pastries

It's time for this week's edition of The Hungry Games, where we bake off several variations on a single recipe and declare just one ultimate victor.  This week, it's all about classic carrot cake.

It's a big day for Tikkido!  It's the first birthday of the Tikkido site, AND the first birthday of Festivities Magazine!  What better way to celebrate than with a basic vanilla cake edition of The Hungry Games?

It's teacher appreciation week, and parents all over the country are showing our children's instructors how much we love them.  For my daughters' classes, I'm whipping up a fun treat:  homemade fortune cookies, with a message from each child in the class inside each cookie.

What better dessert for a kid-centered outdoor movie night than cupcakes?  Especially when you have 150 or so guests to feed.

The fact that the cupcakes look like utterly adorable tiny tubs of popcorn?  Bonus!

I love trifles.  Those layers of fruit, cake, whipped cream, pastry cream...whatever you want to add, really.  They're so pretty, so fresh, so downright delicious.  And the awesomeness factor is increased exponentially when you make miniature trifles.

The appeal of cupcakes is clear:  a miniature cake, adorable and sweet, all to yourself.  It's no wonder they're a favorite with young and old alike.  When I was  developing the Mother's day spring garden party, I knew I wanted to use cupcakes as a dessert.  The goal of that party was to have everything so simple that the kids could be in charge and make everything themselves, and my girls love to make cupcakes.

I've said it before, I'll say it again:  I LOVE PIE.  Any excuse to make pie is a good one, and celebrating pi day (3.14, get it?) is a particularly good excuse.

For some reason, the warm breezes and budding leaves of spring make me crave scones.  I bake up a batch of the buttery, tender treats, and break out my carefully rationed supply of homemade strawberry jam.  (It would never do to run out of that summery elixir before strawberries come back into season in a few months.)  

Warm from the oven, these taste like heaven on a plate.  If they even make it to a plate.

It's time for this week's installment of The Hungry Games!  This week, it's all about the classic peanut butter cookie.

The rules are simple.  Each week, I pit four or five recipes for a single item, gather as many taste-testers as possible, and declare just one victor.  One triumphant, delicious, best version of the recipe.  

Looking for the perfect pink Valentine's Day dessert?  Love strawberries?  Look no further!