Cookies that could be as good as Christmas Cookies as they are here in the summer-time: Chocolate-dipped Salted Caramel-candied Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies! Yes, that’s a mouthful to say (and to eat, har har). Hazelnut shortbread, dipped in decadent dark chocolate and then partially coated in a salted caramel hazelnut crunch — sort of like a topping that you put on ice cream or an ice cream cone. Not too sweet, just the right size for two bites. Would be a great “after dinner” dessert cookie.
Breakfast time! This is a little “cake” that I have now made for the second time in a week’s span as it was so popular in the first go around that is was gone straight away. Surprisingly it is very similar to my most of my blueberry muffin recipes, but instead of milk that those recipes use, this “breakfast cake” uses ricotta cheese. It’ very light, super-fluffy and has just the right amount of tartness from the lemon and ricotta. Also, it’s a very easy and forgiving recipe.
(modified from an Ina Garten recipe that can be found here)
Here is something bright and cheerful to lighten up your Monday morning. Over the weekend, I made these Mini-Meyer Lemon Curd Tartlets for dessert. Very tart, very lemony and surprisingly bright in color (presumably from the very yellow egg yolks — maybe the chickens were eating marigolds!), these are actually very easy to make. In a pinch, you can also substitute store bought curd or other fruit jams to pull something together in a hurry. They were delicious!
I often make granola for myself, though I don’t post the recipe, because it is mostly the same — swap out the nuts, swap out the dried fruit, but there is usually maple syrup and of course oats and sunflower seeds. This time I made Maple Pecan and Cranberry Granola. not too sweet, a little tart and definitely delicious. I mostly eat my granola with yogurt (blatant product endorsement: Cabot Whole Milk Vanilla Greek Yogurt is excellent), but would also be great with milk for breakfast or ice cream for dessert.
Yum yum.
Haven’t been baking as much since Easter, and had company so what I was baking was more old-standbys. It’s remarkably hard to do recipe testing, writing and photography with a houseful of guests. That said, I’m back. With so many crab apple and cherry trees in blossom, I got to thinking … well, about crab apples and cherries, so I made these Cherry Almond Oatmeal Crumble Bars. A little tart, a little sweet, a little nutty and overall delicious.