and ended up combining a few to produce this one.
I suppose I could have tried to crockpot it. But even with constant stirring, this [...]

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Orange Ribbon Cheesecake

Larry gets full credit for this beauty.  I’ve been out of town for several days conducting our fun women’s weekend, Camp GetAway.  One activity at our event is the traditional Magazine Swap (bring ‘em, take ‘em), which results in a gigantic pile of happiness at camp.
Sunday AM, before my 75 gals awoke, I was [...]

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Zinfandel Soaked Cherry Clafoutis

There was Larry, the winning bidder of a Food Lover’s Basket at a recent fundraising event for Project Angel Food.  I was eyeing something a little more WOW, like the beauty basket which included botox services; I was outbid. The experience turned out OK, the basket had a pile of autographed cookbooks, biscotti, and [...]

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Light Pumpkin Custard

Is it really, truly, finally Autumn? Gimme Pumpkin! Here is what’s so great about Light Pumpkin Custard… you can eat piles of it with little concern. The calorie intake is fairly low, your Vitamin A intake is sky high and you are enjoying one of the best holiday flavors ever (which then contributes to [...]

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‘09 LA County Fair Blue Ribbon Cheesecake Winner

  Last evening, I “covered” the Cheesecake Competition at the LA County Fair (another post upcoming on that fun blogging adventure) and witnessed first-hand as the very capable home cook and happy contestant, Ann Turley scored the First Place Blue Ribbon for her Apricot Cheesecake recipe.  Haven’t had a chance to make this myself, [...]

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Truvy’s Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa from Steel Magnolias

Is Steel Magnolias one of your favorite chick flicks?  I watch whenever it airs, maybe because food has such an active role.  The Easter eggs getting smashed in Truvy’s car trunk starts it off.  Truvy (Dolly Parton) and Annelle (Darryl Hannah) scooping corn and potatoes at the fair while updating Shelby (Julia Roberts) on [...]

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How to Make Pots de Crème The Lazy Way

This is positively YUMM-O.  I say yumm-o because Rachael Ray made this on Oprah.  I used to watch Oprah religiously (now, she may have jumped the shark… we’ll discuss that another time).  Rachael was talking my language:  Chocolate.  Easy.  Decadent.  Mom’s Recipe (any TV cook who features a recipe of their mom’s means that [...]

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Mocha Marshmallow Krispie Treats

Having produced a spectacular batch of Homemade Mocha Marshmallows, it dawned on me that Larry and I would never just sit and eat marshmallows. I get enough s’mores on Camp GetAway weekends.
I asked Larry, “Krispie Treats?”  He almost said “duh,” but wisely caught himself.
Not so duh, try finding the right rice crispy cereal at Whole [...]

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Wisconsin Schaum Tortes

  Happy birthday to my mom, Gloria.  She used to make us Schaum Tortes.
Googling around, I had a laugh reading, “Unless you’re from Wisconsin, you won’t know what a Schaum Torte is.”  I’m a native Californian who ate a lot of ‘em but that makes sense… both my folks are from Wisconsin.  Mom, a [...]

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Mocha Marshmallows

Why make homemade marshmallows?  Because they really are SO much better than store-bought.   Fresh, fresh, yummy fresh.  Another reason is, because you are a grownup now, so you can do stuff to them, like make a batch with Amaretto.  I did that, and then decided it didn’t really do anything for them, but dredging [...]

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Pomegranate Popsicles

The weather here today in LA is perfect.  Our Augusts are usually nicer than September as the beginning of school often coincides with a furnace-blast heat wave.  As kids, we had the double whammy of wool Catholic school uniforms and classrooms with no AC.  Brutal.
To cool her kids, Mom froze cubes of cranberry [...]

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Blueberry Stuffed Apples in Pastry

Naming this recipe was tricky; besides being stuffed with fresh blueberries and baked in flaky pastry, the apples are sweetened with Red Hot candies and pure maple syrup.  TMI for a recipe name, but Larry thought the Red Hots were a pretty good idea.  I like using up the second pie crust in the [...]

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Extreme Kahlua Chocolate Mousse

It doesn’t get much better’n this. Besides being remarkably easy to make (thanks to the crockpot), once chilled, this food from the Gods becomes super dense, like the center of an incredible chocolate bon bon. Take a bite and you will go, “mmmmmmmm.”
But heed this warning: do not dish up a portion the size [...]

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Easy Fresh Apple Tart ~ Homage to Julia Child

Fellow IACP members, who recognizes this plate?  Julia Child was a founding member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals; over the years, the group’s cookbook awards gala grew to a rather big splash.  The year 1997 was so splashy, attendees received this commemorative platter and Julia took the time to autograph plates for [...]

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Butterscotch Pudding

I cannot stop thinking about this Butterscotch Pudding. Friends Barbara, David and Annie were coming for dinner and I wanted a simple killer dessert you might see at a cool restaurant and say, “oh boy!”
Oh boy oh boy oh boy Butterscotch Pudding. Thank you, Gourmet’s Ruth Cousineau for this. A few of the reviews [...]

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Mini Kahlua Carrot Cakes with Maple Icing

Mini cake, giant cupcake or big muffin, you decide.  It’s the same pan – the large one-cup muffin tins.  I obviously like to bake with Kahlua.  If you’ve read previous posts, you know that Kahlua was a longtime PR client of mine.  Few days went by without a learning experience, and now-friend, Madeline was [...]

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