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.
fruits-and-berries
So you know how sometimes really crappy weather makes you want to hunker down and hibernate just a little while? Well, it’s April and New England is getting a Nor’Easter (which actually doesn’t mean snow necessarily, just wind direction, but the precipitation is still supposed to be yucky). So the bad weather got me thinking of wanting to be in the tropics, which got me thinking of citrus fruits, so I dug through my bag of tricks and came up with a jar of Guava Jam. Never had a guava? Well, it tastes a lot like oranges and peaches mixed together. Add in some macadamia nuts and voila, tropical inspiration to get over the Spring Stormy blues.
Continuing my sourdough adventures…. I had to give Alice some refreshment, and I really hate to through away perfectly good starter, I decided to make another style of breakfast bread (I already make a terrific Cranberry Walnut Bread!): Müsli Sourdough Breakfast Bread. Toasted Granola and the ever-controversial raisins are the mix-ins this time with some sweet, dark avocado blossom honey. It’s still a little dense, but incredibly moist and phenomenal flavor. I can definitely see this one going into the rotation of breakfast breads.
Another Spring-time baking recipe. Instead of chocolate chips — or white chocolate, butterscotch/caramel or peanut butter — something completely different: Blueberry and strawberry yogurt chips! Found on the King Arthur Baking website, these chips are packed with flavor and make a great cookie, perfect for Spring. And my kitchen smells like blueberry muffins, which is never a bad thing. 🙂
Spring has sprung and Easter is right around the corner, so I thought I would make some Easter-like treats. Up first: these Lemon Sandwich Cookies with Raspberry Cream Filling. Light, a wee bit tart and overall delicious. I am not about the colors usually, but I had leftover sanding sugar from Christmas in a multi-color pack, so I used some of that too. It’s totally optional, as is the cookie-stamp, but it does make them more interesting looking, I think.

















