Baking apricots, nectarines, peaches and plums brings out their deep flavors. It is one of my favorite ways to prepare them in season. Split the ripe fruit, sprinkle it with sugar and bake until the juices flow. Summer apricots, baked with a sweet almond filling is a simple yet dressed up way to serve apricots or other stone fruit. Start by Finding a Good Apricot It’s sheer luck to find a decent fresh apricot on
Saturday, January 23
Rose Almond Butter Cake
This Rose Almond Butter Cake has a tight crumb and rich buttery flavor without being too sweet. Rose powder in the batter along with orange flower water and a garnish of freeze-dried raspberries give the cake its subtle floral notes. The batter includes blanched almond flour, one of my secret ingredients, as well as cake flour. When I open my next bakery, this will be my signature cake. Almond flour does not absorb liquid as
MORE...
Monday, October 05
Ginger Whole Meal Biscuits
Neither a cookie nor a cracker, these Ginger Whole Meal Biscuits are the kind of not-too-sweet cracker that goes well with cheese or a cup of tea. The type of flour you choose impacts the flavor of the biscuits. I always use stone ground whole wheat for its nutty taste and either buckwheat or rye equally as the accent flour. Powdered ginger enhances the biscuits’ mild sweetness. With the ginger, I think they are perfect accompaniment
MORE...
Wednesday, August 12
Honey Almond Ice Cream
The combination of icy frozen cream and the delicate flavor of almonds, honey and lavender speaks to the summer season. Honey almond ice cream has a mellow sweetness that reminds me of the close relationship between bees and almond growing. Almonds require bees for pollination. In the Mediterranean where almond trees once thrived, the bees might feed on the fragrant nectar of lavender after the almond trees bloom. This recipe is simple. There is no
MORE...
Monday, June 22
Chinese Almond Cookies
Although they are a Lunar New Year specialty, Chinese American style almond cookies pair well with ice cream and summer berries. So I thought this would be a welcome recipe with the abundance of truly tasty local strawberries right now. And I am looking to catch some luck. Almond cookies were once a staple at Chinese restaurants in the US. But you rarely spot them now that fortune cookies have taken over. Growing up, I
MORE...
Saturday, December 20
Crispy Chocolate, Fruit and Ginger Rochers
Who doesn’t love the taste experience of eating silken chocolate and a crisp cookie or puffed cereal? Chocolatiers incorporate feuillantine (finely crumbled wafer cookies), puffed cereal, toasted nuts and seeds to add texture to their bonbons. Using quality couverture chocolate, you can make these Crispy Chocolate, Fruit and Ginger Rochers at home. They are a pretty good facsimile of a candy popular with professionals. Rocher means rock in French. These rocher candies look like craggy pieces from
MORE...
"Let no man fancy he knows how to dine Till he has learnt how taste and taste combine."
-Horace, Satires, 2.4They're here!
