Chocolate Pie

I made this pie for Thanksgiving since nobody in this family likes pumpkin. It was inspired by the chocolate and vanilla pudding pies from Sunnyside Bakery in Wahiawa. The crust is made from scratch using a classic butter recipe. The filling is made with whole milk, eggs, and Lindt 70% chocolate bars. The pie was deliciously smooth and rich but did not set well until the following day. I suggest leaving the pie in the refrigerator overnight for the best results.

Fall Leaf Sugar Cookies

These are traditional sugar cookies cut out using leaf cutters. They are painted with edible luster dust.

Halloween Finger Cookies

Halloween is almost here. The boys and I started celebrating by making these spooky witch finger cookies. We used the traditional shortbread recipe and shaped the dough into fingers. We used a knife to add the lines and sliced almonds for the fingernails. After baking, we took off the almonds and added some red gel for a bloody effect.

Pumpkin Cranberry Walnut Muffins

Flavors of fall abound. Creamy pumpkin and tart cranberries come together for a hearty breakfast that fuels a full day of stomping around in the autumn leaves.

Apple Custard Tart with Caramel Sauce

I intended to make an apple custard tart for Thanksgiving dessert. But oops, forgot to thaw the puff pastry in the fridge the night before.  Yes, this tart is made with frozen puff pastry. After making my own once, I realized just how time consuming it is so this time I went with store bought. However, I did make my own vanilla bean pastry cream which is just beneath the cooked Granny Smith apples. And I made my own caramel sauce which consists of light brown sugar, butter and heavy cream. It was a challenge to drizzle it on the dessert before it set. This tart was flaky, creamy, tart, sweet, buttery and warm right out of the oven. The boys loved it for dessert and also for breakfast the next morning. It was still surprisingly flaky and delicious.

Chocolate Sherbet

I wanted to make a dessert for Thanksgiving that was cold, creamy, and refreshing but not too heavy. This course followed a yummy non- traditional dinner of 16 spice rub chicken with roasted red pepper and cilantro sauces, gruyere potatoes gratin, cornbread, and sparkling apple cider. This chocolate sherbet is made with milk and cocoa powder, milk chocolate and dark chocolate.  I liked that it was a bit lighter than the traditional ice cream which has eggs and heavy cream. It was softer and therefore easier to scoop but it did melt a lot quicker and was hard to photograph before turning into a chocolate puddle.

Browdies (Brownie Blondies)

Are these Browdies? Blownies? Blowdies? Most people will call them brownie topped blondies. The bottom layer is a soft cookie studded with dark chocolate chunks. The top layer is a fudgy brownie. This treat is great when you can't decide between brownies and blondies. Make them both!

Zucchini Apple Muffins

 The boys and I made these for breakfast. I often like to put carrots or zucchini (actually a fruit) into muffins for them since they don't eat veggies very often. They had fun grating, mixing, filling the muffin wrappers and eating their hard work.

Zucchini Apple Muffins

Makes 12

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
2 cups grated zucchini (water squeezed out)
2 apples, peeled, cored and grated
1 egg
1 egg white
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
pinch of salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin tins or line with paper liners. Grate zucchini and apples .

2. In large bowl, beat egg, egg white, sugar, honey and vanilla. Stir in oil, applesauce and grated zucchini.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together flours, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Stir until combined. Fold in walnuts and grated apples.

4. Spoon batter into muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Store in airtight container for up to 3 days.

Matcha Shortbread Cookies

These cookies were easy to make. They are basically shortbread with green tea powder added to the batter. I rolled the dough into balls and baked them. I did not like that they cracked while in the oven perhaps because the batter is quite dry once the powder is added. I decorated them with white candy melts.

Dorayaki (Azuki Bean Filled Pancakes)

I always see these for sale at H-Mart. Since we are studying Japan I decided to make my own. The pancakes are much stickier and sweeter than normal pancakes. I think it's due to the honey in the batter. It is hard to get them a uniform color. The recipe says to wipe a thin layer of oil onto the pan. I ended up using more oil than that as they still stuck to the pan. I bought the azuki bean (sweet red bean) filling already made from H-Mart. The boys ate the pancakes faster than I could make them though they did not like the filling.

Turtle Bread

I baked these to take to a girls' night get together. I wanted to bake something that was cute but not sweet. These are made with just a plain bread dough. I rolled pieces into balls and attached them together. The eyes are dried blueberries.

Coconut Custard Mochi

Our studies of Japan continue. We made coconut custard mochi. This dessert is made with mochiko (sweetened rice flour), evaporated milk, butter and eggs. It is really rich, creamy and chewy. It is really similar tasting to butter mochi. My mother often made mochi for Hinamatsuri (Girls' Day) when I was growing up.

Matcha Kasutera Cakes

We are studying Japan this month. We got the idea to make these little loaf cakes from watching a video on youtube. Kasutera cakes are what they call castella cakes in Japan. They are sponge cakes made from flour, eggs and sugar and have a light, cottony texture. They were not too sweet and had an earthy flavor to make them great for an afternoon snack served with a cup of green tea.

English Nectarine Cobbler

The little pastry chefs helped me to make this nectarine cobbler. We were studying London and had an abundance of nectarines so we thought we'd use them instead of going with the traditional apples. Cobbler is fruit cooked in sugar and topped with a biscuit dough. Sugar and cinnamon are sprinkled on top. I usually make crisp, pie, tarts or crumble but this was my first cobbler attempt. The sweet and tart of the fruit was a great complement to the soft, fluffy biscuit dough. The cinnamon provided just the right amount of spice.

Vanilla Butterballs

I usually make these cookies with dark chocolate ganache in the middle but this time I made them with a vanilla bean Swiss buttercream. The recipe was from Gale Gand's Chocolate and Vanilla book. The cookies were sprinkled with vanilla sugar. The only thing I found challenging is that they roll around a lot. Use extra care when you put them in the oven. They are also hard to plate due to their round bottoms.

Chocolate Lava Cakes

For our 12th anniversary I made chocolate lava cakes. They were served with a raspberry coulis, fresh raspberries and a vanilla bean whipped cream.

Silk Mint Brownies

Since our grocery store was out of Silk soymilk, we thought we'd try Silk Chocolate Almond Milk. It was really good. On the back of the carton was a link to the recipe for these mint brownies. I really liked the variety in texture. The brownie was moist and chocolatey. The layer of mint frosting was smooth and creamy. And sitting on top was a layer of dark chocolate ganache. I garnished it with a sprig of mint from our window sill garden.

Strawberry English Mini Scones

 We are studying London this month for our homeschool and decided to make English scones. The summer organic strawberries were bursting with flavor. The scones tasted the best straight out of the oven. But the boys ate them the next day and they still really liked them. I thought they had lost some of their crispness as the moisture from the strawberries made them chewier.

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

I love to bake on weeknights and my little helper tiptoes out of his room at bedtime and always wants to join in the fun. Here he is hiding peanut butter balls in the chocolate dough and then flattening them with a glass. These cookies were moist and tasty especially with a glass of cold milk.

The Ultimate Sword Cake

For Sage's sixth birthday he requested an ultimate sword cake. He showed it to me on Minecraft and I thought, "Wow, that's a lot of colors!" This cake was very spontaneous. I started it around noon and it was ready just before dinner. Usually I will give myself a week of planning and three days for baking, frosting and decorating. But this time I dove right in. I made a vanilla cake with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream. Courtney helped me to mix eight colors and pipe the sword onto the cake. I haven't seen any other ultimate sword cakes on the internet. Maybe this will be the first.

Seven Layer Finger Jello

The boys helped me make this jello dessert for a beach picnic. For some reason the lemon layer looked more like pudding when I added the water to it. Perhaps someone put lemon pudding in the lemon jello box by accident. It was so thick that after adding twice as much water I decided just to go to the store and get another box. The boys like to peel the layers off and eat them and are fascinated by how the jello dyes the milk layers different colors.  My mom used to make this for parties all the time when I was growing up. I'm happy to carry on the tradition.