July 9, 2016
If I have to choose between chocolate cake or apple tart, it will be apple tart (almost) every time. I apologize to all you chocolate lovers out there especially because I know all too well that sometimes only a chocolate will do, but the tart and sweet flavours of apple desserts win me over, especially when combined with a buttery, flakey pastry. I jumped on the apple roses bandwagon a while back, but it doesn’t... View Article
June 15, 2016
Told ya, I am into cakes this week. This is a chocolate cake that I slice horizontally to end with four layers and fill with rich and velvety chocolate buttercream. I glazed the cake with a shiny chocolate glaze and let it drip down the sides. This is an Ina Garten cake recipe that I slightly adapted to make this cake. I like the simplicity of the execution: mix all the dry ingredients in the... View Article
June 10, 2016
My head has been filled with visions of cakes lately. Vanilla cake, chocolate cake, lemon cake, oye. There is not much opportunity to bake cakes these days because I cook for two most of the time but on the weekend we had friends visiting so the opportunity arose. I baked a vanilla cake and instead of serving a slice of cake with a pile of berries and a large dollop of whipped cream I thought... View Article
June 5, 2016
It’s been a while since I baked anything so today I was in the mood to bake cookies. This is a one bowl recipe that does not require a mixer and can be whipped up in no time. You can use chocolate that you chop up yourself or use good quality chocolate chips. The chips keep their shape more than the bulk chocolate so it’s a question of style and what you have on hand,... View Article
June 3, 2016
Not every dessert has to be complicated. Sometime what is best after a meal is a bowl of beautiful fresh berries drizzled with luscious local dessert wine. If you want to indulge, whip up some cream to go with it. If you want to make it vegan make a cashew cream with this recipe. Serves 4 Ingredients: 1 container Strawberries 1 container Blueberries 1 container Raspberries 1 container Blackberries Okanagan dessert wine of your... View Article
May 17, 2016
I love to bake and often wonder what I like better, cooking or baking. There is no large audience here for baking as it is just the two of us at home. With the blog however, I invite you into my kitchen, virtual as this may be, and now I can bake for you. I spoke to a blogger friend about this and she said she would bake a cake and throw it out. I... View Article
April 11, 2016
Poached pears are a classic desserts and I have posted recipes for poached pears here before. In that recipe I poached them in red wine and they were beautiful. Poached pears was also one of the desserts I found on almost all of the menus in Italy recently and I got to indulge myself in this lovely finale to many great dinners. The other day I found little honey belle pears at our local produce... View Article
April 5, 2016
I have been on a roll since the weekend making pate a choux, or cream puff dough. I am trying to pipe the perfect eclairs but something is going on because they come out of the oven nice and puffed but not perfect, some cracked on top, others a bit lopsided and overall rather annoying. I am persistent though so I will keep trying. While I pipe the elusive eclairs I always make a few... View Article
October 8, 2015
I am winding down my kitchen for the season preparing to leave for Italy in just a couple weeks. Still, I was watching Giada de Lorentis episode about her visit to Tuscany and watched her made these cookies and could not help going into the kitchen to make a batch. Not sure who is going to eat them, but it’s fun to bake. Giada makes these very large, she scoops them by 1 cup balls... View Article
September 29, 2015
If you were to look in my freezer one thing that you would always find is a bag with candied buts, often hazelnuts. I use them as an extra item to add to salads, savoury grain dishes, along with cheese, desserts, over breakfast oatmeal, in pancakes or waffles, I’ll stop here but you get the picture. Sometimes I buy instead of making them and we have a few good sources for buying them prepared, but... View Article
September 7, 2015
A galette is a French style open-face freeform tart with the edges of the pastry folded casually up part way to contain the fruits. A crostata is an Italian version usually made with jam filling but also with fruits. This is one of my no-fuss go to desserts when there are nice fresh fruits that need a little pastry to become dessert. Because it’s free form you don’t need to worry too much about the... View Article
August 27, 2015
My husband loves chocolate cakes, I love fruit desserts. So…when I feel like being nice I make him a chocolate cake and if I feel like being really nice I also make a chocolate sauce to go with it. The other day I made a lemon-basil cake and thought I’d make captain G a chocolate cake. This recipe is from Martha Stewart website and since it only calls for cocoa powder, no melted chocolate, I... View Article
