NBM, Day 11: Cornmeal Thumbprint Cookies

During the holidays, I made the Cornmeal Thumbprint Cookies from Emily Luchetti’s Fearless Baker and loved them. Since I love the flavor combo of cornmeal, lime, and blueberry, I decided to return to the recipe and tweak it by adding lime zest to the dough. A bit of blueberry preserve tops each cookie. Definitely a keeper combo!

NBM, Day 10: Cookies and Cream Bundt Cake

My first cookbook double dip for National Baking Month as I returned to Julie Anne Hession’s Beautiful Bundts for this cake. I was motivated to try the recipe after I found two half-consumed packages of Oreos sitting around, because we apparently are the sort of household that doesn’t finish a package of Oreos in one or two sessions ... and by that, I mean that we are weirdos. The Oreos are taken care of now, and I expect that most of this cake will be dealt with in short order, too.

NBM, Day 9: Magic Cookie Bars

Day 9. I’ve wanted to try this version of Magic Cookie Bars from the New York Times for a while. The recipe is from the fantastic Samantha Seneviratne, and is a nice taming of what is typically a far-too-sweet sweet. She uses an actual crest, too — still graham crackers, but bolstered with an egg and leavening. The topping, too, is dialed back: bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened flaked coconut, plus pecans. And just one can of sweetened condensed milk! All in all, a great upgrade to a classic confection.

NBM, Day 8: Peanut Butter-Banana Swirl Bundt

For Day 8 of National Baking Month, I finally dipped into a book I bought last year, Beautiful Bundts, by Julie Anne Hession, for this cake, which features a classic combo: peanut butter and banana. The peanut-butter glaze and chopped peanuts add a pretty finish to the exterior.

NBM, Day 7: Holiday Granola

For Christmas this year, my colleague Jill Silverman Hough sent a lovely card with a super appealing recipe she developed, Holiday Granola. Since granola really knows no season — and since I typically eat mango, yogurt, and homemade granola for lunch five days a week — I decided to make a batch of Jill’s granola for day seven of National Baking Month. The flavor combo in this granola includes coconut, almonds, cranberries, dried orange slices, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, with a base of oats. I think it’ll be perfect with my yogurt and mango, especially with Champagne mangos, which will be back in season soon. Here's a link to the granola recipe Jill used to create the holiday variation. Plus, check out her website — so many great recipes!

NBM, Day 6: Classic Birthday Cake

For day six of National Baking Month, I decided to try King Arthur Flour's 2019 recipe of the year, Classic Birthday Cake. Really a nice cake, all in all. I like that this cake is adaptable to both 8-inch and 9-inch pans (if I'd used the 8-inch pans, I'd have been tempted to halve the layers and fill them with a complementary flavor, maybe something peanut butter or raspberry). The cake is made with a combination of butter and oil, which gives it a great spongy texture. The frosting is a chocolate American buttercream made with cocoa powder. I added a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream to lighten the frosting; without the additional cream, I sensed that the frosting would be difficult to spread.

NBM, Day 5: Peanut Butter-Nutella Coffee Cake

While turning the pages of the One-Layer Cakes special issue of Bake from Scratch, I was drawn to this Peanut Butter-Nutella Coffee Cake for its winning combo of flavors. PB? Yes. Nutella? Oh yes. Peanut streusel topping? Bring it. Total keeper. I tweaked one thing: I put most of the batter in the pan before baking rather than half so that the Nutella wouldn’t sink as much as in the magazine photo. I’m pretty happy with how this one turned out.