Stuff I like by Benita
I'm awesome.
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Salted brown butter treats with dark chocolate drizzle. I call them “grown-up” rice krispy treats.
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Made these for a potluck at work yesterday. Who knew something so simple would taste so good? I love the Whole Foods app, by the way. I don’t shop there often, but the free app has some great recipes and offers a shopping list function.
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Funfetti cookie ice cream sandwich! I made a batch of these cookies last week from scratch to resemble the infamous cake from a box, and after giving some away, I froze the rest for this purpose. The ice cream is a surprisingly delicious creamy vanilla soy ice cream from Trader Joe’s.
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I’m mailing my chocolate-obsessed cousin in Seattle some triple-chocolate fudgy brownies for his 21st birthday. Right after I took them out of the oven, I realized I should have laced them with booze. Oh well. This is a Cooks Illustrated recipe and my go-to for no-frills, straight-up chocolate brownies. So much better than a box, and literally takes me 10 minutes to make the batter so don’t tell me the box is easier. Lies Betty Crocker wants you to believe.
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My first time making truffles: Success! These pumpkin truffles are dangerously delicious so it’s a good thing I gave away the majority.
The original recipe uses white chocolate, but I don’t like white so I used dark instead. I still used white chocolate in the filling.
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Homemade bread is one of my favorite things. One of my goals is to stop buying store-bought bread, and I think it should be easy to accomplish since bread freezes extraordinarily well. This one is one-third whole wheat because I wanted a softer sandwich bread.
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I’m not in the habit of making cakes or decorated desserts, which is why you will rarely see me make cutout cookies with royal icing or fancy cupcakes. I love to bake but am not skilled in decorating. However, I made this three-layer dark chocolate cake for my aunt and uncle’s anniversary. It tasted amazing and was the best frosting recipe ever, but it’s not so pretty. This cake is yet another stellar recipe from “Baked New Frontiers in Baking”. That cookbook has yet to steer me wrong.
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Homemade flatbread, similar to naan but I made it in a cast-iron pan on the stovetop. I bet this same dough minus the yeast could be used for some killer tortillas. The dough was from my mom and she’s the worst to get recipes from since she eyes measurements and makes everything from memory and trial and error.
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Pineapple upside-down cake from the Mad Men cookbook was a hit. I think this recipe is a keeper. Made in a cast-iron pan, it develops a fantastic crust and isn’t overly sweet like I feared.
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Just whipped up a stack of homemade tortillas (I like mine with half wheat/half white flours) at 1 a.m. I swear I do my best cooking and baking overnight.
Newspaper copy editor, semi-new homeowner, amateur baker who is in love with words, sarcasm, news, pop culture, bright colors, music, design, books, Detroit, DIY.
