Ambitious Deliciousness – Dont Eat Lazy.

I was trying to recall how I came to make brownies. But truth is, do you ever really need a reason to enjoy some brownies from scratch? Butter and chocolate, baked with some flour – what’s not to like?

The first time I made it, I thought it came out a bit too crispy. I adjusted my oven rack and cooked it for about 50 minutes exactly. The second batch resulted in a crispy, gooey, caramel-like consistency, which I love. I thoroughly enjoyed every single crumb!

Since I didn’t have a brownie pan, I decided to bake them in cupcake form. This comes from Martha Stewart. And of course, I used my favorite dark chocolate from Ghirardelli (get in my belly).

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I’ve fled the abundant land of zucchini and found myself smack in the middle of pumpkin land. I was never a huge fan of pumpkins but lately, I find them alluring. My goal is to be more intentional about using produce that are in season. What’s autumn without this orangey goodness?

A funny story about these cookies: I distinctly recall taking the baking soda out and setting it on my counter as I was adding the ingredients. But then, it went back to its resting place without ever making it out of the bottle.

So the end result ended up being a weird-shaped cross between cookie and cake. I’m not about to go making up words like stoup: thicker than soup but not quite a stew, so I’ll just call these cakey cookies.

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Historically, this dessert was called pound cake becaue it contained one pound of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour, making it easy for people to remember, especially since they couldn’t read. But this cake is a bit lighter than that.

This delicious pound cake recipe comes from Deb of Smitten Kitchen. She has the most beautiful photos and great content! Go check it out. She did warn us that this recipe required sifting the flour three(!) times and said it would be well-worth the effort. Boy, am I glad I listened to her!

Featuring T’s pretty plates! Can you see the tiny orange zest pieces?

The recipe called for lemon zest that I didn’t have. But what I did have was a moldy lime and a juicy orange. So the choice was obvious. I chose the latter and continue about my baking.

There were little bits of citrus surprise with every other bite, adding a new element of unexpected tartness, to play off the sweetness of the cake. I really enjoyed this cake and would totally make it again!

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Thank you for all of your comments on the previous post! As promised, here is the recipe for the double vanilla cupcakes.

These cupcakes are called double vanilla because real vanilla beans are used in both the cake and the frosting. Using vanilla can be annoying, especially when you’re trying to take a picture at the same time. However, it is more than well worth the effort! If you look closely, you can see the little specks of vanilla. I’ve been thinking about using vanilla in a non-dessert way, so if you have any ideas, please do let me know!

With dark chocolate shavings

With sprinkles

With dried coconut flakes

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What can I say about a classic Italian dessert that is as good as this one? It combines sweet mascarpone cheese with chocolate shavings, lady fingers dipped in dark rum and espresso.

This is the perfect dessert to make for Father’s Day! Impress the whole family and show your dad how much you love him! (Unless he’s diabetic.)

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For this month’s Daring Bakers challenge, our mission was to make cheesecake. I read through the recipe and learned that it would require at least a couple of hours, plus chill time in the fridge.

Guest photo by Edmond H. Lee

I followed the recipe – preheated the oven, creamed the ingredients together, made the crust, added to spring pan, then placed it in oven.

After clearing all the dishes, I found an egg hiding behind my stand mixer, on my counter top. How did that get in there? That’s when I realized that I forgot to add the third egg!

It tasted ok, but I’m sure it would have been superbly delicious, had I not made that huge mistake!

But the good news is that I have the privilege of showing you some great photos by my friend and guest photographer, Edmond H. Lee. More on that later – let’s get back to the recipe!

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We interrupt our regular programming to bring you this video clip.

Ok. That was fun! Now back to business. I loveee fresh whipped cream. After you’ve tasted how good it is, you probably won’t buy the frozen stuff again! The general rule to follow for this recipe is, for every 1 cup of heavy/whipping cream, add 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. That is easy to remember, right?

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(Above photo credit belongs to Albert @ www.uvhaze.com. Be sure to check out his blog, as he has some amazing photos! -Ambitious)

A couple of years ago, I made a red velvet cake from scratch to take to C’s Christmas party (remember that, ladies?). The cake being hard as brick, not to mention the underwhelming color – I hadn’t used nearly enough food coloring. It was eligible to be featured on Cake Wrecks!

According to Wikipedia, “Common ingredients include buttermilk, butter, flour, cocoa powder, and often either beets, or red food coloring. It is most popular in the Southern United States, though known in other regions.”

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So what if the holidays are over? It’s never too late for ginger spice cookies!

The recipe called for crystalized ginger and molasses. I’ve never cooked with either of those ingredients before so it was very interesting! The “crystalized” ginger had a sugar coating and was pretty to look at. Doesn’t it remind you of rock candy? It gives the cookie a subtle ginger flavor.

I imagine using shortening would have contributed to the texture of the cookies, making them more chewy than cake-like. I didn’t think it was super important, so I omitted it. I’ll leave it up to your discretion.

Try these cookies! They’re super delicious!

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These cream puffs set a personal record for the quickest dessert ever! I actually don’t even remember taking these photos. Though I was rushing, they were edible, thankfully. And my friends are far too kind, always telling me that whatever I make them is good.

Now… I feel this need to confess that I cheated and used instant vanilla pudding mix for the filling. If I had more time, I would have made some whipped cream.

Contrary to popular belief, cream puffs are quite easy to make. It’s a butter based crust combined with a sweet cream filling. How can you go wrong?

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