All posts in desserts

my entry for Bake My Cake 2013: an epic graduation cake.

by shannon on June 15, 2013 in desserts, general information and events with 25 Comments

entry for Movita's Bake My Cake 2013: her graduation cake.

(Setting: early Summer in the American Middle West. Shannon has been up for hours planning the day, doing some grocery shopping, and has just returned from the gym. A thought occurred to her while on the treadmill – a rare happening – and she can’t wait to tell the one person she knows will be excited about it.)

Shannon: (slams outside door and sets her things on the counter) Lottie? Lottie!

(silence)

Shannon: Lottie? Hello?

(more silence)

(A slight fear creeps in to Shannon’s heart as she wonders where her sheep is. She goes quickly to Lottie’s new home and rings the bell.) Continue reading →

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individual strawberry basil crisps.

by shannon on June 13, 2013 in desserts with 22 Comments

individual strawberry basil crisps.

There’s something very special about picking your own berries in the summer. It’s almost a sacred event to me, and I really geek out on it. You gain an entirely new respect for the thing you are harvesting, I think; I imagine this must be similar to what hunters feel (or at least I hope they feel this way) when killing animals for food. Even though berries don’t have feelings, I do feel like it gives you a new perspective on how amazing nature is and how much goes into putting those little plastic boxes of fruit on your grocery store shelves. Continue reading →

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good morning sunshine bars.

by shannon on June 8, 2013 in breakfast, desserts, snacks with 23 Comments

good morning sunshine bars.

Pre-bathing suit dieters: avert your eyes and avert them now. Go quickly to a health food blog, do an emergency keyword search for things like “quinoa” and “fennel,” and do your best to completely avoid what I have going on here. This is not the post for you. I’m swimming in the sea of early summer fruits as much as the rest of you, but I couldn’t get this out of my head, so here it is. Page one of the newest Baked offering, Baked Elements: The Good Morning Sunshine Bars, finagled by yours truly. And I did do a good amount of finagling here. Continue reading →

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individual party pavlovas for feast magazine.

by shannon on June 4, 2013 in desserts, feast magazine article, general information and events with 28 Comments

individual pavlovas with caramelized pineapple and fudge sauce.

Some of you may remember this from Facebook, but I made this pavlova a few months ago. And then I never wrote about it on the blog. Like, ever. Some of you may have wondered, “Where did that wee pavlova go? Did it not work out? Why is Shannon holding out on us like this?” Friends, I would never hold out on you unless it was for good reason. Truth: those tiny individual pavlovas were not meant for this blog; they were meant for my first-ever semi-regular freelance food writing job. What? We have several great food magazines in St. Louis, and one of them was just insane enough (in a good way) to ask me to write for them. Continue reading →

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the momofuku perfect 10 cookie (karlie’s kookies.)

by shannon on June 3, 2013 in desserts with 25 Comments

momofuku perfect 10 cookie.

Bonus track! Bonnie, this one’s for you.

We talked about this on Facebook a few weeks back, when I asked if you knew about Momofuku Milk Bar’s new mini-line of healthy cookies. Dubbed “Karlie’s Kookies” (after supermodel Karlie Kloss, who is, incidentally, from right here in St. Louis), they are a gluten-free cookie line containing healthy, wholesome little ingredients, and are perfect for snacking on and still feeling good about yourself. I know most of us snack on cookies and still manage to feel pretty okay about ourselves on a semi-regular basis, but this cookie will truly do your body good. Continue reading →

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individual strawberry + peach galettes.

by shannon on May 30, 2013 in desserts with 17 Comments

peach + strawberry individual galettes.

It’s time for the individual galettes recipe! Big things going on around here, and sometimes when I’m in the midst of getting my near-future life organized, my present-day life takes a hit. I should (but I won’t) hesitate to call these “individual” desserts; they are, in truth, made out of a regular-sized galette dough cut into fourths. A normal galette allegedly yields you eight servings, so technically my individual galettes would serve two; anyone who eats these would argue, while holding their plate as far away from interlopers as possible, that they only serve one.

And so they shall be called individual galettes. Which are the size of salad plates. Continue reading →

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grapefruit curd.

by shannon on May 24, 2013 in breakfast, brunch, desserts with 19 Comments

grapefruit curd.

Really fast post, because while rambling endlessly about the wonders of angel cake last post, I suggested you could use your leftover yolks (a dozen!) in a curd. I was referring to this curd, because as luck would have it, it uses precisely twelve egg yolks; the same as you’ll have over from the angel cake recipe. It’s like they were made for each other.

Continue reading →

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angel cake.

by shannon on May 21, 2013 in desserts with 34 Comments

perfect angel cake.

File this under “posts where Shannon makes something you can easily purchase at the store and subsequently gets underwear-bunchy trying to figure out why you would ever want the store-bought version when the scratch version is so much better.” What; you don’t have a folder for that? You should. Let’s talk about angel cake. Why, as a human race, are we so willing to grab store-bought angel cake when the homemade variety is incredibly delicious? I blame our current relationship with egg whites. Continue reading →

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blueberry cheesecake + macadamia nut crust.

by shannon on May 10, 2013 in desserts with 30 Comments

blueberry cheesecake + macadamia nut crust.

Shavuot, congratulations: you are the first Jewish holiday I am on time for! I was late for Purim and Passover, but you; you I managed to not be tardy for. I think it’s because you’re about dairy; all sorts of dairy, evidently, so it’s easy to both love you as a holiday and also find you easy to make food for. I can see why people look forward to celebrating you. Continue reading →

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chocolate chip cupcakes + chocolate ganache.

by shannon on May 5, 2013 in desserts with 33 Comments

chocolate chip cupcakes + chocolate ganache.

Two very exciting things happened at the end of April this year.

This postcard:

my postcard from emma.

Emma from Of Agates and Madeleines hand-illustrated a postcard and sent it to me from the middle of the Maine woods, where she hangs out most days. This was part of a previous agreement we had made to send each other postcards from our various locations; my vacation site in Florida versus her work site at the tippy top of the States. I sent her two postcards (I couldn’t decide which exemplified my vacation destination more) but they were not hand-illustrated, attached to a little note, and cuddled into a hand-folded envelope, friends. Only Emma would do that, and this is why I love her. She’s my kind of absolutely nuts, and I like it. Thanks, Emma.

The other thing that happened? These cupcakes. Continue reading →

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