Notes about Recipes in this book

• Not your Grandma’s blueberry streusel muffins

  • Zosia on September 13, 2022

    Great muffin! Bake time of 25 minutes was a little too long in my oven but texture was still acceptable, something I'm sure was helped by the abundance of blueberries. Streusel topping was sweet and crunchy and there was just enough. I made both muffins and topping with whole wheat flour and reduced the sugar to 200g in the former.

  • kellilee on October 08, 2022

    This is the first recipe in the book and my first Jessie Sheehan recipe to ever bake. I’m not sure these muffins were any more “easy-peasy” than any other muffin recipe I’ve ever baked but the results were good. I used fresh blueberries and I followed the recipe - working hard to gently fold in the flour and blueberries and not overmix. Baking time was spot on and muffins were delicious. Great start!

  • Maefleur on October 22, 2022

    I made the sparkly version, with turbinado sugar instead of streusel topping, and they were perfect for us.

  • snoozermoose on November 06, 2022

    I didn't read the recipe correctly and accidentally made 12 instead of 15, but they still turned out great! A nice classic blueberry muffin with a strong vanilla flavor. The streusel adds a lovely texture and just enough sweetness.

  • Kag2020 on November 26, 2022

    Quick and delicious. Made half a batch, substituting 2% Greek yogurt for the buttermilk. Cooked perfectly in 28 minutes.

  • Astrid5555 on March 10, 2023

    I love Jessie Sheehan’s recipes and this one does not disappoint either. If you happen to have some leftover streusel (as I did) this one is ready to go into the oven in 5 minutes. Got rave reviews from my son’s classmates.

  • jay.moe on March 25, 2023

    I used a 12-well and a 6-well muffin tin to bake the 15 muffins at the same time. The muffins were an easy one-bowl recipe to make and were soft, moist and packed with blueberries. It should be noted that the recipe instructs to turn the oven down to 350° half way through baking.

  • averythingcooks on June 22, 2023

    These came together quickly and they are soft & moist but I'm not sure I like them more than 2 other recipes I typically follow. I now have extra streusel stashed in the freezer (as I couldn't see adding any more than I did) so if I repeat, I can compare streusel topped vs the sparkly version.

  • Melissa_427 on January 21, 2024

    I was a little short on blueberries so did a 50/50 mix of blueberries and cranberries, worked like a charm!

  • Summerlandsky on March 01, 2024

    This was a pretty good blueberry muffin recipe. Quick to put together with oil instead of melted butter. I got 16 muffins out of it. I used the whole streusel topping, but it might have been too much. It didn’t really crumble up, so next time I would use a bit more butter. I also think you could reduce the sugar and still have a very sweet muffin. The blueberries mostly sank to the bottom, so next time will add them to flour first and then incorporate everything into the wet ingredients.

  • stef on March 11, 2024

    Supervised my grandson baking them. Used frozen blueberries. He made 8 jumbo muffins and they are gorgeous looking. Baking time for these was 31 minutes. They are going with him so I will make some soon.

• Blueberry lemon yogurt loaf cake

  • cookingbychapter on July 12, 2022

    I felt this lacked a little in flavor. It's a good recipe with a moist crumb but next time I would use a flavored yogurt to help boost the interest.

  • snoozermoose on November 19, 2022

    I actually thought this was excellent. The lemon flavor in my loaf was nice and strong without being overpowering, and there was a nice tang to balance the sweetness of the berries. Will definitely make this again.

• Cherry almond loaf cake

  • Astrid5555 on June 21, 2022

    Another winner from this book. The most time-consuming part of making this cake was pitting the cherries.

  • anya_sf on April 26, 2023

    Tasty loaf cake with great texture. Since I knew we'd have it for breakfast, I used white whole wheat flour to make it slightly healthier; the flavor was noticeable, so all-purpose would have been better. I only had 150 g cherries (frozen), so I threw in a couple tablespoons of poppy seeds for fun.

  • Pandan on October 24, 2024

    I made this and kept the lemon zest and juice from the original recipe. Didn’t rate this because I substituted half a cup of Monkfruit sweetener blend for the sugar, olive oil for the neutral oil and skyr for the yoghurt. Didn’t turn out that great but ok. Came out quite dense, I guess mainly due to the monkfruit. Will try the original version.

• Sour cherry clafoutis

  • anya_sf on June 17, 2023

    Using fresh sweet cherries, the clafoutis was just sweet enough. Flavor was good, but the texture would probably have been more lush with half-and-half rather than the whole milk I used. Still, a nice, easy dessert.

  • stef on July 21, 2023

    I used sweet cherries and cut sugar to 1/3 cup. Next time would use blender for eggs, milk and flour. This would make a smooth batter. We really., enjoyed it.

• Summer peach fritters

  • anya_sf on August 13, 2022

    Very good, not too heavy or sweet. Nice for breakfast. After frying the first batch (and I should have just fried one initially), I discovered my fritters needed to fry 4 minutes to cook all the way through.

• Pink grapefruit graham bars

  • Lepa on March 04, 2023

    These were good, much better than lemon bars, which I often think are too sweet. My kids especially loved these. They were easy to make and turned out well.

• Lemon graham bars

  • anya_sf on February 09, 2024

    Delicious! Like key lime (in this case, lemon) pie in bar form.

• Better-than-apple pie bars

  • kari500 on September 19, 2022

    Delicious and very easy.

  • stef on October 08, 2022

    Loved it. The bottom crust is smooth, apples in between,top crust is same as bottom but you apply it squshing the dough in little lumps and it comes out nice and crunchy. Reduced sugar by !0%. Used some apples hanging around in fridge.

  • jimandtammyfaye on October 08, 2022

    Easy and delicious. Used Mutsu apples.

  • snoozermoose on November 07, 2022

    These were very tasty (indeed better than apple pie) and well-received at work. Lots of co-workers had seconds!

  • Kag2020 on November 09, 2022

    Delicious. I used two Honeycrisp apples and two Bartlett pears, baked in a nine inch square pan and forgot to lower the temperature during the second part of baking. The only changes I may make the next time would be to remember to lower the temperature and perhaps putting a little less of the dough on the bottom or maybe adding some flour to the balance of dough that becomes the crumb. Favorite tweak so far — One very large Honeycrisp, one very large gala, one perfectly ripe pear. Divided the dough as written, didn’t add the extra flour to the crumb, didn’t lower the oven temperature until the last 10 minutes or so, used apple cider vinegar in place of lemon, and added allspice to the filling. Also, used vanilla sugar for the entire thing. Really good.

  • Astrid5555 on November 10, 2022

    So good and so much less work than a pie. Got rave reviews from my coworkers!

  • hbakke on November 24, 2022

    Fantastic apple bars. We loved the crumble topping. I don't particularly like apple pie because the filling is always too watery, so the recipe title held true for me.

  • Zosia on January 31, 2023

    Delicious, though could use a little less sugar in the crumb mixture. I used 5 pink lady apples, ~780g.

  • anya_sf on March 02, 2023

    Really delicious! Not overly sweet made with Granny Smith apples, which was OK with me because then I could top mine with vanilla ice cream.

  • averythingcooks on December 10, 2023

    These came together easily using 4 fairly large apples (2 Granny Smith & 2 MacIntosh). I appreciate the specific instructions re: exactly how much crumb mixture to keep for the top (I'm notoriously bad at "reserving 1/3" etc) but I also thought the crumb mixture was a bit sweet. These bars were served to guests with vanilla ice cream to rave reviews. Now it's time to decide whose are best - these or Barefoot Contessa's?

  • fultre on January 08, 2024

    Another winner from this book, and better than apple pie because they are so simple to make. The most difficult part of recipe was cutting neat squares due to how soft filling is compared to the firm streusel. Or perhaps not eating the whole pan in one evening.

  • cookbookdestinations on January 23, 2024

    Very Good; still on the hunt for my perfect apple crumb bar. I reduced the sugar in both the crumb and fruit and still thought it was sweet. I used the recommend mixture of Honeycrisp and Pink Lady Apples. I would repeat the recipe but will continue to reduce the sugar to my personal taste.

  • Pandan on May 03, 2024

    Really nice, I used sour German Boskop cooking apples. I reduced the sugar in the dough to 100g, but still thought the filling was overly sweet. Will defined reduce that too the next time.

  • thefritschkitchen on June 16, 2025

    I wanted this to be better than it was! The bottom crust was very thick and tough, which made it difficult to eat. The flavor was very good, but it really just left me wanting apple pie with a crumble topping (which is how I normally make it) and, honestly, both are about the same amount of work. If I made this again (but I probably won't), I would do less crust on the bottom, and have more crumble on top. I decreased the sugar in the crumb to 100 g, based on other comments, and that was a good amount of sweetness. Using a food processor may have resulted in a less tough crust too, instead of doing it by hand. But - again - if I am breaking out the food processor - I might as well make pie dough! Long story short: This was a yummy dessert, but I would just rather have apple pie

• Favorite any berry crisp

  • anya_sf on August 02, 2022

    I made 1/2 recipe (serving 4) using blueberries and raspberries, 450 g total. Made the topping a day ahead and refrigerated. Adding the topping in 2 stages ensured that it baked up nice and crisp. I thought I'd miss brown sugar in the topping, but I didn't, although I would try that sometime. The sweetness was just right to enjoy with ice cream.

  • Zosia on September 02, 2022

    The best "crisp" topping I've ever made thanks to the 2-step addition method that I will use with other recipes. I used blueberries and nectarines in the filling and only half the sugar and cornstarch, which was plenty. I used whole wheat flour in the topping.

• Favorite strawberry brown sugar crisp

  • hbakke on July 11, 2022

    Easy and tasty dessert recipe. The baking times were off for me. I pulled the crisp out of the oven 10 minutes early and it was already pretty dark. I would keep a close eye on it next time in the oven.

• Rhubarb cobbler with easy-peasy biscuits

  • Pandan on May 21, 2024

    I tried this recipe because I needed to use up some rhubarb but had no butter left. I didn’t have enough rhubarb and also used some frozen strawberries and raspberries. I substituted the sugar in the filling with 100g Lakanto monkfruit. I should have used maybe only half of it because it was too sweet for my taste. It was enjoyable though with some unsweetened skyr. I wasn’t a big fan of this recipe, I prefer a rhubarb crumble or something else with a more crunchy streusel topping. After sitting in the fridge for a day the biscuits got really soggy.

• Strawberry rhubarb cobbler with easy-peasy biscuits

  • Astrid5555 on July 03, 2022

    My first time making cobbler and loving it. Had some strawberries and rhubarb both from the garden so this made for a spontaneous, quick and delicious afternoon snack, excellent.

  • Pandan on May 22, 2024

    I tried this recipe because I needed to use up some rhubarb but had no butter left. I didn’t have enough rhubarb and also used some frozen strawberries and raspberries. I substituted the sugar in the filling with 100g Lakanto monkfruit. I should have used maybe only half of it because it was too sweet for my taste. It was enjoyable though with some unsweetened skyr. I wasn’t a big fan of this recipe, I prefer a rhubarb crumble or something else with a more crunchy streusel topping. After sitting in the fridge for a day the biscuits got really soggy.

• Raspberry crumb-topped pie with easiest ever crust and crumble

  • Astrid5555 on August 11, 2022

    Have you ever made a pie in 20 minutes? Well now you can - and while it is not the flakiest crust ever, it’s a delicious pie which delivers on the promise of quick and easy. So when the pie craving hits, this is the perfect option!

• Matt’s blueberry galette with easiest ever crust

  • Astrid5555 on July 05, 2022

    Love this book, love this galette and love this crust. Truly the easiest crust ever, melt the butter, stir all ingredients together with a fork, roll out between parchment paper and bake, no chilling, no waiting. My only complaint is that this galette definitely does not yield 8 slices, but this might rather be due to my teenagers devouring everything quickly in big slices these days.

  • snoozermoose on August 07, 2022

    We really wanted to love this (blueberry pie is my favorite dessert, and I hate making pie crust), but this just proves that a melted butter crust just doesn't work as well as a traditional cold butter crust. The crust was a bit tough and not flaky at all. The filling was tasty, and with ice cream, I wasn't mad at it, but I wouldn't make it again.

  • Lepa on August 21, 2022

    This was good and very easy- a great substitute for blueberry pie if you don't have time to make one (but admittedly not as good as pie). The crust was pretty good and my family was thrilled to eat this with some whipped cream.

  • anya_sf on June 20, 2023

    Easy and relatively quick to make. While we enjoyed it, I'm not sure I'll make it again, as I missed the flakiness of traditional pastry. The filling was tasty. Mine was slightly overbaked at 42 min (but my oven has been acting up lately), so check early. We got 5-6 slices.

• Orange buttermilk olive oil morning muffins

  • snoozermoose on August 07, 2022

    These were very moist and had great orange flavor. We actually found that they got better with age. Definitely use muffin liners, as they WILL stick to the pan even with cooking spray.

  • Zosia on May 21, 2024

    Nice, tender muffin with pleasant orange flavour. I thought them a little too sweet even though I reduced the sugar to 200g. I made them with whole wheat flour.

• Pear sour cream snacking cake

  • stef on September 23, 2022

    This is an amazing cake. The oil and sour cream makes it very tender and the cinnamon spice is just right. The only problem is it disappeared too quickly. Next time I will double recipe and bake in 9x13 pan.

  • Lepa on September 30, 2022

    This is really delicious. It is also simple to make- a great effort/result ratio!

  • bwhip on October 06, 2022

    Our neighbor gave us a bunch of nice, ripe pears, so I decided to give this recipe a try. Delicious! Quite easy to make and very tasty.

  • snoozermoose on October 29, 2022

    This was a surprise hit. I wasn't expecting a lot out of a humble pear cake, but it was so beautifully balanced with everything in just the right proportions. We couldn't stop eating this.

  • anya_sf on November 28, 2022

    The center of the cake didn't seem done until it baked 60 min, probably due to the large amount of pears. In hindsight, 55 min might have been enough, as the edges were slightly dry, although the center was still very moist - again, probably due to the large amount of pears. It was really good!

  • rhb on December 01, 2022

    Wonderful little cake! I used a glass pan and baked at 325 f until brown around edges. Not too sweet, just right.

  • bching on December 01, 2022

    Inspired by the positive reviews here and my love for pears, I made this cake with high hopes. It's not bad, but it's not a keeper for me. I'd rather have a drier, denser crumb.

  • Astrid5555 on February 04, 2023

    As mentioned by another reviewer great effort to outcome ratio. Delicious quick to make cake!

  • meginyeg on February 05, 2023

    We loved this cake. Very quick and easy as well as delicious. Definitely will make again.

  • Zosia on March 05, 2023

    Very nice, low effort cake. Make sure to use ripe pears as the bake time isn't long enough to soften underripe fruit.

  • hbakke on October 27, 2024

    I overbaked this a bit, but we still enjoyed the pears and slight tang from the sour cream. Will repeat.

• Banana snacking cake with chocolate malted cream cheese frosting

  • Astrid5555 on June 21, 2022

    This frosting is amazing!!! Everybody who tried this cake at the office asked for the recipe. This is a perfect alternative to all the banana bread recipes out there!

  • BachranBears on August 25, 2023

    Shocked by how good this cake/frosting were. Now one of our favorites. Might be the best frosting I've ever made.

  • anya_sf on August 31, 2023

    As others have said, this was really good, even without the candy topping. My only quibble is that an oil-based cake might be better, since the cake is chilled (and, like me, you're impatient and don't want to wait for the cake to sit at room temp for a bit).

  • Pandan on April 29, 2024

    I took the cake out too early but managed to safe it putting it back in the oven later. I also seem to have put out the cream cheese and butter too long. The frosting was quite liquid. Next time I will only use slightly softened butter and cold cream cheese. Tastewise this was very nice, but not my favourite from this book Edit: I later learned that there might be an issue with European/german cream cheese turning liquid when mixed with powdered sugar, so it wasn’t an temperature issue.

  • gootenbeez on February 27, 2025

    I did not love this. I felt like the cake itself wasn't amazing and the whole frosting recipe is too much for the cake and I should not have just ploped it all on. It's not a bad cake and was easy and quick to make but I will most likely not be making this again.

  • jessncanfield on July 20, 2025

    Such a good combination of flavors!

• Black Forest wacky(ish) cake with cherry cream cheese whipped cream

  • anya_sf on August 11, 2022

    I had to substitute cider vinegar for white, which may be why the cake sank slightly in the center. That did not matter since it was covered by the topping. There was a very generous amount of whipped cream, but my family was quite happy with it - they really liked this cake. Next time I will try to find a jam with more whole cherries for more bursts of cherry flavor and/or use slightly more jam.

  • Kinhawaii on June 08, 2023

    I used cider vinegar but I think mine sank because it was underbaked. It formed a small dome but tested damp. After close to 35 minutes (recipe says 25-30) I got nervous & hoped it would continue to bake from residual heat. I came back after 20 minutes to find it sunken but- still it was edible & not mushy in the center. I’m starting to realize that for my oven I need to bake her recipes longer. The NYT has a similar recipe & it has a cup of jam on top so with that & anya_sf’s comments I added more. With a flatter cake I think I would prefer closer to a cup of jam for more cherry flavor. It was a nice tender cake & the end result seemed fancier than the amount of effort put into it.

• Strawberry sheet cake

  • Astrid5555 on June 21, 2022

    I love this book - all the recipes are so quick to make and taste delicious, and this strawberry cake is no exception. A perfect way to use up these not so perfect overripe strawberries.

  • Lepa on August 03, 2022

    This is a simple but delicious strawberry cake. I cringed when I saw how much oil and sugar goes into it but it is a LARGE cake. I especially love the strong vanilla flavor.

  • snoozermoose on August 16, 2022

    Very similar to Smitten Kitchen's strawberry sheet cake, which I make every year. I think I slightly prefer Smitten Kitchen's which has a higher strawberry to cake ratio, but this was a little easier and a more substantial cake, so good for a crowd. The key is to bake the cake a day early (the flavor improves over time) and leave the cake uncovered. If you cover it, it gets all wet and gross the next day. I brought this into work, and people went nuts over it. I took only a tiny piece home.

  • stef on June 15, 2023

    Lovely moist cake. I reduced sugar to 400grms and it still was sweet. Will make again.

  • averythingcooks on July 28, 2024

    I cut this in 1/2, baked it in the morning for dinner guests that night and we all loved it with some softly whipped (unsweetened) cream. It is very moist & vanilla foward but I wish I had somewhere that I could have put it to leave it (safely) uncovered at room temp overnight as the top is VERY moist (mushy?!?!) this am. It was easy to make & I would repeat the 8" size for dinner guests for sure.

• Luscious lemon possets

  • Astrid5555 on August 11, 2022

    Possibly the easiest dessert I have ever made. Everone asked for seconds, so this will be on high repeat in this household.

  • stef on September 06, 2022

    A very good quick dessert to make. It looked set after 4 hours but was still liquidy at the bottom. Set well after 18 hrs. I topped off with pistachio cream and chopped roasted pistachios. Very nice and light dessert.

  • shylastrath on March 01, 2024

    I topped the possets with Smitten Kitchen blackberry curd (from her white chocolate pudding recipe). I loved the curd with the lemon possets - would definitely do it again! A double batch of posset and curd yielded 7 good sized servings.

  • anya_sf on March 29, 2024

    Delicious and simple to make. Easy to scale up or down. Portions are very small - nice served with the lavender shortbread bites.

  • hbakke on November 28, 2024

    Delicious and so easy! I love lemon desserts, and this was perfect served with a blueberry compote. Will repeat.

  • averythingcooks on December 21, 2024

    Mindful of 1 comment that says this was not set in the timeframe given, I made this yesterday to serve to guests tonight. I was going to wait until after dinner to comment, but no need. We just ate (actually devoured) the "tester" portion with a spoonful of the mixed berry sauce I made to spoon over and we declared it delicious! I used the full amount of lemon juice & tonight's servings will include a little dollop of whipped cream. Oh yes...this will be made again (and again and again).

  • stef on January 01, 2025

    Made again and this time it set in 2 hours. A nice light dessert after a lasagna meal. Everyone loved it.

• Otherworldly vanilla cream scones

  • snoozermoose on November 07, 2022

    These are surprisingly good for how simple they were but were a little plain for my taste. My husband liked them more than I did.

  • stef on December 03, 2022

    Easy to put together and very tender. No butter or buttermilk involved. I sprinkled coarse sugar and they sparkle. We thought they were very good and will make again

  • Zosia on August 03, 2023

    These are the easiest scones I've ever made and we loved them. They had lovely vanilla flavour and tender texture and will definitely be made again.

  • Pandan on October 02, 2024

    These were very easy to make and a good way to use up some fresh cream. I also had a small amount of leftover double cream and used it in the dough. Mine didn’t hold their shape that well and I baked them a tiny bit too long. They were super tasty, tender and not dry at all. Next time I will reduce the sugar in the dough.

  • Pandan on October 04, 2024

    My first batch got eaten up so fast that I had to make another one the next day. This time I reduced the sugar some more and added chocolate chips. I left out the folding part and just put the dough in the baking sheet and cut it into 8 pieces. I actually didn’t really taste a difference. Really good recipe! Will also try with raisins and dried apples and cinnamon sugar.

  • kari500 on December 22, 2024

    Delicious and easy, although I probably should have done a bit more of the folding or stirring. Mine only needed 20 minutes, but I had just baked some bread and the oven had been very hot.

• Otherworldly vanilla rhubarb scones

  • anya_sf on August 27, 2022

    I shaped the scones the night before baking and froze them; the frozen scones took about 10 extra minutes to bake. These scones were a little sweeter than usual, which balanced the tart rhubarb. Texture was cakey, but slightly wet, I believe due to the rhubarb. They were baked through, but I'd bake them longer next time as the edges were my favorite part. Good, but I prefer King Arthur's cream scones, although I might like this one better without the rhubarb.

• Extra crumb snacking cake

  • Kinhawaii on December 03, 2022

    Good tender cake but a little too sweet for me because of the topping…which was definitely extra thick. I think I should have left it in a few minutes more past 55- the toothpick came out clean (but maybe the crumbs wiped it) & the center didn’t quite bulge but plateaued. It later sunk a little in the middle & looked damp but tasted ok. I notice in the photo in the book it’s slightly dipped too.

  • bwhip on April 11, 2023

    Had potential, but the topping is at least double the quantity it should be (to my taste, anyway), and quite dense and heavy. Cake was fine, but just completely overwhelmed by the topping. I set the timer for 55 minutes, but it was fully baked a few minutes before that.

  • Astrid5555 on April 29, 2023

    Based on the other two reviews I reduced the sugar in the topping by 20% and they were perfect.

  • Pandan on October 09, 2024

    This was good, but I have had better coffee cakes (Sohla El-Waylly’s from “Start here” is much better). I baked mine in a 9 inch round pan because my 8 inch pans were already occupied with other snacking cakes. I reduced the sugar in the batter by half which was totally fine and kept the amount of sugar in the crumb which worked for me. I also agree that there was too much crumb. Although I love crumbs a lot of them fell off when trying to eat it.

• Cranberry vanilla breakfast buckle

  • snoozermoose on December 03, 2022

    This was delicious. I added 1/2 tsp cardamom to the crumble and 3/4 tsp cardamom to the cake part. Next time I'll increase it to 1 tsp in the cake.

  • Running_with_Wools on December 02, 2023

    This was sweet and tender with pops of tart cranberries and a crunchy topping. Really delicious. I subbed gluten free flour and the texture did not suffer.

  • EmilyR on January 28, 2025

    I utilized the cardamom tip and also added some oranges to the top for a Scandinavian morning bun flair. I have made and enjoyed buckles in the past and this is another good one.

  • anya_sf on October 05, 2025

    Delicious, if quite sweet - although it seemed like a lot of cranberries, I wouldn't have minded more. My buckle took an extra 7 minutes to bake (used frozen berries) - perhaps not necessary? The topping got very crunchy but the cake was still moist the next day. Next time I would reduce the sugar and perhaps try adding cardamom or orange zest like others did.

• Jumbo vanilla cherry sour cream muffins

  • anya_sf on December 03, 2022

    Using frozen cherries, the pieces sprinkled on top made the batter wetter, so the tops didn't peak as nicely as the photo shows, so I'd avoid placing them near the centers next time. The muffins were really tasty, with strong vanilla flavor, which goes so well with cherries. There's more sugar in these than I'd normally want in a muffin, but they didn't taste too sweet - still, I might try less next time.

  • bching on February 17, 2023

    I didn't love these as much as I expected to; as Anya notes, the recipe calls for a lot of sugar. If I make them again, I would use about 2 tablespoons less sugar. The chopped cherries would benefit by being rolled in some of the sugar before mixing them into the batter. I'd skip sprinkling the tops with sugar.

  • Zosia on June 25, 2023

    These had a typical muffin texture and a lovely vanilla flavour and were chock full of juicy, sweet cherries. I used whole wheat flour, reduced the sugar to 220g (I'll use only 200g next time), omitted the sugar topping and baked in a regular-sized tin (made 11).

• Easiest-peasiest chocolate marshmallow mousse

  • hirsheys on June 04, 2022

    Easy and delicious - such a great fluffy texture. Next time, I’d melt the cream and marshmallows first, then add the chocolate etc after. I found it stressful worrying about scorching the chocolate while the marshmallows all smoothed out. Otherwise, this recipe was simple and quite impressive. Didn’t make the special whipped cream but will for my leftovers tomorrow! ETA: too sweet unless you use dark chocolate (70% is about right)

  • anya_sf on September 18, 2022

    Super easy to make and I appreciated that it could be eaten right away. We had it chilled a few hours later and the texture was more dense. Using Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chips, the chocolate flavor was strong and the mousse was not too sweet - definitely needed the whipped cream topping.

  • snoozermoose on November 07, 2022

    Even though my husband did something wrong when he made this, which caused the mousse to split, it was still really good! Much lighter and more flavorful than your typical chocolate mousse.

• Nutty oats and jam “rebel” bars

  • Astrid5555 on June 04, 2022

    These bars are delicious, a perfect quick snack! I used apricot jam for the jam layer, but a tart one like redcurrant would have been a better option, because these bars are quite sweet.

  • anya_sf on June 09, 2023

    Very good. I used strawberry-rhubarb jam, but a punchier flavor like raspberry would have been ideal.

  • averythingcooks on June 11, 2023

    I had never heard of a "revel bar" but I am a new fan of these jam filled "rebel" bars. I did not have a full cup of the seedless strawberry jam that I was trying to use up so I blobbed what I had over the base and then filled in the gaps with a seedless blackberry jelly and clearly (at least to us) this worked out fine.

  • Lepa on July 10, 2022

    These bars are outstanding. The toasted walnut adds a wonderful flavor. I used raspberry jam. I am usually impatient and cut bars too early but I left these to sit in the pan overnight and the texture was perfect when I cut them in the morning. I anticipate returning to this recipe frequently. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite baking books.

  • Pandan on July 11, 2024

    I made this to use up some opened jam I didn’t like to eat on bread. Doubled the recipe and made it in a 9x13 inch pan. Doubled everything but only used half the amount of sugar. Maybe that was a little bit too much. Sweet enough for me, but others preferred it sweeter. Used apple & cinnamon jam, blackcurrant jam and quince jam. Next time I will try it with plum jam (Zwetschgenmus in Germany).

• Chocolate crème fraîche banana bread

  • Astrid5555 on June 04, 2022

    Big hit with my sons’ classmates, and how could it be not - chocolate & banana, a perfect combination!

  • kari500 on May 14, 2024

    I used mostly dark chocolate chips, but otherwise followed the recipe. The first day I really wasn’t sure about this, but after that I liked it a lot. Very quick to put together, tender, rich.

  • Zosia on October 04, 2022

    Not too sweet, very moist and with a good balance of chocolate and banana flavours. Delicious! I made it with whole wheat flour and sour cream.

  • Kinhawaii on May 05, 2023

    Hard to stop eating this. Used a cocktail long loaf pan, less than 14” x 3”, took 45-50 minutes. Will definitely make again.

  • bwhip on July 21, 2022

    Delicious, with perfect blend of dark chocolate and banana flavors, and pleasing texture. I used sour cream, particularly since recipe only calls for 1/4 cup.

  • Lepa on July 01, 2022

    This cake is rich and satisfying- really delicious. My kid are going to love finding some packed in their lunchboxes tomorrow!

  • lela_bugsms on February 27, 2026

    Easy, fast recipe with nice chocolate notes — and it smells amazing while baking and even for awhile afterward. I made mine into mini loaves instead of one large loaf and added a small slice of banana or a few raspberries to each for a little extra flair. I personally lean toward the chocolate banana bread recipe from Sarah Fennel’s Sweet Tooth, but this was a fun one to try.

  • snoozermoose on October 21, 2022

    This is one of the best banana breads I've ever made (and my go-to is Joanne Chang's from Flour). The chocolate and banana flavors are perfectly balanced, and the chocolate chips make it really special. We couldn't stop snacking on this!

  • Pandan on May 04, 2026

    Used Greek yoghurt instead of Crème fraiche this time and black cocoa, also nice but better in the original version

  • Pandan on June 29, 2024

    Came out really nice and moist. Good option when you want to use up bananas and don’t feel like regular banana bread. I used 3 bananas (300g) and also more sour cream to use up what I had left (75g). Just upped the flour slightly and reduced the sugar to 160g.

• Molten double chocolate mug cake

  • kari500 on October 10, 2022

    Works, but is incredibly rich. I couldn't eat even half of this. If you've had a bad day and want to dose yourself with warm gooey chocolate, this is the answer.

  • Zosia on January 27, 2023

    Easy solution when a chocolate craving strikes. Ice cream is a must. Cook time depends on mug as well as microwave.

• Gooey blondies with toasty pecans and chocolate x3

  • kari500 on November 01, 2022

    I like these but man, they are achingly sweet. I added salt to the top after baking, which helped some, but these are a little too much for me. I will stick with the Martha Stewart ones with toffee chips. They're sweet too, but not *this* sweet.

  • christinaoakland on April 15, 2026

    I've made these a couple times. Came out great over and underbaked. Too sweet so reduced brown sugar. Increased pecans bc they're the star here.

  • averythingcooks on April 08, 2023

    These came together very quickly (pretty much a theme of the book), we both really like them & last night's dinner guest was thrilled to take some home. I used a mix of chopped white, dark & milk chocolate topped up with semi-sweet chips. I took them out 27 min (max time given) and they are still soft & chewy today. They are very sweet (all blondies seem to be to my palate) but we are eating them in very small (1/2 ") squares and they are particularly good beside a cup of coffee or tea.

  • anya_sf on February 15, 2024

    I made 1/2 recipe in an 8"x8" pan; baked 25 min, the blondies were not underdone, but were still soft and chewy. They were very sweet, but good. I used half bittersweet chips, 1/4 milk chocolate, 1/4 white chocolate. Next time I would use all bittersweet.

• Strawberry-n-cream bar cookies

  • kari500 on January 17, 2023

    Very sweet and absolutely delicious. So easy to put together. Thanks to Jay.Moe for the idea of leaving the strawberry bits a bit bigger. This is definitely going on the list of super easy, extremely good desserts that will be made often.

  • Zosia on October 21, 2022

    Scrumptious! I made them with whole wheat flour and 35g strawberries.

  • KCKB on October 14, 2024

    The first time I made these, I wrote a note to myself in the cookbook that they were REALLY sweet and to cut down on the sugar next time. I cut it by half, and I also kept the strawberries in fairly big chunks, and I’m really pleased with the results. With the adjustment to the amount of sugar, this is a low-effort-high-reward recipe.

  • rhb on May 16, 2023

    I overbaked and they were still good...a bit greasy and flatter than others' pics but very good and chewy (maybe because I chopped the chocolate pretty finely). Almost more of a candy. I used El Rey Icoa white chocolate.

  • Pandan on October 09, 2024

    These are really tasty. Had to stop my husband to eat all at once. For my taste these were waaaaaay too sweet though. I already only used half of the sugar but the white chocolate and strawberries still added too much sweetness for me. Would try with just 50 g of sugar next time. I thought they would look a bit prettier and be a bit crunchier though.

  • minbody on August 05, 2022

    These are absolutely DIVINE. You can whip them up in less than ten minutes (even with chopping the white chocolate and crushing the strawberries). The dough is quite dense; the bake time was several minutes longer than the recipe indicated, so don't be shy about giving them the full time and then checking on them. The freeze-dried strawberries become chewy (bliss!), and it took all our willpower to not devour the entire pan in one evening. Also tried with freeze-dried raspberries, which were very good, but we preferred the strawberry version.

  • jay.moe on October 24, 2022

    This is a quick and easy cookie to make. There's no need for a mixer - just whisk and stir. After crushing the freeze-dried strawberries, there was a lot of strawberry dust that I added to the dough. The dust really packed a punch! Next time I won't over crush the berries so there will be larger chunks in the cookies. The strawberries on top of the cookies turned into brown flecks, but the strawberries inside remained a vibrant red. Like anya_sf, it took 22 minutes for the cookies to bake according to the recipe specification for doneness. These cookies are delicious and even though I'm not a big fan of white chocolate, I still ate two as soon as they were cool enough to cut. I would also like to try making them with semi-sweet or dark chocolate since chocolate-covered strawberries is such a great combination.

  • anya_sf on September 21, 2022

    Super quick and easy; most time-consuming part was crushing the strawberries. My bars baked in 22 min. Texture was wonderfully chewy, but my son thought a bit too chewy (I disagreed). We wouldn't have minded a little more strawberry flavor (although the flavor seemed stronger the 2nd day) so next time I might use the whole 34 g package. The whole pan was gone in 2 days.

  • Lepa on September 15, 2022

    Really, really good. They have a lovely texture and amazing taste. They keep well- if you can stop yourself from eating them in one sitting! Highly recommend these bars.

  • thefritschkitchen on March 26, 2025

    Great recipe! Agree with many of the comments below. I will use my whole package of freeze-dried strawberries next time and not bother to crush them at all. I loved the bigger chunks that turned jammy. They took longer to bake, mine was closer to 25 minutes. I'm not usually a white chocolate fan, but it works here amazingly. A bit more salt - maybe flaky on top - wouldn't go amiss. And while cookies bars are so easy to make, I also really want to try these as drop cookies.

• Strawberry basil crumb bars

  • kari500 on August 20, 2023

    For me these were a big No. I expected to love them, but the basil weirded me out, I kept thinking I was eating sweet, crunchy marinara sauce. I know - it's insane. Everyone else was ok with them. But I definitely won't make them again.

  • Astrid5555 on August 15, 2023

    Why haven‘t I baked this before? The strawberry basil combination is delicious and makes for a perfect snacking cake.

  • Kinhawaii on May 30, 2023

    My bars don’t seem as full of jammy strawberries despite weighing…I think I would add more to get them like snoozermoose’s. These were ok but I like my crusts a little thinner. I left out the basil because some didn’t want it but maybe I would have liked them more with it.

  • snoozermoose on August 28, 2022

    Just as delicious as they sound. My lackluster strawberries turned deep and jammy in the oven, and the oat crust/crumble is perfect alongside. The basil isn't too strong. These taste best the next day cold from the fridge.

• From scratch peach caramel dump cake

  • kari500 on June 10, 2024

    Like the others here I didn’t use caramels, just bumped up the brown sugar. Worked perfectly, and this is absolutely delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I think this would work with a lot of other fruits.

  • anya_sf on January 09, 2024

    The baking dish was too full to easily mix the peaches with the sugar mixture - had to use a bowl. Lacking caramels, I added extra sugar with the peaches, but in hindsight it wasn't needed, as the cake was plenty sweet. Baked the full 52 min, the cake was nicely browned and bubbly on the edges, but the middle was slightly underdone (but we still ate it), so err on the side of overbaking. Overall, delicious!

  • Karen0598 on August 01, 2022

    Excellent! Omitted the caramel because the peaches I was using were already sweet, but increased the brown sugar in the peach mixture to 1/3 cup.

• Cinnamon-sugar buttermilk donut holes

  • Astrid5555 on April 29, 2023

    These are delicious and so quick and easy to make!

  • stef on October 29, 2022

    I made muffins instead of donut holes, got 9 using 1/4 cup. Baked for 20 minutes,

  • averythingcooks on March 27, 2023

    My 1st recipe from this new acquisition and I am not disappointed! They came together quickly in 1 bowl, the yield was 30 as expected and most importantly, they are a lovely little bite with a cup of tea or coffee. These are a repeat for sure.

  • Pandan on May 19, 2024

    These were super easy and fast to prepare. I didn’t have enough butter and substitute the butter in the dough with oil without any problems. Came out really moist and were perfect for a children’s birthday party. Got asked for the recipe several times.

• Jumbo vanilla strawberry sour cream muffins

  • Astrid5555 on May 11, 2023

    Like all the other recipes I have made from this book, these are amazing, quick to make and just so delicious!

  • anya_sf on June 20, 2023

    Quite delicious, if on the sweet side, although I do feel that brings out the strawberry flavor more.

• Plum vanilla upside-down snacking cake

  • Astrid5555 on October 01, 2022

    Quickest upside-down cake I have ever made, you dont’t even have to make caramel. Just add everything into the pan, and out comes a stunning and delicious cake.

  • stef on August 19, 2023

    I made mine with nectarines and substituted 50grms of flour with almond flour. Caked flipped out beautifully and is delicious, so good with french vanilla ice cream. As stated it's so quick to make.

  • anya_sf on October 27, 2023

    I only had 2 medium plums, just enough for 1/2 recipe in a 7" pan. Quick and easy, although melted butter would have been easier to spread for the topping. Cake texture was somewhat coarse and muffin-like, which was totally fine here. Really nice flavor.

• Dreamy "thicc" and chewy sugar cookies

  • rosyannposy on October 06, 2023

    These were a big hit in our house and a definite make again. Delicious!

  • hbakke on October 01, 2022

    I skipped the rolling/sprinkling of sugar, and they still turned out great. They were a nice balance of soft and chewy. I would make these again and maybe try the added sugar for crunch.

• Chewy, fudgy brownies

  • rosyannposy on October 06, 2023

    Really good brownies. Rich, dark and chocolately. Easy to make too. These will be my go to brownie recipe.

  • bwhip on March 23, 2023

    Delicious, very dark and deeply chocolatey, with a nice combination of chewy and fudgy, just as the name suggests.

  • fultre on January 06, 2024

    Agree with others, so easy to make and we loved the deep chocolate flavor and fudgy texture. I used Valrhona cocoa powder and unknown brand of run-of-the-mill grocery chocolate chips. Only issue I had was mixing for too long when I added flour/chip mixture, and most of the chips melted. Baked for the longer time listed. Will be a repeat recipe.

  • anya_sf on September 24, 2022

    Super quick and easy! I used Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chips and thought the chocolate intensity was just right. Baked 27 min, the brownies were super fudgy; they probably could have baked another minute, but we didn't mind.

• Tiny lavender shortbread bites

  • jessncanfield on July 14, 2025

    These were delicious. Will most definitely make again!

  • anya_sf on February 20, 2024

    Delicious cookies with a soft, meltingly tender texture, and so easy to make. Mine took 35 min to bake, and in hindsight I should have left them in another 5 min, as the center pieces were just done and I thought they could be drier. Too bad the lavender loses its beautiful color upon baking.

• Farm-stand strawberry no-churn ice cream

  • Zosia on August 14, 2022

    I made a small batch to use up a partial can of sweetened condensed milk and was pleasantly surprised. It had the dense texture that seems typical of no-churn ice creams but didn't leave that odd mouthfeel that some do. It was a little sweet but was still a tasty accompaniment to the berry crisp from the same book.

  • anya_sf on August 05, 2022

    Perhaps not the best strawberry ice cream I've ever made, but really good considering how little effort was required. One reason I love no-churn ice cream is because it's so easy to make 1/2 recipe each of 2 flavors - just split 1 can sweetened condensed milk and 1 pint cream. No need to clean an ice cream maker or wait for it to chill again. The texture was pretty creamy the day it was made (after 5-6 hrs chilling), but somewhat icier the next day.

• Double chocolate farm dinner zucchini loaf with walnuts

  • Zosia on August 09, 2023

    This was a great tasting, deeply chocolatey loaf. It had a really fudgy texture which I enjoy in brownies but apparently don't care for in cakes. If I were to make this again, I would definitely squeeze some of the excess water from the zucchini first. I baked mine in a 9"x 5" loaf pan to an internal temp of 202F, and omitted the cinnamon.

  • thefritschkitchen on August 15, 2025

    Very good chocolate cake! Rich and very moist - I like this better then the chocolate zucchini cake in Snacking Cakes

• Black bottom cupcakes with cream cheese filling

  • Zosia on May 09, 2023

    I've made a few versions of this dessert and thought the flavours of this one were very good: the cupcake was chocolately (I included espresso powder) and the cream cheese was sweet but still retained some tang. The cake portion was light and spongey and while this sounds good, it was almost too delicate for the cheese filling which was quite firm once baked. Smitten Kitchen's recipe is still our favourite.

  • anya_sf on March 03, 2023

    Easy to make by hand and pretty tasty. WIth my cocoa, the volume equated to 36 g (the amount I used), which doesn't seem so much more than 30 g, but is 20% (cocoa is quite light). The filling was rather runny and tended to separate in the cupcakes and consequently got a bit dry; maybe just use an egg white instead of whole egg?

  • Pandan on August 29, 2024

    These were so good! Super moist, not crumbly and dry at all! I was skeptical first because the dough was so liquid, but they come out perfect. I tweaked them a little bit: halved the sugar in the dough and added one Oreo cookie to each bottom of the muffin pan. Also added the crumbs of the two leftover Oreo’s to the cream cheese mixture. The cookies rose to the top in between the cream cheese and the dough, which also looked nice. My cream cheese mixture was quite liquid too due to cream cheese being different in Germany compared to the US. Mine looked different than in the book, but still good.

  • KCKB on June 27, 2024

    Good chocolate flavor (I included the optional espresso powder) and a very nice, light texture. These remind me of a lighter, fluffier version of a cream cheese swirl brownie our family loves. Suggestion - since a focus of this book is streamlining recipes and minimizing the washing up, I’ll add a detail that can help on that front: in step 4 where it says “Evenly portion the batter among the prepared muffin wells”, you can use the 1/4 C measure from the Dutch cocoa to scoop out the batter. It’s about the right size, will help you get a consistent amount for each cupcake, and already needs washing anyway.

• Secret ingredient crispy rice cereal treats

  • Summerlandsky on March 01, 2024

    Good recipe with the addition of the sweetened condensed milk. I think it also made it less sticky to assemble. I don’t know if it’s worth the extra effort to brown the butter first. I doubled the recipe to make a full 9x13 pan, plus added a bit more rice crispies and the extra marshmallows. Still had plenty of gooey mess to cover it all. We like a nice thick bar, so it was the perfect amount to get that.

  • stef on March 04, 2024

    These are very good. I sprinkled some sprinkles on top and it added a nice bit ofcolour.

  • AndieEats on February 28, 2023

    Received comments that they'd never eaten such delicious "gourmet" cereal treats, and was hounded for the recipe. I did fold in the extra bit of mini marshmallows at the end, which provided nice pockets of gooey-ness. Yes, these are sweet but they're also RKT and meant to be? Easy to put together, so I'd definitely make them again.

  • hbakke on July 02, 2022

    These turned out great, despite my pantry being a bit short of the required amount of marshmallows. The sweetened condensed milk adds a slightly different, but welcome flavor. I would make these again and add the optional additional marshmallows for the add chewiness.

  • cookingbychapter on December 13, 2022

    Doubled the recipe and these turned out so good! Downright addictive. My co-workers were fighting over them. Best RKT I have ever had.

  • gootenbeez on January 21, 2026

    These were tasty but didn't totally work out for me. I think my marshmallows either didn't melt all the way down or I didn't wait long enough but I was getting nervous and didn't want to burn anything. My marshmallows apparently were old and hard seeming and not their fluffy best. I would try this recipe one more time with fresher marshmallows. I liked the browned butter flavor and I love sweetened condensed milk but kind of hate that it doesn't use a whole can to make life easier.

• Crispy chocolate crunch bark

  • Summerlandsky on March 01, 2024

    This was too one demential even for chocolate lovers like us. Perhaps adding peanut butter would help. As it was it was just too sweet and not that interesting.

• Farm dinner zucchini loaf with walnuts

  • stef on August 13, 2023

    Quick recipe to make. Very moist. I added 1 1/2 cups chocolate chip. Baking time 55 minutes.

  • snoozermoose on August 16, 2022

    A really tasty and classic zucchini bread recipe. The cinnamon flavor is nice and strong, and the amount of walnuts is perfect. I doubled the recipe and made one 9x5 loaf and 12 muffins.

  • averythingcooks on August 14, 2023

    This is really good! I made 4 mini loaves with a small amt of batter leftover. I set out to bake them for around 75% of the suggested time and am very happy I checked them 10 minutes early because at that point, they were perfectly baked (and am I right in thinking that mini loaf pans do not seem to come in any standard size??). She does not say to squeeze out the zucchini but I did give it a few minutes in a strainer. These are so moist, warmly spiced and full of nuts - my father-in-law will be thrilled.

• Butter cracker toffee bark with toasted nuts

  • stef on November 25, 2022

    Oh this is addictive. Going on Christmas cookie tray. I used a 16x10 baking sheet but one just a little smaller would be perfect.

• Easiest ever (no, really) rainbow sprinkle snacking cake with cream cheese glaze

  • calguire on November 13, 2023

    The texture of the cake is indeed a bit different, but the whole family liked it a lot. Easy enough to bake with a toddler which is always a good thing.

  • snoozermoose on October 16, 2022

    This was a miss for me, which is rare for this book. The cake baked up with a weird oily flavor. The crumb was big and a little rough. The cream cheese glaze was the one thing I liked about it, but did make the overall cake sweeter than I was hoping it would be, as the cake is plenty sweet on its own.

• Vanilla no-bake cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust

  • anya_sf on September 08, 2022

    80 g butter was just enough to hold the crust together. There was a generous amount of crumbs - more than actually needed (but I used them all). I didn't line the sides with parchment and had no problem with sticking. Unfortunately, the filling never set properly - not sure why - maybe I beat the cream cheese too much? I did need to beat it longer to get rid of lumps (despite using room temp cream cheese beaten smooth initially). The flavor was very good, especially topped with raspberries, although an extra tablespoon of lemon juice might have been nice (and maybe would help it set? not sure).

• Deeply chocolaty baked donuts with buttermilk glaze and sprinkles

  • Pandan on August 21, 2024

    Reduced the brown sugar to 200g, definitely sweet enough, even without the glaze. I got 12 donuts, 24 mini bundt cakes and one regular sized donut out of the dough. Nice idea to also use buttermilk in the glaze. The donuts were chocolatey and moist.

• Molten rainbow sprinkle mug cake

  • Jviney on February 15, 2023

    This was yummy! A minute and a half was just right for it and my six-year-old vacuumed it in no time. Watch out - they’re very hot when they come out of the microwave!

• Molten chocolate chip cookie mug cake

  • Jviney on February 15, 2023

    This turned out so poorly that I wonder if I made a mistake on the directions…maybe next time I’ll try cooking for just one minute. It tasted good but was very dry and crumbly.

• Flourless chocolate (weeknight) dinner party cake

  • thefritschkitchen on October 13, 2025

    This was not good… it was almost eggy? I don’t know, don’t plan on trying to fight it out either

  • karen_skgri6 on February 16, 2026

    My go to quick dessert. Delicious , elegant, naturally gluten free. I have served this at many gatherings and it is always a hit!

• “Shhh, don’t tell” devil’s food snacking cake with marshmallow frosting

  • cookingbychapter on July 12, 2022

    I dont know what happened here, this cake tasted ok on day one, but by day two the icing just did not taste good anymore. I stored it in the fridge as recommended, but it lost its appeal pretty quickly.

• Pistachio chocolate anytime buns

  • snoozermoose on August 09, 2022

    These were really tasty and rich. The almond and chocolate flavor was really addictive. We did feel like the pistachios were overpowered by the almond extract and would rather use almonds next time. The recipe was more involved than I thought--definitely takes longer than the listed prep time.

  • stef on August 07, 2022

    A lovely crunchy bun. Baked in muffin tin and came out easily. I just sprinkled a tiny bit of sugar on each bun after baking. Will repeat.

• Pecan coffeecake muffins

  • averythingcooks on March 13, 2024

    We really like the taste of these muffins but the instructions for portioning the batter evenly did not work for me. Next time I will use only 1 tbsp of batter for the bottom layer to ensure there is enough to get 12 muffins by the end. Also, It might look like too much topping before they go into the oven but it does kind of disappear/spread during the bake. Like I said...tasty but for me, this reflects the problems discussed in a recent blog post re: off measurements.

  • snoozermoose on December 05, 2022

    I messed these up (added all the pecans to the topping instead of saving some for the filling), yet they were still really tasty. Very nutty and satisfying. They also got better as they aged like a lot of the bakes from this book.

• Contest-winning (jumbo) peanut butter cookies

  • Running_with_Wools on September 29, 2024

    Somehow these cookies managed to be delicate and crispy on the edges, and fudgy and chewy in the middle. They were sweet and salty and fragrant. Probably the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever made and I will make them again.

  • averythingcooks on January 30, 2024

    I made the 1st tray as instructed (1/4 cup cookies, not flattened, with sea salt) and we were not exactly fans. For the remaining dough, I made 25 g cookies, flattened with a fork and skipped the salt. For us....these were far better BUT having said that, these do not beat out other favourite versions.

  • anya_sf on January 29, 2024

    Good peanutty flavor and chewy texture. We made them slightly smaller and got 25 cookies; baking time was 15 min.

  • Lepa on March 11, 2023

    I was skeptical when I saw the shortening, as I never use it. But turned out really well and are truly delicious. Mine took 16 minutes.

  • Pandan on November 25, 2024

    I found these a little bit disappointing. I didn’t flatten the first tray as stated in the book and did so after baking. They didn’t look nice and round that way. Also although they were brown on the edges they tasted a but to raw and soft for my taste after 14 minutes. I baked the second and third tray without the sugar on top and did flatten them beforehand which definitely made them look better. I thought they would firm up more after having cooled down. Should have baked them for 16-18 minutes to make them crispier from the outside.

  • tamara_9khuic on May 04, 2026

    This is my go-to peanut butter cookie. I had to swap out coconut oil and more butter for the shortening (forgot to add this to grocery list) and still turned out wonderful. I make them with a bit smaller scoop and bake 12 minutes just to get a few more cookies at a bit less calories. Delicious!

• Contest-winning (jumbo) peanut butter cookies with milk chocolate chips

  • anya_sf on September 11, 2022

    Like stef, I made smaller cookies and got 16 from 1/2 recipe. Baking time was 12-13 min. Used mini semisweet chips, which were fine but not super noticeable. The cookies were soft and slightly chewy. My family loved them. The sugar coating was pretty and did give these a sugar cookie vibe, but could be skipped.

• Straight-up coconut macaroons

  • anya_sf on December 02, 2022

    I used sweetened condensed milk instead of cream of coconut. Also used an electric mixer to beat the egg white. The mixture was quite stiff and difficult to fold together. My scoop was larger and I got 18 macaroons. They needed the full baking time to set, but the bottoms got quite brown. In hindsight, smaller cookies would have been better, or a lower baking temperature, which would be more common for macaroons.

• Tahini milk chocolate bars

  • KCKB on October 05, 2024

    This was quick and easy to put together. I have had the peanut butter version of these bars (“O’Henry bars”, described in the headnote), and I think the tahini version is a delicious, more sophisticated variation. I like that it’s a bit less sweet, more savory and with a hint of saltiness. (Also, because I was a bit short on milk chocolate chips, I had to use a mix of milk and semi-sweet. That works well, and I would even maybe go with dark chocolate chips next time around?)

• Nutty oats and chocolate “rebel” bars

  • Kinhawaii on April 02, 2024

    Nice but I liked it the first day when it was crunchier. Fans of chewy will like it more than I do. I melted the condensed milk & chocolate together in the microwave like the Cook’s Country recipe.

• Coconut loaf cake with coconut glaze

  • Kinhawaii on October 02, 2023

    I agree this was very nice- moist, not too sweet. I used a long cocktail loaf pan & it took 50 minutes. I was scared of the extract so halved it with vanilla extract & it had enough coconut for me…I like coconut but I am not a huge fan. Would definitely make this again- so easy. I used refined coconut oil & water.

  • snoozermoose on July 19, 2022

    This is so good! Very coconutty but not overpoweringly so. The cake is lightly sweet, so the glaze is a must. My coconut-loving husband fell in love with this. He said it tastes like a coconut donut and finished the whole thing within a couple of days.

  • Pandan on May 04, 2026

    This was a winner even with the guys who normally claim they don’t like coconut (what’s up with so many guys not liking coconut btw?). Would make again!

• Almond olive oil snacking cake with chocolate almond glaze

  • thefritschkitchen on April 03, 2026

    Fantastic cake - simple and sweet, a must if you love almond extract (and I do!) used almond milk and avocado oil (I wasn’t paying attention ??)

• Coconut tres leches snacking cake

  • Pandan on October 04, 2024

    Yum, so good! I used a coconut based sweetened condensed milk and more coconut milk instead of the evaporated milk in the soak. Reduced the sugar to 150 g but next time will reduce to 100 g since the soak is super sweet. Or even no sugar in the cream. Left out the grated coconut on top. Will also try the non coconut version.

• Oliver‘s simplest tiramisu

  • Pandan on October 09, 2024

    I’ve made several tiramisu recipes during the past few weeks. This wasn’t my favourite. The best part of this was the cream. I liked the addition of salt here. The soak didn’t work for me. It was way too much, I had over 200 ml left and my tiramisu was still very soggy. The ratio and taste of liquid to ladyfingers is way better in Stella Park’s recipe. Next time I will combine this easy cream with her recipe for the syrup.

• “Corner store” oatmeal cookies

  • Kitiara121 on December 05, 2022

    These cookies are good but I am noting two things. My cookies felt greasy. The reason could be the type of potato chips used. Next time, I will use a baked potato chip and see if that helps. My other note is that it took longer than 10 mins to bake.

  • stef on August 02, 2022

    Made these with some m&ms I had in my freezer. They have a nice crunch. I don't think time it takes to prepare all ingredients is in the 10 minutes she states it takes to make them. Minimal wash up.

• Individual butterscotch puddings

  • anya_sf on September 17, 2022

    Quick and easy. The puddings were plenty rich made with 1% milk + cream. Using Nestle butterscotch chips, the artificial candy flavor was noticeable, but the puddings were still tasty, and the butterscotch flavor was definitely there. My son thought these were the best butterscotch puddings ever, perhaps because they don't contain alcohol like some versions.

• Simple lattice(less) Linzer Torte

  • mtnbaker5280 on April 19, 2025

    Instead of raspberry jam I used Bonne Maman cranberry cherry preserves. I had a little trouble telling when the torte was done and was worried I overbaked it. It sat overnight before we cut into it and the preserves softened the torte. It was delicious and we couldn’t stop sneaking bites.

• Double ginger scones with currants

  • snoozermoose on August 07, 2022

    These are some of the best scones I've ever made, and I make scones at least a couple of times per month. They have just the right amount of ginger flavor, which pairs wonderfully with the currants. My husband happily devoured two and said "wow these are really good!" Only change I made was subbing dark brown sugar for light.

  • Lepa on September 15, 2022

    These scones are wonderful. The flavor is lovely and the technique is genius. I did turn the mixture out and knead it just until it came together but I also used her scoop method, which I liked. We ate these with creme fraiche (out of clotted cream) and jam and loved every bite.

• Flourless salt & pepper chocolate cookies

  • anya_sf on January 17, 2026

    Quick to make, although hard to shape as nice circles; I went with wonky shapes. My cookies took 15 min to bake. Super fudgy and chewy, and really hard to remove from the parchment (I destroyed a couple in the process - still edible of course). There was too much pepper for my taste; next time I will use half and not sprinkle any on top.

• Epic snickerdoodles for Stephanie

  • anya_sf on August 15, 2022

    With brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon in the dough, these cookies weren't quite traditional, but we really liked them. Baked 8 minutes, they were soft and slightly chewy.

• Banana whoopie pies with chai cream cheese filling

  • Pandan on June 16, 2024

    I only made these because I was looking for a recipe to use up exactly 1,5 overripe bananas (half banana leftover from Flour‘s famous banana bread). Happy that I tried it, because these are really good! Normally I‘m not that into chai flavoured sweets, but the combination here really works. Also the pies are nice and soft. The only problem I had: my frosting was way too runny and hard to get on to the pies. Had the same problem with another frosting from the book. Just found out this has something to do with the different cream cheese we have in Germany. The cream was still runny even after a few hours in the fridge. Will reduce the sugar in the dough even further next time.

• Red velvet loaf cake with cinnamon cream cheese glaze

  • hailey_p9ylhp on March 23, 2026

    I like the cake but used left over cream cheese frosting from Claire Saffitz Dessert Person

• Mexican hot chocolate pudding cake

  • jimandtammyfaye on January 04, 2025

    This recipe alone is worth the price of the book! A non-Mexican version of chocolate pudding cake has been a staple in my family for years, but Jessie Sheehan's addition of espresso, cinnamon and chile powder (ancho, per anya_sf's recommendation) absolutely take this dessert to the next level. I doubled the recipe and baked in a 9X13" pan, which didn't affect baking time much. I pulled the pan from the oven when the cake reached 200 degrees.

  • anya_sf on January 17, 2023

    Not wanting the cake to be actually spicy, I used ancho chile powder, which just provided background notes. I had to use dark brown sugar in the top layer and used decaf instant coffee in lieu of espresso powder. Baked in a glass pan, the cake seemed too jiggy at 30 min, so I baked it an extra 5 minutes and thought the texture was just right, served a couple hours later (with vanilla ice cream - recommended). Delicious!

• Spiced pumpkin snacking cake with fluffiest chocolate buttercream

  • Kitiara121 on September 16, 2023

    Followed the recipe with variation Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting. The cake ended up baking longer than the 30 mins indicated. It was closer to 40 mins. Overall this a nice desert but I will keep looking for a good pumpkin cake recipe. For this one, I think it is better cold or served next day.

• Spiced pumpkin snacking cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting

  • rhb on November 25, 2022

    Stodgy cake without much flavor. The Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting was excellent, though (I used half the amount of cinnamon).

• Nonnie’s best-ever carrot cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting

  • stef on December 08, 2025

    This recipe is just like carrot cake. Instead of muffins I made it into cakeletts. Company was impressed.

• Chocolate gingerbread snacking cake with tangy crème fraîche whipped cream

  • Lepa on July 02, 2022

    This was absolutely delicious and we couldn't stop eating. I baked the cake in a nine inch round pan and after 25 minutes it was done around the edges but still fudgy in the middle. I was worried it would burn and took it out, which resulted in a wonderful damp middle.

  • bwhip on December 04, 2022

    We really enjoyed this. Very interesting flavor, deep and dark, not too sweet, and the crème fraiche whipped cream is the perfect complement.

• Mini apple cardamom crumbles

  • anya_sf on January 12, 2023

    I made one larger crumble in a 9" square pan, halving the apple wedges for easier eating. In the topping, I used old-fashioned oats and reduced the sugar to 150 g. Baking time was 40 min; I increased the oven temp for the last 10 min so the topping would brown more (my dish was deep). The crumble was delicious, but still quite sweet (partly because I used Fuji apples and stupidly forgot the lemon juice).

  • snoozermoose on November 07, 2022

    These were so delicious! The cardamom is so heavenly that I can't imagine making apple crisp/crumble any other way. I did find them quite sweet, even after adjusting the sugar in the crumble to 175 grams. I'd adjust it further to 125 grams next time. I also cut the butter down in the crumble to 7 tbsp and thought it was plenty. This ended up filling 8 ramekins rather than 6.

  • rhb on November 27, 2022

    Thanks to snoozermouse, I used 125 g of sugar and 7 T butter in the crumble. I also used one 8-inch square glass pan (greased with some coconut oil) and baked for a little over 35 minutes. Turned out really good!

• Extremely special whipped cream

  • anya_sf on September 18, 2022

    I had to work quickly as the melted marshmallows started hardening and sticking to the bowl right away. Still, the whipped cream turned out fine. There was a slight marshmallow flavor which wasn't noticeable when we had this on chocolate mousse. I can't speak to how long this might keep, but it held up fine for a few hours in the fridge at least.

• Dad’s hot fudge sauce

  • anya_sf on March 10, 2024

    Ridiculously quick and easy to make, with just the right consistency when warm, and medium chocolate flavor.

• Traditional tres leches cake

  • Pandan on November 23, 2024

    I love this recipe! Super easy and really moist cake. It was diminished quite fast. I already made the coconut version. This time I made a mix of the coconut and original version. Omitted the coconut extract and coconut oil but still used coconut milk in the soak because I had some leftover in the fridge. Will als try a completely non coconut version next time. One of my favourite snacking cakes!