I decided to make these Apple Cranberry + Hazelnut Autumn Linzer-style Cookies more to get into the practice of baking more complex style cookies ahead of cookie madness. Not that these are all that complex, but they do take a little bit more effort than drop cookies. Flavor profile is distinctly autumn-like: hazelnuts, apple and cranberry. Really nice pop in flavor.
It’s Blueberry Season! I know, many of you might say that it is almost always blueberry season, but for me, “real” blueberries — the sweet, tart, bursting with flavor despite only being a 1/4 of an inch big, one that you rake from the barrens in Maine — are the only blueberries that count. If you make this blueberry cake, seek out the little gems and if you can’t find the real Maine wild blueberries fresh, go for the frozen ones (Wymans are great) but avoid fresh cultivated ones that are about the size of grapes because they sink to the bottom of your loaf cake and make a mess.
I am the queen of crazy flavor combinations, right? But even this one seemed a little crazy to me. Last weekend, I found some Divina’s Apricot Chili Rosemary Spread. Not exactly a sweet jam. In fact, it has a bit of a kick mixed in with the apricots. But I decided to make some of my ever-famous crumble bars, this time: Sweet/Savory Apricot Chili Rosemary Walnut Crumble Bars. It was an experiment. I totally didn’t think that it would work, but you know what? It works. I am not advocating eating this as dessert, but added to a charcuterie board with cheese, salami and olive and grapes, these crumble bars are a perfect addition. I was shocked. Totally surprised. Totally good.
Heya! So, it’s been almost a month since I posted anything and I could give you all sorts of excuses on why, but we’ll leave it as “I needed a break”. While I am generally a hater of the month of January, the end of May to the end of June comes is a close second as bad in the mental health department. Suffice it to say, I AM BACK! I went strawberry picking so here is the first of the Strawberry recipes: Strawberry Almond Muffins with Strawberry Glaze. They are light and delicious and very strawberry-y. Just be careful not to add too many berries, lest the muffins get all mushy!
Snowy and cold (and will soon be colder!) weekend in Maine visiting my mom, so I decided to raid the pantry to see what type of combination that I would bake with and as usual, I ended up with a crumble bar combo. As you know, they are my “go to” treat. This time with hazelnuts and apricot jam… a little bit of sunshine with the golden color and tartness of the apricots.