Long-time followers of this here Cup of Sugar :: Pinch of Salt page will know that even though I find Valentine’s Day silly, I always manage to make a few varieties of Valentine’s Day Cookies. This year is no different so I present his year’s four varieties: Red Currant Lemon Linzer Cookies, Valentine’s Day Shortbread Blossoms, Baci di Dama (Lady’s Kisses) and Double Chocolate M&M Cookies. Recipes follow after the jump:
We’re on to week 4 of the Ingredient Game Challenge. Up this week, filled pastas/noodles and dumplings. I guess that isn’t really an ingredient per se, but a theme or topic, but nevertheless, lots of ideas to choose from — Italian (ravioli, manacotti), central and eastern European (maultaschen, pierogi) and Asian (dumplings, wonton, gyoza, shumai, har gow), Just to name a few! And I purposefully picked this as the week where dumplings could play a roll, given Lunar New Year. I can’t wait to see what you all come up with.
First up for me: Hazelnut-Nutella Ravioli, Chocolate Sauce! Surpised? Yes, I thought that I would throw in an odd-ball right at the beginning. Dessert Ravioli! Totally decadent lunch actually. I might need a sugar-coma nap later, or at least some energy to go for a decent walk!
One more stop on the Banana ingredient in this little ingredient game that we are up to this winter: Banoffee Waffles, with Banana Cream, Salted Caramel + Toffee Crunch. I hadn’t actually intended to make these — I thought maybe Banoffee Doughnuts, but then I didn’t want to wait for yeast to do it’s thing so I went with these instead. They are sweet — between the pudding cream layer, the salted caramel and the toffee bits, this will definitely send you to sugar overload. I even intentionally made the waffles and whipped cream fairly neutral to cut the sweetness. Maybe better as a dessert than a breakfast thing. They are delicious, just very sweet, so if that is your thing…
I was skeptical of these cookies. I’ve never thought to even make banana-styled cookies before and none of the recipes that I had found in my cookbooks (very few) or online (lots, but many a little questionable) really inspired me. But then I found these…. Browned butter, oatmeal, bananas. Might even be a little healthy if it weren’t for the two sticks of butter! And they do not disappoint. The flat spells like banana bread on overdrive and they turned out great. Fluffy, moist, not overly sweet although there is a fair amount of sugar. Makes about 75 cookies, so you can halve the recipe if you need less of them.
More bananas! Just like a few days ago was “National Croissant Day”, Monday is “World Nutella Day” (back in 2022, I did a whole series of nutella recipes for that), so I thought that I would get a head start on that “holiday” by making these Crêpes with Nutella and Bananas. They always remind me of markets in Europe, particularly France and Germany, were there is inevitably someone making these fresh to go. It’s something about the banana and Nutella combination that is also so reminiscent of childhood. Their quick to make and a super snack or dessert.