20 Fall Desserts

My Mom’s Chocolate Buttercream (for brownies)

The simplest, smoothest, most luscious chocolate buttercream you can make or eat is here. Thank you Mom! 

Orange Blossom Rice Pudding; it’s going to calm you down, too

The warm, creamy heaven that is this rice pudding recipe will become a fast favorite.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies, and it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Deep brown sugar flavor with browned butter and a perfect chewy texture make this our go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Apple Pie with Stovetop Filling

Apple pie with stovetop filling comes together quickly, has a gorgeous, flakey crust, and is accented with a whisper of beautiful flower waters.

Lebanese Crunchy Sesame Cookies

If there is one cookie I want to eat every single day, it’s my crunchy sesame seed cookies. So crisp, light, and nutty, they are a perfect combination of flavor and texture. Keep the cookies in an airtight container. I used to travel what seemed like a major hike north in Chicago to get my

Dark Chocolate Cake, with Raspberry Rose Cream

This dark chocolate cake is not a typical cake texture—it is fudgy, extremely moist, and brownie-like around the edges. A spoonful of raspberry rose whipped cream on top is luscious. The cake and cream pull together swiftly and ahead of time, and please pretty much everyone who ever comes to your table.

Bonus Cranberry Parfait

This simple “leftovers” way with cranberry sauce is dreamy goodness, layered with thick yogurt (labneh) and a handful of pistachios.

How to make Lebanese Baklawa

Learn how to make Lebanese baklawa with confidence, ease, and joy! Here you will make phyllo your friend, clarified butter your baby, toasty ground nuts your nirvana. And flower water syrup—that sweet simplicity that distinguishes Lebanese baklawa from all other baklavas—your pure, aromatic nectar. Scroll down to find links to all of the recipes. Let’s

Nut-Free Baklawa

Your nut-free baklawa recipe is here! A combination of seeds make a filling that competes handily with traditional nut fillings, so anyone with nut allergies or simply avoiding nuts can enjoy this buttery, crisp, fragrant pastry. All of the tips for making traditional baklawa with nuts can be used with this recipe (except…the nuts!). Read

Olive Oil Baklawa with Pistachios

Olive oil baklawa is a fabulous alternative to classic baklawa, or baklava — the Mediterranean pastry traditionally drenched in butter and flower water syrup. How exciting to have a vegan baklawa (vegan baklava) option that tastes so very good! I won’t say that olive oil baklawa tastes exactly the same as if you’ve made your

Chocolate Baklava

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.

Date Nut Bread Recipe, and learning to fly solo

  When I went to culinary school a few years ago, I wanted to make a change as much as I wanted to cook great food. I left the job I’d been working in Chicago for years, left the neighborhood where I’d been living all those years too, and headed west to San Francisco. Growing

Apricot and Mulberry Jam Thumbprint Cookies

These gem-like jam thumbprint cookies are fun to make and so tender and beautiful. Use a combination of preserves like apricot and mulberry for color and flavor interest. This one will brighten up the cookie plates. It’s a beauty. That’s what mom said when she tasted the thumbprint cookies I’ve been making with our gorgeous

Salted Caramel Ice Cream with Orange Blossom

The ultimate ice cream! This recipe for Salted Caramel Ice Cream is adapted from my favorite ice cream book, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. My ice cream maker of choice is this one. The base is made without eggs, but uses cream cheese for flavor and texture. Making the caramel takes close attention; read

Warm Salted Caramel Sauce with Orange Blossom

Homemade salted caramel sauce is simple to make–mine includes a whisper of orange blossom water, so delicious with the caramel flavor. Serve the caramel sauce with sliced apples and more sea salt to garnish. It’s also wonderful over ice cream, apple pie, apple cake, banana bread, and anywhere else you like your caramel. The dinner

Lebanese Sfouf Cake

Blondie Bars with Caramel

Chocolate-Caramel Pecan Tart Recipe

I present to you this prize of my recipe collection with what can only be described as…guilt. My mother recently asked what I’d be posting in the lead-up to Thanksgiving. I knew she had pie on her mind because that is the topic of the hour at any given time in our house, starting at

Orange Blossom Pecan Pie

Olive Oil Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting