Baker Without Borders

Packed with cheese, coarsely chopped garlic, and fresh herbs, these crackers taste like a gourmet version of Goldfish. My husband made the dough one morning with our twin sons, and it was his idea to add grated Parmesan and garlic to a rosemary flatbread recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I brought the crackers to a playgroup … Continue reading Garlic Parmesan Herb Crackers

This espresso-free variation on tiramisu, adapted from a recipe by Also the Crumbs Please, features hot cocoa two ways: brushed onto layers of genoise sponge, and infused into a whipped cream, mascarpone, and Greek yogurt frosting. I developed the frosting on a whim, after realizing I didn’t have enough mascarpone for the original recipe, and the … Continue reading Hot Cocoa Tiramisu Cake

Making whole wheat almond butter waffles from scratch is a weekly tradition in my home. I’ve even managed to whip up these fluffy, nutritious waffles for breakfast – with help from my twin sons- before rushing off to preschool; if you have only 10-15 minutes to spend on breakfast prep, cook only a few waffles … Continue reading Almond Butter Waffles

I have fond memories of living in New York City and stopping at Grom, a now-shuttered Italian shop in the West Village, for a scoop of hazelnut gelato. There’s something so perfect about the combination of cream and toasted hazelnuts. Over four years since my last visit to Grom, I recreated a simple, Philadelphia-style version of … Continue reading Hazelnut Vanilla Ice Cream

What could possibly be more delicious than a batch of homemade cookies? A giant chocolate chip cookie in cake form! I adapted a vegan recipe from Namely Marly, adding egg, coconut oil, and white whole wheat flour – a lighter alternative to traditional red wheat that lends itself well to cookies and pastries. Studded with … Continue reading Dairy-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

This is one of my favorite childhood recipes, with a twist. When I was growing up, my mom made a delicious version of vanilla pudding with only four ingredients: milk, cornstarch, brown sugar, and pure vanilla extract. Here, I simmered milk with coconut sugar and sprinkled shredded coconut and toasted pecans on top. Derived from … Continue reading Coconut Vanilla Pudding

These sparkly, sugar-coated gingersnaps are the latest of several “secretly vegan” cookie recipes I’ve adapted in recent months (See my posts on chocolate maple and chocolate covered pretzel cookies.) With oil in place of butter and water instead of eggs, they are lighter and a bit chewier than traditional molasses cookies, but retain the same … Continue reading Vegan Molasses Cookies

The first few times I baked this incredibly moist, egg-free chocolate cake, adapted from a vegan recipe by Nora Cooks, I decorated it with salty-sweet chai frosting. For my twin sons’ third birthday celebration last month, I decided to try something a little different: Cake Whiz’s out-of-this-world maple buttercream, jazzed up with chocolate chips, peanuts, … Continue reading Chocolate Banana Cake with Maple Buttercream

For my husband’s birthday last month,  I set out to make a tiramisu cake to share with our two-year-old twin sons. The only problem? Tiramisu, which means “pick me up” in Italian, is typically made with espresso-soaked ladyfingers. Espresso and toddlers don’t exactly mix, so I dialed down the caffeine and, adapting an excellent New … Continue reading Tangy Matcha Tiramisu