- Oreos are one of the most popular store-bought cookies out there and they can be pretty addictive, but homemade Fauxreos, which Bravetart recently made, can be even better. These look-a-likes are completely homemade with all natural ingredients. Bravetart even came up with an easy method of thinning the batter to enable you to pipe an authentic looking design on top of the chocolate wafer cookies before they’re baked to make them look even more authentic. The cream filling for the cookies can be made with butter or shortening. There is a gluten free version of the recipe that uses rice flour as well as one that calls for wheat flour and turns out a result that, surprisingly, has an even more authentic texture and gets closer to the originals.
- Coconut is a great flavor to work with. Not only is it delicious in many types of baked goods, but it works very well with a variety of other flavors. The Galley Gourmet‘s Coconut Pound Cake with Lemon-Mint Glaze is a great example. This cream cheese-enriched bundt cake is packed with shredded coconut and laced with just enough lemon to brighten it up. Then, the cake is drizzled with a glaze that is infused with fresh mint leaves and lemon zest. The mint is a great contrast to the rich cream cheese cake, and both the lemon and the mint boost up the coconut flavor and allow it to stand out, highlighted by the other flavors.
- The Persimmon Frangipane Tartlets with Honey and Mixed Spices that Chocswirl recently baked are beautiful to look at and happen to be easier to make than they seem at first glance. The buttery tart crust is made much like a shortbread or cookie dough, and is rolled out and pressed into small tart pans. A spiced frangipane filling that is rich with ground almonds is poured into the shells and topped with slices of persimmon. The tarts can then be put into the oven to bake, and the rich almond filling really serves to highlight the fresh fruit after the tarts are done. The other great thing about this type of tart is that it is easy to use other types of fresh fruits, such as raspberries or blackberries, to put a new flavor spin on it based on what you have on hand and what’s in season.
- Cream cheese can add moistness to a cake recipe, but it also makes a great filling for other types of baked goods. I’ve made cream cheese-stuffed chocolate chip cookies before with great success and I was happy to see that Cookies and Cups had just as delicious a result with some Cream Cheese Filled Snickerdoodles. The snickerdoodle recipe starts out just like an unfilled cookie would, but the dough is wrapped around a small scoop of sweetened cream cheese before being rolled in cinnamon sugar. The result is a bit like a cookie and cheesecake in one bite – wrapped in a cinnamon sugar coating!
- What could be better than a big slice of homemade cheesecake? How about a slice of Kitchen Wench‘s Strawberry Zebra Striped Cheesecake! Fresh strawberries are added to one portion of a cheesecake batter to add a strawberry flavor and a bright pink color. The plain batter and the strawberry batter are layered in a pan, just as you would for a zebra cake, and while the cheesecake bakes, the batter forms lovely rings of red and white that run throughout the cake. It is definitely a beautiful effect and the best part is that this cheesecake tastes just as good as it looks.
Stella
August 17, 2011Thanks for including the Fauxreos, Nicole! Hope you have a chance to whip up a batch, they’re so nostalgic!
Nicole
August 17, 2011These recipes all sound delicious. Thanks for the bite, Nicole!
Robyn
August 18, 2011Great links Nicole! Thanks for including my tartlets! 🙂
shelly (cookies and cups)
August 18, 2011Thanks for the linky love!
I would DIE for a cream cheese filled chocolate chip cookie…i’m gonna have to look up your recipe!