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Desserts

Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Hazelnut-Rosemary Caramel Tart

This is a bit of a twist on a Pecan Pie. It has the same sort of filling (melted butter, eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar), but instead of using pecans, I used toasted hazelnuts and I added a twist: I steeped some fresh rosemary (from my ever dwindling herbs in my porch garden — the next frost and they will all be gone) in the melted butter for 20 minutes, to give it an interesting, and in my opinion, lovely harvest flavor. I suppose that you could use other nuts as well — cashews maybe? — if you weren’t up for using hazelnuts but still wanted something different than your standard pecan pie. Serve at room temp, maybe with a bit of whipped cream to cut the richness.
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Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Spiced Custard Apple Tart

More apple recipes! 🙂 Yes, ’tis the season and seeing I love baking with apples so much, I thought that I would make this tart. Also, my dad will be here this evening, and he loves these French custard-style pies / tarts a lot. I browned the butter for the custard first, which gives it a lovely nutty flavor. Yum!
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Cookies, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Plum Shortbread Bars with Pistachios and Cardamom

What makes you think of Middle Eastern food? For some reason (maybe not even close to being based in reality), plums, cardamom and pistachios all make me think of Middle Eastern cuisine. And I’ve been doing so much reading on Syria and Turkey and such that apparently I have those flavors on the mind. Clearly shortbread isn’t Middle Eastern though! These came out well though; a great combination.
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Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Blueberry Pie with Buttermilk, Lemon and Ginger

There must be a dozen blueberry pie recipes on this here site. Overall, I am guessing there must be at least 50 blueberry recipes in general, but given how much I love them, this isn’t a surprise. Each time I make a new pie, I do a little bit of a twist, whether it be “warm spices” (cinnamon, clove), or with a crumble top, etc. This time I went for a bit of a tart twist, with buttermilk, lemon and ginger. Quite lovely and fresh.
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Desserts

Late Summer Fruit-Berry Pie (Blueberry Blackberry Plum)

As promised, there is more pie. 🙂 Last week, I made a blueberry pie with this flower like pattern, made with a small, circular cookie cutter. I’d never tried that before, but loved the way that it turned out, so I made another pie this week along the same lines. The filling also involved blueberries, but also plums and blackberries — very late summer-ish. Note the little heart with wings in the middle … it’s all in the details, eh?
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