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Top 10 Northern Ginger Recipes of 2021
At the risk of sounding cliché, I can’t believe another year is coming to a close. Weren’t we just here? It feels like the past year has gone by in a blur…and yet it was as full as a year can be, with friends, family, work, small adventures, and, of course, baking. As a way of looking back at 2021, I’ve gathered all of your favorite recipes from this year into one blog post. The following are the 10 northern ginger recipes you all made the most this year. #10 – Fig Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting This unassuming little cake made its debut last spring in celebration of my…
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Chocolate Peppermint Cream Pie
My living room is lit with twinkling lights, there are Christmas carols playing through the speakers of my record player, and my freezer is full to the brim with Christmas cookies. All sure signs that Christmas is coming soon. Now all that’s left is to plan my holiday meal, and maybe an extra-special treat for dessert. This Chocolate Peppermint Cream Pie will fit the bill nicely. Chocolate and Peppermint: A Match Made in Winter Somewhere around the beginning of November, or the first snowfall, or whichever arrives first, my tastebuds undergo a drastic change. They shift from craving pumpkin and cinnamon to a flavor combination that I’ve come to associate…
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Fudgy Dark Chocolate Double Ginger Brownies
Fall has arrived, though officially summer still has more than a week left to dazzle us with its sunshine. This is my favorite time of year — the summer sun still holds enough warmth to add some bronze to your skin, while the chill in the air invites you to grab that sweater on your way out the door, just in case. The leaves are beginning to change, the days are getting shorter, and the cooler nights offer a taste of winter to come. This time of year my taste buds turn from the fresh, light flavors of summer and begin to crave the warmly spiced flavors of fall: cinnamon,…
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Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze
It’s the time of year when zucchini overflows from every garden in Northern Minnesota. In some neighborhoods, you can find boxes full of them set on street corners and labeled “FREE”. The zucchini harvest is so overwhelming that people are desperate to get rid of them. Luckily, we know what to do with such an abundance of zucchini — grate them, add chocolate, and bake this Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake. Chocolate Zucchini Cake > Zucchini Bread I know, I know, most people would go for zucchini bread first, but honestly? It’s overrated. Zucchini bread is fine and all (and MUCH better than banana bread, in my opinion), but this cake?…
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Olive Oil Pistachio Brownie Cookies
I’ve been wanting to make an olive oil chocolate chip cookie for a while, and that’s how this one started out. But as I worked on the recipe, it ended up much more chocolatey and brownie-like than I originally intended. And I have to say, I’m not mad about it. This is a rich, fudgy dream of a cookie. Say hello to Olive Oil Pistachio Brownie Cookies! I have a feeling you’ll love them. Olive Oil In Cookies? Yep, You Read That Right. Cookies aren’t the first thing I think of when I think of olive oil. Pasta, bread, salad dressing, roasted veggies…there are a million and one savory ways…
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Mud Pie Cake
Last month, I took a Creative Baking class online with monthly.com, taught by Christina Tosi of Milk Bar. It was such a fun class (and also a lot of work!), and I ended up with three new original recipes: Popcorn & Hot Chocolate Cookies, Brûléed Maple Latte Cheesecake Pie, and this Mud Pie Cake. This is a rich, chocolatey cake that’s doused with a Kahlúa-coffee soak, layered with chocolate pudding and bits of chocolate crunch (think Oreo-like cookie crumbles), then topped with a thick layer of whipped cream. This cake is, in a word, dreamy. A New (to Me) Way to Layer a Cake In the class, we learned Christina’s…
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Popcorn & Hot Chocolate Cookies
A couple of weeks ago, on my birthday, I started taking an online creative baking class. The class is taught by Christina Tosi of Milk Bar—which, if you’re not familiar, is a chain of bakeries with amazing, unique treats that are ridiculously addictive. Over the course of a month we’re baking a few classic Milk Bar treats, then learning Christina’s prototyping method to develop our own unique creations. These Popcorn & Hot Chocolate Cookies were my first project. Sunday Night at Grandma’s House We were tasked with making a cookie based on a specific time—it could be a time in our lives, a time of year, a time of day…whatever…
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Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies
I don’t have any exciting stories of squirrels breaking into my house to share with you today, just a great no-bake cookie recipe. These chocolate peanut butter no-bake cookies are quick and simple to toss together, and are the perfect thing for when you want cookies but don’t want to turn the oven on. My mom made these cookies all the time when I was a kid. Neither of us remember exactly where they came from, so if you’re reading this and you know where they originated, let me know – I’d love to give credit where credit is due. They are chocolatey, peanut buttery, chewy, and oh-so-delicious. They’re also…
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For the Love Of Cake — One Squirrel’s Quest
Yesterday was by far the most eventful day I’ve had over the past few months. Since I’ve mostly stayed home since mid-March (due to the COVID-19 pandemic – just including that for the future when I go back to read this and think, “why did stay home so much?”)…anyway, since I’ve been at home so much lately, life has been pretty uneventful. Yesterday was an exception. It started out so peaceful. I slept in, ate a bit of breakfast, and started baking this glorious Flourless Chocolate-Chili Cake from Benjamina Ebuehi’s cookbook The New Way To Cake. I popped it in the oven, cleaned up as it baked, then while it…
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Malted Coffee Blondies
This post contains affiliate links. This means that I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Despite the fact that I already have four chocolate chip cookie recipes on the blog (five if you count my Dark Chocolate S’mores Cookies), I can’t seem to stop making up new ones. This time I went for something in bar form – say hello to Malted Coffee Blondies! These chewy chocolate- and pecan-studded beauties have three sources of inspiration. First, the blondies I used to make when I worked at Amazing Grace Bakery here in Duluth (so good I dream about them). Second and third, recipes…
Recipes and Musings from the Zenith City
