Kathleen Siegle

Raspberry Rose Water Cupcakes

August 25, 2015

Vanilla bean cupcakes swirled with tart raspberry puree then topped with a luscious rose water infused raspberry frosting, and sprinkled with chopped pistachios. Take your taste buds on an exotic vacation with these Raspberry Rose Water Cupcakes!

Living in Dubai has some perks. For one, I can have anything I want delivered to my house for free or for only 5 dirhams (1.35 USD!). I usually grocery shop online, because they deliver my groceries to my doorstep for free. It’s magical. Oh, and did I mention that the Ikea here will deliver and assemble your furniture too. For free. America needs to take some notes.

One of the things I love about living in Dubai is all the variety of exotic foods and ingredients I have access to. I have found everything from rose and cardamon flavored camel milk to crazy looking Southeast Asian fruits like the Rambutan. Every grocery store also has a nice supply of beautiful orange blossom and rose waters, something I always found a little difficult to get back home. I totally took advantage of the rose water for these Raspberry Rose Water Cupcakes.

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Apricot and Cherry Ricotta Galette

August 17, 2015

Flaky pie crust filled with creamy ricotta, tart cherries and sweet apricots. This rustic Apricot and Cherry Ricotta Galette is my favorite lazy pie.

Our family just got back from an amazing road trip vacation in Europe. One German car, two small anxious kids, one big college bound kid, and two crazy parents. Don’t worry though, we were already crazy before the vacation. We started in Frankfurt Germany and drove to Europa-Park in Rust, which is one of the most amazing theme parks I’ve ever been to. Next, we drove to a small French town in the country and visited Nigloland. This was another European theme park and definitely one of my all time favorites. It was quaint, gorgeous, and wonderful for little kids. My husband’s coworker’s family owns the park, so they set us up in a cute little hotel room in the park. We slept inside the theme park, right under the Ferris Wheel! Who can say they’ve done that?

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Snickerdoodle Crupcakes

July 28, 2015

Soft cinnamon sugar cupcakes with a hidden surprise! A luscious croissant baked right in the cupcake and topped with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. These Snickerdoodle Crupcakes are easily my new favorite mash-up dessert!

I’m so excited about these. Yes, I often get excited about baked goods, but these are awesome! Think of a soft snickerdoodle cookie combined with a buttery croissant, then smothered in cinnamon cream cheese frosting like a cinnmon roll. Best breakfast ever, right?

I’ve always loved the idea of hybrid desserts or dessert mash-ups. There’s of course the coveted cronut, the cruffin (burglars even broke in and stole the recipe!), and also the Brookie. I even morphed sweet potato pie into baklava. It was a memorable experience. Just a quick shout out…one of my favorite bloggers wrote all about mash-ups.

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Chocolate Chunk Banana Caramel Poke Cake

July 21, 2015

Soft banana cake littered with dark chocolate chunks and walnuts while swimming in salted caramel. What’s not to love? Turn those brown bananas into a lovely Chocolate Chunk Banana Caramel Poke Cake!

Everyone knows not to grocery shop when you’re hungry. We all do it anyway and end up with a cart load of food we probably will never get around to eating. You also shouldn’t grocery shop with a two year old, regardless if she’s hungry or not. Every time I’m in the produce section, she’s super excited to see those bright yellow bananas. “Bananas!”, she always squeals when she rides by them. Will she eat those bananas? Nope. Does she scream if you don’t put them in the cart? Yes. It’s okay though, that means plenty of opportunities for baking this Chocolate Chunk Banana Caramel Poke Cake. You would be squealing about bananas too.

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Chocolate Cannoli Bars

July 14, 2015

Three glorious layers come together for the ultimate cannoli experience. These super easy Chocolate Cannoli Bars are still decadent and plus they look super fancy. This is where you can go crazy with the pistachios. Pistachios = Fancy.

So I think I finally got the kiddos on a schedule. Oliver goes to summer camp every morning from 8 to about 1:30. Super amen to that! Then it’s just Jovi and me for what we call “mommy camp”, which is just Jovi watching people play with Play Doh on Youtube. Is that a thing? There are like hundreds of videos of people making cupcakes with Play Doh, and her little two year old brain is hooked. Then around 11 am I smell something funky, change that diaper and she’s down for a nap. Probably dreaming about Play Doh, I’m sure. So for about an hour and a half it really turns into mommy camp. I catch up on the blog, bake, and just soak in the sounds of nothing. I love it.

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Andes Mint Whoopie Pies

July 10, 2015

Thick dark chocolate cakes sandwiched with the creamiest, made from scratch mint frosting ever. And don’t forget the huge helping of Andes Mints! These Andes Mint Whoopie Pies will help you cool off during the heat wave.

I think my sweat glands hit a milestone today. No lie, I changed my clothes like three times today, like a sweaty man. I basically was sweating like a man with hyperhidrosis. It broke 50 C today, and in American speak, that’s pretty much 120 F. My little Chevy rental said so and I’m sticking with it. Summer is so strange here in Dubai. The sunshine is so bright and beautiful, but the wind is so intense that there is always this dusty haze around. It’s so dusty it looks like smog. We haven’t had a major sandstorm yet, but from what I hear it’s a little scary. Like Tom Cruise Mission Impossible scary. On a lighter note, we told my son we were living in Tatooine. He pretty much feels like a boss. He can now tell his little friends that in his past life he had an address in Star Wars.

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Kathleen Siegle

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