These cupcakes are the memory of strawberry shortcake. Light buttery cake, sweet/tart strawberry rhubarb filling, and a creamy lemon buttercream frosting. A perfect use for the rhubarb at the farmer's market this spring.

Sometimes a long trusted recipe is just begging for an update. I have been making my mother's banana bread recipe for a decade and eating it for almost three.

A yeasted fruitcake, Stollen is a great holiday bread. It's chock full of dried fruit and nuts and sweetened with honey. Dusted in a heavy coat of powdered sugar, to me a baked stollen invokes the crisp snowy mornings in Michigan this time of year.

Does this happen to you? You're up late, watching a movie, and your sweet tooth strikes. There's nothing in the pantry, and a handful of chocolate chips from your baking supply seems like a poor solution. I've tried easy microwave mug cakes, cookies, and brownies...something about them is just strange. They remind me of the end result of the 1980's Easy Bake Oven of my childhood. Sure it looked like a cake, but it definitely tasted like it was baked with a lightbulb. What I really want when this happens is something sweet that tastes like a lot of effort went into it.

Pumpkin. Beer. Brownies. You read that right. In this case, pumpkin cappuccino beer brownies. OMG. These are insanely good. One of the things Ryan and I miss most from Michigan (apart from friends and family of course) is the beer. There are so many great microbreweries in West Michigan and we've found some great beers that we are very loyal to. Unfortunately, none of those beers make it this far west. As we explore the Pacific Northwest beer scene we get to sample some really great and unusual beers. One of these is Elysian Brewing's Punkuccino. A pumpkin cappuccino stout. It's like my two favorite beverages (coffee and beer) had a tryst in a pumpkin patch. I mean this in the best possible way. The beer is excellent and was the inspiration for this recipe.