Monthly Archives

April 2015

Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Browned Butter Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chip Pie
aka Kentucky Derby Pie

In a couple of days, the Kentucky Derby will be run for 2015. I’ve been seeing a lot of photos out there for Mint Juleps and such, but thought I would go in another direction with my homage to the the Running of the Roses: Pie. No surprise there, eh? I’ve been this type of pie been called Chocolate Chip Pie, but with my addition of Pecans and Bourbon, it almost seemed more appropriate to rename it as Kentucky Derby Pie. Southern, and all that. It is ooey and gooey on the inside, perfect for pairing with vanilla iced cream.
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30. April 2015
Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Lemon, Poppy Seed and Almond Cake, with Blueberries and Sweetened Greek Yogurt (GF, but not dairy free)

The other day, a friend of mine mentioned that she had a craving for lemon poppy seed “something” … muffins, pound cake, etc. I saw this recipe online, modified it a bit and had a go. It is Gluten Free and just uses almond meal instead of flour. If it were to make it again, I would cut down on the almond meal and make it half with regular wheat flour (seeing I have no real reason to be eating gluten free). Also, I think that a great improvement would be to use wild blueberries, instead of the cultivated ones, as they just don’t have enough flavor. But alas, it isn’t blueberry season until a few months from now, so I used what I had.
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26. April 2015
Cookies, Sweet Snacks

Chocolate-Dipped Toasted Coconut and Ginger Shortbread

Cookie time! Yes, in my never-ending attempt to make every cookie conceivable, here is yest another cookie recipe. Note that this is unsweetened coconut (aka desicated coconut), not the usual shredded sweetened kind. A bit harder to find, but I’ve found it at Whole Foods and pretty much any place that sells Bob’s Red Mill stuff. This recipe makes a lot (+/- 80 cookies) so halve it if you like. Also, my flat smells delicious: butter, butter, butter, coconut and ginger. Sweet!
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24. April 2015
Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Pistachio and Spicy Salted Caramel Deep Chocolate Brownies

Over the years, I have posted a lot of brownie recipes on this site. They are perhaps my favorite “go to” thing when I have to make something in a hurry, because even the “from scratch” type of brownies don’t take very long to make and you can add so many varying flavors to them. Case in point: these Pistachio and Spicy Salted Caramel Deep Chocolate Brownies. Make your own spicy caramel sauce and a gourmet style brownie is made. Also, I love the whole salty and spicy thing on chocolate, so I used the Falk Salt Chipotle Sea Salt again.
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24. April 2015
Appetizers/Starters, Savory Snacks

Goat Cheese, Grilled Aubergine and Ramp Chimichurri Crostini

The other day, I made this Ramp Chimichurri which is out of this world, and I mentioned that you can use it on a bunch of things besides just steak. Here is one of those things. The chimichurri moved this from “hey, I have a bunch of random ingredients that I need to use up before they go off” to “wow, this is one heck of a snack in just under 30 minutes of work (and would be much less except that you should salt the eggplant for a bit, lest they get soggy). Cheeky little snack in the middle of my Thursday.
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23. April 2015