Laura Rebecca's Kitchen

Another day, another cake but from the same cookbook: In the Sweet Kitchen by Reagan Daley . Last week, we were invited to a “Thanksgiving dinner in February” at Carolyn’s house. She provided the turkey (21 lbs!), mashed potatoes, mashed turnips, stuffing and gravy and all I needed to bring was dessert. Given that there […]

To be honest, I was initially disappointed with this cake. The day I made it — Valentines’ Day, a Thursday — the topping struck me as too bitter, despite all the caramel encapsulating the pineapple. But by Saturday, the bitterness had given way to a gentle tartness, pairing well with the dense and lovely vanilla-flavored […]

Moist, chewy brownies can be made – and eaten – without throwing one’s healthy diet under an oncoming bus. I made the recipe two ways – first using dutch processed cocoa, and then with traditional baking cocoa. The traditional cocoa yielded a reddish brownie with a detectable coffee flavor, while the dutch-processed turned out a […]

I’ve thinking a lot about donuts lately. My beloved Krispy Kreme – just a stone’s throw from work – closed down, leaving me bereft of my favorite flavor: glazed kreme filled. Now, my only local options are Dunkin’ Donuts (serviceable), the bakery department at Wegmans (pretty good) or Timmy Ho’s (where I seem to get […]

A quick pic using Shane’s digital camera — my camera (with allllll the other pictures) is holding its images hostage… This month’s DB challenge was hosted by Jen of The Canadian Baker. She asked us to make Lemon Meringue Pies as “it is something [she’s] always wanted to try to make and [she] also wanted […]

Sometimes, a cookie is so tasty that, even though you’ve planned to blog about it, you eat all the treats before you have a chance to take pictures. These cookies fall into that category. (But Jerry let me borrow his photo — Yay, Cooking By The Seat of My Pants!) On Saturday night, we had […]

Mmm, Cinnabon™. A few weeks ago, I got an invite from Lis — did I want to join her and several other food bloggers in a live baking project? Um, yes! Lis purchased a “Top Secret” recipe for Cinnabon’s™ cinnamon rolls to compare with the results of our recent DB cinnamon roll/sticky roll challenge. After […]

I just had another piece of this lovely cake and here’s the thing: it’s delicious, but it’s supposed to be gingerbread, and it doesn’t taste like gingerbread to me. This is Nigella Lawson’s “Fresh Gingerbread with Lemon Icing” recipe and I have to ask, where’s the spicy hit? I even doubled the amount of ginger […]

Before our Halloween/Dessert party, I asked the Daring Bakers for ideas. Peabody suggested I make Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars; she’d just made them with great success. So, I happily followed her suggestion, and she is so right: these are delicious! Spicy and sweet with added depth from the molasses, they are wonderful. The base is rich […]

These are the easiest, and one of the tastiest, little treats you can make. You can whip up a huge batch in under 10 minutes, and if you bring them to a party, people will love you. There’s something about the combination of salty, crunchy pretzels, paired with chewy marshmallows and the sweetness of chocolate […]