Let’s Go to the Movies! Oscar-Worthy Popcorn Hacks

Strawberry Freakshakes

Think of this recipe as your traditional strawberry milkshake, but leveled-up beyond compare. The "freak" label for these decadent shakes is entirely accurate, as they get loaded with sugar, ice cream, donuts, whipped cream, and of course, rainbow sprinkles. (via Brit + Co)

Strawberry Donuts

These strawberry donuts earn a healthy (or well, healthier) edge by using whole wheat flour, coconut oil, and Greek yogurt. Don't worry though – they're still as sweet as ever, and they'll be super tasty alongside some coffee for a nice morning treat! (via Brit + Co)

Strawberry Tart

This tart looks impressive, but it's not all that hard to execute. Get your hands on just 5 ingredients – store-bought pastry dough and custard help expedite the process – and you'll be well on your way to strawberry, dessert-y goodness. (via Brit + Co)

Strawberry Chia Oatmeal Cookies

Turns out, you can eat cookies for breakfast! These strawberry-filled lil' bites serve as a quick power-up with fruit, oats, and chia seeds. You can even pack a few in your lunchbox for a healthy mid-day snack sesh. (via Brit + Co)

Boozy Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

These skewered strawberry desserts would make a fun Friday night activity to share with your boo! Simply soak some fresh berries in pink champagne overnight, then assemble them onto skewers before dipping them right into a dark chocolate bath and garnishing with more chocolate and crushed pistachios! (via Brit + Co)

Strawberry Lemon Cookies

Strawberries and lemons are a match made in flavor heaven, and these easy cookies (they only take 20 minutes) deliver a strawberry lemonade-type taste. Summer, here we come! (via The Edgy Veg)

Chocolate Strawberry Cake

We are salivating for this chocolatey cake! The cakey layers are quite simple to make, then you'll use fresh strawberries for the mid-layer and as a beautiful garnish. Don't you dare forget to add that creamy chocolate ganache! (via Give Recipes)

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry shortcake is an absolute classic! This recipe makes a few simple swaps (like whole wheat flour instead of regular, and maple syrup instead of white sugar) to make each and every bite a tad bit lighter than your traditional take. (via Whole and Heavenly Oven)

Dark Chocolate Strawberry S'mores

You haven't lived until you've tried putting fresh strawberries on your s'mores. Just look at that gooey goodness! (via Feel Good Foodie)

Peanut Butter Cake with Strawberry Frosting

Once you learn how to make this sweet strawberry frosting, you'll wanna put it on everything you make, from cupcakes to cookies. And yes, even this nutty peanut butter cake! Pile it on real high. (via Pink Owl Kitchen)

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Bars

The crunchy coating on these strawberry shortcake-inspired ice cream bars is exactly why you need to make them this summer. It's comprised of brown Rice Krispie pieces and freeze-dried strawberries to add some variety in texture, and wow, is it delicious! (via Half Baked Harvest)

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Rhubarb makes an excellent partner to strawberries. Case in point: this no-frills, uber-fresh pie with an impressive lattice crust! (via Completely Delicious)

Strawberry Cocoa

This sip is like if you combined a strawberry shake and hot chocolate into one. It's so dreamy! (via Two Peas & Their Pod)

Chocolate Strawberry Hi-Hat Cupcakes

That cross-section, though! These rich chocolate cupcakes are piled high with strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream icing. Once they're iced, they're dipped in even more chocolate to form a satisfying outer shell. (via Butternut Bakery)

Strawberry Fudge with Marshmallow Fluff

These strawberry fudge bites are just perfect for a little Valentine's Day dessert. This recipe surely doesn't shy away from sugar! (via Where Is My Spoon?)

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Matcha Madeleines

Matcha, chocolate, and strawberries?! We are totally swooning over these tiny strawberry desserts. While the madeleine cookies are soft and airy, the dark chocolate layer on the outside provides a nice crunch, contrasting the textures and flavors in each bite. (via The Original Dish)

Strawberry Cake Mix Brownies

Strawberry cake mix makes these strawberry desserts so much quicker, but they don't skimp on flavor at all. If you want to take things up a notch, try adding some fresh strawberries on top! (via Kathryn's Kitchen)

Strawberry Rice Krispie Treats

These Rice Krispie treats would make our child selves go crazy. You'll only need four ingredients to make 'em: freeze-dried strawberries, cereal, marshmallows, and butter, so they're a good dessert to make if you don't have a lot of ingredients on-hand and don't feel up to baking! (via The Endless Meal)

Chocolate Strawberry Mock-tini

This non-alcoholic, dairy free martini is decadence at its finest. You'll create your very own chocolate coconut simple syrup before concocting a mix of cashew milk, strawberries, and swirls of melted chocolate. (via Chef Bai)

Chocolate Fudge Brownies with Strawberry Jam

We all need more brownie recipes in our life, right? These rich bars are instantly elevated by a homemade strawberry jam that you'll likely have leftovers of to put on toasts, sandwiches, and more strawberry desserts! (via Two Spoons)

Strawberry Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast

Although this recipe's a bit more breakfast-y, it still qualifies as dessert in our minds because it's loaded to the brim with a super-sweet cream cheese filling and sweetened strawberries worthy of the dessert table. Plus, there's plenty of syrup to go around! (via Live Eat Learn)

Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts

These strawberry desserts are snack-worthy in the morning, afternoon, and as a late night snack, of course! If you thought store-bought Pop Tarts were good, just wait 'til you make them for yourself with fresh strawberries. (via Crowded Kitchen)

Strawberry Cheesecake Vatrushka Buns

The strawberry cheesecake filling stuffed into these airy buns is to die for! Prep a batch for a fun cafe-themed party, or keep the half-dozen all to yourself for morningtime bliss. (via Vikalinka)

Strawberry Banana Bread

Banana bread is a total lifesaver when it comes to using those overripe bananas sitting out on your counter, and it gets even better once strawberries enter the mix! This recipe is moist, sweet, and perfect as a little treat. (via Averie Cooks)

Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes

Looking for vegan strawberry desserts? Your search is over with these vegan strawberry cupcakes covered in vegan whipped cream. Add some more fresh berries for full effect! (via Earthly Provisions)

Strawberry Scones

Dare to make your local coffee shop jealous with these homemade scones using strawberries. Once you're done baking them, you'll cover each one with a delicious strawberry cream cheese frosting for maximum flavor. (via Most Hungry)

Strawberry Rhubarb Galette

Sweet galette recipes are our weakness. They're so sweet and shareable, plus this one in particular is a good way to start using all your farmer's market produce! (via Amanda Wilens)

2-Ingredient Strawberry Banana Ice Cream

Simply blend some frozen strawberries and bananas together, and you've got a sweet treat that can fulfill your cravings for creamy ice cream! For even more dessert vibes, top this recipe with sprinkles, Oreos, or chocolate syrup, Or all three. We'd do it, too. (via Rachel Mansfield)

Strawberry Chocolate Mint Smoothies

The addition of mint leaves takes this sweet sipper to a whole new level. (via A Spicy Perspective)

Strawberry Jelly No-Bake Cheesecake

Have you ever seen a cheesecake so beautiful?! Plus, this one requires zero baking, making it the perfect pick for hot summers. (via Takes Two Eggs)

Strawberry Macarons

If you're up to the challenge, making macarons yourself can be so rewarding. Each of these little sweet sandwiches is filled with strawberry jam and a cheesecake-inspired icing. (via Barley & Sage)

Vegan Fruity Pebble Cheesecake

Colorful, fruity, and sweet? Say no more. This Fruity Pebbles cheesecake just earned the top spot on our "to-bake" list!(via No Eggs or Ham)

Though you’d never guess it from the look of her colorful treats, Arlyn didn’t grow up cooking. As she describes it, going all-out for everyday meals wasn’t exactly her parents’ thing.

“Cooking was something that was mostly reserved for special occasions like holidays, birthdays, celebrations, that sort of thing,” she says. “It just wasn't worth the trouble to them. Most of our meals were just fast food or frozen Kids Cuisine dinners.”

Arlyn says her childhood was “dysfunctional,” and this detachment from food was just a small part of the picture. Despite an absence of physical affection and frequent “I love you”s at home, Arlyn let her undying love for Food Network and a strong sweet tooth sweep her away into the culinary world.

After years of working in food styling and production, writing about food, and developing recipes, Arlyn’s using her first cookbook to communicate her passion for cooking and baking, as well as carry on the legacy of Filipino food to ultimately find her place in it all.

“I think over the years, I have become sometimes a little uncomfortable to say some of the things I wish I could say out loud,” she says. “For me, food is the way for me to say those things without actually saying them.”

About The Recipes

Sugarcane: Sweet Recipes from My Half-Filipino Kitchen by Arlyn Osborne

Flipping through the recipes in Sugarcane, you may see a few ingredients that aren’t very common in Western cooking listed – like pandan, tamarind, ube, calamansi, star fruit, mochi, and rambutan – but there’s familiarity in each one of them.

Arlyn wrote Sugarcane for both people who are familiar with Filipino food, and those who are not. Either way, the recipes will guide you to greatness.

“I get that it can be a little intimidating for people to try out ingredients or desserts they've never heard of before, but I do think that people should know that if they're cooking from my cookbook, they’re going to be okay,” she says. “I think everyone’s going to feel that they're personified in each recipe a little bit.”

From The Book: Ube Coconut Cake

Arlyn’s Ube Coconut Cake recipe pulls inspiration from ube cake (the “crown jewel” when it comes to Filipino cake) and lucious coconut cakes from the American South. Ube halaya, which is essentially an ube jam, is the star of the coconut cake recipe, lending a gorgeous purple hue to the tender layers. Everything gets sandwiched in between and smothered in a sweet coconut icing *so* yummy, you’ll quickly see why Arlyn makes it every year for her birthday.

Ingredients for Ube Coconut Cake

Ube Cake

• 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ cup (186 g) ube halaya, at room temperature
• 2 ¼ cups (450 g) granulated sugar
• 6 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon ube paste
• 1 ½ cups (360 g) buttermilk
• 1 ½ cups (315 g) neutral oil

Coconut Frosting

• Two 16 oz. (454 g) containers sour cream
• 4 cups (800g) granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 14 cups (700g) unsweetened shredded coconut

How to Make Ube Coconut Cake

For the Ube Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease two 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
3. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with the whisk, add the ube halaya and beat until smooth. Add the sugar and beat on medium-high speed until combined but not creamed. The sugar should look moist, crumbly, and purple.
4. Add the eggs and ube paste and beat on medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the buttermilk and oil and beat until combined, about 30 seconds.
5. Sift in half of the flour mixture and whisk by hand until just combined. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture and whisk until just combined.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
7. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Run a small offset spatula around the perimeter to loosen the edges. Invert the cakes onto the wire rack. Remove the parchment and invert again onto wire racks so they sit right side up. Let cool completely.

For the Coconut Frosting

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, add the sour cream, sugar, and salt. Beat on low speed until combined. Add a third of the coconut and beat on low speed until combined. Repeat two more times.

To assemble

1. Place one cake layer (top side up) on a cake plate. Top with 2 cups (450 g) of frosting and spread evenly. Top with the second cake layer (bottom side up).
2. Cover the top evenly with 2 ½ (560 g) cups of frosting. Use the remaining frosting for the sides. Wrapt the cake all over with plastic wrap so it touches the frosting directly and protects the cake from air. Refrigerate overnight. As it sits, both the cake layers and coconut shreds will soak up excess moisture from the frosting.
3. Let the cake sit out at room temperature for 1 hour to take the chill off before serving. Due to the nature of the frosting, it's best to use a serrated knife to “saw” through the cake into slices.

Ross and Rachel from Friends

Friends is one of the most iconic sitcoms of all times, and Ross and Rachel is definitely one of the most devastating TV breakups. In season 3, this iconic couple decides to take a break in and in "The One with the Morning After," Ross wakes up with another woman named Chloe at the exact moment Rachel shows up at his door. Rachel finds out about the affair, and after a fight in Monica's living room, the couple calls it quits.

Regardless of how you feel about Ross claiming they "were on a break" when he slept with Chloe, seeing Rachel's reaction (and knowing the trust between them was broken) is one of the worst moments in the whole show. Just thinking about it makes my stomach bottom out!

Rory and Jess from Gilmore Girls

This is one of my personal most-devastating TV breakups because it seems like, out of all of Rory's boyfriends, Rory and Jess are just perfect for each other when they start dating. Not only does their love of books bring them closer together, but their personalities are so compatible. But when Jess leaves for California at the end of season 3 — without saying anything to Rory, I might add — is unacceptable! It breaks my heart, and based on the final look he gives Rory during A Year in the Life, he also regrets it BIG TIME.

Damon and Elena from The Vampire Diaries

This Vampire Diaries couple was truly endgame, and the will-they-won't-they of it all was one of my favorite things about the show. So when they broke up (to my horror), I was devastated.

Damon and Elena admit they're bad for each other in the season 5 episode "While You Were Sleeping" (then Damon tells her he doesn't even want to be friends. Ouch!!), but it's the season finale, "Home," that makes me extra emotional. When Damon gets stuck with Bonnie on the Other Side, he says goodbye to Elena, who's begging him not to leave but can neither see nor hear him. Say it with me: gut! wrenching!

Conrad and Belly from The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Summer I Turned Pretty fans are PASSIONATE about whether they're team Conrad or team Jeremiah (trick question, my OTP is Taylor and Stephen), and even the most dedicated Conrad stan hates the prom scene. You know, when he breaks up with Belly at her prom, in the rain. I know he just thinks Belly deserves better, but it's still very painful to watch.

Schmidt and Cece from New Girl

When I hear "devastating TV breakup" I IMMEDIATELY think of Schmidt and Cece from New Girl. Schmidt gets away with a lot of ridiculous things throughout this show, but dating two girls at one time is not one of them. After Nick has a hard time keeping Schmidt's love life a secret, Schmidt finally comes clean to Cece in "Double Date," leaving both her and me in tears. No matter how many times you rewatch the show, it truly feels like their relationship (and maybe even the friend group) will never recover.

Fleabag and The Priest on Fleabag

In the history of TV, I don't think I've ever heard anything as heartbreaking as "I love you," "It'll pass." Like, who approved that line?! The viral moment comes at the end of the Fleabag series finale, when Fleabag is sitting with The Priest at the bus stop. Over the course of the series, we not only see how much these two care about each other, but how well they know each other (like how The Priest recognizes when Fleabag zones out). To be loved is to be known, and that's what makes this devastating TV breakup even more devastating.

Carrie and Aidan on Sex and the City

After so much back and forth, it's hard to accept Carrie and Aidan's final breakup on SATC. But in season 4's "Change of a Dress," Carrie realizes she's not ready for marriage and Aidan realizes he doesn't trust her after her affair with Big. The combo of broken trust and being at two different life stages makes this extra painful to watch, and I don't think any amount of rewatches (or And Just Like That binges) is going to change that.