Cookie Monster cupcakes for a foodie’s first birthday!

White chocolate, dried raspberry, anise seed: one of three gorgeous custom chocolate bars I had the pleasure of creating and reviewing.

Hard cider, cider jelly and a lesson on why fresh organic cider costs so much: the fruits of our labor at our fall apple pressing party.

After a visit to the 2009 Seattle Chocolate Salon, I returned home amazed, inspired and very, very full.

Devilishly delicious Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with three–count ’em, *three*–different kinds of ganache.

Roasted Campari tomatoes stuffed with falafel and served with lemon-garlic roasted potatoes, a simple salad and a quick yogurt sauce.

The Aeropress is a $25 device capable of producing an espresso-like brew that rivals even the best espresso machine.

Homemade vegetarian Peeps made with a delicious, luxurious marshmallow recipe set with xanthan gum instead of gelatin.

The apples are the props in this food photo. Come see how to make this cast sugar bowl and learn some fundamental sugar work techniques.

Cadbury Creme Brul’egg: two guilty pleasures come together in this rich, sweet Easter dessert.

Lemon parsley mafaldine with asparagus vs. a “fanciful” fruit-flavored pasta blend. Which one would I buy again?

A blown sugar dolphin: the culmination of my account of learning to work with sugar during pastry school. You should see where I started!

In honor of the final episode of Battlestar Galatica, I made rainbow cupcakes inspired by one of my favorite images from the show.

One of my vanilla-flavored rainbow cupcakes wanted to show just how much love it was baked with.

Banana bread with cheddar cheese, toasted and topped with Irish butter.

King Arthur Flour’s guaranteed Fudge Brownies meet Andes Mints baking chips. Spoiler alert: they’re BFFs by the end of the night.

Brightly-colored almond cake, apricot jam and Michel Cluizel dark chocolate glaze.

Chocolate cupcake dipped in rich ganache, piped with Swiss meringue and torched with a blowtorch, as all the best desserts are.

Crystallized ginger is the key to this exotic take on steel-cut oatmeal, served with cardamom yogurt, mango and toasted coconut.