All posts filed under: Dessert

Rhubarb & Cream Cheese Danish

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Treat your mom to a very special breakfast this Mother’s Day with these Rhubarb & Cream Cheese Danishes. While this recipe looks impressive, the use of store-bought puff pastry makes this recipe incredibly fast, and is simple enough for chefs of any age or cooking level to make! A Little Bit About Rhubarb Rhubarb is a peculiar perennial vegetable that grows thick and fibrous pink stalks with large green leaves. While the pink stalks of the rhubarb plant are edible (and can even be eaten raw), the green leaves are poisonous to humans and are often discarded prior to being sold in farmers markets or grocery stores in the spring and early summer months. When rhubarb is raw, the stalks are tart, fibrous, and have a stringy texture similar to celery, which may be off-putting to many people. But when it is cooked, it becomes extremely tender and almost disintegrates in your mouth. This texture makes rhubarb perfect for baking in pies, stewing into a savoury sauce, and of course using in these Rhubarb & …

Banana Chocolate Muffins

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Amongst the COVID-19 crisis, one thing has been looking up: people have been cooking from home! I’m excited to see so many people try out new recipes, organize virtual potlucks and cookoffs, and just to see people coming together over food! Even though these are scary times, food is something that can bring people together and make them feel comforted. Speaking of comfort, there are very few recipes that can be more comforting than Banana Bread. This classic recipe is enjoyed by people of all ages and can be made with just a few everyday pantry ingredients. A Few Additions to Enhance a Traditional Recipe While I’m not the biggest fan of plain banana bread, I am a fan of banana bread with chocolate in it. The melted chocolate adds such a nice texture and breaks up the standard, homogenous batter, which makes it really more enjoyable for me! Plus, anything with chocolate in it is already way better! I also like to add a bit of crunch to this with some pecans. Again, this …

Eggnog Rice Pudding

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We are on to day seven of my #12DaysOfChristmas series, and today I’m giving you a delicious recipe that can be served as a holiday dessert or even as a holiday breakfast. This recipe for Eggnog Rice Pudding is very festive and will warm you up and keep you energized this holiday season. Thanks to my friend Pauline who suggested this idea as a blog post for this series! Which Variety of Rice to Use? I’ve made (and eaten) lots of rice pudding in my day, so speaking from experience, I have a key variety of rice that I like to use in my rice pudding recipe. Arborio Rice is my favourite because it is short-grained and really starchy. These properties really make the rice pudding nice and sticky and thick, just like the rice pudding should be! Unlike most recipes, I do not like to pre-cook my rice. I find that it doesn’t turn out creamy enough and the milk doesn’t get a chance to really infuse through each rice grain. So instead, I …

Hot Chocolate & Cookie Pairings for the Holidays

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I am back with the second post of my #12DaysOfChristmas series here on my blog! And today I have a fun YouTube video for you all! Hot chocolate is one of my favourite treats to have during the cold months and cookies are my favourite treat to have during the holiday season. Naturally, I decided to combine my two favourite treats and come up with a tasty pairing! You can watch my YouTube video to see how I made the hot chocolate and cookie recipes, or you can continue reading down below! Peppermint Hot Chocolate & Peppermint Crinkle Cookie During the winter months, peppermint is one of my favourite flavours! It’s so refreshing and soothing and tastes great in just about any dessert! I’ve added a dash of peppermint extract into my Peppermint Hot Chocolate recipe and in my Peppermint Crinkle Cookie recipe to make them taste delicious and festive for the holidays. This cookie recipe is also gluten-free which is amazing! White Hot Chocolate & Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies White Hot Chocolate has a …

Chocolate Ganache Tart

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Love is sweet. Love is salty. Love is this Chocolate Ganache Tart. If there is one thing that I must have every Valentine’s Day, it’s got to be a chocolate dessert. And when I say chocolate dessert, I mean pure chocolate. No chocolate covered fruit or anything like that– chocolate must be the star! This year, I would have to say that I hit it out of the park with this sinfully rich Chocolate Ganache Tart! This tart is so decadent (thanks to two kinds of chocolate and some whipping cream) that you only need to eat a small slice to get that chocolate fix. This is great since this tart can be shared amongst a large group of people, or enjoyed over the course of a few days by you and your loved one! 😉 Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate There are two basic elements to this Chocolate Ganache Tart. First is the chocolate tart base that gets its chocolate flavour from unsweetened cocoa powder. The second (and arguably the most impressive) is the …

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

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‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, all the creatures were stirring….because you made these cute and tasty Cinnamon Roll Cookies! It’s a tradition in my family to always wake up on Christmas morning to a freshly baked batch of cinnamon rolls. The bliss of a freshly baked, warm cinnamon roll only lasts momentarily since we gobble them up so fast. And through self control, we only make one batch (our waistline probably thanks us for that :P). But since cinnamon and sugar is such a great combination for the holidays and I think it needs to be enjoyed more than just on Christmas morning. I made these teensy, bite-sized Cinnamon Roll Cookies to continue to enjoy the flavours throughout the holiday season! For the full recipe for my Cinnamon Roll Cookies, click here! I hope that you enjoyed the #12DaysOfChristmas series as much as I did! I sure did enjoy eating and giving away all these cookies to my friends and family! Let me know in the comments below which cookie recipe …

Homemade Chocolate Turtles

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OK, so this may not be a cookie recipe, but I just had to include these tasty sweets in my #12DaysOfChristmas series! You may know these caramely, choclatey and crunchy candies as Sweet Georgia Browns or Pecan Clusters, but I have always recognized these candies as Turtles. You often see these candies come out around the holiday season. They come packaged in their tall, iconic orange and white striped box. On the front of the box is their little mascot– a turtle dressed to the nines in a tuxedo, top hat, cane and monocle. Super fancy, right? While these candies are easy to buy (and taste delicious) I have come up with a homemade version for all the adventurous cooks out there in my recipe for Homemade Chocolate Turtles! I have to warn you, this is not an easy recipe to make whenever you feel like it. Don’t decide to make these on a whim on a weeknight or if you have some place to be in the next 2-3 hours. This requires some planning, concentration, and …

Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

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If there is something better than plain old chocolate, it’s having two kinds come together in a cookie recipe. This recipe for Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies are perfect to make for young kids and adults alike, because let’s face it, who doesn’t love chocolate and peppermint around the holidays? These Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies we’re inspired by one of my favourite holiday drinks: Peppermint Hot Chocolate. Many coffee shops and cafés serve this drink during the holiday season since it is so warming and comforting! I enjoy the richness and creaminess of the hot chocolate itself, but the peppermint adds a wonderful refreshing flavour to it! I knew that I had to make a cookie based on this popular holiday drink! These cookies have a traditional chocolate cookie base that is fudgy and tender. However, rather than adding dark, semisweet, or milk chocolate chips to the cookies, I add white chocolate chips. I really enjoy the sweetness from the white chocolate and the pops of white embedded within the chocolate cookie make it look very …

Coconut Macaroon Christmas Trees

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For the 9th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a gluten-free cookie recipe! Welcome back to the 12 Days of Christmas! If you are looking for an easy, gluten-free cookie recipe this holiday season, look no further than this recipe for Coconut Macaroons. These Coconut Macaroons get a festive update as they are shaped like little Christmas trees. With a light dusting of icing sugar, these beautiful cookies make a gorgeous and edible winter arrangement! Check out the full recipe below! Coconut Macaroon Christmas Trees Servings: 12-15 tree-shaped cookies, or about 24 round cookies Difficulty: Easy Prep Time:  15 minutes   |   Cook Time: 20 minutes   |   Total Time: 35 minutes Ingredients:  3 egg whites, beaten 1/2 cup icing sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 4 cups sweetened, shredded coconut Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and sugar together until the eggs have become foamy and the sugar has dissolved. …

Maple Bacon Shortbread Cookies

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Have you ever heard of bacon in cookies? It seems like a completely outrageous concept… but after lots of testing, I can say that these cookies are amazing and definitely worth a try this holiday season. For the 8th day of my #12DaysOfChristmas series, I give you my Maple Bacon Shortbread Cookies. If you recall, a few posts back, I wrote out my grandma’s famous Shortbread Cookie recipe. This Maple Bacon Shortbread Cookies use the same base recipe, just with a little less sugar and more bacon 😛 These cookies feature two of my favourite local Vancouver Island products and they just so happen to compliment each other perfectly! Local Bacon In this recipe, I use my favourite local bacon from Red Barn Markets. This bacon is always cut to the perfect thickness and has just the right amount of smoky and sweet flavour. I enjoy this bacon on just about anything, but I never thought to put it into cookies until I was developing my recipes a few months back. Just as I suspected, the …