My friend Maile asked me to make peach muffins like the ones she discovered at her local grocery store’s bakery years ago and hasn’t seen since. That’s all I had to go on. “Can you make me some peach muffins like those? They were sooooo good!” Um, okay? I’ll try?

I have no idea if these muffins are exactly what Maile wanted me to replicate, but I do know that these have passed the “everyone loves them” test. I took them to a party and they vanished. It was like a Harry Potter trick, but in real life and without wands. I made them again today to share the perfected version with Maile. I sent her the above picture and her response was “YES!” so I think maybe we’re onto something.

Here’s to you, Maile. May it be the peach muffin of your dreams!

Do you love Groupon / Living Social / Google Offer deals as much as we do? We collect so many that we have a spreadsheet to keep track of them. Yes, we’re nerds, and we’re proud of it. One of our recent purchases was a deal at a local used book store. For $10 we were able to buy $20 worth of used books. I love books and if I had it my way, I would have an entire library in my house with one shelf devoted to cookbooks. While at the book store, I came across the book Big Fat Cookies and I knew I had hit gold. I showed the book to my students the week before finals and let them pick a cookie of their choice to eat on our last day together. One girl chose these black bottom coconut macaroons. I was skeptical (really? macaroons? for a high schooler?) but they were delicious! Total win! Not only that, they have to be among the easiest cookies I have ever made. How often do you have cookie batter ready bake before the oven is even preheated? Now that’s my type of cookie!

Continue reading: black bottom coconut macaroons

In case you were wondering where I’ve been lately, let me explain: growing a baby is a lot of work. Prepping for a baby’s impending arrival is even more work including rearranging the house, painting furniture, buying the necessities, and cramming in as much fun as possible before sleep deprivation begins! Add to that a 30+ person surprise birthday party for my husband and preparing students for finals and, well… you get the drift. I dropped off the planet for a while, but now that I am on summer break I have some amazing recipes up my sleeve to share with you.

Continue reading: cheater chocolate turtles (with fleur de sel)

My husband loves angel food cake and yet I have never made it for him. I think it’s because I have tasted only the Safeway version and the spongy texture creeped me out. How in the world can a cake be sooooo spongy? I found a recipe on Cook’s Illustrated’s website and a quick perusal of the ingredients answered my question: a dozen egg whites. Yowsers. That is a lot of egg whites! Fortunately, one batch of homemade vanilla ice cream uses a half dozen egg yolks, so all I need to do is time one angel food cake and two batches of ice cream and I am left with no waste at all!

This cake is heavenly. It is perfect topped with a mound of lightly sweetened whipped cream and some fresh berries. You can serve it at a formal occasion or for a weeknight dessert. Either way, it’s delicious! Now that I know how easy it is to prepare angel food cake, I will make this cake often throughout the summer to go with all those wonderful strawberries and blueberries at the local farmer’s market!

Continue reading: angel food cake

First off, I see a new trend. First, there were mufcakes. Now there’s muffin cake. I promise. I’ll make something that doesn’t include “muf” in it at some point.

Secondly, I don’t want you to make this. Nope. No sirree. Because then you’ll buy more blueberries, which will mean fewer for me. The last time I checked, my Costco had PLENTY of frozen organic blueberries in stock. If I go tomorrow, I will buy some before you catch onto this craze. At the worst, I did plant 9 blueberry plants a couple of years ago. Come June, there is no stopping the blueberry madness in my house!

Third, if you do make this, you’ll want to hide it from yourself. Probably in a high place behind a heavy box. It’s delicious, but with a stick of butter in the ingredients list, it really can’t be considered a health food (although, I think that with two cups of blueberries, I could be convinced otherwise).

Eat this warm out of the oven or reheat it a bit. Either way, slather some salted butter along the middle or the sides (not the top! don’t ruin the perfectly crunchy top!). And enjoy!

Continue reading: blueberry muffin cake

I don’t know how it is where you live, but in my part of the country, people can’t seem to get enough citrus right now. My dwarf orange tree has exploded and my husband and I recently realized that even if we continue to eat an orange a day we may still be eating oranges in July. I see lemon trees literally drooping under the weight of all their fruit. Clementines, tangerines, and other citrus are widely available at our markets too. It’s citrus season!

When I saw this recipe, I had to try it. The original blogger deemed these muffins so that she could justify eating them for breakfast. I don’t blame her. However, I think that while they do have  a hint of muffin texture, they would definitely be appropriate to serve as dessert in cupcake fashion. And so, enter the mufcake. Here at Dishing The Divine, we dish more than just recipes. We also dish up entirely made up food categories for your foodie entertainment.

Continue reading: clementine mufcakes (muffins? cupcakes? you decide!)

Oh dear. I thought I had shared these with you earlier. I cannot believe I have been holding out on you for so long! These are so, so delicious. At first when I made them I wasn’t sure they would be as fabulous as I wanted them to be. I had no idea how wrong my initial judgment was. A friend stopped by just as these came out of the oven and I gave her some to take home and share with her husband. I also shared them with my students. We all loved them! Better yet, they are best a few hours after baking because the chocolate has a chance to set up a bit, so these are the perfect muffin to make and take to a brunch or dinner or even to have ready a couple of hours before the kids come home. As for breakfast the next day? They are not quite as healthy as these oatmeal chocolate chip muffins, but they are just as tasty. Make these. You won’t be disappointed!

Continue reading: chocolate chip muffins

When I told my husband that I was making creme brûlée for my secret recipe club assignment, he nearly swooned. If you have been following Dishing the Divine for a while (and God bless you if you have… man, we’ve been through a lot together! ) then you already know my hilarious creme brûlée story. You also know that I don’t like creme brûlée. Sometimes being a good wife means making something special just for the hubby. So, while this makes creme brûlée for two, in our house it really is just creme brûlée for one, served twice.

Continue reading: creme brûlée for two (secret recipe club)

My friend Elba’s mom survived mostly on strawberry milkshakes while Elba was in her womb, and now Elba swears that’s the reason that the very idea of a strawberry milkshake is a turnoff for her. My mother loves peanut butter and finds all kinds of ways to slip it into her diet. She must have indulged this habit when I was in her womb, because for some reason, I have never loved peanut butter.* I know! Insane, right? Who doesn’t love peanut butter? And paired with chocolate? Am I even a proper foodie? Probably not. Oh, well.

Nevertheless, I know that many of my readers (and friends!) are peanut butter lovers, so I still occasionally stash away a peanut butter recipe to share with everyone else in my life who is apparently more “normal” than I am. My friend Kim asked me to make a few desserts for a celebration dinner, so I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to make these peanut butter cookie and brownie layer bars. The recipe appealed even to me! I avoided making this for a while because it seemed too complicated. When I finally took the time to make it, I was surprised at how easily it came together. I saved a piece for my mom to try and her response was, “Yummy, yummy! Please send more!” Kim said that it was a hit at her event too. I guess that seals the deal. These are a winner!

Continue reading: peanut butter cookie & brownie layer bar

Two weeks since my last post. It’s not for lack of trying new recipes. I have tried several, and all have been major flops. There were “store bought cookies” that tasted nothing like the classics we grew up with. There were stews and muffins and biscuits and… well, the list is long and the results were depressing. I finally decided to go with a recipe that could not possibly fail: coffee cake, and a William Sonoma recipe to boot. And now look at me! I know it may seem absurd, but it’s February and here I am pulling out pumpkin show stoppers.  I was so nauseous all of November that I missed my pumpkin fix. After 17 looooong weeks into being pregnant, I am finally getting my appetite back. And so it’s time to pull out some of those recipes that I would have made back in autumn if I had not been so sick.

Continue reading: pumpkin streusel coffee cake