Desserts & Baking

You know those days when you just need a cookie that means it? Not some flat little crisp with a few chocolate chips scattered like afterthoughts. No, ma’am. I’m talking about the kind of cookie you break open with both hands — warm, molten in the center, pockets of melted chocolate oozing out like a dessert lava flow. Well, one rainy afternoon (the kind where your slippers stay on ‘til 3pm), I found myself craving that exact cookie. I wanted thick, I wanted chewy, and I wanted to bite into something that felt like a hug. After a few test …

A few weeks ago, I had one of those half-full bags of Hawaiian rolls on the counter. You know the kind — slightly squished, a few lonely ones clinging to the edge of the plastic tray. I was this close to tossing them (guilt included), but something in me whispered, “Don’t do it. Turn them into something good.” Well, sweet Lord, did I ever. What came out of that oven was like bread pudding and cinnamon rolls had a baby, and that baby was golden, soft in the middle, and had just the right crisp along the edges. My husband …

So, last week I had this tub of Greek yogurt staring at me every time I opened the fridge. You know the one—you bought it with good intentions (smoothies? breakfast parfaits?) but then life got busy, and suddenly it’s three days from its “eh, maybe toss it” date. Try our Heavenly Squares: A Bake-Sale Classic Worth Remembering next. Anyway, I remembered this simple little yogurt cake I’d made ages ago from a French cookbook that’s permanently crusted with flour and butter fingerprints. It’s not showy. It’s not iced with twelve layers or topped with candied orange peel or anything like …

There’s a reason we call this Friendship Spaghetti Pie. It’s not fancy. It’s not trendy. And it sure as heck won’t win any minimalist plating awards. But you know what? It shows up. For new babies, for hard weeks, for potlucks and porch dinners, and sometimes—just because someone needed to feel remembered. Try our Confetti Salad next. This pie is the kind of recipe you double by default, because you already know you’ll be bringing the second one to someone you love (or freezing it for Future You). It’s a little cheesy, a little nostalgic, and completely impossible to mess …

I don’t always plan ahead when it comes to dessert. Or breakfast. Or anything, really. But sometimes, something dangerously easy comes along—and next thing you know, I’m preheating the oven and pulling out the crescent rolls like I had it all together. Try our Sweet Blend King Cake Cinnamon Roll Casserole next. These Pecan Cream Cheese Rolls are that kind of recipe. Warm, gooey, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, with toasted pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a little hidden cube of cream cheese inside that melts into the dough like a dream. Oh—and did I mention the whole thing bakes in cream soda? Yes, …