Caitlin is the Engineer Baker of cute desserts, like Mini Chocolate Cakes! When I first eyed those tiny three layered toy-like cakes, I knew I had to feature them on The Back Burner! Caitlin is a big fan of small cute things and so am I, especially when they’re sweet and I mean that in every sense of the word!

They’d be the ideal treat at your daughter or niece’s party, but I’d find any reason to make these Mini Chocolate Cakes. Caitlin adds rainbow colored sprinkles to the top of her mini frosted treats and even though that makes them even more adorable, you’ll also love the three layers of chocolatey goodness inside.

That tablespoon of coffee makes the cake’s flavors really stand out. Caitlin also includes a recipe for homemade frosting in her recipe card, which will taste sweet and creamy next to the decadent and delicious taste of the moist chocolate cake :)!

Biscotti’s the cookie with a twist. It’s perfect for dunking because it’ll fit into nearly any shaped glass or cup. I bet you just pictured a sweet biscotti and a cup of tea or coffee, maybe even milk. I bet the image of dipping a Parmesan Pepper Biscotto (as the singular version is spelled :) didn’t even cross your mind!

But if you happen to stumble upon Maggie’s blog Kitchen of Serendip your idea of biscotti will be changed forever! So maybe it won’t be that dramatic, but I know you’ll get excited at the thought of baking her adapted Parmesan Pepper Biscotti on a cold day, when the weather is perfect for a bowl of your favorite soup. But if you have a bit of pasta sauce left over from the night before, you can do what Maggie did, make these your homemade version of a breadstick!

…And who doesn’t love the smell of grilled cheese? Maggie swears that her Parmesan Pepper Biscotti will fill your home with the aroma of that cheesy grilled sandwich we all love so much, and we say it’ll fill your mouth and belly with happiness :)!

If you still have a few peaches left over from the beginning Fall months, now’s the time to use them. But what if you have a bounty, a cornucopia full of peaches and you just can’t figure out what else to do with them? Lauren from I’ll Eat You created a jam filling using fresh peaches for her Peach Amaretto Hand Pies.

You might not think that making your own filling makes that big of a difference, but it sure does. It’ll take your desserts from yummy to extraordinary, especially since you can add your own special touch and flavor the filling however you like. Lauren shares her filling recipe with us, it’s a tasty one that includes a few tablespoons of amaretto and vanilla bean-an elegant combination of flavors!

One of the best parts about Lauren’s Peach Amaretto Hand Pies is that you don’t have to pre-cook the filling! The filling will cook up nicely when you bake the hand pies for a maximum of 15 minutes. Now, that’s a lot less time than it takes to bake a pie, which makes this the ideal quick and homemade dessert!

Though you can’t always judge a book by its cover, you can sometimes get away with judging a meal by its tasty photo…and list of ingredients! Such is the case with the Chicken and Veggie Tostadas that Amy adapted from a recipe she came across on Sweet, Savory, Southern. I spotted the tostadas on Amy’s blog Sing for Your Supper and just new they had to be delicious!

Though the original recipe is called Chicken and Summer Vegetable tostadas, it’s easy to see why you’d want to make these any time of the year! The ingredients are fresh and you’ll really like that they’re healthy too. You’ll taste a few Latin flavors, but you don’t have to worry about setting aside a few hours in your day to prepare the beans that go into this recipe. The only thing you’ll have to is cook the chicken then add the veggies to the same pan.

Amy changed the recipe up a bit, and we don’t see why you can’t add your own twist too :). Think of all those turkey leftovers you’ll have in just a few days! After you’ve eaten your fair share of turkey sandwiches and turkey pot pie, why not use the rest to make turkey veggie tostadas :)?!

Alright, it’s time to grow up! Not physically or mentally (although I’m sure some of us do), but it’s time to grow up in the kitchen! If you want a product that is so amazing it will shock your friends and family, then you have got to stop buying bargain ingredients. You can get by with bargain shopping for a few ingredients, but there are just some things you can’t compromise, and high quality chocolate is one of them!

I know that Cheeky Spouse will agree with me! When she was looking for a more sophisticated tasting muffin she knew that she couldn’t cut any corners. To achieve quality taste she used quality products. Nothing less than 70% cocoa solids would do for her sophisticated chocolate muffins. On her blog, Taste Bud Travels, she tells us, “You need the intense, almost savoury flavour to elevate these muffins into the realms of refinement. That’s why the sea salt is there too – it gives a little extra boost.”

So, put down that 50 cent can of cocoa and introduce yourself to the world of chocolate refinement! You’re a grown-up now…. act like one!

It’s not easy to serve up a dozen scrambled eggs and make them look fun in the process. Though I still have a soft spot for scrambled eggs with ketchup (a lingering childhood addiction!), they just aren’t that pretty! You can jazz them up with a few sprinkles of this or a dash of that, but in they end, they still look like a fluffy cloud of yellow protein.

So how do you create a tasty and classy breakfast for your friends and family who are staying over for the holidays? You’ll want to prepare something nice, a savory breakfast that’s a notch or two above a plate of scrambled eggs. How about Carmen’s Adapted Bacon and Egg Bread Cups?

They’re the ideal breakfast when guests are over or when you want to prepare something special just for yourself. On her blog Carmen Cooks, Carmen mentions that she was inspired by the original recipe found on 101 Cookbooks. She added her own twist by using bread slices and a bit of bacon. You’re probably wondering just how she created the cup shapes. By using muffin tins! What a great idea!

When leftovers and extras begin to take over your refrigerator its time to get creative with dinner. I doubt any of us like throwing out half-full cartons of milk or uneaten vegetables that are about to go bad, but what can you do about it?

When ChezVCK opened her fridge and found an assortment of items that needed to be used up she got creative and invented lasagna rolls. Finding only 5 lasagna noodles, a half-used carton of ricotta cheese, pesto, marinara, and cheese she knew she didn’t have enough to make an entire lasagna, so she simply tweaked this classic dish to make her ingredients work. She gives step-by-step pictorial instructions on her blog, and even gives us an extra recipe for a tasty salad she prepared as a side dish!

If you need to clean a few things out of the fridge to make room for your Thanksgiving feast, here is your perfect opportunity! Try out these creative lasagna rolls or let us know what inventive dishes you came up with!

A crispy and golden coating along with the moist meaty center is what makes fried chicken finger lickin’ good. Though what’s on the inside counts, it’s hard to ignore the fried exterior, which makes the chicken addicting but also quite unhealthy. With the holidays approaching, we know we’re going to get our fair share of yummy and not so lean foods and treats.

What if you’re trying to follow through with last New Year’s resolution by eating healthier? You can still have your crispy golden chicken and eat it too. In fact, if you’re using Sara’s Cornflake Chicken recipe, don’t just have one piece, have two! She coats chicken pieces with crushed corn flakes then bakes them in the oven; there isn’t any frying involved here!

Sara uses chicken breasts to prepare this dish, making it lean and tasty. If you’re worried about the chicken breasts drying out in the oven, there’s no need to worry. On her blog Noodletown, Sara says that her chicken came out “juicy and perfectly cooked”! So you can still get the crunchy and moist texture that frying offers, but you don’t have to worry about dabbing off the grease before you take a big bite of Sara’s Cornflake Chicken.

A perfectly golden crust holds together the deliciously creamy and lightly toasted custard in Sarah’s Portuguese Custard Tarts. Imagine how nice these would look on your holiday party dessert table! They’re just the right size for an individual serving, so you don’t have to worry about being fair and giving everyone the same sized piece :).

In her blog Lemon.Zest, Sarah explains her secret for making the tastiest crust for her tarts. Use the best butter you can get your hands on! She even took the extra step and used completely local ingredients for her dessert.

To make the tarts even more delicious, Sarah finished them off with a few sprinkles of cinnamon; it’s what gives them that creme brulee look without all the fuss! You can prepare these impressive Portuguese Custard Tarts in under half an hour!

Lately I’ve been so consumed with experimenting in the kitchen that I have completely neglected some of my classic favorites. While experimenting with new flavors and techniques are fun, there comes a time when you just want a dish you can rely on. Chicken salad is one of the classic recipes I always turn to when I just want a simple and light lunch that will last a few days and can be prepared in a variety of ways.

Nihal, from Turkish Food Passion, wanted to take this classic American dish and put her own Mediterranean twist on it by adding celery, yellow onion, sunflower seeds, marjoram, and paprika. Nihal loves to enjoy this salad between bread with lettuce and tomato, and preferably in picnic setting. She says, “When the weather is nice, I like to take a simple lunch such as this with a few other foods to a closeby park with my hubby. I think it is one of the most romantic ways to spend time with your spouse/partner. For some reason, eating outdoors makes dining much more enjoyable.”