Welcome to the first recipe ever to contain yeast on Dessert For Two!  I used to be afraid of yeast.  And then, I read the ingredients on a loaf of store-bought bread and quickly decided to make my peace with it. The way I learned to trust yeast and treat it well is through the [Click to Continue Reading...]

The minute I scaled down cheesecake to serve two people and made those mini New York cheesecakes, my mind started spinning with ideas for variations.  Since it’s Pumpkin month (I guess some people call it October, to each his own), pumpkin cheesecake with maple whipped cream had to be made. The crust is effortless:  drop [Click to Continue Reading...]

Remember those hummingbird cupcakes I made?  Well, I couldn’t quite get the flavor of pineapple, coconut, banana and cinnamon out of my head.  After several mornings of oatmeal topped with dried pineapple, toasted coconut and cinnamon, I had an epiphany:  breakfast pancakes that taste like hummingbird cake! My sweet friend Rachel of Rachel Cooks is [Click to Continue Reading...]

By now, you were probably hoping that I would have some things to say about our new home state of Kansas.  The truth is, I really don’t.  Some days, I absolutely love it (the weather is pretty similar to northern California), but other days I struggle with the fact that everything is new.  I can’t go into [Click to Continue Reading...]

When I think of figs, I think of Teva-wearing hippies in Berkeley sitting in trees eating dried figs from the bulk bins of the co-op.  And that’s cool.  Real cool.  I love the restaurants in Berkeley and the food co-ops are even better.  Anyone else having a co-dependent relationship with the daily pizza menu at The Cheese Board Collective?  No?  Just [Click to Continue Reading...]

It seems that certain nuts are getting all the attention these days:  walnuts and almonds, I’m lookin’ at you.  Even pistachios have their own commercials with famous people and cartoon characters!  Don’t get me wrong, I love all nuts.  There are great walnut, almond and pistachio growers in my county and I buy local nuts [Click to Continue Reading...]

Each year, the December issue of Southern Living magazine features a white frosted cake on the cover.  The cake often contains coconut because it’s traditional for Christmas in the South.  I’m not exactly sure why coconut only makes its appearance around Christmas in the South—if anyone knows, please fill me in.  Since December is already [Click to Continue Reading...]

Wow.  That’s all I can say about the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival last weekend in San Francisco.  It has taken me a full week to recover.  I shared a room with the talented and very beautiful Natalie from Perrys’ Plate.  We were quick to learn that we are true foodie soul mates— we skipped the final dinner of the festival in [Click to Continue Reading...]