Dessert Recipes

I was folding laundry last Tuesday — the most boring kind, all socks and my kid’s inexplicably sticky t-shirts — when this scent drifted over … Read more

This was supposed to be a simple batch of pumpkin bread. Honestly, I had it all planned out—a quick loaf, some cream cheese frosting on … Read more

I was standing in the checkout line at a hardware store, of all places, holding a new garden hose and a bag of potting soil, … Read more

I used to think zucchini in chocolate bread was some kind of practical joke. The summer I turned thirty, my neighbor Carol handed me a … Read more

The block party was in forty-five minutes and I’d completely forgotten. Everyone else would be bringing elaborate dishes—I’d seen Mrs. Patterson hauling in a three-tiered … Read more

My neighbor Frank asked why I couldn’t just mash the bananas with a fork instead of hauling out the stand mixer. I started to explain … Read more

There used to be a tiny bakery tucked behind a used bookstore in Portland that made these maple bourbon pecan pie bars that I still … Read more

A friend asked me last year why I couldn’t just pipe a spiderweb design onto a regular chocolate cake. I started to explain why that … Read more

My niece, Clara, looked at me with those big, serious eyes she gets when a plan is forming. “Auntie,” she said, “we need cookies that … Read more

I was standing in the baking aisle of our local grocery store last October, staring at a can of pumpkin puree like it held the … Read more