Vanilla Extract
11 recipes found
Boozy Apple Crunch Cake
This cake is loosely inspired by German apfelkuchen, a simple apple cake that capitalizes on humble ingredients and great seasonal produce. In this version, brown butter, bourbon, almond and a hint of citrus perfume the custardlike cake, which gets an extra bourbon soak after baking for good measure. Slicing the apples thinly allows for them to nestle in a cozy pile in the center of the cake, almost as if the cake itself were laminated with apples, cooking through while maintaining a nice crisp bite. The top, a mixture of coarse turbinado sugar and chopped slivered almonds, provides a necessary crunch that sparkles. Boozy, crunchy and chock-full of apples, this cake can be served warm with ice cream or at room temperature, and is sure to be the “it” dessert at any fall function.
Apple Crumb Cake
Buttery caramelized apples are sandwiched between toasty oat crumble in this warmly spiced cake. The cake is plush and soft, the apples melt into a gorgeously gooey layer, and the crumble adds crispy texture and toasty buttery flavor. Don’t let the ingredient list dissuade you, as each element comes together quickly and easily, without any special equipment or tools. A slice of this cake is equally at home at the brunch table, with a hot cup of coffee, or as dessert, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Use tart, firm apples to ensure they keep a bit of a bite after they’re baked.
Chocolate Chip-Tahini Skillet Cookie
With no need to pull out a stand mixer, shape or chill the dough, this tahini skillet cookie makes a quick, crowd-pleasing dessert that’s a sweet solution for casual, last-minute gatherings. For minimal cleanup, the cookie dough comes together directly in the skillet. An inviting, nutty aroma floods the kitchen when the tahini hits the skillet and the sugars are stirred in. (For a toastier taste, allow the melted butter to foam and develop brown specks.) Once the egg and the dry ingredients are incorporated, it’s bake time. The cookie will develop two separate layers in the oven: a crispy, crackly cookie on top, and a soft, gooey, half-baked bottom. Scoop the warm cookie into serving bowls and top with a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream. While this cookie is best served warm, right after baking, the leftovers are delicious eaten like cereal with ice-cold milk, or chopped and sprinkled over a sundae.
Pan de Elote (Mexican Corn Cake)
Mexican corn cake — call it budín, panqué or pan de elote — is like cake and cornbread mashed together into a lush, custardy dream, bursting with fresh corn flavor that screams summer. It’s as easy as whirling juicy, sweet corn, eggs, milk, yogurt, melted butter and vanilla in a blender. It bakes in less than one hour, and it’s soft and just sweet enough. You’ll find this dessert, or pan dulce, sold by the slice at mercados and bakeries in nearly every corner of Mexico. Eat as is, warm or at room temperature, or top the cake with whipped cream, ripe fruit or spoonfuls of a fruit compote for a simple, sunny treat.
Sticky Date and Brown Butter Oatmeal
This oatmeal relies entirely on the caramel-like flavor of medjool dates for sweetness. Briefly cooking the dates first allows them to almost completely dissolve into the oatmeal, permeating every bite. Brown butter and a hint of vanilla enhance the richness, giving the oatmeal a dessert-like quality. Sliced ripe bananas or stone fruit, chopped apples or berries are ideal for serving, and the recipe can be easily scaled up to feed more people.
Vegan Banana Olive Oil Muffins
It’s hard to beat the convenience of a grab-and-go treat, and these banana olive oil muffins check all the boxes: They can be a quick breakfast, a midday snack, or a simple dessert. They’re accidentally vegan, relying solely on overripe bananas and bright, citrusy extra-virgin olive oil for a moist, tender crumb. Warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla are added to enhance the sweet banana flavor, alongside molasses-packed dark brown sugar. A sprinkle of turbinado sugar and flaky salt sprinkled over the muffins before baking ensures an irresistible sweet-and-salty crunch in each bite. For the perfect level of sweetness, using very ripe, soft and spotty bananas is a must, as they come with a significantly higher sugar content.
Cocoa Krispies Treats
Easy Homemade Ice Cream
This easy vanilla ice cream doesn’t contain egg yolks as a lot of ice cream recipes do. Instead, it relies on cream cheese to provide texture, stability and scoopability. The cream cheese adds a brightness to the finished ice cream and helps any flavor you add to it shine. While it’s excellent on its own, this ice cream also makes a great base for building almost any flavor you can imagine, from strawberry cheesecake to peanut butter pie.
Oreo Icebox Cake
This simple, no-bake dessert is perfect for any chocolate lover. Chocolate sandwich cookies are enrobed in fluffy whipped cream enriched with a bit of vanilla and sugar. The whipped cream has a generous amount of cream cheese, which helps balance the sweetness of the cookies with a little tang. The cake requires very little prep and a long chill time, which makes it perfect for a party. You can assemble the entire thing the day you plan to serve it, or even two days before the celebration. You can make this in just about any 2-quart dish with a flat bottom; an 8-inch square pan or 9-inch round pan works perfectly.
Cookies and Cream Icebox Cake
This simple, no-bake dessert is perfect for any chocolate lover. Chocolate sandwich cookies are enrobed in fluffy whipped cream enriched with a bit of vanilla and sugar. The whipped cream has a generous amount of cream cheese, which helps balance the sweetness of the cookies with a little tang. The cake requires very little prep and a long chill time, which makes it perfect for a party. You can assemble the entire thing the day you plan to serve it, or even two days before the celebration. You can make this in just about any 2-quart dish with a flat bottom; an 8-inch square pan or 9-inch round pan works perfectly.
S’mores Layer Cake
This cake is a labor of love, but you can make all of the individual parts ahead of time, and the finished dessert truly tastes like a bite of old-fashioned s’mores. The base is a deeply chocolatey sour cream cake that stays soft and moist for days. The cake layers are sandwiched together with toasted marshmallow buttercream and graham cracker crumbles. The sweet and salty graham crumbles, made from graham cracker crumbs that are mixed with sugar and melted butter and then baked, add crunchy texture to the cake and make a terrific garnish, too. You will need a kitchen torch to toast the meringue for the buttercream, but it’s totally worth it for that iconic, deeply caramelized marshmallow flavor.