Tip of the hat — those famous hats! — for the Kentucky Derby! And because of this event, here is something as “Kentucky” that I could think of: Browned Butter Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Derby Bars. Browned Butter shortbread bottom, topped with a bourbon pecan brownie layer and caramel sauce. Very decadent and a true winner!
PS: Don’t mind the mint in the photo — the Kentucky Derby does always remind me of mint juleps, but there is no mint in the recipe; I just used it to dress up the photo a bit.
I may have mentioned this before (in fact, I know that I have), but I very much enjoy florentine-style (i.e. very thin and crispy) cookies. These are particularly yummy. Often, this style of cookie involves nuts, but this time I merely went with oatmeal and some toffee bits to add to the crunch, and then I sandwiched two together to make Florentine-Style Oatmeal “Jamwiches” (instead of sandwiches). Sweet and crispy cookies, tart and juicy jam. Quite lovely, actually.
The issue with baking artisan sourdough bread is that it is delicious. And addictive. And frankly, I could eat this entire loaf of focaccia, if I didn’t have any self-control. It is *that* good. Salty and briny from the olives, sweet from the honey. Hearty. Stop me, before I just gobble this all up. Great as a bread side to dinner, with garlic olive oil as a started or a snack. Sneak a piece when no one is looking. It’s seriously delicious.
This post has a story, and the story is about my mum. You see, we as a family (translation: my mum) have been making these “Cheese Buns” for forever. In fact, back in the day, we has a stand at the Orono (Maine) Town Festival and boy, were these danishes popular. So what are “Cheese Buns”? They are actually what would be called Süße Quarkbrötchen in German: brioche-style sweet, soft buns, with a creamy, lemony filling. In Germany, there is a type of fresh cheese called Quark. Quark is like yogurt, but not, like cream cheese but not. You can find Quark in the U.S. but it is pretty hard to find (check the deli case), so the closest thing you might find in the US, that I have found at least, is “farmer’s cheese” (also available in the deli case, by the artisan cheeses). My mum used to actually make it herself. In this recipe, I use cream cheese mixed with quark, but you can also use a bit of sour cream. Any which way, they are a “family recipe” and one of my favorite childhood things. There are raisins — I know, I know, highly controversial in baked goods — but they are optional so omit them if you are anti-raisin. 🙂
So, I am lucky that I don’t have to worry about being on a Gluten Free diet. I also choose to eat dairy, meat and eggs so I am not vegetarian or vegan. So, it never even occurred to me that you could make chocolate chip cookies without wheat flour, without dairy, or without eggs, but I did just that when I made these yummy Chickpea + Pecan Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are Gluten Free, dairy free (no butter, no eggs), white sugar free (do use honey and there are chocolate chips) and vegan. They do contain both nuts and nut butter (pecans, but you can use almonds or cashews as well. They are a bit crumbly and the original recipe called for a much shorter baking time (I upped it from -10 minutes to 14-16), but they do taste great and I don’t miss the things that it doesn’t have. The pecans are nice too. This recipe only makes a small batch (about 20 cookies) so you can test them out. Recipe can be doubled easily.