Bake or Break

Quinn’s birthday has lasted all month. Seriously. It started at the first of the month when, after months of waiting out the high-def war, he got a Blu-ray player. Then, we spent a week in New York. Granted, he was there for a conference, but it’s New York. And, he got to pick out a new laptop bag at Jack Spade. We got back home the night before his birthday. The next night, we went to one of our favorite semi-local restaurants, and he got another present. Then, this weekend we had the family over for dinner and more presents.

And this cake. I let him pick out his birthday dessert every year. Last year’s tiramisu cake was delicious, but sort of a pain to make (and keep together). This year, he picked a dessert featuring one of my favorite combinations - chocolate and hazelnuts.

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Let me first clarify that I don’t like banana pudding. I know, I know that a good Southern girl should like it, but I just don’t. For the record, I don’t like sweet tea or watermelon, either.

So, how is it that I’m sharing this recipe with you? I probably wouldn’t be if not for a friend and former co-worker who introduced me to it. She just swore that I would like it, despite my dislike of banana pudding in general.

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I realize that I just told you that I don’t often make cupcakes and here are more in the very next post. It’s really just coincidence. I happened upon this recipe by accident and was instantly intrigued. A cupcake that tastes like pecan pie? How could I not try them?

I’ll admit that I was skeptical that these would take even remotely like pecan pie. But, all the comments were so positive that I figured there had to be something to them. Plus, the recipe seemed so easy that I decided it wouldn’t be much of a loss if they were no good.

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I have lamented before that I don’t often bake cupcakes. In fact, I don’t really make many things that require frosting. I can usually persuade Quinn to do any frosting that’s needed, because apparently he enjoys that kind of thing. I do like to be self-sufficient, however, so I tend to seek out recipes that don’t require frosting.

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I was recently lucky enough to be offered an advance copy of The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. The book’s author is Melissa Murphy, the chef and owner of Sweet Melissa Patisserie in Brooklyn, New York.

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With almost 120 entries this time, Does My Blog Look Good in This? just seems to keep growing and growing. There were so many wonderful entries from talented foodbloggers. I certainly don’t envy the judges. Speaking of judges, I should introduce you to the people who were kind enough to go through every picture and score them: Nicole of Pinch My Salt, Megan of Megan’s Cookin’, Patricia of Technicolor Kitchen, and my husband/co-photographer Quinn.

Each picture was scored in three categories: edibility, originality, and aesthetics. The photo receiving the highest total score in each of those categories, without being an overall winner, is the specific category winner.

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My cookbook buying habits have changed over the years. I used to want all of those comprehensive books, the ones that covered how to make everything from appetizers to dessert. Now, I seem to be drawn to the more specific ones. Of course, I buy general baking books, which I suppose are specific themselves. But, I like those books dedicated to something even more specific. I figure that if someone decides to narrow their topic that much, then they will probably know a lot about it.

Carole Walter has written several cookbooks on specific subjects. I have a few of hers, including Great Cookies, which is the source of the recipe for these cookies. With all the tempting recipes, it was hard to pick just one. So, why this one? Look at that title. How could I not make these?

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As most people do these days, I have an obscene number of blogs that I follow. My feed reader is insane. The majority of those feeds are from food blogs. I am always finding recipes that pique my interest. Even with the best of intentions, I never seem to get around to making those recipes. In an effort to remedy that, I made these cheesecake bars from Nicole’s blog, Baking Bites.

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