There´s no need to camp out to make this ooey gooey, chocolately treat that will take you back to those summer nights around the bonfire at the lake.
Sweets & Desserts
Fresh Strawberry Pie
Robin: My mom was a consummate pie maker, able to produce a sweet, flaky-crusted work of art from berries, peaches, pears, pumpkin, pecans, custard, or almost anything else. I am definitely not a great pie maker, but even I can make this pie. And it’s delicious! Most people love strawberries, and they will be impressed…
Rhubarb Ice Pops
Robin: While I was growing up, rhubarb wasn´t really part of my life. I´d heard of it, tried it a time or two in pie (and hadn´t thought particularly highly of it), but it just seemed like a boring olden days thing that old timers talked about. I guess it didn´t help that said old…
No-Bake Pineapple Coconut Balls (“Snowballs” or “Bunny Tails”)
Robin: These two-bite balls of goodness call for only 3 or 4 ingredients and are super easy to make, but they are full of tropical-flavored deliciousness. They are cute enough to offer guests on a special occasion (call them “snowballs” if it´s winter, “bunny tails” in springtime, etc.), yet simple enough to make for a…
Banana-Blueberry and Banana-Cherry Breads
Robin: Last week somebody someone at work gave me some leftover bananas and half-jokingly said, “Here, make some banana bread.” So I did. It had been many years since I´d made any. Maybe decades. I mean, I do occasionally bake a killer pumpkin bread, and I love these zucchini-bread-like chocolate chip cookies, so quick breads…
Coconut Merengue Cookies
Robin: I love the way that these cookies are familiar-feeling, yet different. They are a cross between a macaroon and a merengue, and as such, are both light/crispy and sweet/chewy. Their bright white color makes them a striking addition to an assorted cookie tray or dessert table. They taste good, too, of course! You might…
Basic Capirotada Bread Pudding
Robin: The origins of bread pudding are lost in the mists of time—which makes total sense to me, since it is an excellent way of putting stale or leftover bread to good use. One version of it, called capirotada de vigilia or simply capirotada, came to the New World via the Spanish colonists and evolved…
Mexican Piggy Cookies
Robin: In Mexico, these piggies would probably not be called galletas (cookies) at all; there they are one of the dozens of traditional panes dulces (sweet breads) that are part of the fabric of daily life. Cookies in Mexico tend to be fancy, delicate little things, and these hog shaped pieces of baked dough are…
Sweet Potato and Cinnamon Gelatin
Robin: Inspired by the multitude of sweet gelatin dishes I came across in Mexico, I came up with this easy-to-make and somewhat sophisticated-looking dessert that might remind you a little of a crustless sweet potato pie. The gelatin is creamy and mousse-like in texture, but firm enough to hold its shape when cut into slices….
My Mom’s Pear Cake
Robin: When they lived on a tiny-but-lovely Royer Lake in northeast Indiana, Mom and Dad had their very own pear tree. Some years the harvest was huge, others not so much. When the supply was abundant, Mom would find creative ways to take full advantage of the delicious fruit, using pears in salads, desserts, and…