Every year I make violet jelly just like my mom taught me when I was a girl. But because the season is so brief and the color of the violet tea is so divine, I’m always looking to make something new and different with the foraged flowers. Last year it was Violet Lemonade, the year before that was Violet and Elderflower Gummies.
Continue reading “Lilac and Violet Panna Cotta Tart”
During all those walks around the neighborhood gathering violets and dandelions for jelly, I started to notice that baking inspiration literally grows on trees around here. There are lilacs, redbuds and magnolias galore. They all have edible parts but I was all flowered out. Then I happened to see a post from Once Upon A Weed about spruce syrup and remembered there’s a spruce growing in the parkway just a few blocks from here. It’s about 40 feet tall and absolutely covered in itty-bitty spruce tips. Continue reading “Caramelized Spruce Tip Syrup”
Every spring, my kids and I make violet jelly. Walking through the neighborhood on one of those rare spring days where it’s warm in the sun and cool in the shade and picking violets is a lovely way to spend an afternoon. Yesterday when we were making our jelly for the year, my youngest asked if we could make violet and dandelion candies. I’m still working on that…but it did remind me that last year we made some bonkers-good violet lemonade and I never posted the recipe. Which is awfully selfish. So here you go!
Continue reading “Violet Lemonade”
Glazing your gingerbread cookies is a deceptively simple way to create delicate and impressive patterns on your gingerbread cookies. The textured dough, once baked, gets brushed with a simple powdered sugar glaze and allowed to dry and crystallize.
Continue reading “Glazed Gingerbread Cookies”
Click here for directions on making the chocolate maple leaves. I’ll be circling back with baking directions soon!
Continue reading “Maple Apple Cake with White Chocolate Leaves”
I love the vibrant flavor and tartness of strawberry and rhubarb. A strawberry rhubarb pie is one of the best things about spring. That and the end of another soul-crushing Chicago winter of course. I wanted to see if I could pack all that spring flavor into a tart resembling a lemon meringue pie, using rhubarb as the filling and adding strawberries to the classic Italian meringue topping. This Strawberry Rhubarb Tart does it all. It’s bursting with juicy flavor, rich and tart, and topped with pillowy swirls of strawberry meringue. Continue reading “Strawberry Rhubarb Tart”
I love frosting. I love cupcakes with lots of frosting and cakes covered in big frosting rosettes. But sometimes a cake is just so delicious, you want the frosting to simply complement, not dominate. This raspberry almond cake gets that balance just right. The cake is rich and perfectly textured and the raspberry buttercream frosting adds a bright flavor and color. It’s loaded with real raspberries and topped with tender candied blood oranges, giving just a bit of bitterness to balance the sweet. All of the three components are delicious on their own. But together, they’re magic. Continue reading “Raspberry Almond Cake with Candied Blood Oranges”
These chocolate banana cupcakes are insanely delicious. Moist banana cake dipped in dark chocolate then topped with chocolate almond buttercream and a banana chip. After getting rave reviews for these Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes, I put my thinking cap on to see if I could come up with a new take on the chocolate-covered cupcake. This was a no-brainer. My family says that these are the best cupcakes I have ever made. They look so appealing and the two kinds of chocolate take it to the next level. It’s like a decadent version of the classic chocolate chip banana bread. Continue reading “Decadent Chocolate Banana Cupcakes”
My younger sister Eva, who I adore, has been living with us for four months and just returned to Olympia last week. It was so lovely to spend all that time together and have an extra set of hands around to help with the kids. But one of THE BEST things about having Eva around was having a new chef in the house. I’m pretty handcuffed when it comes to family dinners. The kids seem to eat only things from two food groups: beige and tube-shaped. Continue reading “Rice Pudding with Chocolate-Tahini Sauce and Black Sesame Praline”
I got lucky at a garage sale a few years ago and scored a wonderful table top fryer from the sixties. It’s built like a tank, still has the original cloth cord and had never been used. I had never really done any deep-frying so I was a little nervous. But it turns out that with a bit of practice it’s very easy and super fun. The kids love it when I make frites or chocolate donut holes but I haven’t experimented with it too much. Then I saw a delicious looking, teensy little braided donut from South Africa called a koeksister. Finally, a treat worthy of a Deep-Fried Experimentation Project. New band name, I called it! Read on to learn how to make koeksisters. Continue reading “How to Make Koeksisters-Fried South African Mini Doughnuts”
