In my never ending quest to make all the things sourdough, I have now added Sourdough Nutella Swirls to the repertoire! It helps that it is soon World Nutella Day as well, but that was just the excuse that I needed. These are nutella-y and gooey and delicious, and surprisingly, not overly sweet (I made the dough a little less sweet than I naturally would). Definitely a repeat recipe. They are best the first day, but I’ve been eating them now for 3 days and they are still great!
It’s a cookie in bar form! Not brownie but a blondie! In essence, you can use the exact same recipe to make cookies, but I was in the mood to make bars, so here we are. These are easy to make, flavorful and easily substitutable — in other words, don’t like dried cranberries or pistachios or white chocolate, swap out for raisins, walnuts and semi-sweet chips. Lots of options!
Here is my annual Cake Day cake. I mention this every year, but I don’t make cakes all that often — I’m not very good at decorating / frosting, and even more so in the days of a global pandemic, making cupcakes as not to share food is better anyway. That said, one day out of the year, I do make a cake, so this year is no different. I love the combination of coconut and chocolate so this celebratory has both cake types and frosting types, in addition to garnet-colored sugar flowers as they are the January birthstone color. Here’s to being 50, I guess!
Starting off 2022…. I bought a pineapple. I don’t do that very often because about half way through, I realize that pineapple is pretty acidic and I lose interest. But I felt like buying a pineapple for it’s symbolism. There are lots: warm welcomes, celebration and hospitality, friendship. Have one (or a painting or sculpture of one in a doorway, and it might mean stop in for a chat. In addition, it reminds me of warm climates and it’s pretty yucky weather here in greater Boston to start out the new year, so maybe I subconsciously was dreaming of Hawaii or the tropics. Either which way, I decided to make the standard crumble bars to start of the new year. Delicious, as always.
These may not look like much, not particularly festive really, but they are really really yummy. I took my standard brioche-style danishes, added some raisins,dried currants and chopped dried apricots, and made them into extra special Sourdough Holiday Quark + Fruit Brioche-Style Danish. Fairly “plain” looking on the outside, but packed with flavor. If you can’t find quark — and goodness knows it is nearly impossible (I made my own) — you can substitute sour cream or creme fraise. Breakfast or a sweet holiday snack for days.