It’s rhubarb season: that short time where this weird plant comes out to play for a very short time and people flock to the farmer’s markets to get their fill — and just wait until the strawberries are out! In the meantime, I made these lovely Ruby Rhubarb Streusel Bars, buttery and rich on the bottom, tart and sweet on top.
My “biggie” cookies seem to be popular. You know the type: bakery-style BIG cookies that you buy individually and may not be able to eat in one sitting. Or maybe you can. I’m not judging. This time, I decided to go with a new type with coconut in and on the cookies, as well as coconut white chocolate wafers in addition to the dark chocolate wafers. They are big. They are delicious. They are worth the effort to make. nom nom!
Me, and Crumble Bars, eh? Yep. thought I would make some more – these are Yuzu Lemon Shortbread Crumble Bars – and even though they aren’t exactly Easter-y, they are bright and tart and delicious. Never heard of Yuzu? Well, nor I had I until I tried some juice while at an Asian restaurant a while back. Yuzu is sometimes called a Japanese Lemon. Sometimes called a Korean Tangerine and has roughly been described to me as a mashup between a lemon, grapefruit and a mandarin, round, but lemon yellow. I’ve never had a fresh one, but the jam, extract and syrups are amazing.These crumble bars would be a great addition to an Easter dessert spread.
Switching gears…. Easter is really early this year. Or at least it feels earlier than normal. I don’t recall it usually being this close to St. Patrick’s Day. At any rate, as with so many holidays, I feel the need to make something. As if I ever need an excuse, right? So this year’s Easter season is starting off with these Cardamom Carrot Cake Oatmeal Nut Cookies. They might be healthy, if it weren’t for the 3 sticks of butter and the almond candies. They are delicious and the nests actually turned out quite cute.
Despite the fact that I am in snowy New England it’s February, here is a little bit of tropical sunshine to warm you up, still on the topic of “Citrus” : Coconut Key Lime Pie Cheesecake, that I made as a birthday present for a friend whilst I am visiting up in the Bangor/Orono, Maine area. I have to say that the result came out phenomenal. It’s light, it’s fluffy, it’s sweet and tart, and has a lovely, clean finish. Almost all cheesecakes are quite a bit of work but the result here was great. I am very pleased.