desserts

Glazed Lemon Cake

Dinner at the in-laws? Bring this dense, moist, not-too-sweet lemon cake for dessert. Ingredients: 3 c flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 1 c butter, softened 2 c sugar 3 eggs 1/2 c sour cream 1/4 c lemon juice 2 Tbsp lemon zest 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 c buttermilk Glaze Ingredients: 1 1/2Continue reading “Glazed Lemon Cake”

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

This recipe takes my super-easy “Best of the Brownies” recipe, which I’ve copied below so you don’t have to flip back and forth, and a decadent peanut butter swirl to make these “Better than the Best of the Brownies”. I mean, peanut butter and chocolate is really the best thing on earth, isn’t it? BrownieContinue reading “Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies”

Anzac Cookies

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Anzac Day is a National holiday down under commemorating Australian and New Zealanders that served. As for the Anzac cookie, it is debated whether they were baked by women to send to the men fighting, or if they were baked and sold by women to raiseContinue reading “Anzac Cookies”

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Make sure you let these cool completely before removing them from the pan, they will be very soft!! Ingredients: 1 c smooth peanut butter 1 c packed brown sugar 1 tsp baking soda 1 large egg 1 tsp vanilla Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the ingredients then drop into 6 large cookiesContinue reading “Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies”

Strawberry Almond Cake

I made this beautiful cake for my daughter’s 12th birthday. I buy these fantastic highly-concentrated LorAnn flavour oils from my local Bulk Barn, they are perfect for creating intense baking flavours. Ingredients: Cake: 1 c egg whites 3 c all purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 2 tsp baking powder 1 c butter, softened 1 1/2Continue reading “Strawberry Almond Cake”

Simple Buttercream Icing

For cakes or cupcakes, this icing is very quick and easy to make. Ingredients: 1 c vegetable shortening 1/2 tsp clear vanilla extract 1/2 tsp almond extract 2 Tbsp water 3/4 c cocoa powder (optional, if making a chocolate buttercream) 4 c icing sugar Directions: Beat together the vegetable shortening, clear vanilla extract, almond extractContinue reading “Simple Buttercream Icing”

Scottish Shortbread

My Daughter: “Oh, that’s good!” What she meant was so buttery, flaky and yummy. Ingredients: 2 c all purpose flour 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 c butter, softened 1/2 c powdered sugar Directions: Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Set aside. Beat butter and powdered sugar until lightContinue reading “Scottish Shortbread”

Portuguese Porridge (Papas)

My Portuguese man has been talking about his mother’s Papas recipe that he and 4 siblings used to eat for breakfast since I met him. When I made coconut rice pudding last weekend he said it reminded him of Papas and so today he recreated his mother’s recipe.We made it two ways, one with theContinue reading “Portuguese Porridge (Papas)”

Coconut Rice Pudding

My daughter says rice pudding sounds gross, rice & pudding shouldn’t go together. And I agreed with her until I tried this SOB and now it’s one of my favourite desserts. This makes a creamy pudding. If you like your rice pudding a little thicker use 1/2 c of rice, instead of 1/3 c. Ingredients:Continue reading “Coconut Rice Pudding”

“Best of the Brownies”

This recipe was printed in our local newspaper over 30 years ago as the winner of a brownie bake-off between Girl Guide troupes. My mom clipped it out and ever since then it has been our family brownie recipe – it really is the best I’ve ever tried, and super quick and easy to make.Continue reading ““Best of the Brownies””