Desserts

Ghraybeh [Arabic Butter Cookies]

categories: Arabic Food Made Easy, Desserts, Posts, Recipes

 

Ghraybeh

One of my favorite Arabic sweets is Ghraybeh [غريبة], with all of its sugary, buttery goodness. Honestly, the best ones I’ve tasted are the ones in Amman that come in a little “s” shape. I can devour an entire box in one sitting — they’re that good. Shatila comes in at a close second with their ghraybeh, except for the fact that each piece is massive, and they (sadly) post the calorie content of each piece, making it impossible to eat more than one without feeling guilty. Oh, the struggles of not being skinny. (more…)

Peach Cobbler

categories: Desserts, Posts, Recipes

 

Peach Cobbler

 

There seems to be a recurring trend in my house, fruit on the verge of going bad. It’s awful, I know. See, it all starts when I go to the grocery store hungry (read as: when I go to Whole Foods starving). I see fruits and veggies that no one really eats, but for some reason in my state of starvation, I think that I’m going to make all these amazing foods. That’s never the case. Even when I make a list ahead of time, I end up picking up the most random items. And what do you know, I end up snacking on a bag of “low-calorie” chips and the food goes right into the fridge never to be seen — or eaten. (more…)

  •  Comments Off on Peach Cobbler

Apple Turnovers

categories: Desserts, Posts, Recipes

Apple-Turnovers

It all started with a random idea to go take advantage of September and go apple picking. It then turned into an adventure that ended up with me taking a back seat to learning how to make amazing apple turnovers.

We’re about mid way through September, with only a couple more weeks before we get into pumpkin season (not that you don’t see Halloween decorations and pumpkins practically everywhere you go already). That being said, apples are still in season and what better way to enjoy a gorgeous Sunday afternoon than to go apple picking in Maryland with a friend who completely understands the importance of taking at least 20 pictures of the same thing, and gets really excited about plucking apples off a tree. (more…)

  •  Comments Off on Apple Turnovers

Baked Apples

categories: 500 Calories or Less, Desserts, Posts, Recipes

Baked-Apples

Every year it seems like the seasons change too quickly for me to keep up. It had to be late July when everyone seemed to be excited for the fall. I hadn’t even had my fill of the summer when I started getting pre-fall sale emails featuring sweaters and jackets. And then, once September rolls around, the pools close and kids go back to school and all of a sudden we’ve skipped August altogether and moved straight into pumpkin-everything season.

It’s early September and it’s still 80 degrees out in DC – warm enough for the pools to stay open, but who am I to make the rules. And yet, Starbucks has already started selling their pumpkin spice lattes! There we go skipping all of September and jumping straight into October. Some of my friends have already started picking up said pumpkin spice lattes on their way to work … but I refuse to let go of the summer and indulge in my favorite fall coffee until it’s at least cool enough to strut a sweater and my boots. (more…)

  •  Comments Off on Baked Apples

Skillet Almond Cake

categories: Desserts, Posts, Recipes

Almond Cake_2

 

In general, I’m much better at making savory foods than I am sweets. But I occasionally get a wild hair and decide to try my luck at making sweets. 

Cakes aren’t really my thing. Last year, I tried to bake a birthday cake and all went well until I started frosting it and started completely falling apart. Needless to say, it was a major fail and I ended up buying a cake and sticking a candle in it. But this Almond cake is fool-proof. (more…)

  •  Comments Off on Skillet Almond Cake

Mom’s Fruit Salad

categories: 500 Calories or Less, Desserts, Posts, Recipes, Salads

Fruit Salad

 

My mom makes an amazing fruit salad, and that’s because of her secret ingredients (namely the sauce). I’ve only made her fruit salad on two occasions. It’s not complicated but it packs in a lot more calories than you’d suspect. So don’t be fooled by the word “fruit.” Although I’ve measured out the amount of condensed milk and orange juice, you may have to adjust to your taste. I will warn you, however that you don’t need to add more than 1/2 tsp of orange blossom water. Too much will be flavor overload on your senses. (more…)

  •  Comments Off on Mom’s Fruit Salad