Inspired by a recent visit to Austria, I thought I would make a strudel… with some spring / early summer flavors to boot. I was actually a little concerned that the tart cherries and rhubarb — which is tart as well — would be a little much, but it turned out quite nice. Perfect for an afternoon cuppa.
After a few weeks of travel and stressful catch-up from vacation, I finally had the opportunity to bake something this morning. How refreshing! It really is stress relief, even if I did get up at 4:30 on a Saturday morning. These florentines are simply lovely: sweet and crisp and almost like a nut brittle. Not to be missed!
Whenever I am excited or happy about an upcoming event or activity, I have this habit of being super efficient and I get everything that I possibly need to do before said event done as soon as and as quickly as possible. I’ve always called this “pushing time” with the irrational logic of “If everything is done, the happy thing will happen sooner.” I’ve done this since I was a little girl, and then usually got so excited that I would make myself sick (I guess that sometimes still happens, with my propensity of getting migraines). But I digress.
So, I’m going on vacation this evening, and by Wednesday, I was done with everything (at least on a personal level; work I have less control over the deadlines). So last night I was twiddling my thumbs and making myself crazy, thus I decided to do something calming and well, yummy.
Getting to be spring so I thought that I would make the most of this lovely Sunday morning by making some spring-like food: Rhubarb, first of the season for me. This is a great little coffee cake, perfect for breakfast but would be great with afternoon tea as well. Fool-proof too. And if it isn’t rhubarb season, substitute fresh blueberries or even apricots or peaches later in the summer. Lots and lots of crumble, something my dad really loves.
Somehow in this mess of a week, I never did get around to making anything that I wanted to show you. That is not to say that I didn’t make anything, but they are all in-progress recipe experiments, that still need some work. But thees cookies, these are the bomb. As you all know, I have a thing for cardamom, so I thought that I would try a new twist on the traditional chocolate chip cookie and ended up with these, with a slight Middle Eastern turn of all things: Cardamom Cherry White Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Pine Nuts and Sea Salt. Turned out heavenly. Pillowy and sweet, with just the right ratio of sweet and savory.