Sweets

Warning: Baking this cake will fill your kitchen with the irresistible smell of oranges. This is a slightly modified version of a recipe I saw recently in Saveur. It's a buttery pound cake shot through with freshly grated orange zest and soaked with sweet orange syrup.

These brownies are dark, fudgy, and shot through with ribbons of smooth peanut butter—and dotted with bits of molten chocolate. This recipe could feed an army. If you have a strong sense of self preservation, cut the recipe in half and make it in a smaller baking dish.

So here's the thing. I liked this cake so much that I immediately had to get it out of the house so I didn't gobble down the entire pan. Find the logic in that, I know.

I should admit: I have a special spot in my heart for old-fashioned desserts—especially if it's the kind of thing that you're likely to find in the spinning dessert case at a 1950s-style diner. This pie totally fits the bill.

Hope you all had a fabulous holiday and new years! The Angry Chef and I spent New Year's Eve nestled in with the good folks from The Salem Insider and Rippin Kitten. The company was outstanding....

Springerle are pretty German cookies that are usually made around Christmas. Some of the oldest springerle molds are actually traced back to the 14th century.

Candied fruit peel is one of those miraculous acts of culinary alchemy. You take tough, bitter fruit rind that's packed with oil you could use to polish your furniture, and, thanks to the magic of sugar, transform it into heavenly, fragrant candy.

These bars are one part candy, one part cookie. For this recipe, cinnamon-laced brown-sugar shortbread is draped in a rich fudge topping that's half chocolate ganache, half dulce de leche.

Be still my little mouse heart: This is the best chocolate cake I've ever made.

What better way to get in the Halloween spirit than with a little candy making? Here are three of our favorite recipes for homemade treats.