Dark Chocolate Chunk Scones with Caramel Glaze

Our favorite scone recipe is fluffy, crumbly, and all dressed up for this chilly holiday season! Dark chocolate chunks pair perfectly with rich (salted) caramel glaze in this delightfully not-too-sweet scone.

Sometimes, when I’m feeling particularly philosophical while baking, the most curious little thoughts will drift past my mind.

What do tuxedo penguins wear to the office on casual Fridays?

Would a giraffe know what to do if you asked it to put on a necktie?

Who’s to say that birds of paradise shouldn’t actually have googly eyes?

How many scrumptious dark chocolate morsels make up each one … Read more

The BEST Chocolate Oreo Cake

My friends and former co-workers have all declared this Chocolate Oreo Cake one of THE best cakes of all time. Made with a fail-proof, rich chocolate cake recipe and featuring an unbelievably delicious cream cheese Oreo frosting, this gorgeous dessert will become an instant hit for any occasion! 

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I am SO excited to share this Chocolate Oreo Cake recipe with all of you that I can’t even pester y’all with travel planning updates today. (Gasp–respite from my travel fever blabber, you say? I KNOW!)

This one-of-a-kind recipe features all of the hard hitters that you never knew you … Read more

Creamy Caramel Flan

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Happy new year! Can I interest you in this creamy caramel flan?

While others are making big resolutions for 2017, I’ve been happily whiling away my hours in my fuzziest pair of snowflake pajamas and scarfing down the last of the shortbread cookies that I bought from Scotland. And making flan, apparently. I guess my resolution is to undo all of my hard fitness work from last year completely (for various reasons, I also haven’t been to the gym in a month). Hooray!

Just kidding. While I’m not a big fan of making lists based on Earth’s revolution around … Read more

Creamy Tomato Penne Pasta with Jalapeno Poppers

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #20MinutesToTasty #CollectiveBias

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I’m taking a break from talking your ears off about my Europe trip today to tell you all about what went down this Halloween weekend with this mm-mazing Creamy Tomato Penne Pasta with Jalapeno Poppers! (Which, I suppose, is Italian food, so I suppose we’re still talking about Italy today. Bite me, Italy rocks.)

This weekend we invited over our new “global siblings” family for a Halloween potluck & party. The fam is part of a program that helps … Read more

Miniature Whipping Cream Pound Cakes

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Of all the places I visited in Europe, my favorite place by far was Edinburgh, Scotland. A buzz of excitement radiated through the city, palpable from the moment our 2-hour train from York pulled into the old station. We had timed our visit to coincide with The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world’s largest art festival where thousands of artists converge every year to perform, sing, dance, make you laugh, make you cry. During our five days in the city, my sides split with laughing at the sketch troupe Daphne’s Second Show, a Cambridge trio that wove together … Read more

Knickerbocker Glory

Harry had the best morning he’d had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn’t fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn’t have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. 

Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to Read more

Victoria Sponge Cake

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For the first time ever, I celebrated my birthday a few weeks ago in a foreign country. I was feeling a bit nervous because I was far away from home, family, and friends–I had arrived in London only two days before, and both days had been packed with touristy (and wonderful!) but tiring activities, including a day-early birthday surprise of 4 o’clock tea-and-champagne time. Thankfully, I had given up any claims to local trip planning already and was more than happy to go along with the plan for the next day, which involved a visit to nearby Leeds Castle in … Read more

Steamed Strawberry Coconut Poke Cake for More-than-just-a-Mother’s Day!

Even as recently as high school, I recall taking it for granted that my mom’s identity was somehow singularly defined by motherhood – that, according to some unwritten and tacitly understood code of universal maternity, mothers were defined not by the lives they had led up to the moment of our births, but rather by their relationship to us, their children.

To me, my mom – my smart, sharp, wonderful, supportive mom – was therefore first and foremost a mother. Any other role she happened to inhabit – worker, wife, daughter, aunt, friend, sister – was incidental, almost like an … Read more

The BEST Bread Pudding for #OXOCookware

Disclaimer: I was selected to be part of OXO’s Blogger Outreach program, for which I received an OXO Stainless Steel Pro 5 Qt. Casserole Dish + Cover. All opinions in this post are 100% my own.

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So my latest trip to Disneyland proved that I am the queen of not being able to spot celebrities, ever. Period. Even when I pass by them so close I actually have to maneuver to avoid hitting them in the ribs with my elbow.

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Two nights ago, we paid the Happiest Place on Earth a fond visit to celebrate–along with other annual passholders–the 20th … Read more

Deep-Dish Tiramisu Pie with Coffee Crunch Crumble

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Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy…

But here’s my pie–follow me maybe?

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I love food festivals for many many good reasons, the best of which are 1) food, 2) eating, and 3) more food. In close fourth comes the company: there’s something oddly liberating about connecting with new people through the miracle of face-stuffing, ith delicious globs of cream dribbling down the side of your face as you and the stranger standing next to you rave over the ah-MAY-zing pie you both just tried.

Do you love coffee too? you ask. Cream pies are the best, right?Read more