Going Bananas! Banana Cake with Maple Buttercream Frosting Dessert On our recent vacation to Montreal and Quebec City, Canada, we tasted all things maple. Maple candy-coated soft serve ice cream cones. Profiteroles with maple syrup ice cream. Even the whisky has maple syrup in it.  Yum, yum … what?! Canadians […]

Don’t Eat The Entire Bowl! Barefoot Contessa’s Chocolate Orange Mousse Dessert We served French fare for Christmas Eve this year using several recipes from the Barefoot Contessa’s Barefoot in Paris cookbook.  As you can tell from the photo below, her Chocolate Orange Mousse is a recipe I make all the […]

Carrot Top Hatch Chile Carrot Cake with Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting and Hatch Chile Candied Walnuts Dessert September basically marks the end of Hatch chile season, and we picked up a bunch of Melissa’s Produce Extra Hot Hatch chiles.  Tom has been hankering for my carrot cake lately, so I […]

Sensational Citrus Olive Oil Bundt Cake Citrus Olive Oil Bundt Cake with Kumquat Infused Syrup Dessert I never know what to do with the kumquats our tiny tree produces.  This year it was particularly prolific, probably due to all the rain.  In the past, I have made Kumquat Infused Vodka, […]

Crumble Bars Two Ways (Part Two) Oatmeal Walnut Bars with Blood Orange Jam and Apricots Dessert As promised in my earlier post for the Raspberry Habanero Jam Crumble Bars, here is the recipe for Blood Orange Jam, Apricot, Oatmeal, and Walnut Bars lightly adapted from Giada De Laurentis’ Apricot Oat […]

Crumble Bars Two Ways (Part One) Raspberry Habanero Jam Crumble Bars Dessert  Tom has been obsessed with jam lately … specifically with Laura Ann’s Jams and particularly with her Raspberry Habanero and Bourbon Blood Orange jams.  We have been going through peanut butter and jam sandwiches as if we had […]

Crunchy Delight in Every Bite Butterscotch Pots de Crème with Bourbon Whipped Cream & Toffee Bits Dessert There are some holidays when it is easier to stay at home and cook.  In my opinion, Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays.  I made this recipe from Betty Rosbottom’s Soup Nights […]

Sweet Breakfast Treat Apple Cider Bundt Cake with Apple Cinnamon Glaze Breakfast When I was growing up, my Nana made cinnamon rolls every year for breakfast on Christmas morning.  They were terrific.  I asked about the recipe once, and she replied, “Sissy, that is what they make bakeries for!”  At […]

Taste of Italy Cookies Pignoli (Pine Nut) Cookies with Orange and Rosemary Dessert As indicated by the last couple of recipes here in Mai Tai Tracy’s Kitchen, our recent trip to Italy has inspired me to cook Italian!   My absolute favorite cookie on our first trip to Italy in […]