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.

Whole Grain White Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies

March 21, 2018

These miso chocolate chip cookies have a delicious sweet and salty flavor. They are made with white whole wheat flour and loaded with dark and milk chocolate chips.

Every now and then, I buy miso to make a broth for soup or a noodle dish. Then it ends up sitting in the fridge forever and goes bad on me.

So when I bought some again a couple weeks ago, I vowed that I would use it up.

Zeroed in on savory meals and side dishes, I was flipping through a recent issue of Rachael Ray Everyday and saw a suggestion to add it to chocolate chip cookie dough for a sweet/salty twist.

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.

Banana Macadamia Nut Cobbler with Salted Butterscotch Sauce

November 22, 2017

We’ve been going to the Caribbean for years, and one thing we typically avoid are the buffets at resorts.

The food is usually very good. That’s not the problem. It’s that we can never seem to control ourselves given that it is vacation. We always leave wishing we hadn’t gone back for a second helping or grabbed that little dessert.

There are exceptions, though.

Like when we wake up late and served breakfast is over, but lunch hasn’t started. The buffet sits there, calling to our growling stomachs. Fortunately, these days we are much better at pacing ourselves and it turns out that on our trip to Jamaica this summer I made a little discovery. It had me thrilled that we grabbed a plate and started scoping out the scene.

Banana cobbler.

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.

Fig and Lavender Cookies

August 19, 2016

These fig and lavender cookies have a sweet slice of tiger fig tucked inside!

On our road trip in May we stopped by a lavender farm and I brought back a few things to use in the kitchen. Those things included lavender sugar and some culinary lavender.

It only took me a day or so to realize I could have just made my own lavender sugar with the culinary lavender, but that’s okay. I can be a little slow on seeing the obvious.

So a little while back when I had all those figs that the CA Fig Board sent to me, I decided to test out some cookies. Just before I started to make the recipe, I remembered the lavender sugar.