FALL CAKES FROM AROUND THE WORLD My first cake was from France, rich in butter and milk, visually appealing and sophisticated. My second cake is from Greece. It's a modest apple cake. The local products of honey, olive oil and yogurt create layers of flavor, oh-so-light in texture, while a simple glaze of honey, cinnamon and cider tops it off. The key to this Greek Honey Apple Cake is to use the best honey and finest olive oil you can find! It starts with a mixture of honey, cider, and cinnamon which is reduced to a syrup. Part of this will be set aside to glaze the cake and the rest ...
FALL CAKES FROM AROUND THE WORLD: FRENCH DISAPPEARING APPLE CAKE
All over the world people love apples! And is there any way better to celebrate the changing seasons than with an Apple Cake in the Fall? This Disappearing Apple Cake is a uniquely French approach which is easy to make and makes a real apple statement! Apples are one of the oldest and most loved fruits out there. Almost every country in the Northern hemisphere has cakes and desserts centered around apples. And now is the best season for apples. They are fresh, crispy and the varieties are endless. I have shared with you an Australian Apple Cake in the past and now I am traveling back to ...
CHOCOLATE RICE KRISPIE BARS: A HALLOWEEN TREAT!
Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats take the original classic to another level. Made with 3 Musketeer Candy Bars and decorated with candy corn, they are scary delicious with all the flavors of Halloween in a single bite! Did you miss me? I have been so busy that I haven’t had time to think about baking or new recipes, much less to write about them. Things have slowed down now, and I am able to get back in the kitchen. It’s cooled off a lot (thank goodness!) and the holidays are just around the corner. And holidays mean baking!! So here we go— First up, Halloween. I know it’s still 6 ...
FOR THE LOVE OF PIE: TOMATO AND CORN PIE
“You’ve never had a tomato and corn pie?” I said, barely able to keep the amazement out of my voice. “No” said my tomato-loving Southern Husband. How was this possible? I never had a tomato pie before I moved South. However, by now, I have had many and made many more. How did this happen? It needed to be fixed. So, I threw the whole pie at him: fresh tomatoes and corn in a pimento cheese filling. And bacon, just because. The thing I love about tomato and corn pie, you can be as purist as you want or take the easy shortcuts. It’s always good. Start with the pie crust. You can ...
PEACHY KEEN: PEACH TART WITH GINGER AND ALMOND
Peaches are in short supply this year. This recipe delivers big peach flavor but uses just four to five peaches. The no-roll pastry is an easy start to my Peach Tart paired with Ginger and Almond. Peach season came late this year. We were at the beach over the Fourth of July and the farm stands, usually overflowing with yellowy-pink globes of sticky sweetness, were replete with berries and tomatoes but no peaches. So going home, when we passed a peach stand off the highway, we stopped and bought a small basket full. It was expensive! Not having an over-abundance of peaches but still ...
Sweet Zucchini Pie
A big zucchini calls for a big idea. How about a pie? Flavored with cinnamon and ginger, it is like an Apple Pie. But not. It's a Sweet Zucchini Pie! If you grow zucchini then, almost without fail, at some point you will end up with an oversized fruit (more on the fruitiness of zucchini later). Then, if you are like me, you will make zucchini bread in endless iterations , stuff the zucchini, make zoodles and fritters all summer long until you don’t want to even think about zucchini. But have you ever made a zucchini pie? I have. And it was so good I am purposely letting a ...
ALMOND BERRY CAKE
The fruits of summer pair with almond to create a light cake, good for snacking and breakfast! Today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. It’s a day that speaks of the hot days of Summer and long warm evenings. The days when children play outside well past their bedtimes, their shrieks and laughter mingling with the smells of smoke and grilling. Sunshine and flowers, swimming pools and beaches. You know what it does not speak of? Rain. So much rain. And cool, damp air. So much so that I am sitting at my desk wearing socks and a sweatshirt to keep warm. As any baker ...
WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS? STUFFED ROUND ZUCCHINI SQUASH!
I picked up my first CSA box (Community Supported Agriculture—it’s a farm share) yesterday from Bush-n-Vine, a nearby farm. It was a good one: early tomatoes, some sweet late strawberries, lettuce, Swiss chard, and these guys. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what they were at first, but it turns out they are round zucchini. Who knew such a thing even existed? And that’s all they are: round zucchini. No unusual flavor, nothing different except the shape, and the shape is so much fun. These little guys were begging to be hollowed out and stuffed. Which is what I did. I ...
BAKING WITH HERBS: LEMON BASIL POUNDCAKE WITH STRAWBERRY GLAZE
Fresh basil gives a new dimension to the flavors of lemon pound cake. Top with a glaze made of fresh strawberries for a Spring Treat! I watch a lot of baking and cooking shows. They can be a source of inspiration as well as entertainment. My latest not-so-guilty pleasure is the Great American Baking Show on the Roku channel. Once I got past the awesome arrogance of Paul Hollywood expounding on what is and is not “an American bake”, I discovered the similarities of the show to the original Great British Baking Show were the ones I wanted to see: kind and enthusiastic home bakers ...
PANCAKES IN ANOTHER FORM! BROWN BUTTER MAPLE CAKE WITH BALSAMIC BLUEBERRY COMPOTE
BROWN BUTTER MAPLE CAKE WITH BALSAMIC BLUEBERRY COMPOTE Sunday means breakfast: a stack of pancakes brimming with blueberries and swimming in syrup. Sunday means brunch: elegant mimosas in long stemmed flute. Sunday means BBQ, or a barbeque: the one a Southern treat, and the other a hot dog and hamburger staple of American life. Whatever your Sunday looks like, this cake brings it all together. Brown butter and maple syrup make a batter that tastes a lot like pancakes. And the sweet blueberry compote has a hint of mimosa elegance from a dash of balsamic vinegar. The single ...
