Easy Carrot Cake

This easy carrot cake recipe is one of our favorite desserts! It's wonderfully moist and warmly spiced. Tangy cream cheese frosting takes it over the top.

Jack declared this carrot cake recipe the best he’s ever tried. Coming from him, that’s high praise, because carrot cake is his favorite dessert of all time! I don’t disagree with him though. I think this carrot cake recipe is just about perfect! It has a wonderful moist crumb and warm depth of flavor from spices, vanilla, and brown sugar. This cake is chock-full of freshly grated carrots, and while it’s delicious plain, it really shines with a thick layer of tangy cream cheese frosting on top. This carrot cake recipe is easy to make with basic ingredients. It’s simple enough to…

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Carrot Muffins

Love carrot cake? Then you HAVE to try these carrot muffins! Moist, fluffy, and warmly spiced, they're a delicious breakfast or grab-and-go snack.

These carrot muffins combine two of my favorite things: carrot cake and muffins! They’re moist, fluffy, and warmly spiced, with plenty of grated carrots, chewy raisins, and crunchy walnuts mixed in for texture. Unlike my carrot cake cupcakes, which are firmly in dessert territory, these healthy carrot muffins are a great grab-and-go breakfast or snack. I love that they taste like carrot cake while packing in some more nutrition. They freeze perfectly too. When you have time on a weekend, make a big batch and stash it in your freezer. If you’re anything like me, you’ll love having these carrot muffins…

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Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Kick your next chocolate craving with these double chocolate chip cookies! They have crisp edges, soft middles, and an ultra-chocolatey flavor. YUM!

Chocolate lovers, these double chocolate chip cookies are for you! Made with a chocolate cookie dough and PACKED with chocolate chips, they have a rich chocolate flavor (think brownies!). These double chocolate chip cookies have a delicious texture too. They’re lightly crisp around the edges and thick, soft, and chewy in the middle. You can make this recipe in 30 minutes or less. That’s right—you don’t have to chill the dough! It’s simple to mix up with a stand mixer (or hand mixer) using basic baking ingredients. Bookmark this recipe for the next time you have a major chocolate craving. Quick, easy,…

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Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

These easy pumpkin muffins are moist, tender, and warmly spiced—the perfect fall treat! Make a batch, and it'll disappear before you know it.

These pumpkin muffins are perfect for fall! They’re soft, super moist, and deliciously spiced—cinnamon, allspice, and more fill them with seasonal flavor. But best of all, they’re so easy to make. You can whip them up in less than an hour with a couple of mixing bowls and a whisk. No mixer required here! I love that these pumpkin muffins taste sweet, but not too sweet, so that they can pass for breakfast or a healthy snack. Enjoy one (or two) in the morning with a cup of coffee, and then grab another for an afternoon pick-me-up. If you have any…

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Soft Pumpkin Cookies

These pumpkin cookies are soft, moist, and filled with pumpkin spice flavor. Enjoy them plain or with cream cheese frosting for a delicious fall treat!

These pumpkin cookies are soft, cakey, and filled with pumpkin spice flavor. You can think of them as little pumpkin muffin tops. They’re not chewy like chocolate chip cookies. Instead, they’re airy and moist. I love them plain (especially alongside a cup of coffee), but they’re also delicious with cream cheese frosting. If you need more reasons to love this pumpkin cookie recipe, here’s a big one: you don’t have to chill the cookie dough! When you’re in the mood for fall baking (which for me, lately, has been often), you can quickly whip these cookies up. I hope you…

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Apple Crisp

This apple crisp recipe is a delicious fall dessert. It features juicy cinnamon apples and a brown sugar oat topping. Serve with vanilla ice cream!

Let’s make apple crisp! I love this classic fall dessert because it’s easy, delicious, and full of the flavors of the season. Cinnamon, apples, and brown sugar? Yes, please! I’m sharing my favorite apple crisp recipe below. It features juicy, cinnamon-spiced apples with a buttery brown sugar and oat topping. It’s rich and comforting, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. 🙂 I’ve shared apple crisp and crumble recipes in the past, but never one as simple or as classic as this. What sets it apart from my other recipes is that you don’t have to pre-cook the apples,…

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

My best chocolate chip cookie recipe! It's easy to make with simple ingredients, and the cookies come out soft, chewy, and delicious every time.

Meet my best chocolate chip cookie recipe! These cookies are everything that I think chocolate chip cookies should be. They have a perfect soft and chewy texture. They’re PACKED with melty, gooey chocolate chips. And they’re easy to make with basic ingredients and equipment. No stand mixer required! In all my years of blogging and writing cookbooks, I’ve shared nearly 50 cookie recipes. But I recently realized that none of them has been for classic, chewy chocolate chip cookies. I’m FINALLY changing that today, because everyone needs a good chocolate chip cookie recipe in their back pocket. If you don’t have…

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Peanut Butter Bars

If you like peanut butter cups, you'll LOVE these no-bake chocolate peanut butter bars. They're rich, decadent, and easy to make with 5 ingredients!

It’s hard to eat just one of these no-bake peanut butter bars. …Which makes sense, because they’re like an even better version of a Reese’s peanut butter cup. A crisp chocolate layer tops a rich, fudgy peanut butter base. If you’re anything like me, you’ll finish one square and then return to the pan for another sliver…and then another. Aside from the fact that they’re delicious, I’ve been loving these chocolate peanut butter bars for a few reasons this summer. They’re no-bake, so you don’t have to heat up the house in order to make them. They’re SO easy. Just 5…

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Homemade Cherry Pie

Learn how to make a cherry pie! This easy recipe features a thick, almond-scented cherry pie filling and a flaky all-butter crust. It's SO delicious!

This cherry pie recipe is one of my favorite homemade desserts. It features a buttery, flaky crust and a velvety, almond-scented filling. If you allow it to cool completely, it slices beautifully, but the filling still stays a tiny bit juicy so that you can savor the cherries’ delicious texture. This cherry pie recipe is simple to make. But heads up: it does take some time. The pie dough has to chill and the filling has to cool before you can assemble and bake the pie. If you want to get ahead, you can make both the crust and the filling a…

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Lemon Bars

These easy lemon bars are a delicious sweet and tangy treat! They have a bright, creamy lemon curd filling and a crisp shortbread crust.

Who else loves lemon bars?! It probably comes as no surprise that these bright, zesty squares are one of my favorite desserts. I shared a recipe for vegan lemon bars in my second cookbook, but I’ve never shared a classic lemon bars recipe until now. I’m so excited to finally change that! This recipe comes to you after lots of testing and tinkering. To me, it has the ideal ratio of lemon filling to shortbread crust. The lemon curd layer is thick, creamy, and not too sweet, delivering the tartness I crave in a lemon bar. The buttery crust is…

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30 Easy Summer Desserts

Satisfy your sweet tooth with these easy summer desserts! They include fuss-free ice cream recipes, no-bake treats, fruit pies, crisps, and more.

Bring on the summer desserts! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for frozen treats like ice cream and popsicles. I’m ready for no-bake sweets that hit the spot on days when it’s too hot to use the oven. And I’m especially ready for summer desserts that showcase the season’s best fruit. Cherry pie? Peach crisp? Blueberry cobbler? Yes, please! You’ll find 30 of my favorite easy summer desserts below. Some are perfect for packing up for picnics. Others are designed to help you cool off on hot days, and still others are celebration-worthy centerpieces like pies, cakes, and tarts. I love…

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A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.