Dessert Archives | Fake Food Free

Rum Raspberry Coconut No Churn Ice Cream

May 3, 2019

Thought one.

When we were in Hilo last summer we stopped in a supermarket and I stumbled on sweetened condensed coconut milk. I’d never seen it before so I bought two cans and flew them back in the checked bag. I cleaned out the pantry yesterday and realized they are a month short of expiring.

Thought two.

Rum raisin is not an ice cream flavor that interests me, but I owe it credit for helping me to think of rum raspberry. A lot of shoots for clients lately have involved raspberries so I’ve had a handful here and there to put to use (as may have been evident from last week’s cream cheese scones).

Thought three.

This no churn ice cream.

Pumpkin White Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

November 16, 2018

I remember the first time I tried buckeyes. You know, those little peanut butter and chocolate candies.

I thought, oh, those are peanut butter balls without the tops. At our house growing up, we made peanut butter balls. It’s essentially the same recipe, you just dip the entire peanut butter ball in the chocolate versus creating the buckeye look by leaving its top exposed.

I like our version better. I’m not sure if it’s because I like chocolate or because if you google buckeye your first page of search results will be for Ohio State and I went to undergrad at Purdue. Either way, ours are better. I stand by it.

With those peanut butter balls in mind, I was thinking about how I could put a seasonal twist on them and switch them up just a bit.

Carrot Cake Blondies with Salted Brown Sugar Bourbon Frosting

April 1, 2018

These carrot cake blondies are lightly spiced and topped with a rich, sweet frosting flavored with bourbon!

These blondies came about for one reason.

I had carrots to use up. You probably know this if you read about those Cauliflower Potato Enchiladas with Chipotle Carrot Sauce I posted recently.

This frosting came about for another.

I was out of dairy. And I couldn’t think of anything other liquid in the house that would be good in it…besides bourbon.

Spiced Lemon Brownies with Sour Cream Cranberry Frosting

December 1, 2017

It’s been a while since I’ve had an epic holiday baking season. I’ve been thinking back on the timeline.

2012 – We were driving across the country to move to California.
2013 – Small apartment kitchen.
2014 – Larger kitchen, but still a rental.
2015 – Same. And settling in after another move.
2016 – Big kitchen, new house, but I was photographing a cookbook for someone else while working on my own.

But now it’s 2017. I have a brand new kitchen. Not to mention an oven that has been OFF for months due to the summer heat.

I’m ready. It’s about to get real.

Pineapple Tart with Italian Meringue

April 24, 2017

Focusing on local foods all the time can stall your creativity. I’m speaking from personal experience here. Of course, when food is on, it is ON. I can sing the praises of fresh berries and cherries for weeks, celebrate citrus all winter, and focus my whole world around apples and pumpkins in the fall.

But even in California there is this short time of the food blahs. Or at least the food blogger and recipe developer blahs. For me, that time falls when I’ve squeezed every bit of creativity out of citrus for the season and I’m waiting for the strawberries and cherries to start. Right about now.

It’s this time when I’m glad I embrace global foods as much as I do local.

Anise Blood Orange Panna Cotta

March 15, 2017

I caught a glimpse of them out of the corner of my eye. It seems like yesterday that I was asking the vendor at a local farm market if the blood oranges had arrived yet, only to be told it would be a couple more weeks.

And here we are now with the season ending.

I think it might take moving to California to truly appreciate citrus. Heck, maybe it takes moving to someplace like the Central Valley. (Although, I was equally excited about this season when we lived in the Bay.)

There are so many varieties, so many bright colors. It’s such a welcomed sight and taste during a season that is void of other favorites like berries and cherries.

Those last few lonely bags of blood oranges were staring at me, begging me to make one last thing before their season was over.

Coconut Orange Bars

February 4, 2017

Good news! I submitted my book manuscript last Tuesday!

I should probably celebrate with a beer, but we’ll save that for later this weekend. I felt much more like celebrating with some baking.

If you had asked me two weeks ago if I was sick of cooking and baking I would have said, “YES.” But the past several days have been all editing with my butt planted at the computer. I’m ready to be back in the kitchen.

And what better way to celebrate than with a recipe by mistake!

Pumpkin No Churn Ice Cream with Brown Sugar Swirl and Burnt Sugar Cashew Brittle

November 17, 2016

I tend to want ice cream more during the holidays than during the heat of summer. Forget the chocolate versus vanilla debate. When I eat ice cream, I want pumpkin, peppermint stick and eggnog flavors. Everything that says – holiday season. So when late fall rolls around, so do the ice cream cravings.

As you probably could have guessed pumpkin is my favorite flavor and I thought if I was going to do a few posts about Thanksgiving worthy desserts I should go that direction. But don’t worry. I took it a bit further with a brown sugar swirl and a crunchy topping. I also decided to give no churn ice cream a try.

Butterscotch Pear Tart with a Snickerdoodle Crust

November 15, 2016

I’m not sure what happened this past weekend, but I had this unidentifiable voice telling me – Lori, you’ve been posting way too many Brussels sprouts and squash recipes. I think it’s time to go a little crazy with some holiday desserts.

Done.

So this week I have two ideas that will veer from the traditional pecan and pumpkin pies. The first being this pear tart.

15 Picnic Recipes to Celebrate the End of Summer

August 24, 2016

The end of August is rolling around. Even though schools have started and I’ve been thinking a lot about pumpkins, there is still that one big celebration that closes us out of summer and sends us into the next season.

For all of those Labor Day cookouts and picnics coming up, I decided to go through some of the recipes here on Fake Food Free and pull out a few that are perfect to take or make for your next cookout. Some are from way back when and others debuted just this summer.