Winstead Wandering

Prone to Wander

Easy Instant Pot Baked Beans

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With a perfect balance of sweet, spicy, and smoky, Easy Instant Pot Baked Beans will be your new favorite side dish for every cookout and picnic.

With a perfect balance of sweet, spicy, and smoky, Easy Instant Pot Baked Beans will be your new favorite side dish for every cookout and picnic.

As a food blogger, I take nearly any available opportunity to test out recipes on people other than family. That’s why I recently volunteered to make baked beans for the hospitality room at the district basketball tournament at the high school. I knew right away I’d be making Easy Instant Pot Baked Beans.


With no soaking necessary, these guys are the perfect balance of sweet and smoky and spicy. Though there’s little work required, the end result is a batch of beans that taste like they’ve simmering all.day.long. It’s not hard to see why this will quickly become your go-to baked beans recipe.

With a perfect balance of sweet, spicy, and smoky, Easy Instant Pot Baked Beans will be your new favorite side dish for every cookout and picnic.

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Brown Sugar Strawberry Cobbler for Two

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With rich brown sugar, gorgeous berries, and a delightfully crispy crust, Brown Sugar Strawberry Cobbler for Two is the perfect treat for sharing… or not!

With rich brown sugar, gorgeous berries, and a delightfully crispy crust, Brown Sugar Strawberry Cobbler for Two is the perfect treat for sharing... or not!

Y’all know strawberries are, by far, my favorite berry to bake with. I’ll put those things in baked donuts and on top of brownies and in decadent frostings. I’ve even got two more strawberry recipes lined up this month from back when I bought a flat from the local FFA club.


The newest addition to the vault of strawberry recipes on the blog is this Brown Sugar Strawberry Cobbler for Two. I love the combination of strawberries and brown sugar, which is why this cobbler is one of my favorite desserts. I also love the way the cobbler batter and the melted butter bake up together to create a gorgeous light and perfectly-crunchy crust.

In my house, this is the kind of dessert meant to be enjoyed during those few hours after the kids are bed. Whether you want to share with your significant other is up to you.

With rich brown sugar, gorgeous berries, and a delightfully crispy crust, Brown Sugar Strawberry Cobbler for Two is the perfect treat for sharing... or not!

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Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies

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One bowl, no mixer, and a perfectly sweet and chewy dessert: Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies are indescribably decadent.

One bowl, no mixer, and a perfectly sweet and chewy dessert: Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies are indescribably decadent.

If you’ve read any of my recipe posts– or if you know me in real life- you’ve probably picked up on my love for chocolate. I’ve got a lot of chocolate recipes. My addiction to love for chocolate means, if I’m going to get in the kitchen and bake something sweet that doesn’t contain chocolate, it better be really freaking good.


These Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies more than meet that requirement. The dough is made entirely with brown sugar instead of white, resulting in an unbelievably chewy cookie. Before baking, the cookies are rolled in white sugar. The coating makes the finished product sparkly and adds extra chewiness. As for the caramel center, it gets soft and gooey in the oven, turning an already-dynamite cookies into an over-the-top indulgence.

One bowl, no mixer, and a perfectly sweet and chewy dessert: Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies are indescribably decadent.

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brown sugar pound cake with caramel icing

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Brown sugar pound cake with caramel icing is a rich, moist cake, flecked with toffee bits and smothered in an easy, decadent caramel sauce.

Brown sugar pound cake with caramel icing is a rich, moist cake, flecked with toffee bits and smothered in an easy, decadent caramel sauce.

Every June, the extended family of J.’s maternal grandfather gathers at the town community center for a reunion. J. and I have been married a while- seven years to the day as I type this!- so I’ve been to a few reunions.


Last year, I brought this brown sugar pound cake. There’s a relative, Ms. Ruth, who, according to the family, doesn’t eat a lot of sweets. She took a slice of cake, though, and she raved about it. And then she took another slice. I heard, from no fewer than three relatives, how great that cake must be for Ms. Ruth to have two pieces.

This year, a couple days before the reunion, I got word that Ms. Ruth wouldn’t be able to make it, but that she was hoping I would make the brown sugar cake again. She promised me some of her famous chocolate-covered peanut butter sandwich crackers in exchange for a slice.

How could I say no to that? I couldn’t, of course, which is how this cake became a family reunion staple.

Brown sugar pound cake with caramel icing is a rich, moist cake, flecked with toffee bits and smothered in an easy, decadent caramel sauce.

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