Recipe: Cinnamon Coffee Cake Cupcakes

This isn’t a showstopper visually but these tiny little cupcakes pack a delicious butter and cinnamon flavor that pairs perfectly with coffee or tea. These cupcakes are best with an extra generous layer of topping so feel free to make extra for an extra decadent experience. While the recipe seems more complicated than your average cupcake the bonus is that all the work is done before you put them in the oven so once they come out and cool they’re immediately ready to eat – no frosting or decoration necessary.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake Cupcakes

Recipe: Cherry Pie

I think people are really intimidated by making pie but this is my first time making my own pie crust and I found it actually fairly straight forward. This is actually much easier than it seems on the surface but it does require that you properly rest the dough so it needs to be planned out ahead of time.

Cherry Pie

Recipe: Black Forest Cupcakes

Most of the time you’ll spend making these will be in assembly but they don’t really take much to assemble either. The flavor of these cupcakes is a really perfect blend of flavor. They look sweet but they have a really nice balance between the sourness of cherries and the savory frosting to go with the chocolate cake. These are really delicious and I recommend making them the next time you need cupcakes.

Black Forest Cupcakes

Recipe: Italian Deli Cookies

These are really similar to the cookies I used to get all the time in Italian bakeries / delis growing up in New York. I didn’t have a pastry bag so I simply rolled the dough into very small, even sized balls I would absolutely suggest using a pastry bag or spritz machine to make your cookies. The assembly of these is very simple but it really enhances the experience of the cookie itself so it’s worth taking the extra steps. The cookie is flaky and butter with a good snap but it’s not too brittle.

Italian Butter Cookie

Recipe: Lemon and Raspberry Battenberg

Surprisingly this is both a very simple and a very difficult cake to make but I can assure you that guests will be impressed even if you deliver a technically imperfect masterpiece. Since its just one cake recipe all the work is in the assembly so if you’re like me you’ll probably make a mess and it will take you a surprising amount of time from start to finish. This can sit for a few days though because its covered so just block out enough time before you commit.

Recipe: Lemon and Raspberry Battenberg

Recipe: M&M Cookies

These are classic and easy and since I’m not actually a big fan of peanut butter I like these better than the peanut butter m&m cookies I previously made. This is a single bowl, no wait cookie that comes out absolutely perfect every time and is so simple you probably have everything in your house right now except the M&M candies.

M&M Cookies


Recipe: Cinnamon Raisin Bread

This is a surprisingly easy recipe with perfect results. I’ve actually made this recipe a few times and incorrectly (!) once and it still came out just right. This bread is great on its own and not too sweet but it’s even better with some jam, butter, or even just a little cream cheese to really bring out the savory flavor of raisin.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Recipe: Gingerbread Cookies

These were so good that I absolutely could not believe it. Please run, don’t walk to make these gingerbread cookies. The best part about them was that they were so delicious it was difficult to stop eating them and the second best part was that they not only held their shape when they cooked but they didn’t need to be chilled before rolling. Wow!

Gingerbread Cookies

Recipe: Honey and Apple Challah

A twist on classic challah for Rosh Hashanah or if you just want to impress your friends with what amounts to a very fluffy apple cake, this honey and apple challah is really good with a big cup of hot tea or coffee on a cold day. The honey gives it a nice sweetness without being overwhelming. I only used a single apple but I kind of wanted more apples in it, I might try using apple butter instead of regular butter for extra apple goodness next time.

Honey and Apple Challah