Celebrating National Pie Day the best way possible: with Michigan’s Grand Traverse Pie, my favorite in the entire world!!
My friend Pets is a modern-day Betty Crocker. Just look at this patriotic Strawberry Shortcake Cake she made me. It’s the most delicious Fourth of July treat, complete with cream cheese frosting and fire cracker candles from Hill’s Kitchen. Have sweet holidays, little chowers!
Strawberry Shortcake Cake, via The Pioneer Woman and Pets’ grandma
Prep Time: 30 mins | Cook Time: 45 mins | Servings: 10
Ingredients, cake:
- 1-1/2 cup Flour
- 3 Tablespoons Corn Starch
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 9 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 1-1/2 cup Sugar
- 3 whole Large Eggs
- 1/2 cup Sour Cream, Room Temperature
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
Icing:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tbsp butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 8 ounces cream cheese
Directions:
- Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and corn starch.
- Cream 9 tablespoons butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well each time. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until combined. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just barely combined.
- Pour into greased and floured 8-inch cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until no longer jiggly. Remove from cake pan as soon as you pull it out of the oven, and place on a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely.
- Stem strawberries and slice them in half from bottom to top. Place into a bowl and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons sugar. Stir together and let sit for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, mash the strawberries in two batches. Sprinkle each half with 1 tablespoons sugar and allow to sit for another 30 minutes.
- Make icing (subbing in Grandma’s recipe): Soften butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla. Blend well with an electronic mixer. Continue to blend while adding a little bit of powdered sugar at a time until frosting reaches desired consistency.
- Slice cake in half through the middle. Spread strawberries evenly over each half (cut side up), pouring on all the juices. Place cake halves into the freezer for five minutes, just to make icing easier.
- Remove from freezer. Use a little less than 1/3 of the icing to spread over the top of the strawberries on the bottom layer. Place the second layer on top. Add half of the remaining icing to the top spreading evenly, then spread the remaining 1/3 cup around the sides.
- Leave plain OR garnish with strawberry halves.
- IMPORTANT: Cake is best when served slightly cool. The butter content in the icing will cause it to soften at room temperature. For best results, store in the fridge!
I, and love, and you
That Takes the Cake’s aptly named “What Competition?” cupcake: double chococate cake with a salted caramel center, topped with chocolate butter cream and sea salt
Here she is folks, the dessert star of my sister’s bridal shower: Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle! This beaut was made by my sister’s best friend’s mom, Chris. I guarantee if you make this for an event, you will be the most popular person there.
Ingredients
- 1 fudge brownie mix (13-inch x 9-inch pan size)
- 1 package (10 ounces) peanut butter chips
- 2 packages (13 ounces each) miniature peanut butter cups
- 4 cups cold 2% milk
- 2 packages (5.1 ounces each) instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cartons (8 ounces each) frozen whipped topping, thawed
Directions
- Prepare brownie batter according to package directions; stir in peanut butter chips. Bake in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs (do not overbake). Cool on a wire rack; cut into 3/4-inch pieces.
- In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mixes for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Add peanut butter and vanilla; mix well. Fold in 1-1/2 cartons whipped topping.
- Cut peanut butter cups in half; set aside 1/3 cup for garnish.
- Place a third of the brownies in a 5-qt. glass bowl; top with a third of the remaining peanut butter cups. Spoon a third of the pudding mixture over the top. Repeat layers twice. Cover with remaining whipped topping; garnish with reserved peanut butter cups.
Dear summer,
Please never stop.
On the last Saturday of July, we showered my sister with a bridal luncheon in my parent’s backyard. It was a beautiful day, and I’m so glad I was there for it.
My mom is an amazing cook, and she wanted to make all the food herself. It gave the lunch that extra touch of love. Our friends and family contributed to the dessert spread; my head nearly exploded off my body when I caught sight of the avalanche of goodies. You try keeping your cool when standing next to a table piled with homemade Milky Way bars and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup parfait. The white sangria and the cucumber water were especially lovely in those big glass jugs.
For nourishment, my mom made an array of dips, including seafood salad and chicken salad with dried cherries, to stuff into flaky croissants. She did an incredible job with all the little details, too, from having a bowl of Granny Smith green apples on the serving table (one of the wedding colors) to landscaping the house in white flowers for the bridal year. The little floating flower table decorations were a last minute touch from yours truly.
My photos don’t even begin to capture the bounty, or the beauty of it all. It was simple, backyard chic perfection—enjoyed barefooted and sundressed. Such a gorgeous celebration for a gorgeous Bray-to-Be. It’s true, food does taste best in the company of those you love.
Avec, Chicago
Three days, three dinners. I’m on a tour of Chicago’s arguably best restaurants (minus Alinea—off the list until I’m making bank).
Monday nite was Avec, a tiny wine bar with a big following. The place is so small that diners have to get up from the communal table benches—sometimes mid-bite—to let other patrons slip in. But it’s Chicago, and no one is disgruntle about it. In fact, groups on both sides struck up conversations with us, and a girl two seats down asked if she could finish the stranger to her left’s flat bread when the plate was being cleared. Hilarious.
The food was delicious and lived up to the expectations set by my aunt and cousin. The house specialty is the chorizo-stuffed dates wrapped in smoked bacon, swimming in a spicy piquillo pepper tomato sauce. We also enjoyed the cantaloupe salad with spicy greens, grapefruit, and mustard vinaigrette, the house marinated olives, and a gulf shrimp and roasted corn special.
For me, the real star of the show was the dessert. Not realizing the goat’s milk caramel and berries was part of the ricotta buckwheat crepe, I had to re-talk my sister into another option, the almond tart with vanilla bean ice cream. When the waiter returned he brought us the tart and the crepe, because he said I had to try it. Man, did I mention that I love the people in Chicago?
I’m back from the Land of Good Pies. Strawberry Glaze, Raspberry, Key Lime, and this beaut my dear friend Big Molls made—blueberry, my all time favorite. I’m spoiled, I tell you.
Could there be a more New Orleans meal than this? Softshell crab—over pasta, asparagus, ham, and lemon—and beignets, served with salted caramel and chocolate sauce that we scraped clean with our spoons. It’s all from Coquette, a newish Uptown bistro and wine bar that was the most frequently recommended restaurant in all of my pollings. Even Matthew McConaughey is a fan.
Boy did we feast. House-infused vodkas, lots of seafood (I learned that it’s okay to have a crab starter and entree), a coffee liquor after dinner drink. The menu changes nitely, and not only do you taste the innovation, but you feel it, too, from the excited young staff. It was a delicious meal, and heading Uptown was a nice change of pace from the downtown chaos.
