Category Archives: Desserts
Pumpkin Crunch Cake
If you are familiar with dump cake, you’ll see the genius of this recipe immediately. My mom used to make dump cake when I was a kid. I’ll have to post that “recipe” sometime soon. It’s essentially canned fruit, topped with dry cake mix and smothered with butter. Not really a cake in the traditional sense, but delicious. I saw this pumpkin version and knew it would be ah-mazing. And it was. This is two delightful desserts combined into one. Pumpkin pie on the bottom and pecan pie on top. Custardy spiced goodness covered with crunchy buttery caramelized nut topping. I’m telling you, it’s far too easy for how gorgeous it turns out.
Michael’s Is Evil and Wilton Is Wonderful
I went in for one thing. One. Thing. Some plastic baggies for my kid’s Valentine’s for school. That’s all I needed. But, alas…Michael’s is evil. So terribly, wonderfully EVIL. Out I came with a bag loaded down with rafia ribbon, chocolate melts and candy molds. I’m weak-minded. It’s true. I’m a marketing and merchandising gold mine. I see things that look fun and suddenly think I’m crafty & I buy them. I suppose I should consider myself (and my bank account) lucky that I didn’t find some uber involved super-craft project to throw myself into. One time, I went into Michael’s with my cousin and came out with about $150 worth of blank canvases, paints, brushes and what-not. I was absolutely sure I’d be the next Picasso with all that crap. I remembered very quickly that I haven’t an artistic bone in my body once I started trying to actually use it. This time wasn’t that bad I guess.
Samoas S’more Rolls
It’s Girl Scouts cookie contest time!! I’m cooking with cookies! I feel I have crossed a MAJOR milestone in my life. I had a box of Girl Scouts Samoas in my cupboard for a week and managed not to consume the entire thing. In my opinion, Samoas are the perfect food. Shortbready cookie, caramel, coconut and chocolate. Oh glory.
I know I’m not alone. Samoas make up about 20% of the total cookie sales by those sweet little sugar hocking scouts. These babies are second only to Thin Mints, which I contemplated using for this contest, but knew I could only stretch my willpower so far. My task for this contest was to create something incredible using Girl Scout cookies. And The Girl Scouts of Western Washington GAVE me 5 boxes to play with. My life is so grand! My very first thought was that Samoas could only be made more perfect by one thing. Marshmallow. With that plan in mind, this is what I came up with. Samoas S’more Rolls.
These three ingredient rolls are absolute heaven and the most time-consuming part is waiting for the oil to heat up.
It’s a simple chop, fill, roll and fry. But the result is just amazing.
I consumed the first two rolls fresh out of the fryer, burning my fingers getting the molten chocolate and caramel into my mouth. Where, I also toasted my tongue just a little. The smell was overpowering – I could not resist long enough to allow them to cool. The filling was divine. Melty mallow goodness wrapping around sweet caramel and rich chocolate with a hint of buttery coconut. All of that gorgeous deliciousness wrapped in a crispy roll. Oh gracious these are good.
I cooked up a few more batches, fed some to my kids and then ran the rest over to my neighbors because once there was caramel and chocolate dipping sauce on the plate, these were not long for the world at my house. Little envelopes of perfection. Mmmmmm.
Girl Scout Cookies go on sale to the public March 1-17! There is an awesome cookie locator, as well as an app, that tells you exactly where girls are selling cookies in your neighborhood! Head over to the Girl Scouts of WW facebook page and give them some love! As soon as cookies go on sale, get yourself a box of Samoas and whip up some of these rolls. Your taste buds will sing thanks to me but the rest of you may hate me for giving you the idea!
You can vote for the finalists from February 19 – March 1 by clicking HERE. I hope you’ll see these Samoas S’more Rolls on the list!
Samoas S’more Rolls
a Bakerlady original
1 box Girl Scouts Samoas Cookies (you may have a couple left for eating)
12 egg roll wrappers
1/2 cup mini marshmallows
In a deep pot, heat oil to 380 degrees F. (I used my frydaddy)
Cut Samoas into 1/4-inch chunks. Take an egg roll wrapper, and brush edges with a little water, and lay on a work surface, water side up, with a point facing you, not a straight edge. Place about 1 chopped cookie 1 or 2 inches from the edge, and top with 4 mini marshmallows.
Fold the corner closest you up and just over the filling, press lightly, then fold in the sides, making a little pull or tuck to keep the roll right. Then roll away from you and press to seal tightly. (Take care not to tear the egg roll wrapper. This can cause roll to leak while cooking. If tear occurs, pinch dough together until it reseals or discard wrap and use a new one.) Repeat until all egg rolls are formed.
Fry egg rolls 2 at a time, turning almost immediately, cooking on all sides to just golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. (Make sure not to overcook filling. If you see marshmallows start to ooze out before both sides are golden, filling will be overcooked and egg roll will appear hollow inside) Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and repeat until all cooked. Make sure to check your oil temperature between additions.
Top Ten of 2012
New Year’s resolution #1 is to get back to blogging. The whole, two kids in school at different times/becoming nothing more than a chauffeur thing has really thrown me off my game. Nevertheless, there were many brilliant recipes this year and so I bring you Bakerlady’s Top Ten of 2012. By popularity (that means you wonderful readers picked these), here they are:
Honorable Mention – Nanny’s Banana Pudding – I just can leave her off the list. It was so close to cracking the top 10. Probably my favorite dessert making memory of the year at her cabin with my sisters.

#10 Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Parfait — A dessert I made for a dinner party with friends that turned out to be absolutely gloriously delicious. And beautiful. Very impressive.

#9 Disneyland’s White Chocolate Raspberry Cookie — My favorite snack in the park and apparently a cookie that many people want to replicate at home. I got to share one at Disneyland this fall with my kids. They love it as much as I do!

#8 Cinnamon Roll Pancakes — A quick way to fancy-pants up your kids breakfast. Ah-mazing!

#7 Rolo Cake Bars — I made these for the guys who painted my house this summer. Quick, easy and absolutely scrumptious!

#6 Greatest Chicken Salad Ever — This wasn’t a new recipe since last January, I’ve been making it a long time. Thanks to the power of Pinterest however, many new folks discovered it this year.
#5 M&M’s Rolo Pretzel Bites — Possibly the most evil (in the best way possible) thing I’ve ever discovered. You’ll find yourself eating them like popcorn…until you remember halfway thru the batch that you really really really shouldn’t do that because you just consumed a half bag of Rolos without realizing it. 
#4 Snickerdoodle Bread – Like your favorite cookie in bread form. Soft and delicious with a ribbon of cinnamon butter thru the middle and a crusty cinnamon sugar topper. Yum yum yum!

#3 Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars — These were a spin-off another popular recipe. The addition of the pretzels to smooth peanut butter and chocolate was awesome in my book, and yours too!

#2 Lemon Monkey Bread — My personal favorite discovery of this year. No boring caramel monkey bread for my readers. This stuff is warm and soft with a hit of sweet and great tang from all the lemons. Dee-licious!

And the number one recipe this year coming in with more hits this year than my entire site had in the history of Bakerlady (aka: a whole lot!)…
Reese’s Peanut Butter Bars!! I love how many of you found Bakerlady thru this recipe (thanks Pinterest). I enjoy all the stories I get to hear about making this dessert with your mothers, grandmothers and enjoying them in your school cafeterias growing up. I’m still pretty peeved that my school never had these things…but happy for those of you who did. Sort of happy anyway.

Thank you all for coming back to Bakerlady all year for more deliciousness. Have a safe and happy New Year’s celebration and I’ll see you all in 2013!!
Fabulously Freaky Halloween Fodder
I love throwing Halloween parties. Mostly because I get to make delicious food and give it disgusting names. Here’s a round-up of all the deliciousness I made this year and the nastiness I called it. Most of these items are easy to make (and can be done ahead of time) so you won’t be slaving away in the kitchen while your guests are having a goulishly good time! My hot hubby and I dressed up as Johnny and June Cash this year. We had a blast!
Oven Baked Apple Chips
First of all, my apologies for being away so long. Bad Tonya. Bad bad. I have allowed my life to become too full. Actually, I thought with both my children heading to school this fall, my schedule would free up substantially. Apparently having more time is the great lie of having school age children. Why didn’t anyone tell me that I was about to become the Tonya Taxi Service? I feel like my life is spent in my van driving round in a 2 mile loop. Ok, enough complaining. I have resolved to suck it up and find time to share with you all. You deserve it. Regardless of how harried I feel on a daily (hourly) basis these days. Deliciousness still needs to be made. Women have successfully managed school, children, meals, housecleaning and jobs for decades – it’s the least I can do to get some recipes typed up! Starting with these dee-licious apple chips. No dehydrator needed!
Rainbow Happiness Six Layer Cake
We had the mother of all rainbow birthdays this weekend for my sweet six-year-old Madison. My house looked like a unicorn threw up all over. It was epic fun. A hyperactivity inducing, spectrum spectacular. Brightly colored craziness. We had a blast. The pièce de résistance of the party was a stunning six layer rainbow cake. It was truly a sight to behold. It requires a bit of time, but is totally worth it for an awe inspired gasp from your guests when you cut it open.
Foggy Morning Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake Balls
Fall is here! This morning I was treated to my favorite weather on earth. Fog. Wonderful, misty, curl up with a book in front of a fire fog. Chilly damp mystery novel fog. I love it. I think it’s deep in my English blood to adore a nice foggy morning. Or so my Nanny tells me. It is quintessential autumn weather. I had my best ever experience with my favorite weather this morning at “walking club”.
Raspberry Oatmeal Cookie Bars
In the past several weeks I made two monumentally bad choices. Probably more, but these two will probably haunt me the rest of my life. The first mistake was trying salt n’ pepper pistachios for the first time. Please hold your judgement until you find out the other thing I’ve never had before. Pistachios pale in comparison. I think since I first cracked one of those salty nuts I’ve taken down an average of a pound of them a day. No exaggeration. I’ve blown thru three 5 pound bags of those evil snacks in about two weeks. Fifteen pounds of nuts? That’s crazy! I just can’t get enough of them.














