Though the last few months have been a meteorological roller coaster here in Colorado, the temperatures that now soar up near or above 90 every day indicate that summer has finally arrived in full. The air conditioner in our apartment can hardly keep up with the summer sun, blazing through our western-facing windows on its long descent toward the mountains. Fortunately, our freezer faces no such challenge and can house within it a treasure trove of icy treats perfect for combating the summer heat. And what better way to welcome the arrival of the season than with a dessert that features one of its most celebrated fruits?

Ahhh, rhubarb. Such pretty stalks. Such poisonous leaves. (Seriously, don’t eat the leaves.) And such a short growing season that it’s best to indulge heavily when it finally appears. I can hardly prevent myself from making into my favorite Rhubarb Crisp, but in an effort to broaden my horizons, I dug into a very, very vintage cookbook to find some new ideas. To my delight, I discovered marlow, a dessert that is now so out of the common psyche that when I poked around to learn more, I couldn’t even find it on Wikipedia.

From what I’ve pieced together, marlow is a marshmallow-based dessert that can either be frozen to mimic ice cream or chilled to mimic mousse. It can feature a variety of flavors as the marshmallow, sugar, and heavy cream act as a clean canvas onto which you can paint rhubarb, cherries, chocolate, butterscotch, or anything else you want to eat for dessert. After the fruit (in this case) is cooked down with sugar, the marshmallows and whipped cream are mixed in to create a frothy, fluffy mixture ready for freezing.

If you fancy fruity ice cream but don’t want the hassle of making it yourself, I highly recommend trying this instead. The method is incredibly straightforward and creates a dessert so reminiscent of ice cream you’ll hardly realize it’s not. Plus look how trendy you’ll be if you’re on the front end of bringing back marlow!

Rhubarb Marlow
Adapted from Meta Given’s Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking

1 pound rhubarb, diced (about 3 cups)
1 T water
3/4 c granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz mini marshmallows
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 T lemon juice

Place bread pan or other medium-sized dish in the freezer to chill. Make sure cream stays in the fridge until it is ready for whipping.

Place rhubarb and water in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until juices begin to release, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and stir until sugar has dissolved. Continue cooking until rhubarb is tender but not broken down, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add salt and marshmallows. Mix thoroughly until marshmallows have completely melted. Pour the mixture into another bowl and place in the fridge to chill until it is not warm to the touch.

Once the rhubarb mixture has cooled, combine heavy cream and lemon juice and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into the rhubarb mixture, then turn it into the chilled bread pan. Freeze for 4-6 hours or until it is the consistency of fluffy ice cream.

I have this issue with cheesecake. The issue is that if it is in my fridge, or available for purchase on a dessert menu, or available for purchase within walking distance, or even capable of being created with ingredients in my apartment, I have exactly 0% ability to resist it. As a result I make a point of not buying cream cheese very often. If I don’t have that one essential component, I can pretend that I’m happy living a life where I don’t eat cheesecake every single day for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, right Right??

I live for good cheesecake. But I am kind of picky about what makes one good. There are few things more disappointing than cheesecake that looks delicious and is, well, meh. If it’s too lemony or too dry or too rich or too dense or has too much topping or not enough or has too many mix-ins or just a gross combo of them or the crust is too thick or some crazy person put CINNAMON in it I get really cranky.

Most of the time, when it’s time to make cheesecake again, I fall back on two, trusty recipes I’ve used for a long time. The first is a classic, baked cheesecake that, actually, I’ve only shared here in a version dressed up for Thanksgiving. The other I fashion exclusively in miniature form, a holiday tradition in my family as essential as the tree and the Home Alone soundtrack.

But this summer, I’ve been reveling in the availability of locally-grown sweet cherries (difficult to obtain in both Columbus and Durham), and a cherry cheesecake seemed like just the ticket. And while we are “enjoying” the high-nineties here in Denver, I’m pleased to report that the oven was only on for a few minutes, and even that is not totally required if you don’t want to.

The crust is made of vanilla wafers, but you can easily swap in graham cracker crumbs if you like. They’ll need to be finely ground, which you can do with a food processor (lots of cleaning) or with a plastic bag and rolling pin or meat tenderizer (not much cleaning and way more fun). I like my crusts a little toasty, so I blast it in the oven for a bit, but you can also eat this sucker raw. Your call.

The filling is composed of a magical dairy medley: cream cheese, goat cheese, sour cream, and heavy cream. Also sugar and vanilla and lemon juice. Because the cream is whipped and folded into the tart cheese mixture, it creates a somewhat airy cheesecake that will likely give you a false sense of empowerment when evaluating how many slices to wolf down.

Then, for an agonizing two hours, we wait. Because this recipe doesn’t benefit from the structure of eggs baked into the cake, it finds its structure in the freezer. After freezing, move it to the fridge for 45 minutes before serving so you’re not actually serving cheesecake ice cream. (On second thought, that sounds amazing and I should try serving it frozen next time.)

While the cake is freezing, it’s time to make the most seductive looking fruit sauce in the known universe. I mean it, this stuff is SULTRY. Composed of fresh cherries, sugar, balsamic vinegar, and just a bit if corn starch to thicken up the juices, it’s simple and beautiful and a perfect celebration of this gorgeous tree fruit. Half of the cherries are added to the mixture raw at the very end, which lends a fresh bite that’s typically hard to find in pie toppings, pie fillings, and the like.

I mean SERIOUSLY.

Chill the cherry sauce for a while so it doesn’t melt your cheesecake when you add it. Once it and your cheesecake are ready for serving, pop the ring off the springform pan and top generously.

As a side note, the cherries are extremely delicious on their own, so it’s totally cool if you want to add extra to each slice once it is served. Or eat them with a spoon for breakfast.

This cheesecake will allegedly last a week in the fridge, but that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.

(Almost) No-Bake Cheesecake with Fresh Cherry Sauce
Adapted from Martha Stewart

Note: The (Almost) in this recipe is there because I like a toasted crumb crust, even in the summer. BUT. You can definitely eat the crust raw. Just put the whole pan in the fridge after you’ve pressed the crust into the base until you are ready to add the filling.

For the Crust
6 oz vanilla wafers, finely ground
4 T salted butter
2 T granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 450°F. Grind vanilla wafers in a food processor, or, to make your life easier, crush them in a gallon-sized zippered bag with a rolling pin or blunt meat tenderizer. Combine crumbs, melted butter, and sugar in the bottom of a 9″ springform pan. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes, then refrigerate until filling is ready.

For the Filling
1 c sour cream, room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
4 oz soft goat cheese, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2/3 c granulated sugar
1 c heavy cream, chilled

Beat sour cream, cream cheese, goat cheese, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and 1/3 c of sugar in a stand mixer until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl several times to ensure smoothness. Remove mixture to a medium bowl.

Whip the remaining 1/3 c sugar and the cream until soft peaks form. Fold into cheese mixture until evenly distributed. Spread evenly into the crust. Freeze for at least two hours, then refrigerate for at least 45 minutes before serving.

For the Topping
12 oz fresh sweet cherries, halved and pitted
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 T corn starch
1 T water

In a small glass or bowl, mix together the corn starch and water. Set aside. In a small pot, combine half of the cherries, sugar, and balsamic vinegar. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and cover, simmering for 5 more minutes. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook for another 2-3 minutes until sauce has thickened slightly. Remove from heat and add in remaining cherries.

To serve, spread the cherry mixture over the cheesecake, slice, and enjoy. Or, spoon the cherries over each slice individually.

Last summer, while in the midst of packing up my Ohio life for our pending move to Colorado, I was also menu planning a dinner for almost 20 people at a remote, 9700′ mountain lodge with gas refrigerators, gas ovens, and limited electricity. For dessert, I wanted something that was easy but impressive, required neither baking nor freezing, was cheap to make but wasn’t boring, could feed a crowd, and overall, was heartbreakingly delicious.

A unicorn, I thought.

BUT THEN. Icebox cake. To the freakin’ rescue.

Why, in the name of all that is good and delicious in this world, did I only start making this last summer I mean, who knew such a perfect summer dessert could exist?

Did you guys know?

WELL. If you, like me, were in the shadows, let me show you the light. 

Icebox cake is so called because it’s a recipe old enough that the people who developed it did so in the days before modern refrigeration. The concept is pretty simple: chocolate wafer cookies are spread out in a layer, topped with whipped cream, and then repeated for several layers. After a night of refrigeration, the moisture of the whipped cream seeps into the formerly crisp cookies, transforming the once disparate layers into a cohesive cake of dramatic black and white stripes.

Let’s talk for a minute about these chocolate wafers, shall we?

Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers are a little tricky to find. I’ve found them in some, but not all, major grocery stores tucked away in one little row on the top shelf of the cookies aisle (an aisle I tend to avoid because temptation). They are extremely brittle, so I tend to buy an extra box when I make this cake since they break so easily. Whatever you do, don’t drop your grocery bag that contains them. I definitely don’t speak from experience…

Moving on.

After multiple layers of cookies and cream, this cake needs AT LEAST an overnight sit in the fridge. I actually prefer about 24 hours, so I now make this the night before serving. Don’t get me wrong, the crisp cookies are still wonderfully good covered with whipped cream, but the cake-y-ness of the cake won’t really come through until it’s had a chance to sit.

Once it has, though, just add a little sprinkle of chocolate shavings for show (I use a cheese grater and a chocolate bar because I am classy) and get ready to serve!

If you’re imagining this is going to taste like all the best parts of cookies and cream ice cream, or perhaps a giant squashy Oreo, you are absolutely correct.

Excuse me while I go buy stock in Nabisco.

Icebox Sheet Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

A Note on Shape: you can also make this recipe as a round, tall cake that is a little more showy. For a crowd, though, I prefer the sheet cake layout. I also once made this as a groom’s cake with mountainous, uneven layers and Star Wars figurines marching around in the creamy scenery. You really can’t go wrong.

5 c heavy whipping cream
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 T vanilla extract
3 (9 oz) packages of chocolate wafers
chocolate shavings

Combine cream, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl or standing mixer and beat just until stiff peaks form.

Line the bottom of a 13″x9″ baking dish with chocolate wafers, breaking them in half if needed at the edges. Spread a 1/4″-thick layer of whipped cream over the wafers. Add another layer of wafers and another layer of whipped cream, repeating until you have about 1 cup of whipped cream left. On the second-to-top layer, leave about 1/2″ of the wafers exposed. Then, inset your top layer of cookies two inches from the sides of the dish and spread with the last of the whipped cream, leaving a bit of the cookie exposed.

Refrigerate at least overnight, preferably for about 24 hours. Then, sprinkle with chocolate shavings (I use a cheese grater and a chocolate bar) before serving.

Okay you guys.

I’ve done something. Changed something. Opened some sort of magic box, some secret portal to a new world. And now that I’ve glimpsed the other side, I rather doubt I’ll be the same again.

It all started with an innocent breakfast suggestion. On my recent winter escape to Oregon, all we wanted was a place to eat one misty Wednesday morning in Portland. Instead, we ordered a plate of food that, rather than fading from my memory as most meals do, has haunted my daydreams ever since.

It was praline bacon. And within moments of eating it, I knew that I wanted to, nay, that I must!  try to recreate it at home. This weekend I finally had the time, the health, and the daylight. It took four failed attempts, but I finally found the balance I was looking for. And the best part It’s so absurdly, ridiculously easy.

Obviously, we start with bacon. Then we have pecans, maple syrup, brown sugar, a little salt, and some cayenne pepper.

THAT IS ALL, PEOPLE.

Instead of pan-frying the bacon, I baked mine. It helps the bacon stay flat (necessary for topping with sugary pecans later) and the excess fat drains into the pan below. I may actually start making all of my bacon this way.

While the bacon cooks, chop up some pecans. I’ve seen some versions where the pecans are food-processed into oblivion, but I prefer a larger cut. Smaller than a rough chop but bigger than a fine chop, does that make sense About the size of a tooth (Is that gross?)

With the pecans, mix in the brown sugar, maple syrup, pepper, and salt. I know, it sounds crazy to add a little sea salt to a mixture that is going to be slathered across notoriously salty bacon, but I really thought it helped to balance out the sugary-sweetness of the topping.

After about 20 minutes in the oven, the bacon won’t be done but it will be ready for its glorious topping. Don’t be tempted to let the bacon cook to completion before you add the pecans, though: if you do, you’ll have nothing but rock solid strips of bacon-flavored cardboard topped with sticky pecans.

Past this, you will only have to wait a few more minutes. I baked my bacon for another eight minutes or so, just enough to toast the pecans and cook the sugars a bit.

The finished product is unbelievable. Slightly chewy, slightly crunchy from the pecans, salty, sweet, rich… it’s just everything. It’s quite delicious warm, which is how we ate it that fateful morning in Portland. But I’ve found I like it even better at room temperature or even cold. And it you want to pretend that you’re not eating half a pound of bacon all my your onesie, chop it into pieces and put it out for your colleagues like an honest-to-god bowl of candy.

It will not last long.

Maple Praline Bacon
Inspired by a delectable meal at Screen Door

Note: I am hesitant to call for “thick-cut” bacon here. In this age of bacon obsession, I’ve seen bacon nearly half an inch thick marketed as “thick-cut”. On the other hand, this is not the time for cheap, lunchmeat-section bacon so thin you can barely pull it apart. I recommend getting your bacon from the butcher or meat counter for the perfect happy medium.

8 strips thick-ish bacon
3/4 c pecan halves, chopped fairly small
1/4 c dark brown sugar
1/3 c maple syrup + additional for brushing
1/4 tsp flaky sea salt
pinch cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire cooling rack on the baking sheet. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Lay the bacon on the cooling rack with a bit of space between each piece and bake for 15-20 minutes. The fat should not be completely rendered by the time you remove it from the oven.

While the bacon cooks, chop pecans and combine them in a bowl with the sugar, maple syrup, sea salt, and cayenne. Mix well. If the mixture is crumbly, add a bit more maple syrup until it forms a thick, liquidy sludge of deliciousness.

Remove pan and flip each piece of bacon over. Brush each piece of bacon with maple syrup, then flip the strips back over. Carefully spread the pecan mixture on each piece of bacon. Return to the oven for 5-8 more minutes.

Serve hot. Or at room temperature. Or cold, it’s REALLY good when it’s cold. Serve it in whole strips, or cool it down and chop it into squares to serve as candy.

Are we far enough into January that I can talk about dessert?

I’d really like to. I know, a lot of you who are still in that “never eating dessert again” phase of January. I can tell we’re still in the window of active New Years resolutions: the gym is still full of people (I just need one elliptical, folks) and social media is crowded with photos of green smoothies and raw vegetables.

But when you’re ready to return to the light, I urge you to make these little bars.

Rather like lemon bars in their consistency, these bars feature a crisp shortbread crust topped with a luscious, citrus-y custard. But instead of lemon juice, these bars are brought to life by the vibrant, impossibly pink juice of blood oranges. 

Blood oranges reach their peak in the dead of winter on this continent and, in my opinion, are the most welcome food to see in January. Bright orange peels that blush red encase the most amazing colors of pulp, ranging from a pale pink to deep purple. They’re just the prettiest.

You’ll be tempted to drink the juice straight. And at another time, you should definitely do that because it’s frightfully good. But for now, go ahead and just mix it in with the custard and bake it. It won’t stay bright pink, but the finished product is still a delightfully bright shade of orange.

With a sprinkle of powdered sugar, you’ll have a dessert that brightens up your winter. It’s totally worth an extra hour at the gym. Happy New Year, everyone!

Blood Orange Bars
Adapted from Yossy Arefi

Makes 16 two-inch bars

For the Crust
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c granulated sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 c all-purpose flour

For the Topping
3/4 c granulated sugar
3 T all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 eggs
zest of two blood oranges (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
1/2-3/4 c blood orange juice
powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8″x8″ square baking dish with parchment or foil with a lip hanging over the edge and set aside.

Thoroughly combine the melted butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small bowl. Add the flour and mix just until combined. Press the mixture into the bottom of the lined baking dish. Bake for about 25 minutes until the crust is golden-brown. While the crust bakes, prepare the topping.

Thoroughly wash and dry the blood oranges. Zest two blood orange and set aside for the recipe. If you like orange zest in other things, zest the remaining blood oranges and freeze the zest in a zippered baggie for future use. Juice the oranges and strain into a measuring cup or small bowl.

In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, and salt. Whisk in the eggs, followed by the orange zest and orange juice.

When the crust is done, turn the oven down to 300°F. Slide out the oven rack with the crust, pour the topping straight onto the hot crust, and slide the rack back into the oven. Bake until the topping is set and does not jiggle in the center, 30-40 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool on a rack until the bars have cooled completely.

Once the bars are completely cool, lift them from the pan using the parchment or foil edges and place on a cutting board. Cut the bars to the desired size. Dust with powdered sugar immediately before serving.

The bars can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week in the refrigerator. Add more powdered sugar as needed for serving the leftovers.

I write to you now from a new home! In mid-July, Brad and I packed up our lovely Ohio apartment, left our jobs, and drove nearly 1300 miles across the continent to Colorado. It’s a domestic destination I’ve had for a long, long time: having spent eleven years away, I’m finally living back in the land of dry air, big skies, and seemingly endless sunshine. And our new apartment, full of windows and light, has the view to prove it.

It’s so great to be back!

And spectacular vistas aren’t the only benefit Colorado has to offer. It’s peach season here, and Palisade, Colorado is famous for growing wonderful peaches. They’re so perfectly delightful raw — juicy and cool and bursting with flavor — that I can rarely justify breaking them down for cooking. But I’ve been on a fruit crisp kick in recent months, so I thought I’d give one a try.

Originally, this recipe was designed for halved peaches, with their skins, and with a buttery almond mixture smushed across the face of each before baking. The peaches form their own little baking dishes this way, and there’s no hassle of peeling or slicing. However, I found the peach skin to be someone irritating, so I gave it a shot in a more traditional slices-of-fruit-buried-by-crumbly-goodness format. I definitely prefer the latter.

Even with the slicing, this recipe is outrageously easy. Almonds, sugars, oats, spices, and butter are whirled for a bit in a food processor. Peaches are blanched (so the skins slip right off) and sliced. Crumble is crumbled. Then, 45 minutes in the oven while you do other things.

The result is a layer of warm peaches that hold their shape topped with a slightly caramelized, slightly crispy almond crumble that compliments the fruit below perfectly. This particular recipe is for a small batch (I only had 5 peaches on hand), but it could easily be doubled or tripled if your baking for a crowd.

Served warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, you’ll ache for summer to last all year long. Or at least peach season, I suppose.

Peaches with Almond Crisp
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

5 ripe peaches
1/2 c raw almonds
2 T white sugar
2 T dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 c rolled oats
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp sea salt
3 T unsalted butter, cubed and cold

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8″x8″ baking dish and set aside. Blanch peaches by dipping them in boiling water for 30 seconds or so and then submerging them in ice water. Peel the skins and slice. Spread the peaches evenly in the baking dish and set aside.

Pulse almonds and white sugar in a food processor until just a few small pebbles remain. Add brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, and sea salt and pulse a time or two more. Add butter and pulse until mixture forms buttery clumps. Loosely sprinkle the almond mixture over the peaches.

Bake for 45 minutes. Serve warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream or lightly-sweetened whipped cream.

But here, I stalk the market every Saturday in May hoping that this is the week when those photogenic strawberries will finally make their annual debut.

The trouble is, I have very little self-control when I secure, at last, these scarlet gems. The bulk discounts for buying more than one quart literally always get me, and I arrive at home suddenly doubting that I’ll be able to use up multiple quarts of berries before they wither and rot in my fridge.

This time, I was ready.

As you may have noticed, I tend to prefer using strawberries as whole as possible in my baked goods, which usually means they are freshly sliced and added to a cake with a smear of whipped cream. This cake still starts with berries that haven’t been pureed or cooked down, but after nearly an hour in the oven, they transform into dollops of jam and nestle into the cake beneath in the most delightful way.

I suspect, though I have not yet tested it, that this cake could be made with any number of berries. Perhaps even other baking fruits, like peaches or plums, would make delectable toppings. I’ll wager that as the summer wears on and the fruits appear in more abundance, I’ll be giving them a try. I won’t need much provocation to try this cake again.

I call this cake an anytime cake because it can just as easily be served for breakfast as it can for dessert. It would make a lovely brunch contribution but would also hold its own as the sweet finish of a decadent evening dinner party.

So as summer continues and the strawberries get even sweeter, please add this to your list of ways to use them up. It’s lovely just as it is out of the pan, but it really transcends to a higher level with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

Welcome, summer!

Strawberry Anytime Cake
Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

about 1 pound of strawberries, hulled and halved (you may have a few leftovers if you’re using a 9″ pan)
6 T unsalted butter at room temperature
7/8 c granulated sugar + 2 T granulated sugar (for sprinkling right before baking)
1/2 c whole milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt

powdered sugar for sprinkling
1/2 c heavy cream, cold
2 tsp granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9″ springform pan or deep dish pie plate. You can also use a 10″ pan for a thinner cake with more strawberries across the top. Wash, hull, and halve the strawberries and set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer or in another large mixing bowl, beat butter and 7/8 c sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the whole milk, egg, vanilla just until combined. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture gradually just until smooth.

Spread the batter evenly in the pan and place the strawberries on the top, cut-side down, as close together as possible. There may be some overlapping. Sprinkle the remaining 2T of sugar evenly across the top of the berries.

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 325°F. Bake for another 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out without any wet batter. If the top of the cake is not yet brown, change to the broiler for just a minute or two to allow the cake to brown a bit.

Let the cake cool for 10-15 minutes in the pan, then remove the ring of the springform pan and place the cake on a cutting board or serving plate. Beat the heavy cream in a standing mixer or other mixing bowl until soft peaks form. Add the 2 teaspoons of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Just before serving, sprinkle cake with powdered sugar. Cut into wedges and serve with whipped cream.

And as any celebration should, this one features cake. A continuation of my citrus-y love affair, this is one of the most delightful cakes I’ve made in quite some time. Fluffy chiffon cake filled with bright lemon curd and Swiss meringue and iced with clouds of lemony whipped cream Let’s just say I highly recommend it for your spring and summer soirées.

The cake part of this cake is a chiffon cake, lightly lemony in flavor. It’s spongy and light, so it provides a nice base for the bold lemon curd and the meringue.

Plus, chiffon cake batter is, well, fun. There’s really no other word for it. After combining dry ingredients and wet ones, a HUGE amount of whipped egg whites are folded into the batter, making a springy, foamy fluff that hardly resembles cake batter.

And can one really talk about cake without a delightful icing This one is simple, just whipped cream with a bit of lemon mixed in. Because this lemon sunshine cake has lemon everywhere!

Finally, the meringue: originally, this recipe called for lemon curd alone as a filling. But since the delightful lemon curd recipe leaves a whole bunch of leftover egg whites unused, I couldn’t resist the temptation to add some Swiss meringue as a second layer of filling. I like using Swiss meringue because the egg whites are cooked, so it reduces weird food poisoning issues that can arise from eating eggs raw.

Between each layer of soft cake lies a generous mound of meringue and a smooth coating of lemon curd.

Once constructed, the whipped cream icing and a drizzle of extra lemon curd makes this presentation-ready!

Don’t be freaked out by all the components – the lemon curd can be made in advance, and the extra egg whites you’ll have from that can be used for the meringue, and the icing takes no time at all. This cake is the pinnacle of sunshine, and it’s worth the effort. It’s a nice break from the chocolate and vanilla cakes that I normally concoct – I look forward to the next time I find myself in the company of several lemons that are hoping for a promotion to lemon curd.

Lemon Meringue Sunshine Cake
Adapted from Cake Journal and Sweetapolita (and Sweetapolita again!)

Makes one 8-inch, three-layer cake

For the Lemon Filling
about 3/4 c lemon curd

If you’re preparing this from scratch (using the recipe linked to above), you can prepare this a day or two in advance. If you prepare it a day in advance, you can use the leftover egg whites from the curd recipe to make the meringue filling you’ll need for the cake.

For the Icing
1 1/2 c heavy whipping cream
3 T granulated sugar
1/4 c lemon curd

In a stand mixer, use the whisk attachment to whip the heavy cream and sugar until soft peaks form. Add the lemon curd and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the cake.

For the Cake
6 eggs, separated
1/2 c vegetable oil
zest and juice of one lemon
3/4 c cold water
1 3/4 c cake flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 c granulated sugar, divided
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper, or grease the bottoms of the pans with pan coating.

Whisk together the egg yolks, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and water in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup of sugar. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, use the whisk attachment to whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until light and foamy. With the mixer still on, slowly add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.

Add about a third of the whipped egg whites to the batter and mix. Fold in the remaining egg whites. The batter will be very light and fluffy. Divide the batter between the three prepared pans. Bake on a center rack for 18-20 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched with your finger. The tops of the cakes will be very lightly golden brown.

Remove the pans from the oven and place them on a cooling rack. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pan, then run a knife around the edges of the cake and remove them from the pans. Peel away the parchment paper and discard. Set the cakes aside while you prepare the filling.

For the Meringue Filling
2 egg whites
1/2 c sugar

Note: If you’re using leftover egg whites from the lemon curd recipe, you’ll have four egg whites. I went ahead and used all four egg whites and a full cup of sugar. I baked the leftover meringue into little cookies by piping them onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and baking at 200°F for 60 minutes, then reducing the temperature to 175°F  and baking for an additional 40 minutes.

Combine egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer. Add an inch of water in a small pot. Place the mixer bowl in the pot to ensure the water doesn’t touch the water. Heat the pot over medium-high heat with the bowl on top of it and a candy thermometer in the bowl. Whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 140°F. Remove the thermometer and use the whisk attachment on the standing mixer to beat until stiff peaks form. Cover and set aside.

Assembly
Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or plate. If the cake has caved at all, place the flat side down. Spread a generous layer of meringue on top of the cake, then spread a layer of lemon curd over the meringue (about half of what you have left). Add the second layer of cake, then spread with meringue and lemon curd as you did with the first layer. Place the final layer on top with the flat side up.

Spread the whipped cream icing over the entire cake in whatever pattern you desire. If you have any leftover lemon curd, add it to a piping bag and drizzle it over the cake edges or over the entire cake.

Refrigerate for at least two hours before serving to allow the cake to firm up. It will be much easier to cut when it is cold.

The pies my mom did make were never, ever, double-crusted fruit pies. If we did have a pie for dessert, it was typically composed of a pre-made graham cracker crust, a box of pudding mix, and a mound of Cool Whip.

And you know what I freakin’ loved it.

To this day, while I will certainly eat a slice of apple, cherry, or other fruity pie if it’s presented to me with a sizable scoop of vanilla ice cream, the pies that I dream of are the cold, creamy, pudding-ish pies that I grew up on.

This pie follows in that tradition, though with some notable modifications. First, I love making my own graham cracker crusts. I like a heavier crumb with more crunch, and I like that I can control the level of sweetness and stickiness by adding as much or as little sugar and butter as I like when whirling it together myself.

A food processor makes this a very simple task, but I made my own crusts for years with a gallon-size ziploc bag and a rolling pin, so don’t feel that a food processor is required to make a delightful crust.

The biggest shock value of this pie is that its bulk comes not from cream, nor milk, nor eggs. It’s tofu. Combined with a bag of semisweet chocolate chips and a bit of amaretto, it provides a blank canvas with a delightfully smooth texture.

My favorite, favorite aspect of this pie is the prep. It’s a cinch! The crust bakes for a bit, and you’ll have to melt the chocolate, but beyond that there is no cooking required. No lengthy bake in the oven, no day-long cooling. After a couple hours in the fridge to firm it up, this pie is ready for serving.

My advice Let your friends and family taste this rich delight of a dessert, and then tell them it’s made of tofu. They won’t believe you!

Dark Chocolate Amaretto Pie
Adapted from Alton Brown

Note: The original recipe calls for coffee liqueur rather than amaretto. I prefer amaretto, but you could really try any liqueur you like that pairs nicely with chocolate.

6 oz graham crackers
1 T granulated sugar
5 T unsalted butter, melted
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
scant 1/3 c amaretto liqueur
2 tsp vanilla extract
14 oz package silken (or soft) tofu, drained
1 T honey

Preheat oven to 350°F. Use a food processor or a plastic bag and rolling pin to reduce graham crackers into crumbs. Add granulated sugar and melted butter to crumbs and pulse a few more times until combined. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate and bake for 15 minutes.

While the crust bakes, wash the food processor bowl and blade so they can be used for the filling. Remove the crust form the oven, set aside, and allow to cool completely.

Combine chocolate chips, amaretto, and vanilla extract in a small saucepan. Heat over medium low and stir with a rubber spatula just until chips have melted. Remove from heat and set aside.

Cut the tofu into chunks and add them to the food processor bowl. Add the chocolate mixture and the honey to the food processor bowl. Spin until mixture is smooth, then pour it into the cooled crust. Refrigerate for at least two hours or until the filling sets firm.

Serve cold in thin slices – it’s quite rich!

Friends, I have a confession.

A lot of the recipes I post on this blog are ones that I cook quite often. Lots of dinners, side dishes, breakfasts, and even desserts that you’ve seen in the last three years make regular appearances in my kitchen or in the kitchen’s of friends and family when I’m visiting. It’s actually pretty convenient to have my very own personal recipe book at my fingertips in any kitchen, grocery store, or farmers market that has data or free wifi.

But I’ve been holding out on you. I haven’t shared with you one of the treats I cook most often, a recipe that I know so well I haven’t looked at the recipe card in years, a recipe that continues to be Brad’s most-requested dessert.

My mom’s chocolate chip cookies.

My mom has been baking these cookies since long before I was born, and truth be told, they’ve gained rather a lot of fame at the staff meetings, potlucks, and holiday gatherings in her little corner of Southwest Colorado. This is also one of my mom’s memorized recipes, complete with a snappy little mnemonic jingle that I learned growing up and use to this day to remember the order of ingredients.

So why wasn’t this recipe at the top of my list to share when I started this blog I’ve shared numerous other treasured recipes from my childhood: Almond Toffee, Lasagne, Favorite Party Mix, to name a few.

Here’s the truth. Most of my life, my mom used butter-flavored Crisco for her magical chocolate chip cookies. And while I had tried using butter and liked the results, it just felt odd to make such a vast departure from her recipe and then post it as “hers”. Irrational Probably. But it held me back. I was writing a blog about eating less-processed, locally sourced ingredients. Butter-flavored Crisco is none of those things.

But then, a few months ago, my mom informed me that she had switched to butter for her cookies. Liberation! Now I could honor this, my “Mom’s recipe”, without the mysterious yellow shortening. I’m so excited to finally share these with you.

These cookies are composed of fairly basic ingredients that, if you bake, I’ll wager you already have around. There’s two really, really important tips I can’t stress enough. The first: use DARK brown sugar, as opposed to light brown sugar. The additional molasses in dark brown sugar not only provides lovely color to these finished cookies, but also a lovely caramel-y flavor you just don’t get when using light brown. Trust me, Sierra and I experimented to find out.

The second tip is to cream the crap out of your butter and sugar. If you’ve ever seen a recipe cautioning against over-mixing, it’s referring to the addition of flour at the end. The initial mixing of butter and sugar, on the other hand, will incorporate more air into your dough to create a fluffier, softer cookie. If you have a stand mixer, add your butter and sugar and blast them for at least five minutes. If you’re using a standard mixing bowl and a spoon, get ready for a good arm workout!

Once the creaming is done, the remaining ingredients go in fairly quickly. An egg, and then some salt, baking soda, and vanilla will give you a lovely tasting dough. Then some chocolate chips (obviously) and flour, and you’re ready to go.

These cookies don’t need to be shaped, you can just drop a wad of dough on a cookie sheet. On a normal basis, I usually only cook 6-8 at a time because Brad is partial to fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies, and the dough refrigerates well so we can have cookies on demand later in the week. Just store the extra dough in an airtight container.

Once the cookies are beginning to brown around the edges, they’re done! My mom likes these cookies very well done, though I prefer them a bit on the lighter side. Just a minute or two will make the difference.

These cookies are not a baking project you need to delay to the weekend: when I use my mixer, I can have a batch in the oven in ten minutes flat. And I’m gonna be totally honest with you: if you’re into eating raw cookie dough, like I am, this dough is for you. Of course I can’t officially recommend it since the dough has a raw egg, but… it’s BONKERS delicious.

And the finished cookies aren’t half-bad either.

Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted just a smidge from my Mom

Makes 16-20 cookies

Note: After several years of flat cookies, I finally wised up and added more baking soda to my recipe. The lower altitude of my kitchen means that my recipes require more leavening agents when preparing recipes that were developed or perfected in my mom’s or grandmother’s high altitude kitchens. If you live at high altitudes, knock the backing soda back to a 1/2 teaspoon. Because science.

1/2 c hard-packed dark brown sugar
1/4 granulated white sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter (1 stick) at room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c milk chocolate chips
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine brown sugar, white sugar, and butter in the bowl of a standing mixer or other medium mixing bowl. Cream together very well until mixture has lightened in color and is somewhat fluffy. Add egg and combine thoroughly. Mix in salt, baking soda, and vanilla. Mix in chocolate chips. Add the flour and mix just until combined.

Drop heaping tablespoons of cookie dough onto a cookie sheet, about two inches apart. Bake on a center rack for 10-11 minutes until cookies begin to brown around the edges. Remove cookie sheet from the oven and let the cookies sit for 1-2 minutes, then lift the cookies onto a serving tray with a spatula.

Cookies can be baked all at once, or, dough can be refrigerated and baked within a week.