Chocolate Trail Mix Oatmeal Cookies

Chocolate Trail Mix Cookies

Many people think of trail mix as a dry, chewy form of nourishment nibbled on during hiking or camping. Let me say that I think of trail mix as a highly customizable luxurious snack. That’s because I love to make my own delicious, personalized trail mixes by choosing my favorite additions. No hate to raisins and peanuts, but gorp is not allowed here. Chocolate covered nuts and fruit, step forward. Almonds, pecans, macadamias, pistachios, and cashews, please enter. Dried cherries and blueberries, welcome friends. White chocolate chips and caramel chips, you made it. Chocolate espresso beans, we’ve been waiting for you.

I took my love of personalized trail mixes to the next level by creating these Chocolate Trail Mix Oatmeal Cookies. Everything I love about those wonderful add-ins is combined in cookie form, then dunked in melted chocolate. They become beautiful when you decorate the tops with the add-ins. I used freeze-dried raspberries for my cookie tops because of the tartness and vibrant red color. Feel free to choose your favorite combination of add-ins and get creative when decorating the tops. Your additions combined, minus the oats, should be about two cups.

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Chocolate Trail Mix Oatmeal Cookies
Servings
cookies
Servings
cookies
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
  3. In a large bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
  4. Beat in the eggs and vanilla in three separate additions, making sure each one is incorporated before adding the next.
  5. On low speed, beat in the flour mixture just until combined.
  6. Fold in the oats, almonds, coconut, cranberries, pistachios and pumpkin seeds.
  7. Place 1 1/4 ounce round portions (about 2 tablespoons) three inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
  8. Bake until the tops are set and no longer shiny, about 10-12 minutes.
  9. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
  10. Combine the melted chocolate and coconut oil in a small deep container, wide enough to fit the width of your widest cookie. Dunk cookies about halfway into chocolate. Top with nuts and seeds.

Pumpkin Cake

Pumpkin Cake

This perfect pumpkin cake brings back memories. The tender, moist texture reminds me of the pumpkin cake bars I used to make in junior high. I got the treasured bar recipe from an old children’s cookbook. I lent the cookbook to a neighbor and never saw the book or the recipe again. Through trial and error, I came up with this cake, which I think is even better! It’s so delicious it doesn’t need frosting, but the classic pairing with cream cheese frosting takes it over the top.

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Pumpkin Cake
Course Dessert
Keyword cake, pumpkin
Servings
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cake
Cream Cheese Frosting
Course Dessert
Keyword cake, pumpkin
Servings
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cake
Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
Pumpkin Cake
  1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF (165ºC). Line the bottom of an 8-inch round cake pan* with parchment paper**. Grease and flour the insides.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
  3. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla and pumpkin purée with an electric mixer or by hand with a whisk, until well combined
  4. Stir in the flour mixture, just until combined.
  5. Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 38-43 minutes.
  6. Cool the cake in pan for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from pan and transfer to a cooling rack.
Cream Cheese Frosting
  1. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer, until creamy.
  2. Beat in the vanilla extract and salt until well combined.
  3. On low speed, beat in the powdered sugar.
  4. On low speed, beat in the heavy cream a little at a time until your desired consistency is reached. Stir with a spatula to smooth out any bubbles.
Recipe Notes

*To find the cake pan I used, click here.

**To find the parchment rounds I used, click here.

Chocolate Turtle Drop Cookies

A chocolate turtle is a confection made with caramel and pecans. The shape resembles a turtle, which is how it got the name. This is my version of a turtle cookie, loaded with plenty of delicious add-ins.

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Chocolate Turtle Drop Cookies
Chocolate cookies loaded with chopped chocolate, caramel chips, and toffee bits, topped with pecans.
Course Dessert
Keyword chocolate, cookies
Servings
cookies
Ingredients
Course Dessert
Keyword chocolate, cookies
Servings
cookies
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
  3. In a separate large bowl, cream the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar together with an electric mixer at medium speed, until light and fluffy.
  4. Beat in the eggs and vanilla in three separate additions, making sure each addition is incorporated before adding the next. Beat in the flour mixture just until combined.
  5. Set aside 20 chunks of the chopped chocolate. Fold the remaining chopped chocolate, the caramel chips and the toffee bits into the dough.
  6. Place twenty 2-inch size portions of dough about 2-inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. (I used a #24 portion scoop*)
  7. Top each cookie with a chunk of the reserved chocolate and a pecan half. Bake until the surface of the cookies is set, about 10-11 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute then transfer to a cooling rack.
Recipe Notes

To find the portion scoop I used, click here.

Peaches and Cream Loaf Cake

Every peach season, I get excited by the abundance of peaches at my local farmers market and I end up buying way too many. So if you’re like me and you have ripe peaches sitting on your counter, turn them into peach purée. I love adding peach purée to my iced tea or adding it to desserts like this moist, tender cake. This is one of my most popular cake recipes on social media, and for good reason. It does not disappoint! To watch the TikTok video, click here.

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Peaches and Cream Loaf Cake
Moist, tender peach cake with peach cream cheese icing
Keyword cake, peach
Servings
loaf
Ingredients
Cake
Icing
Keyword cake, peach
Servings
loaf
Ingredients
Cake
Icing
Instructions
Cake
  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line the bottom of an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour the sides.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  3. Set aside 2 tablespoons peach purée for icing.
  4. In a large bowl, beat sugar, oil, eggs, remaining peach purée and extracts until smooth.
  5. Add flour mixture and beat just until combined.
  6. Transfer batter to prepared baking pan. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 38-45 minutes.
  7. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Spread icing on cooled cake.
Icing
  1. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.
  2. Add powdered sugar, salt, vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of peach purée. Beat until smooth. Add additional peach purée, if needed, until desired consistency is reached. Fold in diced peaches.

Pineapple Scones with Cream Cheese Icing

Pineapple Scones with Cream Cheese Icing

I had pineapple smoothies two days in a row. There’s something so vibrant and refreshing about pineapple. It feels sunny and tropical. Should scones ever feel sunny and tropical? I’m going to say yes! Scones deserve a summer vacation too. They can take a break from tea parties and coffee shops and enjoy a little sunshine.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you experience your first bite of a scone with a burst of pineapple flavor. I immediately thought, “Why isn’t this a thing?” There are probably other pineapple scones out there in the universe, but they’re definitely not well known, like the very popular blueberry scone for example. I’m going to go so far as to say, pineapple scones are better than blueberry scones. There, I said it. (And this is coming from a person who loves blueberries.)

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Pineapple Scones with Cream Cheese Icing
Servings
scones
Ingredients
Pineapple Scones
Cream Cheese Icing
Servings
scones
Ingredients
Pineapple Scones
Cream Cheese Icing
Instructions
Pineapple Scones
  1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
  3. Work butter into the flour mixture with your fingers or with a pastry blender until pea size chunks form.
  4. In a small bowl, whisk together heavy cream, pineapple juice and vanilla.
  5. Stir heavy cream mixture into flour and butter mixture until a shaggy dough is formed.
  6. Fold in pineapple.
  7. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead briefly, by folding dough over onto itself a few times. Do not overwork dough.
  8. Pat or roll dough into a 7-inch round. Cut dough into 8 wedges.
  9. Place scones about 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheet. Brush scones with egg wash.
  10. Bake until golden brown, about 18-22 minutes.
  11. Transfer scones to a cooling rack to cool completely. Drizzle with icing.
Cream Cheese Icing
  1. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.
  2. Add powdered sugar and pineapple juice. Whisk until smooth.

Lavender Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Honey Buttercream

Lavender Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Honey Buttercream

Lavender and honey go so well together. Bees know it, fairies know it, princesses know it. The flavor combination is so delightful in these cookies, that I decided to share them with you. In addition to delicious, compatible flavors, these cookies have a divine texture combination. The shortbread cookies have a tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Together with the silky, smooth honey buttercream, they’ll make you feel fancy and regal. You’ll hold your head up higher, ring for your tea and declare that you do indeed deserve fine things!

Some people are nervous about baking with lavender because they don’t want their baked goods to taste like soap or perfume. That can be a concern if the lavender flavor is too pronounced. However, if you don’t use enough you won’t be able to taste it at all. There’s a fine balance. If you use the right amount, it will taste pleasant and have sweet undertones. I used two teaspoons of culinary lavender in these cookies, but you can adjust the amount to your tastes. You can start out with one teaspoon, bake a small sample of dough and taste it, to customize the flavor.

Speaking of tasting, my grandmother always said, “taste as you go.” This is also helpful when making the honey buttercream. Typically, when making other flavors of buttercream, you add more powdered sugar if your buttercream is too thin. In this case, adding more powdered sugar can make the buttercream too sweet. Once you have added the amount of honey that tastes good to you, you can add a little cornstarch if you need to stiffen it up a bit.

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Lavender Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Honey Buttercream
Tender lavender scented cookies with silky honey buttercream filling
Keyword cookies
Servings
Ingredients
Lavender Shortbread Cookies
Honey Buttercream
Keyword cookies
Servings
Ingredients
Lavender Shortbread Cookies
Honey Buttercream
Instructions
Honey Buttercream
  1. In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugar together until smooth. Add honey, one tablespoon at a time until desired sweetness and consistency is reached.
  2. Mix in a pinch of salt to taste.
  3. Mix in cornstarch, if necessary, to firm up buttercream. *See notes below.
Recipe Notes

*The addition of cornstarch helps to firm up buttercream without adding additional sweetness.

To find culinary lavender, click here.

Blackberry Oatmeal Cookies

Blackberry Oatmeal Cookies by Brownie Mischief

We’ve all heard our parents telling their childhood stories of walking miles to school and suffering worse hardships than we ever had to. My mom used to tell me stories like that, but she had a sense of humor, so her stories were always fun to listen to. She used to tell me about her friend’s mother, who would make big, delicious oatmeal cookies. My mom would trade her baloney sandwich nearly every day to get one of those cookies from her friend. She reminisced about those cookies so much, that I set out to make her some when I learned to bake. She and my grandmother would taste test batch after batch of my cookies over the years. I have probably baked enough oatmeal cookies to circle the earth. Okay that’s an exaggeration, but seriously I have baked quite a few. Of all the oatmeal cookies I’ve baked, these are one of my favorites!

Most of the time when you see fruit added to an oatmeal cookie, it’s dried fruit, like raisins or cranberries. That’s mostly because if you just dump fruit into your cookie dough, the fruit releases water, leaving soggy spots in your cookies. To solve that issue, for this recipe, I macerate the blackberries before baking. The purple blackberry juice that’s released from the berries is used to make a beautiful lilac icing to drizzle over the cookies.

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Blackberry Oatmeal Cookies
Course Dessert
Keyword cookies
Servings
cookies
Ingredients
Brown Butter
Macerated Berries
Oatmeal Cookies
Icing
Course Dessert
Keyword cookies
Servings
cookies
Ingredients
Brown Butter
Macerated Berries
Oatmeal Cookies
Icing
Instructions
  1. In a small, light colored saucepan, melt 1/2 cup (4 oz or 113g) of butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until dark golden and fragrant. You will see brown particles sink to the bottom. Keep a close eye on it. It can go from toasted to burned very quickly.
  2. Remove from heat and immediately transfer the brown butter, including the brown particles, to a small bowl. Refrigerate until solid, about one hour.
  3. Place the blackberries in a medium bowl. Sprinkle with granulated sugar and toss to coat. Let sit for 30 minutes until the berries release their juices.
  4. Drain the blackberries and reserve the juice.
  5. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  6. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
  7. In a large bowl, beat brown butter, softened butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
  8. Add eggs and vanilla extract in three separate additions and beat until well combined.
  9. Stir in the flour mixture just until combined.
  10. Stir in the oats just until combined. Gently fold in the blackberries.
  11. Scoop 1/4 cup sized portions of dough, about 2 inches apart, onto the prepared cookie sheets. *I used a #16 2 ounce scoop.
  12. Bake until the cookie tops are set and the edges are golden brown, about 13-15 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
  13. Pass reserved blackberry juice through a sieve to remove the seeds.
  14. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, heavy cream and one tablespoon of the reserved blackberry juice until smooth. Add more blackberry juice, a little at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
  15. Drizzle the icing over the cooled cookies.
Recipe Notes

*To find the portion scoop I used, click here.

Pink Lemonade Cake

This cheerful little loaf cake feels like a spring or summer picnic with lemonade and sunshine. It’s similar to a pink lemonade cake that my elderly neighbor used to make when I was growing up. She made it for all the neighborhood kids and we always gobbled it up. When I was about eight years old she taught my friend and me how to make it. She used a yellow cake mix in a large baking pan and poked holes all over the cake, then drenched it in a pink, sugary lemon icing. I transformed that happy pink lemonade memory into a delightful loaf cake made from scratch.

To watch the TikTok video, click here.

Print Recipe
Pink Lemonade Cake
A tender, moist loaf cake that tastes just like pink lemonade
Course Brunch, Dessert
Keyword cake, pink lemonade
Servings
8 x 4-inch loaf
Ingredients
Pink Lemonade Cake
Lemon Syrup
Icing
Course Brunch, Dessert
Keyword cake, pink lemonade
Servings
8 x 4-inch loaf
Ingredients
Pink Lemonade Cake
Lemon Syrup
Icing
Instructions
Pink Lemonade Cake
  1. Preheat oven to 325ºF (163ºC). Line the bottom of an 8 X 4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour the sides.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and sour cream.
  4. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs, lemon zest and strawberry extract until smooth.
  5. Stir in the flour mixture in two additions, alternating with the milk mixture. Stir just until combined. Stir in food color a little at time until your desired shade is achieved.
  6. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare lemon syrup.
  7. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and transfer to a cooling rack. Poke holes all over the top of cake with a skewer.
  8. Brush the warm cake generously with the lemon syrup. Let the cake cool completely, then top with icing.
Lemon Syrup
  1. In a small saucepan, combine the juice of one lemon with enough water to equal 1/4 cup. Add sugar and stir over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
Icing
  1. In a medium bowl, beat the butter, powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, the strawberry extract and a pinch of salt, until smooth. Add more lemon juice until your desired consistency is reached. Mix in gel food color.
Recipe Notes

*To find the gel food color I used, click here.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Lemon Crinkle Cookies by Brownie Mischief
Click here to watch the video

Crinkle cookies, also known as crackle cookies, have been around for a very long time. The pretty, crispy, cracked exterior and the soft, moist interior are what we love about them! There’s definitely no shortage of recipes for crinkles out there, everything from chocolate to red velvet. I even saw an audacious cookie company selling lemon crinkles for twelve dollars each, more money than it will cost for this entire batch! So many of the recipes I tried were disappointing, especially the ones made with cake mix. So I created my own version and I’m sharing it with you. Here’s to making sure delicious lemon crinkle cookies are available for all to enjoy, not just a select few.

This recipe requires a bit of chilling, which I know many people don’t like because they’re impatient. I happen to be one of those people. Old fashioned crinkle cookies require about 3 hours of chilling. My recipe has the addition of cornstarch, which helps prevent spreading and allows for a shorter chilling time. As an added bonus, cornstarch makes the cookies more tender. Win win!

Fresh lemon zest and lemon juice in these cookies is crucial to the best lemon flavor. A bit of pure lemon extract is added to enhance that flavor. Don’t be tempted to use imitation extracts. The flavor will disappoint you. I added two drops of lemon yellow food color, which made them so pretty they look like pure sunshine!

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Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Lemon cookies with a crackled, crispy exterior and a soft, tender interior
Course Dessert
Servings
cookies
Ingredients
Course Dessert
Servings
cookies
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
  2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest together until light and fluffy.
  3. Beat in the egg until well combined.
  4. Mix in the lemon juice, extracts and food coloring until well combined.
  5. Add the flour mixture and mix just until combined.
  6. Refrigerate the cookie dough for 30 minutes to one hour.
  7. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  8. Roll the dough into balls, about 2 tablespoons each. **I used a #30 portion scoop.
  9. Roll the dough balls generously in powdered sugar.
  10. Place two inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets.
  11. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for one minute then transfer to a cooling rack.
Recipe Notes

*To find Americolor lemon yellow gel food color, click here.

**To find a #30 cookie scoop, click here.

To find the striped wax paper pictured above, click here.

 

Lilac Vanilla Mini Cakes

Lilac Vanilla Mini Cakes

Once upon a time, there was a little black bear who woke up from a long nap. As she stretched, she felt her tummy growl. She ventured into the morning sunshine and smelled something sweet. She sniffed the air, following the sweet fragrance until she came upon a beautiful purple tree. She climbed up to a comfy branch and ate the tender, purple blossoms to her heart’s content.

Bears, butterflies and bees know something good when they see it. We humans can also enjoy lilacs. I knew lilacs were edible, but I hadn’t tasted them until recently. The flavor reminds me of beets, slightly sweet with a vegetable aftertaste. I really wanted to try lilac syrup after seeing so many photos of pretty purple syrup online. I discovered that lilac syrup is not purple. It’s more of a dull, brownish blue-green. Many people use food coloring or blueberries to color their syrup. I also discovered that lilac syrup will turn a pretty shade of mauve by adding a small amount of lemon juice to the finished syrup. Since I would be using my lilac syrup inside of cake layers, I let it remain its natural color. I made a simple syrup with lilac blossoms and let them steep for a couple of hours. It was just long enough to give a subtle lilac flavor without being too floral. If you want a stronger lilac flavor, I suggest using more lilac blossoms rather than steeping longer to avoid bitterness.

I paired the lilac syrup with this soft, fluffy vanilla cake and silky Swiss meringue buttercream. If you aren’t a fan of lilac syrup, feel free to use vanilla simple syrup instead and just use the lilac blossoms to decorate your cakes. They look stunning on any cake or cupcakes.

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Lilac Vanilla Mini Cakes
Soft, fluffy mini white vanilla cakes with lilac syrup and vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream, topped with lilac blossoms
Course Dessert
Servings
mini cakes
Ingredients
Lilac Syrup
White Vanilla Cake
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Course Dessert
Servings
mini cakes
Ingredients
Lilac Syrup
White Vanilla Cake
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Instructions
Lilac Syrup
  1. In a small saucepan combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring gently to dissolve sugar. Add the lilac blossoms and stir gently.
  2. Turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
  3. Remove from heat and allow lilac blossoms to steep for 2 hours. Pass lilac syrup through a mesh sieve.
White Vanilla Cake
  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, oil and vanilla bean paste with an electric mixer at medium speed, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  4. On medium speed, beat in egg whites in two additions, then beat in egg until well combined.
  5. On low speed, beat in one third of the flour mixture, then beat in sour cream just until combined.
  6. Beat in the remaining flour in two additions, alternating with milk. Beat just until combined.
  7. Transfer batter to prepared cake pans. Bake for 28-33 minutes, or until top is light golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Do not over bake.
  8. Allow cakes to cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and continue cooling on a wire rack.
  9. Cut cakes into twelve 2 3/4-inch rounds using a cookie or biscuit cutter.
  10. Using a pastry brush, brush mini cakes generously with lilac syrup or vanilla simple syrup.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
  1. Combine egg whites and sugar in a large heatproof bowl. Set over a pan of simmering water.
  2. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and temperature of 160ºF is reached.
  3. Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whisk on low speed, gradually increasing to medium-high speed. Whisk until glossy, stiff peaks form and mixture reaches room temperature.
  4. Turn mixer to medium-low speed. Add butter, a few pieces at a time, allowing butter to fully incorporate before adding more. If mixture looks curdled, keep mixing and it will correct itself.
  5. Switch to a paddle attachment. On low speed, mix in vanilla bean paste and salt. Continue mixing on low speed for a few minutes until smooth.
  6. Remove about 3/4 cup of frosting and transfer to a small bowl. Using a toothpick, place two tiny drops of lilac gel food color and one tiny drop of violet gel food color into the bowl. Mix with a spatula until well combined.
Assembly
  1. Smear a bit of frosting on each mini cake board. Top with a cake round, frosting, then a second cake round. Frost with a crumb coat if desired. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Frost mini cakes with white Swiss meringue buttercream, then smear small amounts of lilac Swiss meringue buttercream around the sides and top. Smooth frosting with a bench scraper and smooth the tops with a small offset spatula. Decorate with lilac blossoms.
Vanilla Simple Syrup (optional)
  1. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. When sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract.
Recipe Notes

*If you can't find ultra fine granulated sugar, it's okay to substitute with regular granulated sugar.

**To find the lilac gel food color I used, click here.

***To find the violet gel food color I used, click here.

****To find 3-inch mini cake boards, click here.

Raspberry Rose Shortbread Cookies

I don’t think I’ve ever created a recipe that delighted all of my senses as much as these cookies. If you decide to embark on this journey, you’ll start with your sense of smell. Whether you purchase dried rose petals or make them yourself, they’re pleasantly fragrant. I used dried rosebuds, but you can also use dried rose petals. To find dried rose petals, click here. To find dried rosebuds, click here. I pinched the calyx and stem off of the rosebuds to avoid large crunchy bits in the cookies, then I crushed the roses with a mortar and pestle. You can also place them in a plastic bag and roll over them gently with a rolling pin. Your sense of hearing will be satisfied with the crunching of the delicate, dried rose petals. Next, you’ll use your sense of touch to experience the fun rolling cookie dough into balls and maybe even trigger some childhood memories.

The finished cookies have a rustic, almost shabby chic look with their cracks, rose-speckled dough and beautifully imperfect dried roses. You’ll gaze at your beautiful handiwork. And of course, you’ll sample a warm cookie, before you’re supposed to. The cookies will taste tender and slightly sweet with a hint of rose. I like a more subtle rose flavor in my baked goods. But if you prefer a stronger rose flavor, feel free to add a small amount of rose water to your dough. Start with 1/8 teaspoon or 1/4 teaspoon, because a little goes a long way.

If you’re like me, you’ll taste a spoonful of the raspberry ganache because you can and should. Speaking of the raspberry ganache, please use a good quality white chocolate! In some recipes, it’s fine to use white chocolate chips or candy melts if you prefer, but NOT this one. In my humble, yet educated opinion, you should never use chocolate chips to make ganache. I studied chocolate in culinary school with a master chocolatier. I never use chocolate chips for ganache because they contain stabilizers that keep them from melting completely, which prevents you from having the smoothest ganache possible. They also contain less cocoa butter and tend to have a waxy mouth feel.

For this recipe, when it comes to butter, you should also be a little bit picky for successful baking. Low quality butter tends to contain more water and your cookies may spread too much. So make sure to use good butter. Your butter should be room temperature, but not warm. If the butter is shiny, it’s too warm. Don’t try to speed up the softening of butter with your microwave. That’s not a hack, in spite of what you may hear on the internet. Microwaves heat unevenly and will potentially melt your butter. The best way to speed up the softening of your butter is to simply cut it into cubes. By the time you get the rest of your ingredients ready, the butter should be soft enough to use. My last, but most important success tip, is to weigh your ingredients. U.S. Imperial weights are shown in parenthesis on the recipe.

Print Recipe
Raspberry Rose Shortbread Cookies
Rose petal shortbread cookies filled with white chocolate raspberry ganache
Course Dessert
Servings
cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
Filling
Course Dessert
Servings
cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
Filling
Instructions
Cookies
  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper
  2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, with an electric mixer on medium speed, until smooth. Add the rose petals and beat on low speed until combined.
  3. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Beat until well combined.
  4. On low speed, mix in the flour in two additions. Beat just until combined.
  5. Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls, about 1/2 ounce (14g) each. Place the dough balls about 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets.
  6. Bake for 7 minutes, then remove from the oven. Press indentations into each cookie with a 1-inch diameter pastry tamper or with the flat top of a 1-inch diameter bottle cap.
  7. Return the cookies to the oven and continue baking until the edges are light golden brown, about 5-6 more minutes.
  8. If the indentations in your cookies lose definition, press again with the tamper or bottle cap while the cookies are still hot on the baking sheet.
  9. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Filling
  1. In a small saucepan, bring the pureéd raspberries to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer until the purée is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Transfer the raspberry reduction to a small bowl and set aside.
  2. Place the white chocolate in a medium heat safe bowl and set aside.
  3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the heavy cream to a simmer, just until bubbles form around the edges. Do not boil. Stir in the raspberry reduction and heat just to a simmer again. Do not boil.
  4. Pour the hot cream mixture over the white chocolate, making sure all of the white chocolate is submerged. Let it sit for 2 minutes, then stir with a spatula until smooth.
  5. Let the ganache cool until slightly thickened. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon into the indentation of each cookie. The ganache will continue to firm up as it sits.
  6. When the ganache in the cookies has firmed up, decorate with dried rosebud or rose petals, if desired.
Recipe Notes

*To find dried rose petals, click here.

**To find dried rosebuds, click here.

Vintage Chocolate Cake

Dark Chocolate Cake with the Best Chocolate Frosting

If you love chocolate cake, this is the post for you! Chocolate cake is one of the best comfort foods there is. I’ve tasted many over the years, but my all time favorite was one I had growing up. I’ve spent years trying to duplicate the moist, nostalgic cake from my childhood. I noticed that nearly every chocolate cake recipe on the internet is a variation of the century-old recipe from the Hershey’s Cocoa tin. I think many people have passed it down as a family recipe, each grandmother adding her own personal touch. Even some celebrity chefs have claimed it as their own. It’s an easy, delicious, moist recipe and its popularity is well deserved. You can tweak the flavor additions a bit to make it your own too. It’s a recipe that’s hard to mess up.

This cake is topped with the ultimate silky, smooth, deeply chocolate frosting. I developed this recipe mostly because I couldn’t find a chocolate frosting recipe that didn’t taste gritty and/or look speckled from the cocoa powder. Swiss meringue buttercream with melted chocolate added is one alternative. But, while it is smooth, silky and perfect for piping, it’s missing that deep chocolate richness. Another option is chocolate ganache. It looks rich and creamy in those viral videos, but it’s a little too rich and overpowering to use as frosting in my opinion.

I think this frosting is the one! It has the best of both worlds, velvety but not too rich. You’ll notice that this frosting contains maple syrup. The syrup gives it a very subtle maple flavor in the background, but mostly, it helps to make the frosting silky and gives it shine. You can adjust the sweetness level of the frosting by choosing the chocolate you prefer. I used bittersweet chocolate, which I think is just right. This recipe makes enough frosting to frost a 2-layer 6-inch cake. You can easily double the recipe for larger cakes.

Print Recipe
Vintage Chocolate Cake
Course Dessert
Keyword cake, chocolate
Servings
2 layer 6-inch cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Course Dessert
Keyword cake, chocolate
Servings
2 layer 6-inch cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the bottoms of two 6-inch cake pans with parchment paper. Grease the insides and dust with a mixture of equal parts flour and cocoa powder. Wrap the cake pans with damp cake strips if you have them.
  2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the sugar and stir util well combined.
  3. Combine the the egg, egg yolk, buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Whisk lightly to combine.
  4. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on low speed with an electric mixer, until combined. Stop the mixer. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl with a spatula. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 30 seconds.
  5. Add the hot coffee and stir until well combined.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans, dividing batter evenly between the pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 25-28 minutes without cake strips or about 28-32 minutes with cake strips.
  7. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes then remove the cakes from the pans and transfer to a cooling rack.
  8. Trim the cake layers to your desired thickness, from 1-inch to 1 1/2-inches thick. Fill and frost with chocolate buttercream frosting.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
  1. In a small saucepan over low heat, whisk together the maple syrup, water, cocoa powder and espresso powder until smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
  2. Melt the chocolate in a medium bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to lukewarm.
  3. In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer at medium speed, until smooth and light in color. Add the powdered sugar and salt and continue beating until smooth and well combined.
  4. Gradually add the the cooled maple syrup mixture and beat on low speed until combined.
  5. Stir in the melted chocolate until well combined. Smooth out any air bubbles by stirring gently with a rubber spatula.
Recipe Notes

*For smoothest results, use chopped bar chocolate and make sure chocolate is completely melted.  Do not use chocolate chips. Chocolate chips do not melt completely and can make your frosting lumpy.