Nutella Chocolate Chip Pie

Last month, my home community had a "childhood favorites" potluck. The house was filled with mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese with cut-up hot dogs, and Nutella.

Now, I never liked Nutella as a child. We were strictly a peanut butter family, but this "weird" brown spread showed up at friends' houses after school. I thought it was gross.

Thankfully, as I grew up, I came around to this delicious hazelnut chocolate spread. And, even though I didn't like it as a kid, I still deemed a Nutella dessert appropriate for the theme "childhood favorites." I am certain I was the anomaly.

So, here we have Nutella Chocolate Chip Pie. This cream cheese-based pie has a buttery chocolate chip cookie and hazelnut crust and is topped with fresh whipped cream. It's good. It's really good. And I'd like to think that even my 8-year-old self wouldn't have been able to resist it.

Buckwheat Pancakes (for real maple syrup lovers only)

A couple of months ago, I took a last minute trip home to New York. The weekend was full but we managed to find time on a dreary Sunday morning to go on a road-trip for pancakes . . . an hour-long road-trip.

Now, if you think it sounds absurd to drive an hour for some pancakes, you are not alone. This is what I thought as we drove through the smallest, most desolate towns you can imagine. But people don't drive an hour and wait hours more in line for just any pancakes with just any syrup.

We New Yorkers take our syrup seriously. Vermont gets all of the credit for real maple syrup, but, in my totally-biased opinion, New York maple syrup is even better. Since you can't get in in Utah, my wonderful mother regularly mails me bottles of it to adorn my homemade pancakes and waffles.

Browned Butter Vanilla Bean Cake with Butterscotch Frosting

This cake is so good that I can't even talk about it.

OK, I'll talk about it so that you guys can feel the same way about it that I do.

You see that box of butterscotch chips in the picture below here? That box, full of 30 pounds of butterscotch chips, was given to me a few months back by my boss, who accidentally ordered much MUCH more than we needed at the bakery. In that time, I've been thinking of creative ways to use them. It takes a lot of brainstorming to use up 30 pounds of butterscotch chips. And, to be quite honest, nothing I've made has impressed me much . . . until now.

Flourless Chocolate Cake for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day: The day that separates the single people from the couples. On this day of division between those given flowers and the flower-less (I know, I know, so cynical), I bring you a dessert that unites another set of groups: those willing to go a completely different kind of flourless, and those who turn up their nose at the term "gluten-free."

Ah, the flourless chocolate cake: the dessert that Becky from The Vintage Mixer and I ordained as the quintessential dessert that everyone is not only willing to try, but eager to love.

Shaker Citrus Cheesecake Tart

As memory serves me, it seemed that winters in Upstate New York involved day after day of grey skies. The last few winters have been spent in Salt Lake City, where grey skies were replaced with sunny ones, though muddled with the fog of our dreaded January inversion. In times when it's difficult to find some sunny clear skies, it is comforting to know that winter's seasonal fruits are bright and sunny themselves. So, here we have it: Shaker Citrus Cheesecake Tart.

In addition to being an answer to a need for some sunshine, this dessert was inspired by shaker lemon pie. It is a thin layer of creamy cheesecake, enveloped by a spicy-sweet gingersnap crust and sugared winter citrus slices. It is just what you need in these gloomy days :)

Shaker Citrus Cheesecake Tart
Makes one 9" round tart

for the topping:
1 orange, sliced as thin as you can get it
1 lemon, sliced in the same way
1/2 cup sugar

for the crust:
6 oz gluten-free gingersnap cookies, finely crushed
1/2 cup walnuts, ground
4 tablespoons butter, melted

for the filling:
12 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean powder (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)
citrus-syrup goodness (leftover from the soaking fruit . . . you'll see)

For the citrus, place lemon and orange slices in a  shallow container and sprinkle with 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours, turning the container over once.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

For the crust, stir together crushed cookies, nuts, and butter. Press crust into the bottom and up the sides of a 9" tart pan. Bake 8 minutes.

In a mixer with the paddle attachment or a food processor, cream the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla bean powder and heavy cream. Add the eggs, one at a time, combining in between each addition. Drain the sugar-y syrup from the container of citrus into the cheesecake batter, reserving the slices. Pour batter into crust.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and raise the temperature to 400 degrees F. Carefully arrange citrus slices on top of the cheesecake. Return to the oven and bake 15 minutes more, or until the center jiggles just a bit.

Cool cheesecake to room temperature, about two hours. Refrigerate at least one hour before consuming. Consume the WHOLE thing, even the slices-that's why you soaked them! 

Blueberry Quinoa Muffins

Things I love about very early mornings:

1. Coffee

2. Breakfast

3. Quiet

Things I hate about very early mornings:

1. Almost everything else.

Considering my list of things to love hours before the sun comes up is very short, I like to make sure I have the best of the best of all of these things. To be the best, breakfast should be both healthy and delicious. These quinoa muffins are both.

Packed with lots of protein from the quinoa and almond meal and antioxidants from the blueberries, these muffins are a fantastic way to start your day. And if you were wondering about the coffee, it's almost always the charmingly tasty Charming Beard Coffee. 

Blueberry Quinoa Muffins

makes 6 large or 12 standard muffins

1 cup quinoa flour

1/2 cup arrowroot powder

1 cup almond flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1/2 cup applesauce

1 cup frozen blueberries

For the topping:

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats

1 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

1/4 teaspoons grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F for large muffin tins or 350 degrees F for standard muffin tins. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

Stir together dry ingredients. Make a well in the center. Place eggs, vanilla, honey, oil, and applesauce into the well and stir together. Fold into the dry ingredients just until combined. Gently stir in blueberries. Divide batter between muffin tins. Make the topping:

Rinse quinoa in cold water. Stir together all ingredients and divide topping between muffins. Bake 30-35 minutes for large muffins or 20-25 minutes for standard ones.

The Last of Fall: Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

I feel like I've beaten a dead horse when I talk about how much I love fall, so I'll keep this short. Yesterday, Salt Lake was 70 degrees and sunny and looked something like this:

Today was the first snow of the season that stuck. I had to brush my car off several times, I wore leggings under my jeans, and busted out the tiny dog sweater that Lola hates so much. Usually I greet winter begrudgingly, feeling myself well up with anger when I see expensively decorated fake Christmas trees in the lobby at work and screaming "NOOOO!" at the radio when I hear Christmas songs before Thanksgiving. But this year's Fall was so gloriously wonderful and longer than normal, I think, that I will choose to accept the snow.

So, I send fall off with this recipe for soft and chewy pumpkin snickerdoodles, which taste like fall and happiness and all things wonderful. And even if the snow doesn't melt for a long while, there are glorious things in the word such as canned pumpkin so that you can have fall flavors long into the winter.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

makes about 3 dozen

adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour

1/4 cup sugar + 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cream together butter and sugar. Scrape down bowl. Add pumpkin puree. Stir together remaining ingredients (except the cinnamon sugar) and add to mixing bowl. Mix until combined. Refrigerate 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Scoop dough by the tablespoon and roll into a ball. Roll in cinnamon sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheets and bake about 12 minutes, until cookies are set but still soft. Cool completely before removing from the baking sheet.