Chocolate Mousse Oreo Pie

I made this pie for Valentine's Day. The base is an Oreo cookie crust topped with chopped walnuts. In the middle is a chocolate mousse made from dark chocolate and whipped cream. On top is a vanilla whipped cream with chocolate shavings. A berry compote on the side  adds a bit of contrast.

Buttery Dinner Rolls

I had a craving for fluffy, buttery dinner rolls.

Dagan's Birthday Terraria Cake

Dagan turned 10. The tween years are here. Dagan's favorite game is Terraria these days. This cake is vanilla with Swiss buttercream. It turned everyone's mouth blue. I used food coloring from the grocery store because the craft store selection was very limited. The colors turned out very dull for my taste. Oh Michael's Arts and Crafts how I miss thee. The main thing though was that Dagan loved it and had a great time celebrating his birthday.

Cornbread

I never thought I'd miss cornbread so much. It is so hard to find decent cornmeal here in New Zealand. The polenta one I made last time was so dense and tasteless. Thankfully, Mom and Dad brought cornmeal for us, a whole canister. The customs agents were probably scratching their heads when they saw the large can of pumpkin, canister of cornmeal, box of graham cracker crumbs and Oreo pie crust. I just used the recipe on the canister. It was so good and reminded me of being back in the states. I even shared some with my fellow expats here.

Cookie Dough Ice Cream- No Churn

Alas, my ice cream maker is in St. Louis packed away in a box somewhere. But that didn't stop me from making ice cream. No churn! It is possible with cream and condensed milk. I mixed in some cookie dough,  without eggs since I'm a bit paranoid about getting sick from eating raw eggs. No one in this household could tell the difference.

Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Scones

These blueberry scones were wonderful with a cup of tea. I used the leftover ricotta from pizza night and some blueberries from the farmer's market.

Pumpkin Turnovers

It was really difficult to find canned pumpkin here in New Zealand. Thankfully, my parents brought some over on the plane from Hawaii when they visited us for the holidays. I used store bought puff pastry dough to make this for breakfast. Super easy!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These chocolate chips are rectangular in shape. Oh well, the boys like them anyway. These muffins are a good way to make use of overripe bananas.

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Brownies

Summer is here and with it, fresh raspberries. The juicy, sweet and tart raspberries are the perfect counterpoint to the dense, fudgy chocolate.