Chocolate-Halva Babka
As much as I love contemporary baking like layer cakes, cupcakes, and pastries, there are few baked goods that conjure childhood nostalgia like babka. Aside from my mom’s birthday cakes shaped in the number of my age each year, the most memorable and most loved cake that she made (and the most labor-intensive) was her “ugat-sh’marim”, or yeast […]
Rainbow Sprinkle Bread with Birthday Cake Crumb Topping
I know I’m supposed to be telling you more about what people bake in Italy, but two things are happening this week: 1) I’m leaving for a week for a family wedding in Israel, which means a) cramming in as many baking projects as possible before I go and b) procrastinating when I should be […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Peppermint Chocolate Chip Meringues
Guys, I did it. Baked Sunday Mornings is making our very last recipe from Baked Occasions, and I have baked every single one; this is the first cookbook that I have ever baked through 100%. I feel such a fondness for this book, because our group was with it from the very beginning as recipe testers […]
Amalfi Coast & Positano: Wild Strawberry Ricotta Cheesecakes
Everyone has their own idea of paradise, whether it’s a tropical island, a lake in the mountains, a tranquil forest, or whatever place brings you pure joy. Maybe even one’s own backyard. My happiest Happy Place is of the Italian persuasion… which you might have guessed by now. 😉 One place in particular that I […]
Pretty in Pink: Rhubarb-Raspberry Pistachio Tart
I can’t stop. I thought I was done with my rhubarb baking for the season, but I can’t help it. Apparently rhubarb grows like weeds in the Midwest (that’s a thing, right?), but it is sometimes curiously difficult to find in markets in California, or least where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. […]
Fit for a Ballerina: Rhubarb-Vanilla Pavlova
I’m nothing, if not determined. I’ve been working on a number of more complicated recipes recently to stretch my skills, and at some point pavlovas caught my attention. I’ve never made one, nor have I eaten very many in my life, but suddenly I had to figure out this elegant, swirly, marshmallowy dessert. Then I […]
Puff Pastry Pillows: Spicy Shakshuka Tarts
I love shakshuka and I love puff pastry… so I guess this was bound to happen eventually. I don’t usually cook on this blog, but sometimes we have to rethink things when inspiration takes hold, and this was a recipe that I really wanted to share. I absolutely *adore* savory pastry; in fact, contrary to popular […]
Open Sesame: Rye Rhubarb Tahini Tart
GAH, I love this season for baking. (Okay, there isn’t really a season that I don’t like, but bear with me.) Finally the rhubarb and cherries are here, and gorgeous berries are signaling the imminent arrival of summer. I’m still fairly new to rhubarb, having only discovered it a few years ago, and every year I’ve […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Black Forest Cupcakes
It’s May, which means CHERRIES, and this makes me splendidly happy! All year I dream about cherry season– the day that those sweet, red, stemmed delights appear at the farmer’s market! And every year I squeal with glee when I finally see them in early May; it never gets old. I was so glad that Baked […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Tricolor Cake
I’ve made no secret of the fact that Italy tugs at my heartstrings on a daily basis. In fact, I hope to live there one day… However, there’s one little problem with that. (I mean, in addition to not being a citizen, learning better Italian, getting a job there, and a host of other minor […]
