Sweet And Crumby

Baking, a Love Story

Author Archives: Geni - Sweet and Crumby


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Start Valentine’s Day on a High Note With Red Velvet Pancakes

Can you think of a better way to start your Valentine’s Day morning than with rich, soft, chocolaty Red Velvet Pancakes?!  I can’t either.  They even get served with a luscious, cream cheese dipping sauce.  Pretty sweet, right?— pun totally intended…that’s just how I roll.

Seriously, these are absolutely decadent and for the handful of readers I have from the Los Angeles area, they are a dead ringer for the ones served from L.A.’s famous Buttermilk food truck.  I have dreamt of these babies and craved them for days and now I can make them right in my own little kitchen…happy, happy me and now happy, happy you!

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Fill-In-the-Blanks Muffin Recipe Featuring a Pear-Blueberry Muffin

I have just discovered something amazing! I have “invented” a flavor-of-the-day muffin recipe that is fairly full proof. I have used it several times to make various muffins from run of the mill to exotic.

A couple of weeks ago it was pineapple coconut muffins, and today it is pear blueberry muffins with ginger and cardamom spices.  It is tender and soft and full of fruity and spicy flavors. Continue reading →


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When Life Gives You Lemons—Make Lemon Rosemary Cake!

Lemonade is refreshing, yes, but lemon cake is memorable; especially this one. This lemon cake is NOT the syrup-y sweet kind that tastes like a lemon lollipop.  This one  is tart, blooming with hints of rosemary and the lightest, almost translucent, flavor of olive oil.   The texture is exquisite.  It’s full and solid,  yet also soft and moist.

I’m in a lemon phase.  Maybe it’s because it has been so cold and dark most of the month, and I am now basking in the warm weather here in sunny So. Cal, or maybe it’s because of the book I have just finished reading, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.

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The Particular Happiness of Lemon Blueberry Bread Pudding

I guarantee that bread pudding is one of the simplest desserts you can make and this one is sure to impart its zesty, sunshine-y happiness onto anyone who digs in. It is comfort food at its finest and most elevated with a punch of lemon, plump blueberries mixed throughout and dotted with white chocolate chips for that extra creamy richness in every spoonful.

Have you ever eaten something that evokes strong emotion?  Perhaps your grandmother’s noodle Kugel or your mother’s potato pancakes?  Think back to your favorite foods; the ones you need in an emergency.  Notice I said need, not want.  The ones that once the aroma is permeating the room, you are transported to a time, place or event.

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Happy Chocolate Peanut Butter Birthday Cake!

I know, you have seen this magnificent cake before.  It is not new, nor terribly original in the blogosphere, but this Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake  is a magical cake so just in case there are a handful of you newbie blog readers out there, or if you have just come off a long trip from the NASA space station, here it is adapted from Smitten Kitchen, but with my own tweaks.

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Take Care of Yourself Creamy Spinach Soup

If you have been fighting off the big, bad germs that have come your way, or if you simply want a delicious but healthy soup for tonight, make this creamy spinach soup.  It has a hint of nutmeg and was started with a few nice cloves of sauteed garlic, so believe me, even though it’s easy peasy, it’s really tasty and has many layers of flavor. The ingredients list is so small it’s almost embarrassing…almost.

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Pineapple Coconut Muffins—Take Me Away!

I want a ticket to somewhere tropical where I can lie on a beach and someone will bring me a nice, tall pina colada; where no one needs homework help, dinner doesn’t have to get on the table in 20 minutes flat and a skunk didn’t just run through my backyard to perfume my life.  Unfortunately for me (and many of you I suspect), that’s not happening anytime soon, so I have decided that a sweet and tangy, pineapple coconut muffin will have to be my tropical mode of transportation for the time being.

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Snowed-In, Rained-In Mushroom Soup

Is it just too dang cold to go outside wherever you are?  Me too.

I won’t tell you where I am because then you would know that I am a big baby. I’ve seen the news; I know that many of you have been snowed in something terrible. It’s been horrible out there in so many places, and I think the best thing you could do for yourself at this point is make soup. Continue reading →


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Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies—My Kind of Comfort Food

I need comfort food.  Now. Tout de suite! What says comfort food better than the beautiful marriage of chocolate and peanut butter in a nice hefty, rich brownie?!

I just dropped my son off at the airport, and he is going to visit his cousins in another state.  He’s sixteen; he’s old enough to travel alone, but am I going to survive the agony of the next four hours waiting for his text to tell me that he has arrived safe and sound? Continue reading →


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These Are a Few of My Favorite Posts…

I have found some delicious looking holiday treats around the blogosphere and am so excited to share them with you here.  I have a crazy obsession with the Sound of Music so please try to sing along  if you wouldn’t mind.

Rich Winter Fudge Cake looks simply delicious
Make your own Truffles, then share them with us
Peppermint Whoopies tied up in strings
These are a few of my favorite postings.

Decadent Marzipan in Almond Streudel
Toasty Bruschetta and Ricotta with Noodles
Chocolate Eclairs with creamy  filling
These are a few of my favorite postings.

Reindogs with antlers, that is too funny
Figs stuffed with cream cheese then drizzled with honey
Champagne spiked cupcakes for New Year’s toastings
These are a few of my favorite postings.

When the pie burns,
When souffles flop,
When I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite postings, and then I don’t feel so bad!

Merry Christmas to all with hopes that you enjoy all the delicious foods that the holidays have to offer!  Sometimes we forget how lucky we are to enjoy all the food of the season.  Help us fight childhood hunger through Share Our Strength.  Click the link on the Share our Strength badge to help.