Category: Dessert

Recipes for desserts.

Make a pie that feels like it’s payday every day

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date October 22, 2025

Featuring salty peanuts, along with a peanut butter and marshmallow base and homemade caramel on top, this pie, inspired by Payday candy bars, is a must for any peanut lover.

One of my duties as a speech and debate coach over the years was hosting weekend tournaments.

And part of that duty was organizing a concession stand to feed all of the students who came.

That meant buying what felt like a heinous amount of hot dogs, chips and candy, along with tons of pop and bottled water. Since I only played host once in the fall and once in the spring, I tried to balance buying enough to keep everyone satisfied with not buying so much that I had tons of leftovers to contend with.

One leftover that always baffled me, though, was in the candy bar category. Kids would snap up the Snickers and Reese’s, and even the plain Hershey’s bars, but if there were Baby Ruths or Paydays in there, they were inevitably still left over at the end of the day.

And while it’s OK that all those kids were horribly wrong, it doesn’t mean that you and I need to be, which is why, this week, I’m presenting one of the most sinful desserts I’ve made of late: a Payday-inspired pie.

This comes from the blog “House of Nash Eats” by Amy Nash. You can find her original post at https://houseofnasheats.com/payday-pie/. The only thing I added was some extra salt and some extra peanuts in my version.

Payday Pie

Featuring salty peanuts, along with a peanut butter and marshmallow base and homemade caramel on top, this pie, inspired by Payday candy bars, is a must for any peanut lover.

Course Dessert

Keyword butter, caramel, heavy cream, mini marshmallows, Payday, peanut butter chips, peanuts, sweet and salty, sweetened condensed milk, Thanksgiving pie, vanilla

Ingredients

Bottom Layer Ingredients

1 unbaked pie crust for a nine-inch pan
10 ounces peanut butter baking chips
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
3 tablespoons butter
1 large pinch of salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows

Top Layer Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups dry-roasted peanuts
coarse or flaked sea salt to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Place your unbaked pie crust into a nine-inch pie tin, crimp the edges and then prick the bottom all over with a fork.
Place a sheet of parchment paper into the crust to line it and fill it with pie weights or dry beans.
Bake for 15 minutes, and then carefully remove the parchment paper and weights, and bake for another 15 minutes or until the crust is golden.
Set it aside to cool.
In a saucepan, add the peanut butter chips, sweetened condensed milk, butter and salt and heat over medium heat. Stir regularly until everything is melted together.
Add in the marshmallows, and continue stirring until they melt into the mixture.
Pour the mixture into the prepared crust.
Evenly sprinkle all of the peanuts on top of the filling, and set the pie aside.
For the final layer, add just the sugar to a small pot and heat it over medium, stirring constantly. The sugar will melt and turn amber. At that point, add the butter, and stir until it is melted.
Carefully pour in the heavy cream, and let the mixture cook, still stirring constantly, for another minute on the heat.
Remove the pot from the stove and stir in the vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let the mixture cool for at least five minutes before pouring evenly over top of the peanuts.
Refrigerate for about four hours or until the pie is cooled through. Before serving, sprinkle the top with coarse or flaked salt, to taste.
Store leftovers in an airtight container.

This was so dense that it was actually a little tough to slice, but I take that as a sign of greatness. The pie was peanut-buttery and sweet, with plenty of salt to balance it all out. It really was much like eating a candy bar.

And if my small amount of market research is any indicator, you might not have to share this dessert with any teenagers in your life.

No promises, though, and I’d recommend having a secret stash of Snickers bars to distract them, just in case.

This piece first appeared in print Oct. 23, 2025.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Tags butter, caramel, heavy cream, mini marshmallows, Payday, peanut butter chips, peanuts, sweet and salty, sweetened condensed milk, Thanksgiving pie, vanilla

Cookies Dessert Snack

Bake a ‘cinn’sational treat to celebrate autumn weather

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date October 9, 2025

Cinnamon chip oatmeal blondies have a crisp bottom, with chewy middles and highlight the warmth of cinnamon and earthiness of grains. They would make for a great addition to any fall snack table.

In 2024, the Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication in the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University released a study about the ongoing popularity of pumpkin spice lattes.

Apparently, according to their study, apple spice was starting to edge out pumpkin on the popularity scale last year, but companies were still churning out all kinds of pumpkin-spice-themed products for the season.

I don’t know if Montclair reprised the study for 2025, but what I know I can get behind is the common denominator between both pumpkin and apple spice anything: cinnamon.

As a general rule, I view cinnamon as a year-round addition in my baking, but now that we’re having some crisper days, it’s on my radar even more.

Plus, I had a bag of cinnamon baking chips taking up space in my freezer, and with a gathering at the office on the calendar, it seemed like the perfect time to use them up.

The recipe I’m sharing with you comes from the blog “Keep it Sweet Desserts” by Lauren Lilling. You can find her original post at https://www.keepitsweetdesserts.com/cinnamon-chip-oatmeal-blondies/. I loved her amount of vanilla, but I did decide to add some cinnamon in my version and only used one bag of cinnamon chips.

Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Blondies

Cinnamon chip oatmeal blondies have a crisp bottom, with chewy middles and highlight the warmth of cinnamon and earthiness of grains. They would make for a great addition to any fall snack table.

Course Dessert, Snacks

Keyword blondies, brown sugar, cinnamon, cinnamon baking chips, cinnamon chips, fall dessert, oatmeal, old-fashioned oats, quick oats, vanilla

Ingredients

1 cup butter
3 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cup old-fashioned or quick oats
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
10 ounces cinnamon baking chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking dish by lining it with parchment paper, and set it aside.
Add the butter and brown sugar to a saucepan and heat over medium, stirring constantly until the mixture is melted and smooth. Remove it from the heat, and set it aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla, and then beat in the butter/sugar mixture until smooth. Stir in the flour, oats, salt, cinnamon and baking powder until it is just combined, and then fold in the cinnamon chips.
Transfer the batter to your prepared pan, and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the bars cool before slicing, and store them in an airtight container.

These got rave reviews at our office party. I didn’t pack up a single one at the end of the night.

The bottoms were crisp, and the rest of the bars were soft, creating a great texture combo. And I was especially happy with the addition of the cinnamon in addition to the baking chips. I think it gave the whole blondie a little more warmth. And the oatmeal was a nice flavor addition, too.

I’ll have to put these on rotation for holiday snack tables this year.

Because although the pumpkin spice study claimed that people are experiencing a bit of fatigue with the flavor, since it’s been popping up all over the place, hopefully we can all agree that cinnamon is timeless. We don’t need a study to tell us that one.

This piece first appeared in print Oct. 9, 2025.

Tags blondies, brown sugar, cinnamon, cinnamon baking chips, cinnamon chips, fall dessert, holiday cookie exchange, oatmeal, old-fashioned oats, quick oats, vanilla

Dessert

Sometimes it pays to give memories a fair ‘cake’

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date September 11, 2025

Mom’s chocolate cake is extremely moist and always receives rave reviews at gatherings. On top of that, it’s easy to make.

It’s amazing how memory works.

There are so many experiences from my childhood that seemed so big, so awesome, so magical, and once I experienced them again as an adult, I realized that those were better left as cherished memories than something to revisit.

I remember, for example, taking Joey to see Coronado Heights near Lindsborg for a day trip. I told him all about the castle on the hill and was excited to go back.

And yes, while the view is spectacular from the top, I will say that the towering walls of my memory weren’t quite the same ones I saw years later.

Food can be that way, too. The colored sugar water in plastic barrels I remember enjoying as a child just aren’t all that satisfying to my grown up palate.

But then there are foods that really do live up to the hype. For me, that’s my mom’s chocolate cake. I made it recently—actually I made four of them—to share with guests at our 10-year anniversary party for Harvey County Now, and based on the compliments we received, I’m not the only one who thinks it’s an amazing dessert.

Plus, the other great thing about this cake is that it’s egg- and dairy-free, for those who struggle with those foods.

So, no website for this week’s offering, just me referencing a well-worn recipe card my mom wrote for me long ago. And I didn’t make any changes to that recipe. You can’t mess with perfection, right?

Mom’s Chocolate Cake

Mom’s chocolate cake is extremely moist and always receives rave reviews at gatherings. On top of that, it’s easy to make.

Course Dessert

Keyword chocolate cake, cocoa powder, dairy-free, dump cake, easy baking, easy cake, egg-free, moist cake, vanilla

Ingredients

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour a nine-by-13-inch pan, and set it aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat all the ingredients together until the batter is smooth.
Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cake cool before slicing or icing it.

This cake is so incredibly moist, that my sister and I used to riot when my mom would frost it to take to a potluck. We loved it just by itself.

And it’s the same cake Joey requested for his groom’s cake for our wedding (German chocolate icing added).

I’m sure my mom will roll her eyes when she sees how much I pontificated about her cake recipe this week. I can just hear her now, “It’s just a dump cake, guys.”

But regardless of whether or not there are some nostalgia tastebuds working their magic, this is still a darn good cake, and it’s easy to make, too.

Plus, it stands up way better than my memories of eating melty Airheads candy, peeled from my towel, at the city pool in the summer.

Some things are best left in the past.

This piece first appeared in print Sept. 11, 2025.

Tags chocolate cake, cocoa powder, dairy-free, dump cake, easy baking, easy cake, egg-free, moist cake, vanilla

Dessert

Can’t tell the varieties apart? You just have to ‘apple’y yourself.

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date August 28, 2025

Apple strudels are easy to make with a sheet of puff pastry, some honeycrisp apples and warm spices and brown sugar to go with them. They pair nicely with a cup of tea or coffee.

“Those apples were kind of pricey, weren’t they?” Joey asked me as we exited the grocery store recently.

“They’re honeycrisps,” I told him.

“So, they’re high-end apples?”

“I mean, kind of.”

It’s amazing that after 15 years of marriage, I can still discover new things about my husband. Case in point: he has no knowledge of apple varieties. At all.

I’m not saying I’m an expert, but I don’t think he could tell a Granny Smith from a red delicious.

OK, so it’s probably not that bad, but you get my point.

Regardless of his lack of apple knowledge, after I had my honeycrisps sliced up and baked with plenty of warm spices, Joey agreed that they were absolutely delicious, despite being a more expensive variety.

The recipe I tried comes from the Instagram account @tisrarewegetout. I switched up the seasoning a bit for my version.

Apple Strudels

Apple strudels are easy to make with a sheet of puff pastry, some honeycrisp apples and warm spices and brown sugar to go with them. They pair nicely with a cup of tea or coffee.

Course Dessert

Keyword apple, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, easy dessert, fall dessert, ginger, honeycrisp apples, nutmeg, puff pastry, tea time

Ingredients

13.2 ounce sheet puff pastry thawed
2 large honeycrisp apples
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 egg

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Prepare a baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper.
Roll out the puff pastry and cut it into about four-inch squares. Place the squares about one inch apart on the prepared sheet(s).
Slice the apples into about 1/4-inch slices, and cut a hole out of the middle to remove the core. (There’s no need to peel them.)
Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, and dip the apples in the mixture, coating them on all sides.
Place one coated apple slice in the middle of each puff pastry square, and fold the corners of the pastry up to the middle of the apple slice (you can cut some slits in the pastry to make it fancier, if you so desire).
Beat the egg in a small bowl, and brush each pastry with a liberal coating of egg. If you still have any liquid in the bowl from the sugar mixture, pour it evenly over the top of the prepared pastries.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the apples are softened.
Serve warm with some ice cream or a good cup of tea or coffee.

These were amazing right out of the oven. They were still awesome a day later, but the puff pastry wasn’t nearly as crisp after it sat in a container over night.

The warmth of the spices with the sweetness of the apples and crunch of the pastry was a fabulous combination.

This was easy to make, too, and would be nice for a breakfast or brunch or if you’re hosting an afternoon tea or coffee.

And I would argue this was worth the “high-end” apples—even if Joey is still not sure I actually know the difference.

This piece first appeared in print Aug. 28, 2025.

Tags apple, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, easy dessert, fall dessert, ginger, honeycrisp apples, nutmeg, puff pastry, tea time

Dessert

Make your own coffee ice cream from the ground(s) up

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date August 14, 2025

Dalgona coffee ice cream is based on the South Korean whipped coffee drink. It’s no churn, which makes it easy for anyone to make and enjoy.

Back in college, when I decided I was going to change my major and get my teaching degree, one of my first undertakings was to learn what I deemed to be a very important teacher skill: how to drink coffee.

Growing up, the coffee maker only came out at our house if we were having company—neither of my parents really like it—so the smell of freshly brewed coffee was not part of my morning routine.

I started out with flavored coffees and lots of creamer. I would also make hot chocolate by substituting the water for hot coffee (this is delicious, if you’ve never done it).

Eventually, I tapered those additions off, and now, I enjoy black coffee all the time. It didn’t hurt that I also married into a family of coffee aficionados.

It hit me this week, though, that I missed what could have been the easiest way for me to love coffee right away: trying it in ice cream form.

This week’s recipe is a no-churn ice cream that is based on a whipped coffee that started as a street food in Busan, South Korea, called dalgona.

This comes from the blog “My Diaspora Kitchen” by Chichi Uguru. You can find the original recipe at https://www.mydiasporakitchen.com/coffee-ice-cream-dalgona-coffee-ice-cream/. My only alterations were to specify espresso powder and to use hot water to froth the coffee (you can use cold, but mine took quite awhile).

Dalgona Coffee Ice Cream

Dalgona coffee ice cream is based on the South Korean whipped coffee drink. It’s no churn, which makes it easy for anyone to make and enjoy.

Course Dessert

Keyword coffee, dalgona, easy dessert, espresso, espresso powder, heavy cream, homemade ice cream, ice cream, instant coffee, no-churn ice cream, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla

Ingredients

1 tablespoon instant coffee I used espresso
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy cream

Instructions

Combine the instant coffee, sugar and hot water in a mug, and using an electric beater or milk frother, beat until stiff peaks form in the coffee mixture.
In another bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and salt, and stir until everything is mixed well. Fold in the coffee mixture.
In a freezer-safe mixing bowl, beat the cream until stiff peaks form, and fold in the coffee mixture.
Cover the mixture with plastic wrap, and freeze until the ice cream is solid.
Serve with your favorite toppings. (I used chocolate-covered espresso beans and a light sprinkling of the instant espresso powder.)

Despite dalgona coffee becoming an online trend that lots of people tried during the boredom of the COVID-19 lockdown, I never made it before. I need to make a cup on its own to try it, but I can tell you that the ice cream was absolutely heavenly.

It would be perfect with some chocolate sauce or some hazelnuts on top, too. It was creamy and tasted like a great iced coffee.

If you’re not much of a coffee person, I can’t promise that this ice cream will change your mind, but if you’re one of the many teachers in the community gearing up for back-to-school season, it might not hurt to have an emergency batch in the freezer, just in case.

This piece first appeared in print Aug. 14, 2025.

Tags coffee, dalgona, easy dessert, espresso, espresso powder, heavy cream, homemade ice cream, ice cream, instant coffee, no-churn ice cream, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla

Cookies Dessert

‘Wash’ out for these easy-to-make sugar-coated cookies

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date July 17, 2025

Washboard cookies are like a lightly spiced sugar cookie. They get their name from the use of a fork to create light hashmarks on their surface before baking them.

I have been spending some time reading through the Harvey County Fair’s entry guidelines book, looking at all the food categories.

The one that intrigues me, which I need to pay more attention to when I go look at the exhibits this year, is for cookie jars.

For the entry, the cookies have to be placed in a wide-mouth jar, and it has to consist of six to nine different cookies, each individually wrapped, with at least 18 cookies in the jar.

I am absolutely baffled about how someone can get 18 cookies into a wide-mouth jar. I have to see this for myself.

Of course, I’m guessing the answer is I have a tendency to make my cookies too large. These exhibitors must have a lot more patience and restraint than I generally do. Normally, my cookies get larger and larger with every batch, since I’m normally ready to be done after about three.

Despite that, I did manage to keep my cookies for this week’s recipe at a consistent, smaller size, and they turned out really well—in flavor and presentation.

This comes from the blog Cooktop Cove from a post by Georgia Lynn. You can find the original post at https://cooktopcove.com/2025/02/10/cant-stop-baking-these-cookies—third-night-in-a-row/. I added extra vanilla, along with cinnamon, to my version below. I also inadvertently left out the milk it called for, and since it had absolutely no effect on the end result, I just left it out in my version, too.

Washboard Cookies

Washboard cookies are like a lightly spiced sugar cookie. They get their name from the use of a fork to create light hashmarks on their surface before baking them.

Course Dessert

Keyword cinnamon, cookie exchange, easy cookies, sugar cookies, vanilla

Ingredients

1 cup butter softened
1 cup sugar plus more for rolling cookies
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a couple baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper, and set them aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar for a couple of minutes until the mixture is light yellow and airy.
Beat in the vanilla.
Next, beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon until everything is well combined.
Using your hands, roll the dough into one-inch balls. Put some sugar in a small bowl, and roll the balls in the sugar. Place them about two inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Use a fork and make a crosshatch pattern on each ball, pressing down gently.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Let them cool for about five minutes, and then transfer the cookies into an airtight container.

These were like lightly spiced sugar cookies. They were crispy out of the oven, but then they softened up in the container. So if you’re into crunchy cookies, let them cool completely before you put them in the container.

And if you follow the directions and roll these into one-inch balls, you could easily fit quite a few of them into a wide-mouth jar. After all, I was able to fit a good number into my wide mouth, too.

This piece first appeared in print July 17, 2025.

Tags cinnamon, cookie exchange, easy cookies, sugar cookies, vanilla

Dessert

In July, heat-proof desserts are a ‘pine’ of the times

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date July 10, 2025

These pineapples bars feature a buttery, crispy crust on the bottom, topped with a sweet filling, perfect for a hot summer afternoon.

I find that the toughest time of year to make desserts is summer.

If it’s a particularly good recipe, I’m willing to heat up my kitchen by using my oven, but my problem is how the dessert will travel with the heat. And if the event I’m taking my dessert to happens to be outdoors, I struggle with finding something that will stay stable in 90-degree weather.

That rules out anything cold.

Or anything that melts.

But with an invitation to a July 4 outdoor gathering, I decided it was time to get busy and find something that looked delicious.

And that’s how I landed on something that, yes, did heat up my kitchen but was absolutely worth it for the pay off of a great summertime treat.

This recipe comes from the blog “Averie Cooks,” authored by Averie Sunshine. You can find her original post at https://www.averiecooks.com/tropical-escape-soft-pineapple-crumble-bars. I added extra vanilla to my version.

Pineapple Bars

These pineapples bars feature a buttery, crispy crust on the bottom, topped with a sweet filling, perfect for a hot summer afternoon.

Course Dessert

Keyword bars, butter, non-fat Greek yogurt, pineapple, pineapple chunks, summer dessert, tropical dessert, vanilla

Ingredients

Crust Ingredients

1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling Ingredients

1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
5.3 ounce cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup flour
20 ounces pineapple chunks in juice drained, but save the juice and use it for something fun

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare an eight-by-eight-inch pan by lining it with foil and then spraying it lightly with cooking spray.
For the crust, add all of the ingredients to a mixing bowl, and cut it together with a pastry cutter or a couple of forks until everything is well combined and is a bit crumbly.
Set aside 3/4 cup of the crust mixture, and press the rest evenly into the bottom of your prepared pan. Bake it for 10 minutes.
While the crust bakes, add the egg, sugar, yogurt, vanilla and flour to the same mixing bowl, and beat until it is smooth and creamy. Set it aside.
When the crust is done, pull it out of the oven and carefully line the entire bottom with pineapple chunks. Leave just a smidgeon of room between each chunk for the filling to get into.
Pour the filling evenly over the top of the pineapple, and then evenly sprinkle the reserved crust mixture over the top.
Bake for another 35 minutes or until the edges are set and the top is just starting to brown.
Let the bars cool before slicing them and serving them. Store the bars in an airtight container.

These were fabulous.

Actually, I shouldn’t say “these,” since I only actually got to eat one of them myself. The rest were reduced to crumbs in my container before the night was over.

That’s not a complaint. I would rather spread the calories out over many friends than have them all end up with me.

Regardless, the crust on the bottom was buttery and crisp, and the pineapples were sweet and perfect for a summer afternoon.

And these bars did great out in the heat. The only thing I didn’t plan for? A sudden deluge of rain just after we put everything on the dessert table. It was a good thing I had a lid at the ready.

I guess you can’t prepare for everything when it comes to dessert and a Kansas summer.

This piece first appeared in print July 10, 2025.

Tags bars, butter, non-fat Greek yogurt, pineapple, pineapple chunks, summer dessert, tropical dessert, vanilla

Cookies Dessert

Earn brownie points with your friends with these awesome cookies

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date June 5, 2025

Brownie cookies are soft and chocolaty with a little crunch from mini M&Ms. They’re a great cookie to share with friends.

Last weekend, our house was the scene of an end-of-season party for Joey’s bowling team.

I always love when that crew comes over. They are a super nice group, and it’s always fun to share a big meal and hear them tell stories and tease each other about their bowling gaffes.

It’s also a great excuse for me to try out a new recipe.

This year, I decided to make a cookie recipe I have had my eye on. The good news: they were awesome. The bad news: there wasn’t one cookie left over at the end of the night.

This recipe comes from the blog “Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt” by Miranda Couse. You can find the original post at https://www.cookiedoughandovenmitt.com/brownie-cookies/. I added extra vanilla in my version.

Brownie Cookies

Brownie cookies are soft and chocolaty with a little crunch from mini M&Ms. They’re a great cookie to share with friends.

Course Dessert

Keyword brown sugar, chocolate, chocolate chips, cookie exchange, M&Ms, semisweet chocolate chips, soft cookies, vanilla

Ingredients

12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups flour
10 ounces mini M&Ms

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set them aside.
Add the chocolate chips and butter to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between each heating, until everything is melted. Set it aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat the brown sugar, sugar, eggs and vanilla for a couple minutes until the mixture is light yellow and well combined.
Beat in the melted chocolate mixture, baking powder, salt and flour until the dough is smooth, and then fold in the M&Ms.
Using a cookie scoop (I used a two-inch scoop), place scoops of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, keeping them about two inches apart.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the tops and edges of the cookies are set. Let them cool, and then store the cookies in an airtight container.

These were just as advertised: a nice combination of brownie flavor in cookie form. If you wanted to double down on the chocolate flavors, you could easily sub in dark chocolate chips for the semi-sweet or even use mini chocolate chips instead of the M&Ms.

I wish I could tell you these cookies were the most popular thing on the table last weekend, but since Joey smoked a pork shoulder, I came in second. But who can be mad when you’re fighting those odds?

The only unfortunate thing is I guess I’ll have to make these cookies again if I want to eat another one. Such is the burden of greatness—and great friends.

This piece first appeared in print June 5, 2025.

Tags brown sugar, chocolate, chocolate chips, cookie exchange, M&Ms, semisweet chocolate chips, soft cookies, vanilla

Dessert Uncategorized

Cupcakes the best way to say ‘auf Wiedersehn’ to a good friend

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date May 29, 2025

These German chocolate cupcakes feature a from-scratch chocolate cake, topped with a coconut frosting, ganache and a buttercream chocolate frosting, too. They are decadent, delicious and absolutely beautiful.

Someone told me last week that I don’t really qualify as an amateur baker, since I’ve been writing this column way too long for that, but I still claim the title, especially after taking on a recent huge project.

A dear friend of the newspaper, Debbie Pierce, celebrated her retirement last week, and since we were combining her party with a Press Club event, I volunteered to bring dessert. Her favorite? German chocolate cake. And I found the most decadent German chocolate cupcake recipe I could, which was ambitious enough, since it was made up of four separate components.

But then I decided to quadruple the recipe.

My math skills and my ability to judge just how many ingredients would fit into the bowl of my stand mixer were definitely put to the test on this one, but goodness gracious was the end result worth it.

This comes from the blog “A Monkey on a Cupcake” (how great is that name?). You can find the original post at https://amonkeyonacupcake.com/german-chocolate-cupcakes/. I doubled the vanilla across the board in my version below, and I changed the bake temperature on the cupcakes to get a better rise.

German Chocolate Cupcakes

These German chocolate cupcakes feature a from-scratch chocolate cake, topped with a coconut frosting, ganache and a buttercream chocolate frosting, too. They are decadent, delicious and absolutely beautiful.

Course Dessert

Keyword baker’s chocolate, buttercream, chocolate, chocolate ganache, cocoa powder, coconut, cupcakes, dark chocolate, decadent dessert, ganache, German chocolate, German frosting, heavy cream, pecans, sour cream, vanilla

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 ounces dark baker’s chocolate I used 55 percent cacao
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
4 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup water

Coconut Layer Ingredients

1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
3/4 cup pecan pieces cut small

Frosting Layer Ingredients

1/2 cup butter softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

Ganache Layer Ingredients

1/2 cup chocolate chips I used semisweet
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

Cupcake Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Prepare about one and one-half cupcake tins by lining them with cupcake liners (I got about 16 cupcakes out of a batch), and set them aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until it is well combined.
Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl, heating 30 seconds at a time and stirring in between. Let it cool enough that you can touch it without burning your finger, and mix it into the butter mixture. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time.
Beat in the oil, vanilla and sour cream until the mixture is smooth, and then add the flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa powder in batches, mixing in between each addition.
Finally, beat in the water until the mixture is smooth.
Fill the prepared liners about two-thirds full, and then bake for five minutes at 425. Without opening the oven, drop the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them come up to room temperature before assembling.

Coconut Layer Directions

Add the evaporated milk, egg yolks, brown sugar and butter to a saucepan, and heat it over medium heat. Stir constantly for about 15 minutes until the mixture thickens. It’ll be like a thick syrup consistency.
Remove the mixture from the heat and pour it through a mesh strainer into a bowl to remove any chunks of cooked egg.
Stir in the vanilla, coconut and pecans, and set it aside to cool.

Frosting Directions

Beat all the ingredients together until everything is well combined and light and fluffy. Transfer it into a piping bag with a wide tip (like a star), and set it aside.

Ganache Directions

Add the chocolate chips and whipping cream to a microwave-safe bowl and heat, 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Assembly Directions

Add about one to one and one-half tablespoons of the coconut layer to the top of each cupcake, spreading it into a flat, even, thick layer on each.
Using a frosting bag, a spoon or a fork, drizzle ganache across the top of each of the cupcakes (use as much as you want, but note that these are very rich, so proceed cautiously).
Finally, pipe a swirl of the chocolate frosting on top. If desired, add some more pecan pieces to the top of each cupcake.
Store in an airtight container. These can stay at room temperature, but if it’s especially warm, they may start to melt a bit, so you might want to store them in the refrigerator in that case.

These were insanely decadent, and the combination of textures and flavors just took these over the top. I didn’t have to worry about leftovers after the event, even though I made over 60 cupcakes. They all went home with someone.

And my kitchen is mostly recovered from the war zone I created from ingredients splashing everywhere on my countertops, which is a relief.

It cemented for me that I am nowhere near a professional baker, but I’d say this amateur attempt was a pretty darn good one.

This piece first appeared in print May 29, 2025.

Tags baker's chocolate, brown sugar, buttercream, chocolate, chocolate ganache, cocoa powder, coconut, cupcakes, dark chocolate, decadent dessert, ganache, German chocolate, German frosting, heavy cream, pecans, sour cream, vanilla

Dessert

Look cool at your next gathering with an icebox cake

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date May 15, 2025

Carlota de limon is an icebox cake that is really easy to make with fresh limes and yummy vanilla cookies.

We attended a high school graduation this past week, and since I only knew one graduate, I had a little time to let my mind wander during the ceremony.

I thought about how making friends has changed for me in the 20-plus years since I was in high school. It used to be so easy: you all went to the same place every day for nine months of the year.

Recently, we had a wonderful dinner at some friends’ house. The only reason it happened? We put it on the calendar almost a month in advance.

It used to be a lot easier to keep up with people when I just saw them in my fifth-hour class every day.

Regardless, I was so excited to be able to break bread with these friends, as we’ve been talking about making plans for about forever and finally managed to make it happen.

Plus, they were making a spread of Mexican food, which is always on my thumbs up list.

I offered up my dessert-making abilities to contribute to the meal and immediately started looking for a new recipe to try.

I landed on an icebox cake from Nancy Lopez at the blog “Mexican Made Meatless.” You can find the original post at https://mexicanmademeatless.com/carlota-de-limon-mexican-lime-icebox-cake/. I added extra vanilla in my version.

Carlota de Limon

Carlota de limon is an icebox cake that is really easy to make with fresh limes and yummy vanilla cookies.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword evaporated milk, fresh lime, icebox cake, lime juice, lime zest, Maria cookies, summer dessert, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, vanilla wafers

Ingredients

3/4 cup lime juice freshly squeezed
12 ounces evaporated milk
12 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
about 14 ounces Maria cookies or Nilla Wafers
fresh lime zest from two or three limes

Instructions

Pour the freshly squeezed lime juice through a fine mesh strainer to remove any small particles.
Add the strained lime juice, evaporated milk, condensed milk and vanilla to a blender or food processor and blend until the mixture is completely smooth.
Pour just enough of the mixture into the bottom of an eight-by-eight-inch baking dish to create a thin layer.
Cover the entire bottom of the dish with a single layer of cookies, breaking them to fill in gaps, if you need to.
Pour a layer of the milk mixture on top. You want enough to cover the cookies. Spread it out evenly.
Repeat with another layer of cookies and then another layer of the milk mixture, continuing until all the mixture is used up. Make sure the final layer is the milk mixture.
Sprinkle lime zest, to taste, on top, cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.
Slice the cake and serve it, and make sure to refrigerate the leftovers.

This was delicious, and it was really easy, too. If you’re not familiar with icebox cakes, the cookies basically melt into the filling a bit while in the refrigerator to create a slice-able dessert.

If you’re a fan of key lime pie, you’ll like this, too. It’s a great summer dessert. And if you’ve never tried Maria cookies, they are delicious. They’re basically a very thin vanilla wafer.

And now we need to get busy with our friends to get another dinner on our schedule. If we act quickly, we may get to see them again before the summer is out.

This piece first appeared in print May 15, 2025.

Tags evaporated milk, fresh lime, icebox cake, lime juice, lime zest, Maria cookies, summer dessert, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, vanilla wafers