If you planned on starting a diet today, don’t. Or at least don’t read any further. That salad with the “but it tastes just like the real thing” low-fat dressing and droopy lettuce is going to seem about ten times less appetizing than it did when you were looking at pictures of Kate Middleton, thinking to yourself I wish I was that skinny. Embrace a little sugar in your day. Load up on some visual carbs.

Feast your eyes, baby! Right now, we’re bringing you the anti-healthy lunch. Read More »

Confession time: I quit my (stable-ish well-paying, super fun) job a couple of weeks ago to go to culinary school for baking next year. Was this an awesome decision or a terrible one? The jury’s still out, but the way I think about it, the more time I have to devote to desserts, the better. So I’m leaning toward awesome.

To celebrate my decision, I’m using this week’s DIY to share an incredible buttercream frosting recipe with all of you. You can use it to frost a cake, cupcakes, cookies . . . or to eat it straight out of the Tupperware with some pretzels when you’re dealing with a breakup. Stop buying this stuff and make it yourself.

Ingredients
(Makes enough buttercream for one standard-size cake with 12-16 servings)

1/2 cup vegetable shortening (such as Crisco)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup heavy cream Read More »

Somewhere along the way, someone always manages to find a way to make something that seems disgusting into an incredibly tasty dish. Like the Kitty Litter Cake pictured here (Google that and see what other horrifyingly realistic pictures you find).

A little milder form of the gross-turned-delish is the ever classic Dirt dessert.

There are different recipes circulating, but the differences lie mostly in the assembly. Yeah, you can serve up this dessert for a Halloween party or that ultra chic Garden Party on your patio in the Springtime! All it takes is a little tweaking.

First, the mechanics. This recipe comes from Taste of Home. To make this ultra mega tasty dessert you need:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup margarine, softened

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

3 1/2 cups cold milk

2 packages (3.4 ounces each) instant vanilla pudding mix

1 carton (12 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 package (18 ounces) cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed (yeah those would be Oreos) Read More »

I have posted what seems like a million small-batch recipes here at CC, and I’ve adapted the vast majority of them from this book. If you live by yourself or with only one other person, you like good food, you don’t mind cooking, and you can only have one cookbook, buy this one. You will NOT regret it.

There’s absolutely everything in here, from general small-batch advice to a lowdown on ingredients to winning recipes of all kinds. And every recipe in here is truly excellent. I can’t stand fat cookbooks full of thousands of recipes that obviously were never tested, meaning you have to dig through the whole book to handpick the recipes that may have the potential to be edible.

Not so with Cooking for Two. The authors, Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, have really tweaked every recipe, and it’s obvious. The ingredient amounts are right on, and you can expect fantastic taste with everything you make from here.

I can’t say anything specific about the seafood section since I don’t eat seafood, but the casserole and poultry sections really shine. Also, many of the recipes can be adapted for slow cookers to make them even easier! Read More »

It was hot the other day. I mean, really hot. Like, 94 degrees hot. But, unfortunately, it takes more than an unseasonable heat wave to make my sweet tooth dissipate.

I had planned earlier in the day to bake cookies, but the thought of turning on the oven in the heat made me feel like I was going to melt on the spot. And then, suddenly, I had a dessert altering memory:

When I was a wee brownie in my second year of the Girl Scouts, I went on a camping trip. After roasting the requisite marshmallows, my girl scout leader whipped out a little surprise: we were going to make icebox cake.

The dopey bunch of us gathered around and put together this seeming mishmash and then, the next morning, we were munching on one of the most delicious desserts we’d ever had.

When I once again made icebox cake the other day, I was pleased to discover that the dessert is every bit as delicious as I remembered it–and every bit as easy. In fact, it’s easier–as Girl Scouts, we made it by leaving it outside overnight in the winter. Now you can use–gasp!–a refrigerator!

Here is the (very easy) recipe. Enjoy! Read More »

I have never liked blueberry pie. In fact, I would even go beyond that—I’ve always thought it was disgusting. I am not the biggest fan of fresh blueberries, either, but lately I have started to like them more and more.

Despite all of this, last week I could not stop thinking about how I really wanted to make a blueberry pie. Why did I think this… why? I have no idea. I am still unable to explain it. But I suspect it was divine intervention, because the resulting blueberry pie was THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER EATEN.

The recipe is dunce-free (not that CC readers are dunces, of course) and uses fresh berries, which I suspect is the real reason for my enthusiasm behind this pie. All previous blueberry pies that were set in front of me were either a) made from cans of blueberry pie filling or b) things that I refused to eat because I was under the impression that I hated blueberry pie. Read More »

[Read the first part of this blog HERE]

I wasn’t planning to go to the prom. With no date and a recent heartbreak, what was the point? Instead, I was going to dress up and have dinner with some single friends. Except… at dinner, one of my friends and I decided that we kind of wanted to go to the prom after all.

The only problem was that it seemed impossible—you needed to have a ticket to get in, and tickets had been selling all week for $50/pair. Advance tickets were the only tickets, and you couldn’t buy them at the door.

My friend and I complained to each other about how $50/pair was an exorbitant price for prom tickets (something I still believe). “Screw that,” she said. “Let’s just sneak in.” Read More »

Cookie or cupcake? Cookie or cupcake?? Ahhh life is full of tough decisions. And since I am the world’s worst decision maker (I swear it’s the Libra in me), I just couldn’t make up my mind the other day. So I chose both.

No, I didn’t spent all day baking various desserts. I just made one and got both my treats. That’s right. I made Martha Stewart’s Chocolate Chunk Cookie Cupcakes.

What you’ll need to make 2 dozen:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup whole milk

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

How to make these cookie cupcakes: Read More »

After all the salty snacks that everyone will be shoving in their faces this Super Bowl, face it; you’re gonna want some sweets. The problem with this lies in the fact that sweet snacks from the store are just NOT going to cut it, and making desserts is a notoriously daunting task.

Don’t be scared, ladies. I’m going to lay out three of my favorite dessert recipes that feature easy-to-find ingredients, fairly short preparation time, and you don’t even have to measure anything for one of them!

Screwdriver Cupcakes:

Yeah, you heard right. Here’s what you’ll need for the actual cupcakes: Read More »

• Is anyone else tired of everyone telling us how much booze is too much booze? I mean, I think I know when enough is enough, thank you. (CBS News)

• Okay, so naps are amazing. Anyone of us could have told the non-napping adults in our life that, but now that everyone’s jumping on the nap train the next task…finding the best office sleeping spot. (Ririan Project)

• Popcorn causes cancer! Popcorn causes cancer! Yes, this finally justifies all of our smoking and drinking. Who knew cancer was an equal opportuinty disease? (LA Times)

• Little, tiny, trendy desserts mean that we’re all going to pay 50 percent more for 75 percent less product. I suppose that’s the price you pay for being an idiot. (Thatsfit.com)

• Star Jon — oh, I mean Sherri Shepherd joins The View! Phew, looks like you guys with 11am classes won’t have to worry about skipping this semester. (LA Times)

• One word of advice on this Thirsty Thursday: don’t be this guy. (YouTube)