20 Fall Desserts

Blondies with Orange Blossom Caramel

When the season changes and we’re doing more baking and dessert-ing, find lots of great recipe ideas with these favorite 20 Fall Desserts.

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Baking with Yogurt

Lebanese Sfouf cake with turmeric

Baking with yogurt is a must! And often found in Lebanese recipes. Yogurt plays a special role in baking, giving moist, tender results with an extra boost of flavor too. This is because of the acidic/fermented nature of yogurt. Many baking recipes call for yogurt (see mine below!), but you can also replace sour cream,…

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(Easy!) Valentine Spectacular Cake

Make a simple, luscious buttercream and decorate with abandon to create this (easy!) Valentine Spectacular Cake. Find rose water for the pink Raspberry Rose Butterceam here. Get the trick to making a heart cake with pans you already have here. Our simple heart cake trick creates a heart cake as a base for gorgeous pink…

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How to Make a Heart Cake with Pans You Already Have.

Pink Frosted Heart Cake

No heart pan? No problem. Here’s how to make a heart cake using pans you  already have. The finished cake can be as simple or as elaborate as you like. In any case, your cake will be spectacular!   This simple cake trick creates a heart cake as a base for frosting or decorating to…

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How to use Rose Water

Rose Water with pink raspberry buttercream

Find out more about how to use  rose water in cooking and baking! We love this  special Lebanese culinary tradition. Find pure imported flower waters in my shop here. We just HAVE to kick off February and spring with an ode to the beautiful Lebanese tradition of baking with flower waters. Their  flavor is iconic,…

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Olive Oil Cake

Olive oil loaf cake with white glaze on a rack

Olive oil cake is ultra-tender and moist, with added richness from yogurt in the mix. Why bake a cake with olive oil, you ask? I have asked same. Cakes, even our standard cake mixes, often call for oil in the mix. The reason: oil makes for a tender, moist crumb. Typically oil-based cake recipes call…

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Easy Figgy Baked Brie

Baked Brie on a wood board

This is a must-know appetizer, Easy Figgy Baked Brie. Make for an  elegant cocktail party or a  quiet party of a family few. Always festive, fun, delectable. And easy! We love to have an evening of cocktails and “heavy apps.” This means the food will be so sumptuous, so inviting and satisfying that no dinner…

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Chocolate Peppermint Graybeh

Chocolate Peppermint Graybeh on a sheetpan

This traditional Lebanese butter cookie is here in a whole new flavor combo. Chocolate Peppermint Graybeh will be the darling of your cookie platter and swap! Try classic graybeh with this recipe. This is the little Christmas that could. Could…find clever ways to impart chocolate goodness to that which it has not known before. There…

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Chocolate Baklava

Chocolate baklava cut in a pan

Baklawa  (baklava) fans, get ready for this: CHOCOLATE  BAKLAVA! I devised my recipe for deep chocolate flavor while maintaining the crisp phyllo texture and buttery nutty notes that are hallmarks of great baklawa. Please hear me out. My chocolate baklava dreams began many years ago. This was back when the children in the family, my…

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Bonus Cranberry Parfait

Cranberry Sauce Parfait in a dish

This simple “leftovers” way with cranberry sauce is dreamy goodness, a Bonus Cranberry Parfait. Try my mom’s incredible Cranberry Sauce with Rose Water & Pistachios here. I think of this recipe as one to be done after Thanksgiving, as a great way to use leftover cranberry sauce. But that title, “leftover,” just seems so unfair,…

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