Chef Penny's Piña Colada Cupcake

Chef Penny's Piña Colada Cupcakes

One of the secrets of Chef Penny's recipe is overemphasizing the coconut flavor with high-quality canned coconut milk for richness, coconut extract and toasted coconut. There's plenty of pineapple in

Chef Penny's pancakes are served with candied bacon and apple butter.

Chef Penny's Pro Pancakes

Chef Penny says she likes to add things to her recipes anywhere she can make it more interesting. For pancakes, she creates a more complex flavor with whole wheat flour, adds color and depth with

Red and blue star-shaped cookies

Natural Ways to Color Food Red and Blue

Here we are at the week of the Fourth of July, and it’s our national colors that we see used all over to decorate beautiful, festive desserts. As we become more and more aware of the choices we make

Chef Penny's babka French toast with maple-soaked bananas.

Chef Penny's Babka French Toast

The keys to customizing French toast are bread choice, soaking technique and curation of toppings. After 15 years in the industry, Chef Penny knows to use day-old bread to best soak up her egg mixture

Chef Penny's rose conversation heart macarons.

Elevate the Conversation Hearts with Macarons

I considered many different formats for the cheeky sayings, like lollipops, cookies and cakes, but in the end decided to elevate the conversation a bit with hand-painted macarons. I began by making my

Chef Penny makes cute dogs out of ice cream.

How to Make a Dog-Themed Ice Cream Scene

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Chef Penny perfects ube custard tarts after a few tries.

Trial and Error with Ube Tarts

This exploit began as I pondered current trends in pastry. As a chef and business owner, it’s important to keep up with what is happening in the pastry world. Some believe the secret to success is

A hand grabs one of Chef Penny's leftover candy cookies.

The Perfect Recipe for Leftover Candy

All of our best holidays are celebrated with abundance, and the candy focused ones are no exception. We can’t imagine that we’ll ever get tired of these indulgent treats, but soon, the idea of one

Penny Stankiewicz shares pro baking techniques for perfect cookies.

The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Technique

I love smoking foods. Sometimes, the technique adds a punch of smoky outdoors, cooked-all-day kind of flavor, and sometimes in baked goods, it adds a savory note that raises the level of overall

Penny Stankiewicz creates a cake design with ruffles.

Experimenting with the Art of Ruffles on Cake

Fashion is one of my most favorite forms of inspiration, and ruffles and pleats come straight off the runway. As such, there are many interpretations of each treatment, from tight and formal to random

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