Henteco Cookies

Do the Japanese have cute down to science or what? I can't get over how adorable these cookies are. It's crazy!! They would make great stocking stuffers or party favors for a child's birthday. Unfortunately, for me at least, they're only available in Japan, at a bakery called Henteco, which, as far as I can tell, means "quirky" in Japanese. Please let me know if that's not correct! If you live in Shinagawa in Tokyo, I would recommend heading right over there immediately to see these in person! For the rest of you, you can click here to check out the cookies in more detail. ~Erin

You can find more Henteco pics after the jump.

Nevie-Pie Cakes

I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting cake designs, but finding them isn't always so easy. Sometimes months and months will go by until I come across something that really excites me! This cake by Natasha of Nevie-Pie Cakes was just one of those cakes! It's completely hand-painted and utterly lovely. It almost looks like a really great wallpaper, but, you know, on a cake, instead of a wall. As soon as I saw it, I knew that I had to see  more of her work! After taking a quick tour of her Flickr page, I'm happy to report that Natasha's other cakes are also quite impressive. There are loads of pretty hand-painted cakes on her page, along with other fun and unique designs. I've chosen a few of my favorites above and below, but you can check out more of Natasha's work via her flickr page, blog, and website. (And, yes, those are "mushroom" cookies at the bottom!)

Sweet Testing: Salt & Pepper Tree Cookies and Peppermint Deer

I love the holidays. I’ll admit, the preparation stresses me out, but the actual celebration, is always my favorite time of the year, so when Urban Outfitters asked me to contribute a holiday recipe for their blog, my mind immediately started swimming with ideas! At the time, I had just gotten the new (and fabulous) Baked cookbook, Baked Explorations, and I was itching to try one of the recipes. It didn’t take me long to select their salt and pepper sandwich cookies for the first half of my post, and, boy, was I glad that I did! These cookies are amazing. I literally took one bite and then, for a minute straight, said nothing but, oh, my god, these are so good. Oh, my god, these are so good. OH, MY GOD, these are sooo good! They were really flavorful, like a little party in your mouth. Everyone else seemed to love them, too. Well, except for a friend of mine that doesn’t like salt, but he’s a weirdo.

For the second half of my dessert, I went straight to my mom’s recipe for white chocolate peppermint bark. My mom has been making these yummy treats for xmas since I was little and they always bring back such fond childhood memories. I changed it up a bit by using deer molds, instead of the traditional bark form. I hope you enjoy it! [A special thank you to my mom, MB, and Tiesha for taking the time to help me out!] To view the Urban Outfitters post and step-by-step photos, click here. You can find the recipes after the jump.

Lamb Cake: Clever or Disturbing??

I think it's safe to say that not everyone is going to love this cake. I'll admit that when artist Andrea Everman emailed it to me, I looked at the first pic and thought, oh, that's sooo cute and then I saw the second photo and my feelings changed to hmmm…it's also kind of disturbing, and then quickly switched back to but, it is clever. My emotions continued to sway back and forth like this for several minutes until I just couldn't take it anymore and had to ask for another opinion! I think it's definitely well done and interesting, but, as an animal lover, I don't know if I could actually eat it! On the other hand, the less emotional part of my brain keeps saying, why wouldn't you eat it! It's just cake! So, what do you guys think of this particular lamb cake or lamb cakes in general??? Clever or disturbing?

For those of you interested in trying this at home, the cake is strawberry and those are cilantro leaves filling in for the grass. Oh, and Andrea is a lovely lady and is going to making us a vegan dessert later in the year, so if you hate this cake, please don't take it out on her! :-) Thanks, Andrea!

Inspiration Board: Easter

I love Easter, the spring air, the flowers, the bunnies, the Easter egg hunts, and the Easter basket filled with fake grass…and, of course, candy! My favorite Easter candy has changed quite a bit over the years. When I was a kid, I was crazy for Peeps and Cadbury Crème Eggs. As I grew older, I lost my taste for those too sugary treats and and now, when Easter comes around, I start craving Cadbury Mini Eggs and Resses Peanut Butter Eggs! Everyone has their favorite Easter candies and memories, but if you're looking for some new and fun ideas for your Easter table, check out the photos below! {Above: Raspberry-Lemon Easter Cake from The Food Network}

Chocolate Mousse-Filled Easter Eggs by Lauren at Fisher&Paykel. Gorgeous!


Martha Stewart's Springerle Easter Bunny Cupcakes


Easter Bunny Cake by Andrea Meyers. I love, love, love this cake! So cute and retro, like a cake I would have had when I was a wee girl.


Martha Stewart's Easter Paper Chains A super cute and easy way to spice up a simple cake!


Martha Stewart's Sugar-Coated Marshmallow Bunnies. These homemade Peeps made the rounds last year, but I still really love them!


Mini Cheesecakes from Bright Ideas. Again, I really like the old school feel of these. So sweet.


Easter Cookie Purse ($3) by Route 29. I have no idea what these taste like, but I'm a sucker for cute packaging and the illustration on this box is just great!

Eating Animals, The Book

Let me preface this discussion by saying that, yes, it is true. I am a vegetarian. But I'm not the kind of vegetarian that forces my beliefs down the throats of friends, family, or any random passer by that happens to cross my path. I don't appreciate it when people tell me that what I believe is wrong, so I try not to treat other people with the same disrespect. That said, today, while I was engaged in a completely tedious and boring work activity, I passed the time by listening to various audio clips of writer Jonathan Safran Foer discussing his book Eating Animals. The more I listened, the more I realized something: I need to do more, personally, to make sure that what I'm eating is coming from a healthy and clean source, not a place that abuses animals or pollutes the earth, not one that makes me, or others, ill.

To some, that may seem like an obvious statement to make and, no, it wasn't a complete epiphany for me, either. It's not as though JSF was telling me anything that I hadn't heard, and thought about, before. As a person that is already conscious about what I eat, a person who already reads ingredient lists, and is concerned with animal welfare, his words didn't shock me, but they did serve as a reminder, a reminder to not be so lazy. As consumers, we come to rely on packaging and labels, which often, don't mean anything at all. Free Range, Cage Free, Organic, these words don't necessarily mean what we think they do. We have to take it upon ourselves to find out where our food is coming from.

I know that this is a dessert blog, so at first I wasn't sure if this would even be relevant, but then I realized that the major components of baking, ingredients such as eggs, butter, milk, are also a large part of factory farming. I'm not telling you what to do or how to eat, but I think it's important information, even if you eat meat, to know where that meat is coming from, how the animal was raised and treated and processed. Even small changes, even minor adjustments, in the way we eat food, in the way we think about it, can make a big difference. Just something to consider.

Edible Art: Ticings

What am I going completely gaga over at this very moment? These adorable cake decorations from Ticings! Boring old cakes, cookies, and cupcakes are completely transformed into something fun and interesting simply by adding one of these pieces of edible icing. It's such a great way to turn everyday treats into something unique. I'm already thinking about which one I want to try first! Oh, and they're totally gluten free and kosher! Click here to check out all the designs online.

Inspiration Board: Halloween

There are A TON of Halloween-related recipes circling the Web right now and trying to navigate your way through them all can be just a little exhausting. For this year's Halloween post, I wanted to narrow it down to the most inspiring options. So I scoured the World Wide Web, looking for ideas that I hadn't seen before or that made me smile wider than all the rest. Enjoy and Happy Halloween! [above: Marzipan Figures by Dean & Deluca ($35)]


Vampire Cookies by Baking Bites

Gingerbread Skeletons from The Secret Life of Food


Cupcake Envy's Spider cake and cupcakes (This one really creeps me out, which means that it must be good!)


Gingerbread Monster by Scottoons (This one is actually a clay sculpture, but I thought it was a cute idea for Halloween gingerbread cookies!)


Martha Stewart's Boo-tiful Cake


The Food Network's Screaming Spice Cookies

The Mixing Bowl: Easy Vanilla Cheesecake by Sally Elford

Today's Mixing Bowl recipe comes for Vanilla Cheesecake comes from illustrator and print maker Sally Elford. Based in the UK, Sally is influenced by mid-century artists like Jan Balet, Miroslav Sasek, and, my longtime favorite, Charley Harper! In the past, she has worked with clients such as Oxford University Press, BBC Worldwide, and Readers Digest, to name a few, and recently started creating and selling limited edition prints on her Etsy site where you can find a nice selection of her great designs. Personally, I really love the Peaceful Park print, but check out her shop to find your favorite!

The last few Mixing Bowl posts have been fruit-filled desserts, so I was excited when Sally sent over this vanilla cheesecake recipe! Not that I have anything against fruit, in fact I love it, but this is great recipe to lead us into fall Quick, easy, and a great way to impress your guests. What's could be better?

Click here to check out the illustrations on Sally’s Etsy site and here to check out more images on her Web site. Thanks, Sally!


Recipe and more images after the jump.

The Mixing Bowl: Strawberry and Nectarine Pie by Ingela P. Arrhenius

Today's recipe for Strawberry and Nectarine Pie comes from illustrator extraordinaire, Ingela P. Arrhenius. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Ingela's colorful and playful designs have appeared on everything from posters to chocolate milk boxes and everything in between.

In the past, she has created illustrations for products such as greeting cards and stationary, as well as patterns for children's apparel and roller blinds. Her work graces the pages of magazines and children's books, which are often written by her talented husband, and even show up on postage stamps and yogurt containers!


Inspired by art of the 50's and 60's, Ingela's work is so cheerfully retro that it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Her illustrations always make me smile, so I was really thrilled that she agreed to contribute a recipe to Dessert Girl! When she sent over the illustration for the recipe, I instantly fell in love with it! I want to print it out and put it on my wall! I'm so excited to get the chance to share her work with you! You can find more images after the jump or on her Web site, right here. Thanks, Ingela! [To see the recipe in a readable, large-print format, just click on the image.]


Recipe Helpers: Ingela mentioned to me that although this recipe mentions using 5 nectarines, she only used 3 and that was enough, so 5 is not a strict requirement.

If you need help converting the measurements, click here for a nifty conversion calculator.

Note on The Mixing Bowl: I failed to mention this previously, but I thought that I should fill you in on what The Mixing Bowl series is really all about. Basically, I love seeing people making and sharing their favorite recipes. I also really like the idea of featuring and collaborating with people whose work I admire. The Mixing Bowl combines both of those ideas. Not only do I get to share yummy dessert recipes with you, but I also get the opportunity to feature the artists, writers, designers, and people that I love and admire! What could be better? I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!)


There are more Ingela images after the jump.