Mary's Making
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Recipe

Mango Raspberry Almond Cake

About 7 or so years ago, my husband and I tried the Paleo diet before our wedding. If you know me and my eating habits, I don't do diets and I don't like restrictions, so this was a "challenging" time. I would have stabbed someone for a tortilla chip and I boycotted sweet potatoes for almost a year after, but we did it and felt better for a time. Now they have so much more Paleo-friendly products on the market, this diet seems like it would be easier to pull off now. I will pass though...

By

Mary Kay

April 8, 2019
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Recipe

Raw Strawberry Cream Bars

I have said before that I don't believe in "healthy" desserts. This is mostly because I don't want to ever give up sweets and luckily I haven't experience any medically necessary reasons to need to, while I know many do. I eat healthy most of the time and I often need something sweet...

By

Mary Kay

April 3, 2019
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Recipe

Golden Sweet Potato and Barley Stew

As a working mama, wife, etc. time is not plentiful (as I am sure many of you know). I don't have time to make elaborate dinners, but it is important to me to make healthy, tasty meals for my crew as much as I can. That being said, I am always desperately in pursuit of gadgets to make this easier (see - sous vide and instant pot) or recipes that don't require my presence (read - dump and go)...

By

Mary Kay

April 1, 2019
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Recipe

French Caneles

From my limited, but growing experience with French pastry, I have found that many recipes are technically simple, however it takes experience and the right technique to get something right. Pate de choux is one example and caneles are another, so in this realm of baking it is important to follow most of the fussy instructions and also be willing to experiment and try and try again (at least in my experience).

By

Mary Kay

21 Aug 2018

Recipe

Peanut Butter Chocolate-Filled Blondies

Hello, hello from almost the other side of summer. I have been busy testing out a flower farm "side hustle" (like I need another) all season, so I haven't been baking much, but I am feeling the itch to create in the kitchen again. Also, it hasn't been as blazing hot lately, so it makes a warm oven more bearable. No complaints here though from the winter-averse, I promise!

By

Mary Kay

19 Aug 2018

Recipe

Chocolate Angel Food Cake

What started as brighter mornings and a crescendo of bird song, is now in full bloom, spring is here and quickly turning to early summer. The trees along our creek bed have once again engulfed our backyard in a green embrace restoring some of our privacy. I planted some new gardens this year and they have kept me quite busy in my "free" time, but there is nothing like new life - whatever form it comes in...

By

Mary Kay

23 May 2018

Recipe

Mont Blanc Dessert

Baking has become one of my favorite creative outlets; I love watching what some of the major pastry chefs come up with and share on Instagram. My favorites right are Cedric Grolet, Amaury Guichon and anything from The French Pastry School. I would not attempt most of what they do, but I learned of one dessert that seemed to bring together some very basic pastry recipes, so I thought I would give it a shot - the Mont Blanc. It caught my eye because we were on a roasted chestnut kick this winter and chestnuts are a main component of this dessert...

By

Mary Kay

12 Mar 2018

Recipe

Cast Iron Skillet Sweet Rolls

Normally during the holidays, I have been whipping up homemade Cruellers, but they are time consuming and these days I want to relax while I have time off from work aka just no. Thus began my quest for something just as good, but that took less time. I decided to go with sticky buns and while they required two rising times, they were simple enough and did not require my presence in the kitchen for hours. ..

By

Mary Kay

05 Mar 2018

Recipe

Charcoal Latte

When we rest, we heal - I have become a believer in those words over the last year and that has made all the difference this winter. As I grow and learn to conquer the inner terrain, the outer doesn't bother me so much anymore. That being said, I am ready for spring, but not in the desperate, hand wringing way I normally am...

By

Mary Kay

02 Mar 2018

Recipe

German Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

I have mentioned before that I don't have a large repertoire of "my" recipes because I like to experiment a lot, although this has changed slightly. This quest became more important when I neared motherhood as cooking for others is one way I show love and also food is a tangible way to transport you home or somewhere pleasant throughout life. I want those memories for Hen and one area that I need to focus are Christmas cookies, mostly because this is still a fond memory that I have with my grandma....

By

Mary Kay

06 Nov 2017

Recipe

Caramel Stuffed Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

My cooking and baking interests these days generally follow two paths - a challenge or educational endeavor where I am consulting textbooks and working with formulas, science, etc. to create a recipe or my weekly ambition of devising plans and recipes that are extremely productive and create as many meals with the least amount of work possible. This recipe is of the former and ended up being quite the labor of "love." The funny part is that I have never really been a snickerdoodle person...

By

Mary Kay

19 Sept 2017

Recipe

Raspberry Currant Mousse Brownie

Since becoming a mama, my lunch hour at work has become sacred time to work on things like this site, read, knit (WHATEVER I WANT - YESSSS). I have become a master at utilizing my time very efficiently out of necessity like most other moms or heck just "busy" people - it is the key to keeping life moving in any sane fashion...

By

Mary Kay

12 Sept 2017

Recipe

Ginger Apple Whoopie Pies

While we were in Maine this summer, we discovered that whoopie pies are a thing there and had the most perfect classic chocolate whoopie pie at Two Fat Cats Bakery in Portland. They had quite an array of other treats, but the hubs had to reel me in once I started asking him how many pies (as in whole fruit pies) we could transport back on the plane later that evening. Everything looked amazing, so if you find yourself in Maine, head to Portland, which is a foodie paradise and try ALL THE PIE...

By

Mary Kay

5 Sept 2017

Recipe

Chocolate Cinder Toffee Tart

This creation was a by-product of some left over ingredients from recipe experimenting and I had been wanting an excuse to make cinder toffee, so here you have it. If you are unfamiliar with cinder toffee (also known as sponge candy and honeycomb), it is a crunchy, stick to your teeth toffee candy.

By

Mary Kay

21 Aug 2017

Recipe

Banoffee Mini Tarts

This banoffee (banana + toffee) tart is the first of many. Banana and peanut butter are probably one of my favorite combos and banana and chocolate are a close second, which I have been craving lately. Banoffee is traditionally a pie and was dreamed up at The Hungry Monk Restaurant in England. There are many variations now, but the general combo is banana, toffee and chocolate. This is similar to many of my other longer dessert recipes, in that you can make pieces parts over one or two days to make it easier. No one thing is complicated, just a little more involved when it comes to length.

By

Mary Kay

18 Aug 2017

Recipe

Fig St. Honoree

We are coming off the heels of our first family vacation as 3 from a week in and about coastal Maine. It is difficult to express just how much I needed to not have an agenda for the day and be in awe of something beautiful, Maine delivered that and then some. Also, much more, I needed time with my boys to just be. Life moves so fast and being a person with a rather sensitive constitution, I don't believe I will ever enjoy it (although I will try to try).

By

Mary Kay

2 Aug 2017

Recipe

Rhubarb Strawberry Vanilla Bourbon Curd & Cinnamon Angel Food

Here, it is the golden hour of warmth; summer is officially all around us. To me it always slips away far too fast, like sand through my fingers. Old habits and such. Instead I try to revel in each ruby-kissed cheek, a garden thick with the scent of lilies and garden roses, and fresh produce that tastes like the sun. I don't have an edible garden of my own yet, so the next best thing is the "pick-your-own" farms.

By

Mary Kay

2 July 2017

Recipe

Rainier Cherry Frangipane Tart

I am teaching (I use this term loosely) myself how to knit. Ah, the wonderful joy and frustration of blindly finding your way in a new skill. I have a very hard time being a beginner and I mostly attribute this to the Ira Glass quote about creative folk - that we have good taste, but when you are a beginner your skills aren't producing your level of taste, thus leading to frustration and for many the end of the creative pursuit.

By

Mary Kay

15 June 2017

Recipe

Honey Pie Bars

Lately, I have been craving this simple old-fashioned sugar custard pie that I had when I was younger (go ahead and get the "that's what she said" jokes out now). I can't remember if my grandma made it or she just bought it at the grocery, but I don't recall seeing at a restaurant or store since then.

By

Mary Kay

25 March 2017

Recipe

Black Bean Quinoa Chili

We have officially entered the Spring transition time...yessssss. It is amazing to me how one day it is suddenly lighter in the morning earlier and there are little tiny buds beginning to unfurl everywhere. I saw Forsynthia peeking out of a bush at the end of our street and somewhere deep down there was a sigh of relief.

By

Mary Kay

20 March 2017

RECIPE

Mini Princess Cakes

I have been admiring these sweet little cakes for a while and finally got the guts to try them. The princess cake or prinsesstårta as it is called in Sweden got its name from three princesses around the 1930's that called it a favorite (at the time called green cake). I have a version of the recipe in a cookbook from Miette bakery and this attempt is modeled after those assembly instructions, but with some alterations.

By

Mary Kay

16 March 2017

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