Honey-Roasted Peach Croustade with Almonds and Honey-Sweetened Greek Yogurt

Peach squirted between my fingers as I tried to separate flesh from pit.  Cutting the first peaches of the year is always a learning curve.  Peach juice splashed my clean shirt, why do I always remember an apron to late?  I got the technique, cut quarters to the pit, then, diving the knife into the flesh follow the pit around to separate a clean slice.  Peaches are drizzled with honey, could there be a sweeter combination?  I swoon at the thought.

Shane knew a good thing when he smelled it.  I promised him a piece if he helped clean the garage (I even threatened to bring it to work before he could taste it).  And boy did he remind me!  Every ten minutes he was asking to go inside, desperate for a slice.  Eventually I relented, but only because my stomach was starting to stir.  

The dessert is quaint, rustic if you will.  It doesn't get many points for looks, but underneath that frumpy facade is a brilliant croustade.  First you'll see a butter-y rich crust, crisp and golden folded over bright and beautiful honey roasted peaches.  Baked right into the pie are slivered almonds, crunchy and nutty the perfect, and I do mean it, contrast and complement.  The impeccably delicious croustade is topped with a dollop of honey sweetened greek yogurt.    Favourite for sure!

I never brought leftovers into work, as I had intended.  The results were much to good to share, and they didn't know what they were missing anyway.  The two of us polished this dessert off in less than twenty-four hours!

Baking notes:

-I made this recipe exactly as outlined in the recipe.  I baked the peaches before heading off the do errands.  I made dough and left it in the fridge for a few hours before taking it out and warming it until it gave to my rolling pin.  

- Obviously the quality of honey is important here, pick a honey you really like.  

-I didn't find the honey yogurt to be a very important piece of the dessert, I'd probably skip it next time, possibly in favour of a nice whipped cream.

The recipe for Honey-Roasted Peach Croustade with Almonds and Honey-Sweetened Greek Yogurt can be found on this website. (and a few others)

19/569

Milk Chocolate-Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

These. Cookies. Were. Awesome. and addictive.  Warning, make for a big crowd or you'll be eating them all.  I brought these cookies camping with my family and every time the container came out they were demolished in seconds.  Granted my family loves peanut butter (at least the non-crazy members) so these cookies were a guaranteed hit.

The cookies are a bit chewy, the filling is smooth, separately they're good, but together they're something else entirely.  Imagine: chewy, slightly melty, a teeny bit crunchy and totally sweet.  Done.  Taste-wise they're quite a bit like a peanut butter cup, a giant peanut butter heavy reese's.  I'll make these cookies again for sure and make a few more people very happy.

Baking notes:
-Be sure to use the chemical laden, multi ingredient, awesome tasting peanut butter.  With the 1/2 cup leftover slather your smores with them and thank me later.
-I made the cookies exactly as outlined in the recipe and the results were perfect
-I kept the cookies in the fridge, otherwise they had a tendency to slide off each other.  They were perfect chilled.

The recipe for Milk Chocolate-Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies is on the Bon Appetit website.

18/569


I'm sorry there are no normal pictures, my lens was broken at the time these cookies were made.

Orange and Rosemary Butter Blossoms

These cookies were made with high expectations, rosemary and citrus? Fave!  Even a little bonus pepper kissed on top.  Unfortunately I was disappointed, as were my tasters.  The most telling sign was the silence afterwards, where normally my cookies get great comments.  The rosemary was lacking, the orange barely noticeable and worst of all the cookies felt dry and tough in my mouth.  It may have been my fault, this was after all a press cookie, and I don't have a cookie press.  Instead I rolled the dough into a log and chilled it.  Afterwards I sliced and baked the cookies until they were ever so slightly golden and let them cool.  I loved the idea, but wasn't happy with the results.  If you are looking for this flavour combination find another recipe, you'll be happier for it.

Baking notes:
-I made the recipe exactly as called for, except for the cutting.  As I said I don't have a cookies press and won't be buying one, so rolling and slicing was the next best option.

The recipe for Orange and Rosemary Butter Blossoms is not available online.

17/569

Triple Chocolate Celebration Cake

"Something kinda chocolate-y or something super chocolate?" I asked my sister.  I had promised her a fondant cake (a strange obsession of hers) but backed out of it last minute, too much work.  I swore that the cake I made would be even better.
"Super chocolate!" She messaged back.  It was settled then, I'd be making a triple chocolate celebration cake.

The cake took two days to prepare and a seeming metric tonne of chocolate, but in the end I had two beautiful cakes, layered with mousse and a thick ganache, enough for twenty or so people!  It was delicious, light and dense, dark and chocolate-y.  I shared it with almost everyone I knew!  It went down very well, especially with a mound of raspberries and tayberries on top.

Happy Birthday Sister!

Baking notes:
-I didn't use chocolate chips as called for in the cakes, though it would have been a nice addition.
-I made 8 inch cakes, after each layer was cut in two there were six layers.  The recipe calls for only three layers in the cake, which means this makes two three layer cakes.  A lot if you ask me!
-I thought the cake was a bit dry, I would watch the baking times closer next time.
-The mousse firms up a considerable amount in the fridge, it becomes harder to spread.
-The ganache layer was beautiful, first I made a crumb coating and then went around and made a nice smooth surface.
-I did not use the transfer sheet that the recipe indicated.  There is no where in my small town that sells them and the cost of shipping them as well as the chances of them breaking in transit, it wasn't worth it.

You can find the recipe for Triple Chocolate Celebration Cake on the epicurious website.

16/569

Raspberry Brownie Ice Cream Pie

We were all gathered around a big fire, beer in hand, chatting away on a warm semi-summer night, when my sister announced she was going to bed.
"Wait!" I hollered "I've got sparklers!"  It was Canada day after all.  Darkness had crept in and suddenly it was quarter after eleven.  We all circled in the front yard around the lone lighter and squealed with delight as our sparklers took flame.  We waved them about in fervert excitement until the last spark dissipated.  Then I brought out the big gun, a sparkler that sat on the ground and was lit with a wick.  None of us had played with this before. We sat it in the center of the drive way, lit it and took a few large steps back.  Suddenly the neighborhood erupted in noise, the sharp squeal and sparks that shot out from this little container had us covering our ears.  I looked up and down the street, waiting for our neighbors to peek out their windows. I was laughing, I was grimacing.  We were staring at this spectacle of noise and light, I was wishing for it to stop and for it last forever.

"Sorry cranky neighbor next door," I mumbled, "sorry children sleeping in the house across the street."  A car stops midway down the road to watch.  Finally the noise subsides, the can burns out.  Both my horrified and exhilarated faces combined, I probably looked like a clown.  As we slunk into the backyard to gather around the fire again, we whispered our excitement and all vowed to do it again next year.

Baking notes:
-This pie was terrific!  I loved the combination of raspberry ice cream and brownie.  The brownies themselves weren't too sweet, but each slice came out well balanced.
-I made the recipe exactly as specified, except the amounts of ice cream.  Since it was hard to measure out I do believe I used less than called for.
-The pie was incredible hard to eat.  It is necessary to wait for the ice cream to soften a little before digging in, but the truffle layer stays hard the longest, you'll have to stab through the layer anyway.
-The melted warm truffle sauce drizzled on at the end was not very useful, it hardened almost immediately.

You can find the recipe for Raspberry Brownie Ice Cream Pie on this website.

15/569

Dark and White Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Ginger

The cookies were the first thing I packed into the camping basket.  Peanut butter, bread, bags of our favourite chips all made it, but after these cookies.  We ate them while hiking, while on the ferry and pretty much any other time they popped into view.  I know for sure they would make great food swap/potluck cookies, they'd be some of the first to go.

They were amazing!  The texture in them was pure bliss, fudgy and chewy, the super chocolate cookie of your dreams.  While the ginger was fine, none of the folks in my house (myself included) love candied ginger.  The first day was enjoyable, but a few days later the ginger was even more pronounced, too much for these cookie lovers.  I'll be making these cookies all the time now, they've earned a spot on this list, but minus the ginger.

Baking notes:
-Using a high-quality white chocolate, like lindt makes all the difference to those of us who claim not to like white chocolate.  The 3 1/2oz called for is exactly what a bar weighs.
-I used semi-sweet chocolate in the recipe rather than bittersweet, I personally found this to be perfect.

You can find the Dark and White Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Ginger recipe on the epicurious website.

14/569

Caramel-Walnut Upside-Down Banana Cake

What a mouth full! The titles of the recipes in this book are certainly descriptive.  I made this cake for another father's day celebration that happened this past weekend.  I took a risk, since my Dad might not be the most open-minded guy - food wise.  Happily the cake went over with resounding success, everyone liked it, my dad especially. 

A few days prior I intentionally squirreled a few bananas away top of my refrigerator until they were so dark they nearly met their fate in the garbage.  Then I peeled off their black skins, mashed them with a fork and swirled my pureed bananas into a sweet vanilla rum batter.  The banana batter sat atop a nearly sickly sweet caramel and the two mingled in the oven until they were one.  In the end the cake was delicious, but very, almost overly sweet.  Please note.

Baking notes:
-In reading the reviews on this recipe I noticed how hard the caramel became when the cake cooled.  To counteract this I added a 1/4 cup of thick cream as soon as the caramel was cooked, but before the walnuts were added.  While the caramel still hardened to a tooth-some chew, it was not crunchy and tooth-breakable.
-I used a 9-inch spring-form pan to cook this cake.  Unfortunately, all-though I suspected it might, the caramel did leak out the bottom.  Next time, and I would advise you too, I'll use a regular cake pan.  The 8-inch pan called for would never be big enough.
-Next time I would add about a 1/3 cup more walnuts to the caramel, I found this a little lacking.

You can find the Caramel-Walnut Upside-Down Banana Cake recipe on the epicurious website.

13/569