Easter is still a few weeks away, but I’ve decided to start making a few things early this year, in hopes of inspiring friends to do some baking this spring. It’s also the first day of Spring today, though the weather outside would not indicate that. Anyway, Easter and Spring … birds and nests and easter eggs. Cookies.
It’s getting to be St. Patrick’s Day is a few weeks time and while I am in no way Irish, I do live in Boston, so the town is full of faux-Irish, as it were. And as with any holiday, it is just a good excuse to make something sort of, somehow related to that holiday. So I made these truffles. OK, I probably didn’t need to put the green nonpareils on there, but they are to distract you from the not-so-good look of the truffles themselves. They taste great, but I am not very talented with the whole “dipping in chocolate” part.
Today, February 22, is National Margarita Day. This either makes no sense (“Why in the world would it be decided to have national margarita day in February when it is cold and snowy?!?”) or is completely ingenious (“Hey, it’s National Margarita Day! What a great excuse to have a margarita in the middle of the day on a Sunday when it is snowy and miserable outside!”). Either way, I’m making a drink! And because it is still Meyer Lemon season, my Margarita of choice is this one. Bottoms up!
Happy Valentine’s Day! For this faux holiday, I decided to make one of my “heart inside cakes”, even though I have made many of them over the last couple of years. This time, however, I actually photographed all the steps so that you would have a sense of what is involved (you actually have to make two cakes). After having done this so many times, it seems self explanatory to me, but if you have any questions, shoot me a note. Enjoy!
Sometimes you just need a quick and easy dessert. These little (4 inch) tartlets might just be the thing. Here they are dressed up for valentines day, but no reason that you couldn’t put stars in the middle for the 4th of July or a flower in the spring. They’re quick to put together — start to finish, including baking time is just about an hour (depending on how long you let your dough rest — at minimum 20 minutes which is just enough time to make the filling). The recipe easily makes 4 tartlets; if you really stretch it, you can get 6 out of this (depends on how deep the tartlets pans are). Now, where is the a la mode?