Extra-Dark Chocolate Low Carb Cupcakes (Gluten Free)

When we were celebrating my nephew’s birthday this spring, I didn’t want to leave my in-laws out of the dessert fun, and surprised them with a small batch of low carb cupcakes for a rare sweet escape! These are extra dark chocolatey and I’m a dark chocolate lover, so although I am not paying attention…

Floral Buttercream Birthday Cake with Chocolate and Whiskey Tiers

Omigosh you guys, it has been a whirlwind month! Over Memorial Day weekend we headed for Des Moines to throw my husband’s grandmother a surprise birthday party (and his cousin a Bridal Shower.) No birthday is complete without cake, but everyone was worried about spoiling the surprise, so we made the cake in Minneapolis, loaded…

Oreo Peanut Butter Cup Pie

Awhile back I needed to make a dessert for an office birthday. Most of the time I have free-rein on those, but this time I had a few constraints – the birthday boy isn’t a big fan of cake, I was short on time, and I wanted something absolutely decadent. After spin through Pinterest I…

Extra Almond-y Almond Cheesecake Bars

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you probably know that I am *obsessed* with almond flavoring (Seriously, it makes anything better! Just go ahead and double whatever the recipe calls for, I dare you!) my husband loves cheesecake, and Mayhem, well, Mayhem is an equal-opportunity food enthusiast. Put those together, and you have…

Peanut-Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

You know,  every so often, I just have one of those days that is so cruddy that my only real hope is devouring a really good cookie. I had one of those a few weeks ago, and thankfully, my girl Martha Stewart came to my rescue. When I had my “cookies. now.” day, I first…

Cardamom Citrus Salad

A few weeks ago my husband’s aunt and uncle were hosting a casual family dinner while my husband’s grandmother was in town to visit. They had all of the bases covered from salad, to sides, to beverages, to dessert, but we simply couldn’t arrive empty handed! Part of it might be that my husband and…

Chewy Brownie Cookies (accidentally Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)

When we were invited over to our friends’ place for dinner the other night, I was honestly going to bring that awesome salad and call it a day, but when I found out there wasn’t any dessert, I was forced to act. ^_^ One of our friends doesn’t eat gluten or dairy, so a lot…

Boston Cream Cupcakes

Omigosh you guys, it feels like it has been an eternity since I’ve made cupcakes. In reality it has only been like two months, but, let’s be honest – that’s two months too long! I baked these for an office birthday when I felt the urge to do something a little different. Chocolate cupcakes are…

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

You’d be hard pressed to find a bad chocolate cupcake. Well, unless of course you’re talking about vegan cupcakes. Even those styrofoam Hostess ones are somewhat palatable, but vegan cupcakes taste like sawdust! 😉 …. just kidding, of course! I made these for a neighborhood dessert potluck, and was faced with a dilemma – they’re…

Peppermint Mocha French Silk Pie

Are you ready for Christmas? Less than two days to go! I’m not sure whether I’m super excited or super stressed, but for the purposes of happy blogging, we’re going to go with super excited. I made this French Silk Pie for a holiday party a few days ago, and although I’m crazy busy, I…

Chocolate Amaretto Cookies

Oh my goodness you guys, it has been weeks! I have a pretty good excuse, though – we just got back from an amazing trip to Italy!! We had a fantastic time visiting Rome, Milan, Venice, and Florence. We saw awe-inspiring sights, enjoyed incredible food, and met some lovely people….but more on that later, let’s…

Rum Cake (Tortuga Copycat)

A couple of years ago my husband, his parents, and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas. At one the ports, my in-laws came back with a Tortuga Rum Cake. I’d never had one before, but they promised me I was in for a treat. A few weeks later I got to sample it,…

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

So, you may remember that last year I crowned my Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Frosting, like,  the queens of fall. The end-all be-all of autumn related cupcakes. The autumnest of the autumn. The epitome of fall in a paper wrapper. Well, as it turns out, I was wrong. I know. How…

Big Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (#11)

As I mentioned yesterday, we’ve had 6 new families move into the neighborhood recently. Since I had put off getting welcome baskets out to them, I had to kick it into high gear and get some cookies baked while the weather was still cool enough to use the oven! The first batch of cookies made…