u/Im_just_a_squirrel

Oreos are one of the few foods I simply don't buy because I have literally zero self-control around them.... I truly believe they're made with some sort of chemically addictive agent. So since they are one of the few store-bought confections I actually crave, I figured I'd see if I could re-create them at home this week.

I looked at a number of recipes online and ended up going with this one: https://sugarspunrun.com/homemade-oreo-cookie-recipe/ . I chose it because it called for black cocoa (which is a must and you shouldn't trust any oreo recipe that calls for regular cocoa) and the filling sounded like it would probably most closely resemble the actual Oreo filling with the inclusion of vegetable shortening. To be clear, I don't love shortening and rarely choose to bake with it, but I was trying to get as close as possible to the real deal, and to me that meant biting the bullet and going for the shortening.

These really came out quite good! I followed the directions with the exception of using real vanilla extract bc I didn't want to buy a whole thing of clear extract to get closer to the artificial store bought flavor when I know I'll never use it again. They were a bit involved and I'm not sure if I'd go through the hassle again, but they were very tasty and here are a few things I took away from the experience:

1. Roll these as THIN as you can, like thinner than you think. I really wanted to get a proper snap on the cookie and I managed it on just a few, the ones that were the cut from the edges of my second roll out where the dough was the thinnest (bc I can't get dough evenly thin no matter what). In the picture above I have 2 from that second roll out that are thinner and crunchier, and one from the first batch that I thought were quite thin at the time but puffed a lot and came out delicious but softer than I wanted. Especially for the thin ones, use a spatula to transfer to the pan bc some got slightly misshapen when I picked them up by hand and ended up baking with little bumps in areas.

2. With the scrap re-rolls, chill that little ball of dough for at least 10 mins before re-rolling bc the dough gets quite soft when it warms up and sticks to everything. I combatted this also by rolling them on parchment paper and dusting lots of flour and/or cocoa powder every so often. I was worried the white flour would stick through baking but for the most part it disappeared in the oven... I'd probably use flour again bc it's cheaper and easier than cocoa powder.

3. Chill the cut out cookies before baking. I tried using an embossed rolling pin on them and the pattern sadly baked out of them for the most part. It held a bit better on the second batch, which were thinner AND which I put in the fridge on the cookie sheet for 10 mins before baking. If I do these again I'd actually try the freezer for 10 mins.

4. Bake them perhaps a few minutes longer if you want them crunchier. I did leave my second batch in 1-2 mins longer. Not sure if they came out better bc of this or the fact that they were thinner or a combo of the both.

5. You'll have barely enough filling... I think 1.5x the recipe would be too much, so just be mindful not to overfill early cookies bc you'll run out. I'm sure they would've looked much neater if I had piped them but given it was already somewhat involved I just slathered it on with an off set spatula.

Anyway, I gave this one 5/5 for taste, especially for the thinner, crunchier ones!

For this week I knew I wanted to do something with red bean paste, because it's an ingredient I've never used and that I'm sort of fascinated by. I really wanted to bake something with red bean paste incorporated into it before baking. When I stumbled across this red bean butter mochi recipe I was sold because it also has rice in it, double whammy! It's a neat, modern take on a Hawaiian dessert. This is the recipe I used: https://www.mochimommy.com/red-bean-butter-mochi/

Unfortunately, I couldn't find red bean paste at any stores nearby. However, my husband was able to find dry Adzuki (or azuki) beans, so of course I made my own. I followed this recipe for the paste: https://futuredish.com/seoul-bakery-best-seller-ang-butter-scone/ . It wasn't very difficult and it made a lot of red bean paste, so now I get to make more things with red bean paste! I'll probably freeze it into smaller packets and pull it out as needed.

So for this butter mochi, I followed the recipe above with a few minor tweaks - namely I only put in 1/4 tsp of almond extract (which was JUST right for my taste) and then added 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract too. Also, my red bean paste was chunky (tsubuan), rather than the smooth (koshian) she used because I didn't feel like blending it down, so there are chunks of beans that run through it. I also omitted the red food coloring because I was too lazy to walk down to the basement to get it. In hindsight, that was probably a mistake. If you don't want it to come out the color of boiled brains, I'd add the food coloring :D

Overall, I thought this was really tasty! It's not too sweet and it does have that sort of chewy texture that comes from the mochiko, but it's not as chewy as like, mochi mochi. Also, it's practically a healthy dessert with all the fiber from the beans ;) Mine came out sort of ugly and gross in color, but a think a few drops of gel coloring would have made the presentation so much better. I give it at least 4.5/5 for my tastes :)

I made these for a cookout this weekend... They came out very flat and crisp. I'm not sure if that's what they should have been, but they tasted great still! They spread A LOT while baking so I had to only bake 6-8 at a time. I was hoping the frosting would have been a bit whiter for more of a contrast, but I did enjoy the tang from the cream cheese in contrast to the rich cocoa-y cookie flavor. I only used about 75% of the powdered sugar in the frosting and still found it to be very sweet.

Overall I thought they were better without the frosting, but about half of the people preferred them with the frosting so YMMV... I'd rate it a solid 4/5 for me.

https://bakefromscratch.com/cheesecake-black-cocoa-cookies/

From Sally! https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/peach-pie-recipe/

I made this as part of a seasonal dessert package I auctioned off with a friend at a charity auction this year - the winners selected a peach pie from our summer menu so it was perfect timing for me! It was also a lot of fun to bake a pie with a friend, I feel like I should bake with a buddy more often.

I'll be delivering it tomorrow so I won't actually get to sample it, but it smells delicious :) It may not be the most beautiful pie, but I was really pleased with the the crust dough and the peaches we got from the farm stand were perfect, so I'm hoping that it will taste as good as it smells :)

This was so delicious and, IMO, totally worth the effort!

I made it over two days which made it much more manageable... Next time I would make a bit more cherry compote because I only ended up with slightly more than a cup. The dough is very fragile but manageable if you keep it chilled throughout. The pastry cream was amazing... If you've been sleeping in this recipe I hope you'll try it! It felt so fancy and impressive :)

I chose a gateau basque from the Basque region of France for my FIFA semifinalist bake... The recipe is from Claire Saffitz's "Dessert Person." Absolutely a 5/5 recipe! It's almost like a shortcrust pastry, a bit sweet and with almond extract in the dough, then filled with a cherry compote and vanilla bean pastry cream.

It is a bit time intensive to make and I'd say is at least moderate difficulty because the crust is very delicate to work with (must stay cold) and pastry cream can be a teensy tricky too. I made all of the components the day ahead and then rolled out the dough, assembled the tart, and baked it the next day, then let it cool overnight. I let it come to room temp before serving. My parents are visiting and I was excited to bake for them :) Everyone seemed to really like it, and I personally thought it was one of the best things I've baked this year!

Another banger from Sally this week <3

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/blueberry-sweet-rolls-with-lemon-glaze/

These came out so tasty! I'm a huge sucker for blueberries and these did not disappoint. Some were a bit punier than others because I have an exceedingly hard time rolling yeasted dough into rectangles, but nobody seemed to mind too much :) I followed her steps for making ahead (complete through Step 8 and then refrigerate and let rise for 1 hour when you take them out before baking). If you like Lemon and Blueberries I heartily recommend these!

This week I made a Chocolate Espresso Cake topped with espresso buttercream, dark chocolate ganache, chocolate shavings, and chocolate covered espresso beans.

I followed this recipe: https://www.barleyandsage.com/chocolate-espresso-ombre-layer-cake/#recipe but because I was taking it to a cookout I increased it by 1.5x and made an 8-inch cake instead. The coffee flavor really came through, which I really enjoyed! I have just come to realize that American buttercream is my least favorite kind of frosting, so I did find the frosting to be a little too sweet and slightly gritty. But I opted for a 72% dark chocolate for the ganache to cut that a bit, which helped. Still need to work on my scallop piping and ganache drip skills, but this was way better than my last attempt.

I was lazy and didn't feel like digging out my cake strips or making some in the moment, which I regret because the cakes did dome quite a bit. I also didn't sift the cocoa, which again I regretted. Those are the two notes I made to myself in the recipe and were both only a problem because I cut corners. I also didn't 1.5x the ganache and I still had plenty.

Overall it was a solid 4 stars for me :)

Summer screams BERRIES to me and my father-in-law also loves berries, so I chose a Berry Chantilly Cake for this week, pulling double duty with our Father's Day cookout :)

I used this recipe: https://sugargeekshow.com/berry-chantilly-cake/#recipe . I used a mix of blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries (a few of the strawberries actually came from my garden!). Finished with a bunch of fresh berries and some mint leaves for color.

The cake turned out great, and my FIL specifically said to tell you all that this cake is delicious and you should absolutely make it :D

Bonus pic of my gremlin praying that my idiocy in balancing the cake on the railing for a well-lit overhead pays off for him (it didn't, but he still feasted on plenty of berries)

TLDR: Delicious pistachio cake with cream cheese buttercream, a semi failed pistachio white chocolate ganache drip, and pistachio florentines cut into hearts for decoration. Recipes all included below.

I was lucky that my husband's 40th birthday roughly coincided with Showstopper week! He asked for a pistachio cake for his birthday, so I basically decided to punch him in the face with pistachio. This was Sally's Pistachio Cake (https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/pistachio-cake/) with Stella's Cream Cheese Buttercream (https://www.seriouseats.com/cream-cheese-buttercream-recipe). I chose to use Stella's recipe instead of the one Sally provided with the cake because I wanted something less sweet and with more firmness/structure for layering and piping.

I also attempted to make a pistachio white chocolate ganache for a drip using this recipe: https://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2026/03/pistachio-ganache-with-white-chocolate-and-pistachio-butter.html . As written, I thought it would be too firm for a drip (maybe not, but the recipe is about a 2:1 ratio and I was worried it would be too thick). She has a suggestion for a looser ganache using a 1:1 ratio, which I thought might be too thin. I ultimately landed close to a 1.5:1 ratio and as you can see I botched it a bit. I was in a bit of a rush and probably didn't let it cool quite enough so it was too thin and ended up running fully down the sides while the cake chilled overnight. Also it was too slippery when I piped the rosettes and they slid around a lot. Maybe I should've used more white chocolate or maybe I should've just waited longer. First time making a white chocolate ganache, so I'll have to experiment more to see!

Finally, I decided to make some pistachio Florentines to top it off ( https://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2023/04/pistachio-florentine-cookies.html ). Didn't have pistachio extract so I just used vanilla. Instead of dropping circles I just spread the (batter? dough?) into a sheet pan covered with parchment. I let them set for just a few seconds when they came out of the oven, then used cookie cutters to shape the hearts. The window of opportunity is very short for this but I was able to get several good cutouts before they hardened too much. I'm sure I could have gently rewarmed it to get more cutouts, but given this was already a three-day affair I decided I had enough :)

Overall, despite the ganache drip semi-fail, this cake tasted AMAZING. I can't recommend the pistachio cake and cream cheese frosting enough. The frosting is a bit of extra work compared to normal cream cheese frosting but I loved the flavor and texture and thought it piped very crisply for cream cheese. The florentines were also super delicious, but I should have taken the remaining ones off before storing because of course they got quite soft on the cake overnight.

Bonus pic of my food-crazed dog begging my MIL for her slice... He knows he can't get away with that shit with me, but she's such an easy target he's always at her elbow giving us Oliver Twist level begging eyes

From Claire Saffitz's "Dessert Person"

This was another winner... Really easy, very tasty, not overly sweet. The almond butter topping gave a nice texture to the top. I did include the option chipped almonds which I thought gave it a nice textural element too!

No matter what Elaine and Jerry say, cinnamon is not the "lesser" babka :D

A week or so ago my husband very innocently asked if there were any challenge weeks that would fit for babka... So when I saw the 48 hour challenge was next, I knew I wanted to surprise him. He is an actual cinnamon fiend, so I opted to go for cinnamon rather than chocolate. I used this recipe:
https://prettysimplesweet.com/cinnamon-babka/#wprm-recipe-container-15699 . The only changes I made were 1) swapping in dark brown sugar for the filling and 2) measuring the cinnamon with my heart (two tbsp plus an extra special dash). I made the dough yesterday and proofed it in the fridge overnight. Today it was very easy to roll it out, stuff it, and then braid it, proof it again, and bake.

I've never made babka because I was worried it'd be complicated and difficult, but I found this refreshingly pretty easy! It just takes awhile with the proofing. I think after having tackled laminated dough week, this felt like a cake walk by comparison. It made two beautiful loaves and is absolutely to die for! I took one over to my neighbor for her birthday today and she is also apparently a cinnamon fiend, so she was ecstatic. Overall, this was definitely a 5/5 recipe for me, but I'm worried it's a little dangerous now that I know it's not *that* difficult to make :D

Jumping on the Claire Saffitz train again for this week. This is from "What's for Dessert."

I saw someone else added some finishing zest and it looked really nice, so I did the same :) I also poked about a billion holes based on what others had said about getting the lemon flavor into the middle of the cake... Mine definitely came out lemony! I thought it was delicious and the outside did have a beautiful sugary crust.

Because it's an olive oil cake, it does take a TON of oil... Sadly I overestimated my bottle and ran out just short for the glaze, and because I was finishing this at 11pm last night there was no grocery store open (learn from my woes, fellow bakers - bake early and measure every single gram first). So, I did have to supplement with some sunflower oil. Thankfully I had enough olive oil to impart that nice fruity flavor, and the substitution seemed to work just fine.

Overall a really tasty and fairly cake! The hardest part is the zesting :D

The farm stand had some amazing looking blackberries and I've never baked with them, so I landed on blackberry crumble bars for this week. I was about 150g of blackberries short but they still came out amazing!

This is the recipe I used: https://www.lazycatkitchen.com/blackberry-crumble-bars/#recipe-start It's actually a vegan recipe, but I am not vegan and just had regular butter, which is what I used. They were REALLY delicious! The cardamom was such a nice touch... Definitely recommend this one if you like blackberries :)

I saw someone post these on one of the baking reddits I follow several months ago and they caught my eye... Seemed like a great fit for shape week :)

These are a German cookie made by layering shortbread, apricot jam, and a delicious gooey hazelnut mixture. The corners were going to be dipped in dark chocolate (optional) but I ran out of time :( I think they are traditionally served around Christmas? But they seem pretty popular throughout the year from what I can tell. This is the recipe I used: https://platedcravings.com/nut-corners-german-nussecken/

They are delicious! I think mine are a bit softer than I had anticipated but since I've never had a real one I'm not sure if that's the way they are meant to be. Either way, they taste phenomenal and are not that hard to make. The hardest part was getting the shortbread spread evenly in the pan. I wish I had scrolled back up bc she gives some tips for accomplishing that more easily that I missed before I made them. I cut these into 2 inches pieces to take to an event but I think they'd be great a bit bigger. If you like hazelnut and shortbread I think these are a great treat!

I turned to Sally this week for a low sugar option. These were super easy to make and taste great! They rely on natural sweetness from pumpkin puree and unsweetened applesauce, with a relatively small amount of maple syrup and coconut sugar (lower GI). I used 72% dark chocolate chips to keep the sugar lower as well. For a "healthier" sweet treat, these scratch the itch nicely :)

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-oatmeal-bars/

When my husband found out this week's theme his eyes lit up and he immediately asked if I would make cinnamon scones, which are his favorite. I've never made scones before (I actually don't think I've ever EATEN a scone before) but I couldn't turn down his request, especially because he's such a great support for my weekly bakes, doing tons of dishes and always willing to run out for any emergency last minute ingredient needs :) So I found this recipe and tried them out! https://joyfoodsunshine.com/cinnamon-scones-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-14179

I think they turned out great! We couldn't find any cinnamon chips near us so I made my own. I also grated the butter and did a light wash with half and half before sprinkling the turbinado on top. I was too light with the turbinado (didn't measure it) so I'd definitely double what I sprinkled next time (and I'm sure there will be a next time). I doubled the batch and made one batch into mini scones to take to a function today. I only baked the mini ones about 16 mins and I actually think they needed a few mins longer. Overall scones were way easier than I was worried they would be and they came out so tasty!