Browsing Tag

fruits-and-berries

Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Spring Has Sprung Garden Party Cake

All of a sudden, it seems to be spring. After this winter here in Boston, I never thought that we’d be saying “Gosh, it’s hot!” again, but here we are on May 7 … and it’s downright hot. So, in celebration thereof, I made this here cake. I actually have a bit of a philosophy that I have broken with this cake — which is that I think that a cake should look like a cake, not like something else — but eh, rules are meant to be broken sometimes and I ended up with this cutsie little cake. It’s just a chocolate cake with raspberry filling, chocolate butter cream frosting and lots of mini-M&Ms.
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7. May 2015
Cookies, Sweet Snacks

Hazelnut Saffron Linzer Cookies,
with Passion Fruit Gelee

And now for something completely different in the cookie department … a complete departure from my usual chocolate or caramel or what-have-you (but not a departure from Linzer Cookie style cookies, which I seem to make fairly often), this week we something involving saffron and passion fruit, which go together quite nicely, I found out. Also, the smell of saffron when baking, because it is intensified, is just lovely.

And now, these aren’t Christmas Cookies … the cut out parts are meant to be flowers, even though they turned out more like stars. Although, I would make Christmas Cookies in May.
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1. May 2015
Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Lemon, Poppy Seed and Almond Cake, with Blueberries and Sweetened Greek Yogurt (GF, but not dairy free)

The other day, a friend of mine mentioned that she had a craving for lemon poppy seed “something” … muffins, pound cake, etc. I saw this recipe online, modified it a bit and had a go. It is Gluten Free and just uses almond meal instead of flour. If it were to make it again, I would cut down on the almond meal and make it half with regular wheat flour (seeing I have no real reason to be eating gluten free). Also, I think that a great improvement would be to use wild blueberries, instead of the cultivated ones, as they just don’t have enough flavor. But alas, it isn’t blueberry season until a few months from now, so I used what I had.
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26. April 2015
Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Apple Pie with Whiskey-Soaked Tart Cherries

I woke up this morning in a horrible mood. Well, I am not sure that “waking up” was actually part of the equation as I had been awake for the most of the night. There were some bad dreams and the weather was horrible, with pelting rain and thunder and lighting. The cats were none too pleased about the whole thing and I just didn’t get a good night’s rest. I felt completely discombobulated.

But for me there is something about being in the kitchen that allows me to reset. So I did just that, even though it was a busy morning with my “real life”. I love pie but didn’t really have enough apples for just a regular apple pie, but I did have a jar of tart cherries. I steeped them in some whiskey as I was making the pastry and voila: Apple Pie with Whiskey Soaked Tart Cherries. The flowers are intended to be cherry blossoms, because it is, in theory, that time of year. Oh, and it stopped raining, and my mood has improved.
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21. April 2015
Breakfast/Brunch, Sweet Snacks

Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Swirls

My nickname from my Omi (grandmother) in Germany when I was little was “Schneckennudel”, which is a compound word (snail + noodle) which means, in essence, Cinnamon Roll. Not getting into the technicalities, but they are more like a Pain aux Raisin in Germany, but still. Ever since then, I think of my Omi when I make somethng like these for breakfast.

I drizzled honey over these swirls when I took them out of the oven, but maple syrup woould also be pretty great.
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19. April 2015