Monthly Archives

August 2015

Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Maple Blueberry Apple Crumble

Dinner. OK, I guess for most people it would be dessert, but I skipped breakfast AND lunch then had this for dinner. I think it was a good trade off! If you decide to make this as a dessert, will seriously the easiest one ever. It took me less than 10 minutes to make (the time to cut the apples and then mix together the crumble. Bake for 20 minutes and voila… by the time your guests have finished dinner, dessert is ready. Frozen blueberries work too (try to find the smaller “wild” variety instead of the larger cultivated ones). Delish.
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20. August 2015
Appetizers/Starters, General Reference/Tutorial, Savory Snacks, Sweet Snacks

Fig Honey and Thyme Jam

This week, I found myself in possession of a pound and a half of fresh figs. Not sure really how that happened, as figs are expensive and while you can find them a lot of places, certainly less common than say, an apple. Anyway, I absolutely love figs, but there is no chance that I could have eaten all of them (and enjoyed them) in one go, so I decided to make this lovely jam with about 2/3 of the lot. It’s a sweet jam, of course, with notes of honey, thyme and orange, but it pairs really nicely with savory — would go great with pork, and as shown with this cheese (it’s manchego) or even charcuterie. Or mix it into oatmeal or yogurt, or yes, even toast. It’s surprisingly versatile and yummy to boot. Also, it is very easy to make.
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13. August 2015
Cookies

Browned Butter Hazelnut and Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies. The good old stand-by. There must be at least 20 recipes on this site for chocolate chip cookies, but each with a variation. This time I’ve added cracked (but still fairly whole) hazelnuts and plump dried cranberries. Oh, and I browned about half of the butter, which give them a great, extra nutty taste. Not sure if this is tremendously summery, but hey, you can eat cookies year round, no?
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7. August 2015
Drinks/Cocktails

Elderflower and Thyme Bellini

Friday! And that means cocktails again! You’d think that I only make cocktail *on* Fridays, but that isn’t true. I only actually *perfect* cocktails on Friday. It usually takes a few tries to get them right. And this one is delicious. Might have to have a couple more this evening.
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7. August 2015
Cookies, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Mini Blueberry Tartlets with Lemon Curd and Mint

Spoon sized (mini-muffin tin) little tarts are my “go to thing” when I have leftover pie dough — and goodness knows that I often have leftover pie dough! When it is a “last minute” thing, I just spoon in spoonfuls of jam (which I also usually have a lot of), but this time, because I had so many lovely blueberries from Maine in the kitchen, I decided to make these from scratch. Perfect bite size. And totally addictive; perhaps even more so than a full sized version, because you can pop a whole little one mouth with no drip from the super juicy berries. Store bought lemon curd, mini-mint sprigs from my garden. Perfect for my afternoon “Kaffeetrinken”.
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6. August 2015