You’re going to love this strawberry smoothie. This recipe is cold, creamy and satisfying, and the nutty strawberry flavor is truly crave-worthy.

In their most basic form, these strawberry smoothies require just four ingredients—frozen strawberries, frozen bananas, almond milk and almond butter.

This smoothie recipe tastes like a strawberry milkshake, and you can make it for breakfast! I’ll be sipping on these pink drinks all summer, and I hope the recipe becomes a staple in your home as well.

If you ask me, smoothies should be super simple. I don’t want to pull a bunch of ingredients out of my fridge and pantry every morning just for a smoothie. I am not a morning person! Plus, these smoothies are easy to whip up in the afternoon or after dinner if you get a craving for a sweet treat.

You can change up the recipe by adding flax or oats for a nutrition boost, or a light drizzle of maple syrup to make them taste even more dessert-like. I’m plenty satisfied with the four-ingredient formula, though, and I think you will be, too!

Continue to the recipe...

The post Simple Strawberry Smoothie appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

These lava cakes are rich and decadent, with cakey outsides and irresistibly gooey chocolate centers. They’re like a warm mug of hot chocolate in romantic dessert form.

These chocolate lava cakes look and taste impressive, but they’re pretty quick and easy to make. You don’t need any special equipment—no mixer, just a couple of bowls and a whisk. Unlike most lava cakes, you don’t even need ramekins to make this recipe. I scaled it down to fit perfectly in your muffin tin!

Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten popularized the lava cake in the 1990s, so this recipe concept has been around for a while. I’m excited to report that the ingredients are simple (you probably have them already) and the muffin tin technique works like a charm.

This recipe yields two small lava cakes, perfect for two individual servings. They’re rich enough that you could also serve four people who are willing to share. I never manage to polish one off on my own.

You’ll find step-by-step photos and a detailed recipe below. Let’s make some lava cakes!

Continue to the recipe...

The post Mini Lava Cakes for Two appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

How about a fruity treat? On a summer evening, there’s not much better than a warm homemade crisp with cold vanilla ice cream. This mixed berry crisp is the perfect use for those wonderful in-season berries. It’s easy to make (far less fussy than a pie) and just as good.

You can make this berry crisp recipe with any combination of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries or raspberries—use all four or just a couple. Or, use it as a template for a single-berry crisp (here’s a more straightforward blueberry crisp recipe). You can’t go wrong.

This mixed berry crisp is the latest addition to my growing collection of crisp recipes on the blog. Like most of the others, this recipe just so happens to be gluten free, easily made vegan, and naturally sweetened. Depending on your standards, this crisp could definitely qualify as healthy.

I love the combination of oats and almond flour in the topping—the result is golden and crisp on top, and tender underneath. The topping keeps well to enjoy leftovers for several days. I like to eat it for breakfast with plain Greek yogurt. Why not?

Continue to the recipe...

The post Mixed Berry Crisp (Gluten Free) appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Craving a refreshing summer treat? An easy little project? Something sweet, but not too sweet? These minty pineapple ice pops are just the ticket. They’re made with just two ingredients—pineapple and mint!

These popsicles are naturally sweetened with fruit alone. I actually make my pops with frozen pineapple, which is easy and inexpensive.

This recipe was inspired by a popsicle we enjoyed on a hot summer afternoon in Nashville last year. I insisted that we stop at Las Paletas for popsicles, even though our bellies were still full from lunch.

As our popsicles dripped onto the porch in the heat, I made a mental note to make similar popsicles at home. We can’t hop over to Nashville right now, but at least we can enjoy some cold pops in the backyard!

Continue to the recipe...

The post Easy Pineapple Mint Popsicles appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

These chocolate crispy bars are a modern, abstract rendition of scotcheroos—the treats printed on Rice Krispies boxes in the 1960s. If you squint a little bit, the pecans might remind you of butterscotch.

You could call these sort-of scotcheroos, or mostly-naturally-sweetened scotcheroos, or just plain delicious. Somehow, I landed on Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Bars.

I always get a hankering for Reese’s peanut butter eggs around Easter time. They’re my favorite. This crispy-crackly, honey-sweetened, peanut butter-and-chocolate recipe is fully satisfying my Reese’s craving.

These no-bake treats are easy to make, and they’re ready after a two-hour rest in the refrigerator. If you have a box of brown rice crisps (or Rice Krispies, for that matter), you’re in luck!

Continue to the recipe...

The post Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Bars appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

We’re coming in hot with a very last-minute Thanksgiving dessert recipe! The idea came to me when I was exasperated by yet another failed attempt to make maple-sweetened pumpkin pie. I opened the refrigerator and spied some leftover pumpkin purée next to a block of cream cheese.

Here we are, with no-bake treats that taste like pumpkin pie and cheesecake had a baby. They work because we serve them in individual cups, so they don’t have to retain a sliceable shape.

These pumpkin treats feature a mousse-like blend of pumpkin purée, Greek yogurt, and pumpkin spice. We top the pumpkin base with a creamy, tangy blend of cream cheese and Greek yogurt. Each layer is naturally sweetened with maple syrup.

Both mixtures will thicken up if you have time to chill these for an hour or more in the fridge. Top your cups off with a simple blend of toasted pecans and graham cracker crumbles, and you’re ready to go.

Happy Thanksgiving from Cookie and Kate! If you’re looking for more last-minute Thanksgiving recipes or the perfect gift, we have you covered.

Continue to the recipe...

The post Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Finally! Meet my tested and perfected carrot cake recipe. I’ve been working on this carrot cake for a long time, and I’m so happy to report that I’ve finally nailed it.

I was hoping to publish the recipe in time for Valentine’s Day, then Mother’s Day. Here we are, just in time for Father’s Day and your summer birthdays! I hope you have a carrot cake lover in your life, because this cake will make him or her very happy.

This homemade carrot cake would be perfect for any celebratory occasion. It’s exactly what I want my carrot cake to be: delicious and moist, gently spiced with cinnamon and ginger, infused with flecks of fresh carrots, and covered in luscious cream cheese frosting. It’s the best.

This cake is also simple to make from scratch with wholesome ingredients. You can easily make it in an afternoon, with plenty of time to kill while the cake cools.

I’m often intimidated by layer cakes, so if I can make this cake, I know you can, too. Ready?!

Continue to the recipe...

The post Favorite Carrot Cake appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Special occasions call for cake, and cake calls for cream cheese frosting. Am I right? No? If cream cheese frosting is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

The best cream cheese frosting is lusciously creamy, sweet and tangy. It’s the perfect counterpart to sweet, tender, fluffy cake. To make it, you’ll only need a few basic ingredients: cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract.

Cream cheese frosting is undeniably fantastic on carrot cake, so I’m sharing this recipe just in time for tomorrow’s carrot cake recipe. It’s also wonderful on vanilla cake, lemon cake, banana cake, gingerbread cake and chocolate cake.

Yes, chocolate cake. My mom always orders me a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting for our favorite local bakery. If you haven’t had chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting, you’ve been missing out!

Continue to the recipe...

The post Classic Cream Cheese Frosting appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

I’ve been experimenting with naturally sweetened cream cheese frosting. After much trial and error, here’s my recipe! Instead of powdered sugar, I used Medjool dates.

The dates contribute lovely caramel-like flavor and color, which I’m sure you’ve noticed by now. They also add some fiber, which you don’t normally find in frosting recipes.

Even though this frosting doesn’t look or taste exactly like classic cream cheese frosting, this fruit-sweetened frosting is creamy and truly delicious. Plus, it’s very easy to whip up in your food processor!

Continue to the recipe...

The post Naturally Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Have you tasted real whipped cream? I sure hope so. It puts Cool Whip and the canned stuff to shame.

Homemade whipped cream is ultra luxurious, decadent, and as delicious as the best vanilla ice cream. Real whipped cream doesn’t have any strange preservatives or additives, either.

Whipped cream is the perfect creamy topper for desserts and hot drinks. Since the holidays are here, I thought I’d share a tutorial with everything you need to know about making whipped cream.

If you’ve never made whipped cream before, it may seem a little intimidating at firs. I promise, it’s so easy to make. You can make whipped cream in under 10 minutes!

Continue to the recipe...

The post How to Make Whipped Cream from Scratch appeared first on Cookie and Kate.