I’m back with the seventh edition of my #followfriday series featuring several up-and-coming bloggers! I’m combining the recipes I tried in July and August into one post, so it’s a little longer than normal. Over the past two months, I tried Marie’s orange cupcakes, Kim’s healthy chocolate avocado pudding, Chelsea’s peanut butter scones, Taryn’s grilled s’mores sandwiches, Sandra’s molten lava chocolate cakes, and Kim’s chocolate cookie ice cream sandwiches (there are two different Kims).
(Read January’s feature here, February’s feature here, March’s feature here, April’s feature here, May’s feature here, and June’s feature here.)
Note: I adapted all of the recipes to be gluten free if they weren’t already.
These orange cupcakes from Marie at Sugar Salt Magic taste even dreamier than they look. The orange buttercream frosting is silky smooth and calls for an ingredient I’d never used in frosting before: flour! The flour and a few other frosting ingredients are cooked over the stove into a pudding mixture, so you don’t have to worry about eating raw flour. (Other ingredients are added to the pudding mixture to complete the frosting.) Orange is one of those flavors that translates across all seasons, so don’t feel like you have to wait until next summer to try these! But guys, technically it’s still summer for a couple more weeks. 🙂
This healthy chocolate avocado pudding from Kim at The Sweet Balance is naturally gluten free AND vegan! I was a little skeptical about adding avocado to a dessert, but it was really easy to make. I did make one mistake, though. I accidentally added less chocolate than the recipe calls for. The ingredients list 60 grams of chocolate. I measured the chocolate with my food scale but forgot to subtract the weight of the bowl. Oops! So I tasted a little more avocado than I should have, but luckily I like avocado. If you’re looking for ways to sneak healthy ingredients into sweet treats, this recipe is definitely worth a try! If you don’t like avocado, don’t skimp on the chocolate like I did!
The last recipe I tried in July were these peanut butter scones from Chelsea at Mile High Mitts. It was my first time making scones, and I don’t know why I waited so long to try it! They were easy to make and perfect for a quick breakfast. My favorite way to enjoy them was zapping them in the microwave for about 20 seconds and spreading on a little strawberry jam. The recipe includes a glaze, so if you try that then you might not want jam. Chelsea’s recipe includes both a gluten free and a dairy free option. I just love recipes that accommodate different dietary needs!
If you’ve been following me for a while then you know how much I love Taryn from Life and Sprinkles. She recently restarted her blog, and I couldn’t wait to try one of her recipes! She calls her grilled s’mores sandwiches a “dessert idea” but I think they count as a recipe. 🙂 These sandwiches are a creative spin on traditional s’mores and so easy to make. They’re filled with Nutella, marshmallow fluff and crushed graham crackers. (Every time I eat Nutella I ask myself why I don’t eat it more often. Sooo good.) Just keep in mind that the sandwiches are super rich and not at all healthy. :p
Next I tried molten chocolate lava cakes from Sandra at Pastry Tales. Guys, I’m obsessed! These cakes are fudgy and single-serve, meant to be eaten almost straight out of the oven. My only regret is that I didn’t have any vanilla ice cream on hand. A word of caution: the recipe says to bake the two cakes for 14-16 minutes, but mine were ready in 10 minutes. My oven is older and tends to run hot, so yours might need the full 16 minutes. Just a reminder that oven temperatures vary. If you overbake them the lava won’t flow so definitely keep an eye on them.
My latest #followfriday recipe are these chocolate cookie ice cream sandwiches from Kim at Kickass Baker. (I added the sprinkles for an Instagram collaboration.) I’m so impressed with this recipe. If you follow the freezing instructions the ice cream won’t squeeze out of the sandwich when you bite into it, and the cookie won’t be too hard! However, I didn’t have any success with the method Kim suggests for sandwiching the ice cream between the cookies. The ice cream started to melt immediately and I ended up with a soupy mess. Instead, I cut slices of a pint of ice cream, which worked perfectly! I’d love to know if Kim’s ice cream method worked for you, though. Let me know if you try it!
Have you tried any of these recipes? Or do you have any favorite recipes that I should try? Tell me about them in the comments or tag me @rosesandwhiskers on Instagram if you see one I’ll like! I might feature it in a future #followfriday post.
Happy baking! 
