Baked Sunday Mornings: Alfajores
Alpha-what, now?! I speak 3 languages and consider myself pretty worldly, and I definitely make a point of investigating pastries any time I travel; and yet, I didn’t know what Alfajores were before embarking on this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings recipe. Pronounced ‘alfa-HOR-es’, these South American “caramel”-filled sandwich cookies are featured in the Caramel chapter […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Triple Rum Black Pepper Cake
99 bottles of rum on the wall, 99 bottles of rum…. Oh wait, that’s not how the song goes, is it. Perhaps it’s time to brush up on my pirate tunes? Despite my shoddy maritime musical repertoire, one thing I can say about pirates with a good deal of certainty is that Captain Jack Sparrow […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Sunrise Key Lime Tarts
This has been a very busy week of pastry research for me– simultaneously glorious and oh-so-gluttonous… As I was on Spring Break from work, I had the opportunity to play in San Francisco to my heart’s content, and play I did. I’m working on a separate blog post about my “Pastry Crawl“, so why do […]
Sunshine in Your Mouth: Meyer Lemon-Brown Butter Bars
A week ago, I had a different world view: our education system is badly in need of an overhaul; babies should wear hats with animal ears; all people should be able to get married; Nicki Minaj is the worst American Idol judge ever; and fruit desserts are just okay. Little did I know that my […]
Pucker Up, Buttercup: Super Lemon Curd
Last week, I was gifted with some gorgeous Meyer lemons, which inspired me to make lemon bars for the first time. I was also interested in experimenting with lemon curd, another new adventure for me. While hunting for recipes, I found the best of both worlds: Joanne Chang’s recipe for Lemon Lust Bars from Flour: […]
Tastes Like Luck: Chocolate Shamrock Sandwich Cookies
Got luck? I love shamrocks. They make me happy– any time of year, really. The symbol of the shamrock is of course associated with Ireland today, and has come to be synonymous with St. Patrick’s Day. The word comes from the Irish-Gaelic seamróg, meaning “little clover”. Legend has it that St. Patrick used this 3-leaf […]
Ode to the Emerald Isle: Chocolate Irish Cream Cupcakes
I have a love affair with Ireland. Anything Irish– people, history, folklore, language, music– something about this culture resonates in my soul. It’s been that way since I was a teenager, when I attended college in Boston and worked for a small company of Irish pubs. Boston itself has a rich Irish history and character, […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Malted Milk Sandwich Cookies
These cookies almost didn’t get made. Again. Not because I don’t like them or because I didn’t want to or because I didn’t have time… They almost didn’t happen because, well, the dough is SO DAMN GOOD that I was tempted to forgo that whole “baking” part and just eat the dough on its own… […]
Chocolate & Marshmallows’ New BFF: Homemade Graham Crackers
I recently read a great article about the common experiences of children of immigrants growing up in the United States, which a) kept me in stitches, and b) brought back sooo many food memories. Many immigrant children can commiserate about the experience of bringing food from their native culture to school in their lunchboxes, and […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Vanilla Bean & Chocolate Budino
I love me some Italian food, like most sane, interesting people who have a soul. Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about pasta, pizza, and many other aspects of this succulent cuisine, but I admit that when I first looked at the title of this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings recipe for Vanilla Bean & Chocolate Budino, […]