Alice in Wondoughland, my sourdough started, had gone into hiberation for a few weeks whilst I was in Germany, but she’s all thawed out and ready to rise again! First up: these super fluffy Honey Cinnamon Sourdough Brioche Sweet Rolls. Definitely something to have for breakfast, but not nearly as sweet or sugar-overload like a cinnamon bun (don’t get me wrong; I love those too, just in a different way. Great fresh out of the oven with a bit of butter.
Honey Crisp Apples are my favorite apples. Pink Ladies are a close second, but I do like Honey Crisps the best. The dilemma with that is that often Honey Crisp Apples are HUGE — I’ve seen them the size of grapefruit and that is not so much fun. My solution is that I go apple picking, like I did this past weekend, and seek out the really small ones. IMO opinion, they are better for pies and in this case, jam. The jam is partially made of unpasteurized, from-the-farm cider, which was also mostly honey crisps, so double the goodness!
Going back to an old stand-by as I am often doing. Here is yet another recipe for crumble bars, this time with gooseberries and pistachios. Just goes to show you that you can really use any fruit and nut combination. If you’ve never had a gooseberry, it’s a greenish or light pink (although there are also dark purple just not around here) berry. Quite tart. In German, they are called Stachelbeeren …. thorn berries …. because the vines have thorns on them. They are a member of the ribe family (as are currants) so they were banned in parts of the US for a long time and are just making a comeback (though there are still quite a few laws on the books outlawing mass growing of them). Anyway, delicious combo with the pistachios.
Sourdough experiment for the week using a super seasonal ingredient: Strawberry Milleswirlie. Why Milleswirlie? Well, Millefiori is derived from “a thousand flowers” in Italian, so here we have a thousand swirls … Mille-swirlies! And the strawberries are just because it is strawberry season and I got them at the weekly farmer’s market yesterday and they were just begging to be made into something delicious. It’s as if strawberry shortcake and cinnamon rolls got together and had a love child. Dessert for breakfast, no regrets!
It’s May first and in many places, this is a celebratory day. Not much going on here in Camberville, except the sun is shining and I am in a good mood and so I tried the channel that into my treats that I baked this morning. Back to some of my “more unusual” flavor combinations: Rhubarb Rosehip Shortbread Bars!A little tart, a little sweet, overall delicious and definitely not something that you would have every day. Not everyone has had rosehips, but they are floral and fruity tasting; combine that with the spring-rhubarb flavor and you have a winner!