Dessert Recipes

The neighborhood pumpkin carving party was in four hours and I’d completely forgotten I was supposed to bring dessert. Everyone else would be bringing those … Read more

There used to be a tiny dessert bar tucked behind a vintage bookstore in downtown Portland that made a slice of Biscoff cheesecake so good … Read more

Lena wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I’d stopped by her place on a random Tuesday afternoon to drop off a book I’d borrowed, and the … Read more

I was standing in the baking aisle of our local grocery store last October, staring at a row of neon food colorings, when a dusty, … Read more

October had settled in, and the kitchen window was fogged up from the steam of a pot of tea I didn’t even remember making. The … Read more

The plate came back empty. Not just licked clean — empty. My neighbor, a grown woman with zero shame about it, stood at my door … Read more

It was 10:47 PM on a random Tuesday in September, and a very specific, almost aggressive craving for something buttery and sweet hit me. I … Read more

My sister called me last October, mid-panic, about a bake sale her daughter’s class was throwing the next morning. “I need something that looks impressive … Read more

My niece Mia asked why I couldn’t just pipe the icing straight onto the cookies without flooding them first. I started to explain why that … Read more

I was standing in the baking aisle of our local grocery store last Tuesday, staring at a box of instant chocolate pudding mix, when the … Read more

The school Halloween party was in six hours and I’d completely forgotten. My son Leo had reminded me three times, but between work deadlines and … Read more

I burned three batches of scones before I realized the butter was supposed to stay cold, not melt into the flour. That first fall I … Read more

The crumble—that is the whole point. Not the apples underneath, not the scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on the side, but that specific, buttery, … Read more

It was mid-October, and I had just pulled a single sad, store-bought pumpkin cookie from the package. It was dry, barely tasted like pumpkin, and … Read more

Late October, and the only thing I wanted was a single slice of something that tasted like fall but didn’t demand a whole production. The … Read more

The slow cooker lid had been off for maybe ten minutes when my neighbor knocked on the door. She didn’t say hello. She just stood … Read more

Third time in five days and I finally stopped overmixing. That was the problem all along. Not the ripeness of the bananas, not the pumpkin … Read more

It was late September, and a cold snap had settled into the kitchen floorboards. The only thing I wanted—honestly, the only thing—was a pan of … Read more

The last slice vanished from the kitchen counter around 11 a.m. My neighbor, who had only stopped by to borrow an egg, was standing there … Read more

I was browning butter for a quick weeknight dinner—some kind of creamy chicken marsala, I think—when the nutty aroma hit me and I froze. That … Read more