Cornflake Crunch Brownies

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I think every baker needs to have a set of classic recipes in their arsenal. You, those recipes for basic things that always turn out perfect and delicious. You might not make them all the time, you bake other stuff, but they are always there, right in your pocket, like a reassuring little lucky charm when you need it.

Another way to think of it: if you had a bakery, what would be your everyday staples? Things you make every single day because they are just classic.

Dark Chocolate Avocado Brownies with Peanut Butter Greek Yogurt Frosting

Hear me out. Don't close your browser. I promise these are worth your time. I mean I hope you can trust my brownie judgement, I am a brownie connoisseur. Should I remind you of the PB&J Pretzel Swirl Brownies? Or those Mound Bar Brownies I made? And remember how good Peppermint Hot Chocolate Brownies were? And how mouth-watering-ly good those Marzipan Brownies were?

Do you really think I would lead you astray? I am insulted. Unless you're still reading and are ready to believe what I tell you, no matter how strange. In which case, I am flattered.

Chrimbo Cupcakes

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You may be wondering why this post is called "Chrimbo Cupcakes." Apparently British people say "Happy Crimbo" instead of "Merry Christmas." I got this information from Molly, so I'm going to trust it, since she studied abroad in London for five months, but I'm still skeptical.

But these cupcakes truly are Christmas cupcakes. Chocolate and peppermint. Red, green, and white, and oh-so-festive looking:

"Essence of Autumn" Chocolate Layer Cake

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(This is a dual post: Audrey's writing is on the left, Molly's is on the right in italics.)

My dad's birthday cake is always one of my favorites. Don't get me wrong, I love all birthday cakes, but my dad's almost always involves fall flavors like pumpkin or cinnamon. And I mean come on, you can't go wrong with pumpkin or cinnamon.

This year, my dad requested chocolate in his cake. I didn't argue. But I didn't know if that meant he didn't want pumpkin or cinnamon or what. I had no ideas. *Enter Molly* Molly came up with the brilliant idea behind this cake, and I executed it.

This cake was my brainchild, and Audrey's labor of love. If you ask me, it's fitting that a father's cake be executed by both of his baker daughters. It's kind of like a joint gift from us to him, like one of those homemade gifts you would make when you were little before you could afford to actually buy people stuff. Only better, because it's a culinary homemade gift...and not in the way that uncooked macaroni art is a culinary homemade gift. But like, in an actually tasty way. Like, crazy tasty. Like, you're welcome, dad. And world. (We're nothing if not humble.)

New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie Cool Whip Sandwiches

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Have you ever baked the chocolate chip cookies off the bag of chocolate chips? The go-to, ever faithful and delicious classic? Or maybe you have your own classic chocolate chip cookie recipe that you always use? Maybe something sentimental from your childhood of coming home to your mother’s freshly baked cookies?

Well, forget about all of those recipes because they pale in comparison to these. I don’t even need to try them. I just know. That is how good these are. The New York Times even says so. And maybe you don’t agree with their politics or whatever (why pay attention to that when they talk about cookies?), but I know you will agree with their taste in cookies. I know I do. And I am totally unbiased.  I can’t even vote. But if I could vote for cookies I would vote for these. (Too much? Too cheesy? But it's true.)

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

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Have you ever tried putting root beer in chocolate cake? Because it's good. Like really good.

Reese's Cupcakes

I hope you guys aren't getting bored of peanut butter and chocolate baked goods. I hope you never do. Because they constitute about 35% of what we bake and post about on this blog

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes

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The story behind these is simple: I was in the mood for Reese's (nothing new), and saw these on FoodGawker, and whenever I thought about baking, my mind kept wandering back to them. When you're in the mood for cupcakes and Reese's, (I can't imagine when you wouldn't be...) these are perfect.

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

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Recently, my mom had to go to a business meeting and needed to bring refreshments, preferably of the sweet variety. I, of course, was commissioned to make these for her. My mind immediately started coming up with lavish ideas, but all of these were ruined when I learned that one of the people attending this meeting needed them to be gluten free. No, they did not have an allergy they decided to go gluten free for a couple of months to see how it would work as a diet or whatever. I do not under stand this- why would you willingly not eat gluten? No bread? No cupcakeS? No brownies? No cookies? No croissants? I would not be able to do it.

Peanut Butter "Waffles"

Warning: this post contains a heart-wrenching tale of woe and hardship, to be overcome by a brilliant, tough and hard-working, problem-solving protagonist. If you easily get emotional during stories, I recommend grabbing a box of tissues right now.

Brownie Doctor: Popcorn Toffee Brownies

As you might know, Molly is studying abroad in London and is trying out many different cafes and British foods, so we came up with an idea: she would try stuff and photograph it, and then I would try to imitate it here.

Molly got a Cadbury chocolate bar that had popcorn and toffee in it, so I was inspired to create a Brownie Doctor recipe based on it.

Christmas Bread Pudding(s)

Have you ever tried bread pudding? I first did last year at Christmastime, when my mom made it for our Christmas dinner desert. I was surprised to find how much I liked it, given that it is basically just sweet, mushy bread. When we were deciding what to make for Christmas dinner desert this year, my mom concluded that - it being such a hit last year, and apparently a pretty traditional Christmastime dish - bread pudding should be given an encore performance. Audrey and I, of course, were commissioned to prepare it.

The Brownie Doctor: Midnight Snack Brownies

I saw my sister's post from the other day about the Brownie Doctor book that should be made, and I thought it was a stroke of sheer brilliance, so I decided to come up with a doctored-up recipe myself.

I hope that you've tried Ben and Jerry's Midnight Snack ice cream, but in the event that you haven't, it is, and I quote from the carton, "Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with a Salty Caramel Swirl and Fudge Covered Potato Chip Clusters." It was my basic inspiration for these brownies, which are simple brownies from a box, with potato chips, caramel bugles, mini Reese's, dark chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips added in. So basically, if you're looking for a simple word to sum it up: delicious. If someone you don't like talking to asks you what you're making, you can just give them the one worded response, "Deliciousness." and let it be done at that.

The Brownie Doctor: Peanut Butter M&M Ganache Brownies

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If you stick around here long enough, it will soon become clear that there are two flavors I simply cannot resist: pumpkin, and chocolate peanut butter.

Also, brownies. Do they count as a flavor? Because I'm obsessed. If I had to choose a last meal, brownies would be on the menu. (Along with creamy pesto chicken pasta, caesar salad, and a broccoli/brussel sprouts/caramelized onion sauté, in case you were wondering.)

Tennis Raquette Cake

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So, I actually made this cake a couple weeks ago, but we didn't have this blog then, and I still want to tell you about it because every time I think of it I get a little bubble of pride!

It is a delicious chocolate cake (the same one featured in my last post) shaped and frosted like a TENNIS RACQUET surrounded by little vanilla cupcakes frosted like TENNIS BALLS. The occasion? My brother's tennis team's end-of-season party! Yup, a bunch of teenage guys (I'm sure some  girls my age would be super happy at this news- but I was not. They are old. And my brother's friends. And loud. And annoying.) came over to our house with their parents, and we had up to thirty or so people in our house (that's a record), only three of which I really spoke to (my mom, my dad, and my brother) and maybe seven of which I knew the names of. Fun. Not. I read a book the entire time and was interrogated by interesting characters- and thankfully saved by my dad before the conversation got to the point where I probably would have, very un-tactfully, practically ran away.

But what was fun was receiving all the compliments about my cake!

Chocolate Cake. Chocolate Buttercream. Blueberry Ganache.

So, it was my dad's 50th birthday on Saturday! Woo hoo! And even though he got a cake last week, I baked him another one for his actual birthday. That's just how we do things in the our family. One birthday? Psh! You need two cakes! So in contrast to his complicated, extremely decadent and delicious pumpkin pie cake last week, I made him a simple, but effective, chocolate cake with a blueberry ganache filling.