Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread is a delicious Irish staple, and it is so easy to make! It is rustic, hearty, and relatively healthy. You can personalize it by using different fruits and flavorings, too. I used orange zest and raisins, but you can try any kind of citrus or extract in addition to any dried fruit, including cherries, cranberries, or currants. The fruit adds flavor and texture to the crumbly bread. 


Originally, Irish Soda Bread only contained flour, buttermilk, baking soda, and salt. I wanted a sweeter, richer bread that could be eaten for breakfast, snack, or dessert, so I added sugar, dried fruit, orange zest, an egg, and some butter. 


The trick to getting the right texture is to handle the dough minimally and keeping everything cold, just like making biscuits or pie crust. Kneading the dough develops the protein (gluten) in the flour, which leads to toughness, and lukewarm butter doesn't release steam when baked, so the bread is more dense. I used a stand mixer, but a food processor could work as well. As soon as everything was incorporated and just cohesive, I flipped the dough onto the cookie tray and patted it into a ball instead of kneading and rolling it. It may not be as pretty, but this is supposed to be a rustic bread!

2 Cups Flour
2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

1/3 Cup Sugar

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

1/2 Stick Butter, Chilled & Cubed

1 3/4 Cups Buttermilk

1 Egg

1 tsp Orange Zest or Other Flavoring

1 Cup Dried Fruit

Heat oven to 375F. Line a cookie tray with parchment.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the butter and mix until just incorporated. Combine the buttermilk, egg, and flavoring. Slowly add to the flour mixture and fold in the dried fruit.

Gently form the dough into a round and transfer to the prepared sheet. Cut an "x" in the top and bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through.

Makes 1 Loaf

Recipe Adapted from Ina Garten

Bananas Foster Pudding Pie

Mardi Gras (French for Fat Tuesday) is the day on which the goal is to indulge in as much rich, unhealthy food as possible before the 40 days of Lent. Some of the most famous celebrations are in Louisiana, and Bananas Foster is an iconic Louisiana dessert. The flambéing of the bananas in the rum is very impressive, and the brown sugar, rum, and vanilla combine in a sticky, gooey, yummy mess. Igniting fruit can be a daunting task, so I decided to make mine in a pie. It's banana pudding meets bananas foster, and it tastes SO good! To complete your Mardi Gras meal, go to www.popcosmo.com for some Jambalaya!


You can't have a pie without a crust, and this one uses a vanilla wafer crust. You can make it at home, but I have found that it shrinks and becomes crooked, so I buy them premade. All good banana puddings are full of vanilla wafers, so it makes perfect sense to use them instead of a normal pie crust.


Next is the pudding. It's surprisingly easy to make, and you'll never go back to box mixes again! I flavor mine with vanilla, but you can add rum to boost the flavor if you want to. 


The bananas are coated in a thick, velvety caramel sauce. To mimic the flavors of bananas foster, I make it with brown sugar and rum. Instead of making a brittle or other caramel candy, I make more of a liquidy sauce. It coats the bananas and melts into the pudding far better than anything else.


Finally, the pie is topped with whipped cream. It's light and fluffy, and you have to make it from scratch. It's so easy and SO much better than the canned stuff.

1 Vanilla Wafer Pie Crust
3 Ripe Bananas, Sliced
1 3/4 Cups Cream
3 T Butter
2 1/2 tsp Vanilla
Rum, Optional
2 T Powdered Sugar
3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Flour
2 Eggs
4 Egg Yolks
2 Cups Milk
25 Vanilla Wafers


Combine the dark brown sugar, 3/4 cup cream, and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, whisking constantly until sugar dissolves. Boil until thick enough to coat a spoon, whisking often, about 10 minutes. Add rum to taste, if desired.


Combine the sugar and flour until smooth. Whisk in the eggs and egg yolks, then continue whisking until it forms a smooth paste. Slowly whisk in a cup of milk, then whisk in another. Transfer to a saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thick, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 2 tsp vanilla. Strain to remove any bits of cooked egg.


Slice the bananas and fold into the cooled caramel. Arrange half the slices on the crust and top with half the pudding. Repeat, then spread the vanilla wafers on top.


Whip the cream until it holds medium-stiff peaks. Add the remaining vanilla and powdered sugar. Spread over the pie.


Makes 1 Pie
Recipe Adapted from Ann Thornton

Caramel Brownie Pie

This is it: the third and final day of my Valentine's Day Countdown. Those other two recipes were delicious, but they don't compare to my Caramel Brownie Pie. I made this at Taste of Atlanta 2011, and the entire pie was gone in five minutes. I said it then and I'll say it now: everything good in the world is in this pie. Instead of a regular pie crust, it's a brownie. There's caramel. There's caramel whipped cream. There's more caramel and brownie bits sprinkled on top. How could you not love this pie?

It's pretty obvious that this is a pie recipe. However, there was a little too much batter for the pie pan, so I scooped some into mini muffin tins. They make a great snack, and every chef needs to taste their food!

Let's start with the crust. I had to find a new brownie recipe (that one will remain secret, at least for now) because my old one resulted in sinking brownies. The crust was an inch taller than the middle, and that just wasn't right for an edge-hater like me. I set off to find a new recipe but kept the old one just in case. Turns out that was a good thing. I don't want a slab of brownie as a crust; I want a brownie that has room for caramel on top without it oozing over the sides. I remembered my old recipe whose only "flaw" was that it sunk. A lot. Well, that's perfect for this recipe! You can pour in as much caramel as you want, and it won't spill over the sides!

The secret to a dense, fudgy brownie is using as little flour as possible. If you've ever had a flourless chocolate cake, you know what I'm talking about, so these brownies have just enough flour to hold them together.

The caramel is more of a caramel sauce than a brittle or chewy candy. I personally love the gooeyness and lusciousness because everything melts together when you eat it. I don't want to have shards of glass-like candy, for this recipe at least. Make sure you don't pour all of the caramel into the pie or eat it all before you fold some into the whipped cream and drizzle some on top because it ties all of the flavors together.

That brings me to the whipped cream. Let's be honest; whipped cream from a can or a tub, "real" or not, is nasty. It's full of preservatives, oils, and chemicals, none of which are truly necessary. Fresh whipped cream tastes completely different (in a good way!), and it is so easy to make, especially if you have a stand mixer. You pour in some cream and turn on the mixer and you have whipped cream in minutes. I dare anyone who says they can't cook to make their own whipped cream. The only way you can mess up is by making butter, and that's not much of a mistake if you ask me or Paula Deen. To make it even better, I fold in some of that caramel sauce. Like I said, it ties everything together and sweetens it with more complex flavors than plain sugar.

1 2/3 Cup Sugar
6 T Butter
12 oz Semisweet Chocolate
2 Eggs
4 tsp Vanilla
3/4 Cup Flour
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/3 Cups Cream
2 T Powdered Sugar

Combine 3/4 cup sugar, the butter, and 2T water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Place the chocolate in a medium bowl and pour the hot butter mixture over it. Stir to combine and chill until just warm.

Heat oven to 325F. Grease a 9" pie pan and line a dozen mini muffin cups with paper liners.

Combine the eggs and 1 tsp vanilla. Whisk into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups and spread the rest into the prepared pie pan. Bake the pie for 20 minutes and the mini muffins for 15, or until cooked through.

Heat 2/3 cup cream in a small saucepan until warm. Combine the remaining sugar and 1/4 cup water in a medium pot. Heat until amber, then whisk in the cream and 2 tsp vanilla. Cool until just warm, then set aside 1/4 cup of the caramel. Pour the rest into the cooled pie crust.

Whip the remaining cream until it holds medium-stiff peaks. Fold in the remaining vanilla, powdered sugar, and most of the reserved caramel until ribbons of caramel remain.

Spread the whipped cream onto the pie. Drizzle with remaining caramel and crumble on a mini muffin, if desired.

Makes 1 Pie + 12 Mini Muffins
Brownie Recipe Adapted from the Kosher Cookbook for Kids