• Motocakes (chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting)

    If you read my post about the parties last week at our house, I’m sure you were wondering what I made for dessert. Because there is ALWAYS dessert. Well, I made these: And yes, those are EGAs on top. That is Eagle, Globe and Anchor. As in, the emblem of the Marine Corps. I called […]

  • Cherry blossom cookies

    The Cherry Blossom Festival ended Sunday, and tiny pink petals are floating all over DC — but some of the trees are still blooming. Toby and I went down to the tidal basin two weekends ago and it was beautiful. Naturally, I was inspired to bake cookies. I thought about something with cherries, but instead […]

  • Chocolate layer cake

    About a year and a half ago, I met and interviewed a really amazing person: Gunnery Sgt. William J. Dixon, the Marine Corps funeral director. I have seen him a few times since, and was always surprised to see he hadn’t been promoted yet. So I was excited to get an email a few weeks […]

  • Devil dogs

    Depending on where you grew up, devil dogs may be a kind of hot dog, a kind of snack cake (akin to a Twinkie or Ding Dong) or a Marine. I’m in the latter camp — which is why I knew I had to make them. I had been thinking about making these for a […]

  • Guinness chocolate cake

    Happy St. Patrick’s Day! You all know Guinness is good for you, right? Well, Guinness chocolate cake is even better. I tried to drink the leftover beer… that didn’t work out. Maybe I should have let it come to room temperature and poured it into a pint glass? Since I made this as a bundt […]

  • Grasshopper pie

    I love reading The Pioneer Woman’s cooking blog and looking at all the fabulous photos. But I don’t actually make a ton of the things she posts, mainly because she likes a lot of things that I don’t like or can’t eat — like mushrooms (gross) and seafood (allergic). HOWEVER. As soon as I saw […]

  • Steel Curtain macarons

    Are you ready for the Super Bowl? I’m totally not. But I do have some cookies, so that’s a good start. The first cookies I made today were Steelers macarons — yellow shells with chocolate ganache. I used the same recipe and method for the macaron shells I used during the 12 days of Christmas […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 12: Chocolate-dipped peppermint meringues

    Merry Christmas! I hope Santa brought you everything you asked for… but since he may have eaten all your cookies, I’ve got your back. And these are so good that they will make you smile even if you only got coal in your stocking. The key to the amazingness of these meringue cookies is crushed […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 9: Peppermint patties

    Peppermint patties may be my favorite chocolate candy. So I had been wanting to make these homemade ones since I saw them in Gourmet magazine in 2007. And I finally had the chance! These are definitely not the quickest things to make. But they’re pretty fun and not terribly difficult, provided you have the right […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 6: World peace cookies

    This is a perfect time of year to wish — like all good Miss America candidates — for world peace. These cookies are so named because Dorie Greenspan’s neighbor believes a daily dose of them would ensure world peace. I can’t disagree. We have a magical Giant near us (the supermarket, not, like, Grawp) that […]