Relish Recipes — Desserts

These more-ish cookies have a lovely crackled satin surface that looks just like a well-made pan of chocolate brownies and they have a chocolate flavour that’s just as intense due to the proportionately large quantity of chocolate in the recipe. Get that glass of cold milk ready! We may just have a plate of these on March 25, 2023, when Anna comes to Relish to launch her new cookbook - Baking Wisdom.

A happy accident while grocery shopping led to the surprise star of this cake. While perusing the baking aisle looking for peanut butter chips, I hastily grabbed a bag of butterscotch instead. Typically, I find butterscotch chips cloyingly sweet but, with the cornflakes, peanuts, and extra sprinkle of salt, oh my gosh, so good. While either will work, this is just further proof of my belief that there are no mistakes in the kitchen.

Here is a nice twist on the holiday classic, decorated gingerbread cookies. This recipe is inspired by speculoos, a notably buttery and nicely spiced cookie common in Europe. The subtle differences between a traditional North American–style gingerbread and this recipe are the use of honey in place of molasses and the addition of a little cardamom, ground anise and black pepper to the spice mix in place of ginger.

Not only is the origin of Nanaimo Bars a hot topic of debate, the bars themselves are still hot as a favourite Canadian treat. Since the 1950's, endless variations have included Minted, Grand Marnier, Cherry, Pina Colada, Mocha, Peanut Butter and Orange. I have not seen a Raspberry Nanaimo Bar, and found that raspberry liqueur added a touch of elegance to this familiar three-layered bar cookie. (From A Taste of Canada - A Culinary Journey by Rose Murray, 2008)