More cupcakes...

Yes, I guess I have been on a cupcake making streak, not pies, but we'll get back to that soon. In the meantime, here's some patriotic cupcakes made in honor of the 4th of July. The white are carrot cake with cream cheese icing, the red are dark chocolate and the blue are rich vanilla. All were a hit.

And more cupcakes...

A co-worker fell in love with these from the "Hello Cupcake" book, so I did a batch to take to work. I'm not a fan of all that buttercream icing, but she is, so here they are.

Other baked goodies...

Sometimes I do bake other things and thought I would share these yummy chocolate ganache cupcakes with you. The recipe is simple and uses Hershey's syrup (I used the new dark chocolate one) to make them extra chocolatey. Tom loves jimmies and although I usually object, I let him put them on these... since they were for his Dad on Father's Day.

Can she bake a cherry pie?

Yes! I love this time of year when every farmer's market and fruit stand is bursting with sweet cheeries. Yes, I know sour cherry pie is the norm, but these cherries are too fabulous not to try. I used very little sugar and very little else to create a delicious cherry pie. This did remind me that it has been a long time since I made a lattice crust. It's harder than I remember.

Strawberry Truffle Pie

YUM! I decided to put a creamy layer of chocolate cream under the strawberries to really make is special and was very pleased with the results. It is delicious. Only change for next time is to make the chocolate layer slightly thinner and the berries thicker.

Fresh fruit from California...oh the choices for pie...

Well after a fabulous weekend in Monterey we stopped at one of my favorite fruit/vegetable stands on the way back and the strawberries are gorgeous, but it is also cherry season, so I was torn about which to make first. Well, since the BF hasn't had a pie for a while and he doesn't really like cherry, the choice was obvious. Now...how to make it extra special... I think I know and will report back with results.

Chocolate Almond Amaretto Ricotta Cheese Pie

Thought I'd try another version of the ricotta cheese pie. I wasn't as please with it. Two big changes (other than subbing Amaretto for the Chambord) was that I used an almond butter cookie and ground almonds for the crust, which was nice, but not as good as the chocolate cookie crust and I added some ground almonds to the filling, which I didn't like at all. The reviews were good, but all agreed, especially the BF's Dad, that the Raspberry version was better...next up...who knows?