English Scones

If you've ever met me, you know that I'm a bit of an anglophile. So much so that I even married a most charming Englishman.  How can you read your way through their rich literary history and not fall in love with that beautiful, rainy, green countryside or the bustling streets of London? Don't even get me started on Hogwarts.

For my husband's birthday, someone gave him a jar of clotted cream. This was something I'd only ever read about in books, so I was excited to be able to give it a try. And on what does one put clotted cream? Why, scones, of course.

Traditional English scones are a bit different from what we're used to seeing in our American coffee shop pastry cases. They're not triangular, but round, and actually look a lot like biscuits. Scones are a bit heavier, however. They're still buttery, but they definitely benefit from a lovely cup of tea and a big dollop of Hobbitesque jam. Preferably made from gorgeous fat berries picked from your own idyllic English garden.

Now, clotted cream was a bit of a surprise. The name makes it seem like it might be similar to cottage cheese, but it's actually completely smooth and extremely thick. It can't be drizzled or even dolloped. It's almost as thick as cream cheese and basically tastes like plain heavy cream. I wouldn't eat it by itself, but paired with the raspberry jam, it gave a wonderful creamy quality to the whole experience that was simply delightful.

By the way, don't ever ask a British person if they want biscuits and gravy for breakfast without properly interpreting. They will give you a look of horror and think you're about to feed them cookies with brown beef gravy, which I have no doubt would be ever bit as disgusting as it sounds. Just stick with the fresh baked scones with jam and clotted cream, or cream cheese if you can't get the import. Get yourself a cup of tea, turn on Downton Abbey, and you're golden. English treatsies like no other.

*Photos by Monica Szczupider

Orange-infused Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

I think I may have found the one. The most delicious homemade brownie recipe known to man. It's been a long and trying quest. Though I will no doubt try many more brownie recipes, I'm not sure there's anything that could top this one.

What makes it so exceptional? Well, besides the half pound of melted chocolate, it contains booze which is proven to enhance just about anything. The flavor possibilities are endless.

I took that brownie recipe and jazzed it up for you a little bit by infusing it with a hint of orange and swirling in a heavy dose of cheesecake batter. These are super fudgy and gooey, just the way I like them. The added boost of sweet tangy orange and creamy cheesecake is enough to make you dance for joy.

We're still working with the amazing photographer Monica Szczhupider to bring you these fantastic images of some truly delicious treats. If you want to become a part of the Treatsies team, we're still looking for someone to help us design a new logo. We pay in cake and love.

If you love chocolate, make sure you get your teeth into these brownies soon. Like now.

Caramel-Swirl Cheesecake Bars

When my husband orders dessert, he'll always go for something with caramel or cheesecake. Last year he asked for caramel cheesecake for his birthday. So I shouldn't have been the least bit surprised when he asked for mini caramel cheesecakes for his birthday this year. 

Well, I came up with a slightly different, but completely delicious, solution. Caramel-swirl cheesecake bars are easily transportable and can be eaten with your hands. I am all for anything that you can just pick up and stuff in your face. 

At the foundation of this treat is a crisp, buttery shortbread crust. If you don't love shortbread, you've completely lost your mind. The silky cheesecake is swirled through with ample amounts of sweet, amber-colored salted caramel. It's a creamy, crunchy dream. 

If you cut them small, you can feed a crowd. Or you and your sweetheart can devour the whole pan. If it's your birthday, you can do whatever you want. Trust me, you'll want to eat them all. 

Photos by Monica Szczupider

Butterscotch Muffins

Let's get one thing straight. Muffins are not frostingless cupcakes. They should be more dense, with larger holes, and have a wonderful crust surrounding the whole shebang. That's why I never bake muffins in paper. They have to be naked to be at their best.

I've been making these butterscotch muffins for quite a few months, and thanks to Monica, they now look just as delicious as they taste. They are perfectly muffiny, and studded with sweetness from the butterscotch chips. They've also got a gorgeous drizzle of caramel sauce on top that sometimes forms the most perfect crunchy bits around the edge from the burnt sugar.

And with ten seconds in the microwave, you can keep eating these for a couple of days. When they're warm the butterscotch chips quickly become gooey pockets of sweet bliss. I could eat a hundred of them. And the base muffin recipe is highly adaptable. You can add just about anything to it to get to your ideal muffins.

Morning, noon, or night, you can't go wrong with eating a dozen of these, but if you want to share, I'll understand.

All photos by Monica Szczupider

Swiss and Bacon Dip

Yes, this is a baking and dessert blog, and everybody knows my favorite food groups are butter and sugar. But running a close second would have to be cheese and bacon.

I've been making Swiss and bacon dip for years. There have never been left overs. In fact, people usually devour the entire bread bowl to get every last scrap of dip. I'm telling you, this is ridiculously good. Elastic pants good.

If you throw crispy bacon, green onions, and a mountain of Swiss cheese into a base of cream cheese, mayo and a bit of Dijon mustard, then throw the whole thing in the oven, and finally plop it into a hollowed out loaf of sour dough, I promise, nearly everybody will be happy. It's almost impossible to stop eating it.

Though Treatsies is in love with dessert, we're happy to provide you with all sorts of deliciousness. We've made this for a customer to take to two different parties, and naturally, it was a hit. You should serve this at your next gathering. You might not want to share it with too many people, though. You'll likely want to keep it all for yourself.

Do it! Now!

Mint Cupcakes

No birthday is complete without cake, right? But why should that mean you have to settle for the same store bought sugar coma cake everybody else has? Not that there's anything wrong with that. I know I've eaten plenty of it in my lifetime. But on your birthday, you deserve something special.

These chocolate cupcakes are topped with a generous dollop of minty sweet frosting. It's cool and summery and delightful. And that minty cloud rests atop a unique chocolate cupcake studded with ground almonds. It gives them a wonderful chewy texture that's pleasantly surprising. And they stay light and moist for days.

We had a great time working, once again, with the fantastic Monica Szczupider on the photography for this post. Building relationships with talented artists is one of the best parts of my job. After eating dessert, of course.

And speaking of work, we received our business cards in the mail this weekend. I was positively giddy when I saw them perched in the mailbox. I'm not sure what got me so excited. Maybe it made it all seem just a little bit more legit. I can't wait to say, "Here's my card." I'm such a dork.

Summer might be coming to an end, but that doesn't mean you can't create your own sunshine. Try a fresh and delicious mint chocolate cupcake. You deserve it.

All photos by Monica Szczupider

Ono Hawaiian Bread Pudding

Aloha! We made you something really exciting this week. My own original island inspiration. Every taster swooned. It's Hawaiian bread pudding.

This baby starts out with a loaf of sweet Hawaiian  bread than gets studded with macadamia nuts and pineapple. It's then soaked in a coconut rum-infused custard and popped in the oven until golden brown and puffy. And as if that weren't enough, it's served with a coconut rum creme anglaise, which is basically boozy melted ice cream. It's aloha on a plate and so extremely ono!

We worked with the fantastic photographer Monica Szczupider to get these great images of this new tasty treat. She made our bread pudding look as good as it tastes. Thank you so much!

We've also been working on an updated website for you and hope to get started on the new logo soon. We're doing our best to make it easy for you to order your favorite treatsies.

There's still plenty of work today be done. I've been spending most of today doing math, which is definitely in my bottom 10 of ways to spend an afternoon. But that's what it takes.

But you know what makes up for an afternoon of boring math? Sugar! Have some Hawaiian bread pudding. I promise you won't be able to think about anything else.

*All photos by Monica Szczupider