creamy mints

these little bites of creamy, minty goodness are a breeze to make...

roasted brussels sprouts

it's time to cut through all this sugar and chocolate with some vegetables. now that the weather is finally nice - we made it all day yesterday without rain and it's finally warm enough for shorts - we go to the public market every saturday morning. this year, my plan is to purchase something new, some fruit or vegetable that i've never had before, and make it. i don't know if i'll run out of options before the season is over, but i'm hoping to find some new fruits and vegetables that i can add to the rotation.

french silk chocolate pie

this is the best chocolate dessert i've ever had. ever. next time you need a chocolate fix - and i mean a real fix, like you broke a glass jar of snapple on your kitchen floor right before leaving for work, it's really tuesday and all day you thought it was thursday, or something else miserably awful happened - skip the cookies and the cakes and head straight for this pie.

secret recipe club: roasted banana rum cake

my good friend erica has been requesting a rum cake for the last few months. for one reason or another, i simply haven't gotten to it. on a seemingly unrelated note, last month, after seeing a number of secret recipe club postings on other blogs, i decided to join. i started clicking through shelby's recipes on the life & loves of grumpy's honeybunch one saturday night and stopped dead when i found this banana rum cake. perfect!

chai biscotti

there are two things i've recently discovered that my mother in law loves: chai and pistachio biscotti. so much so that last christmas when i was in oklahoma, we made both! it was only a matter of time before i put the two together...and shipped them off for mother's day!

ina's chocolate cupcakes

it all started with an absolutely awful chocolate cupcake that i bought for my birthday a year and a half ago. i immediately recreated them at home, and was only slightly impressed with the cake. then a few months ago, for my dad's birthday i turned to martha again and came up short with her one bowl chocolate cake. the quest continues with ina and her chocolate cake recipe. and unless i see something else that's short of genius, this is it! best chocolate cake i've had in a really really long time. maybe ever. yes, ever.

raspberry jam tart

this tart was the perfect accompaniment to our wienerschnitzel and spaetzle at our austrian dinner party last month. and i have a feeling it will be making more appearances later this summer. especially given how quickly it comes together, how very little hands on time is needed, and how many jars of blackberry and strawberry jam and peaches i have in the basement. bonus that you probably have all the ingredients on hand now and could whip one up right this second. and at our seven person dinner party, we devoured it, leaving one piece for jason and i to split for breakfast the next morning.

chewy lemon sugar cookies

if you're lucky enough to know my husband, then you know he's a sucker for anything lemon. lemon tarts. lemon curd. lemon cake. even his favorite adult beverage is lemon! so it's surprising that it's taken me this long to make lemon cookies.

hot chocolate cookies

i love chocolate just as much as the next girl and i always thought the classic chocolate peanut butter chip cookies were the ultimate chocolate cookie. but those aren't even close to the chocolatey goodness of these. cocoa is swapped out with hot chocolate mix and the peanut butter chips have been ditched for a mix of chocolate. but the chewy center and crunchy edges stay perfectly intact, like any great cookie should. and given the two dozen or so i brought in to work were gone way before lunchtime, i'm not the only one in love.