Giada's Zuccotto

Lately I feel like all I have been doing is making excuses, friends, but I have a very good reason for being slow to blog. I'm officially back to work. Yep, my maternity leave is over. You know what that means, no dreamy walks in the park, no bonbons, and definitely no Young and Restless. Not!

(Don't read on if you are pregnant and can't handle the truth.)Heck, the truth is I am finally drinking hot coffee again! But, truth be admitted, there is scant time for blogging in the evenings. My kid is more clingy since I've returned to work, and I don't blame him. After a day at work, it's all I can do to run through the door and scoop him up.

The beauty of this recipe, however, is that it is so easy you can make it even when you are a working mom. In fact, I bet I could even make it while my little one was throwing Goldfish crackers at me from his high chair. Yep. I've made it twice and it was easy peasy (with the whizzing help of my Kitchen-Aid mixer).

Amy's ultimate chocolate chip cookies (and ice cream sandwiches)

One of my mommy pals, Amy Lewis, sent me this recipe when I posted a request on Facebook asking for my friends' favourite chocolate chip cookie recipes. She says it's a combination of two or three recipes that she came up with while she was on the quest to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

"Looking back at it, it seems like a weird recipe but I do remember that these cookies were out of this world. It makes A LOT of big cookies, so you can always freeze some dough," she told me.


She wasn't kidding, I ended up making something like 60 cookies. And there wasn't a bad batch in them.

Chocolate-dipped marshmallows

I made these for a sweet table when I had some company over, and I knew there would be pint-sized guests who might avoid the pecan pie or fruit platter.

But I started second-guessing myself pretty much as soon as I started dipping the marshmallows into the semi-sweet chocolate. Would this seem cheesy? Amateur? In the end, it didn't really matter because there were only a few left on the platter at the end of the night!

Sesame Street cupcakes

My baby is not a baby anymore. He turned one on August 15. And already, he has a favourite show -- "Play With Me Sesame." Whenever he sees ay "Sesame Street" characters he points and yells "Heeeeeeey" and he also demands "Ehmo, Ehmo, Ehmo" when he sees me scrolling through the PVR list.

So it was a no-brainer to make Sesame Street cupcakes when we were going to have some of his young cousins over for a visit.

Easy chocolate-dipped peanut butter cookies

I've been making these cookies for a long time, but it wasn't until recently that I thought maybe I should blog about them. It can't get any simpler than this. Do you have a jar of peanut butter in your pantry? Good. An egg and some sugar? Great. Now all you need to do is rustle up some peanut pieces and chocolate to melt and you are ready to go. If you are a culinary snob you may want to move on to an earlier post. (You are still reading though, aren't you?)

These cookies are real crowd-pleasers, and I can say that with certainty, because every time I have taken them to work or a party, every one of them has been eaten off the plate. Can't get much better than a recipe that has "easy" right in the title. This recipe is from Kraft Kitchens.

David Lebovitz's chocolate chip cookies

When my craving hit, it was sudden and strong. I wanted a chocolate chip cookie.

But not just any run-of-the-mill chocolate chip cookie, a homemade one with dark chocolate chips that was slightly gooey and chewy on the inside.
Some of my readers may or not remember my day job (at least when I am not on maternity leave) is as a journalist. And so I approached this self assignment much as I would approach any assignment.

Martha Stewart's hummingbird cupcakes

I turned blanky-blank this year. I guess it's a testament to my rising age that I don't want to tell you how old I am. Ply me with some Bombay Sapphire and tonic and I might.

Anyway, I guess I was feeling the Birthday Blues this year as I approach an age milestone, and so I decided to cheer myself up by making something beautiful.

I had never noticed the hummingbird cupcakes in Martha Stewart's "Cupcakes" book before, maybe because I hadn't been brave enough to try making blossoms out of dried pineapple.

I often turn to this book for inspiration when I am in the mood for something fanciful and special. In the past, I've made the lemon meringue cupcakes, tiramisu cupcakes, and also the chocolate spice cupcakes.