Sour Cherry & Almond Meringue Tart

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Sour Cherry & Almond Meringue TartThe first summer I lived in my house, I planted a cute little cherry tree in the front yard.

The second summer I lived in my house, I made 1 tiny jar of pickled cherries.

The third summer, I made a batch of cherry scones.

Last year, we had a messed up budding/frosting situation and I ate my yield of 3 cherries right off the tree.

This year, I was really hoping for a deep-dish, double-crusted cherry pie.  That didn’t quite happen, but I did have enough to make a pretty almond meringue tart.  Luckily, it turned out tasty enough to leave me thinking if I still don’t have enough cherries for a pie next year it’ll be okay. [Read more…]

Fresh Apricot & Tarragon Scones

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Apricot Tarragon Scones

This spring, as soon as fresh apricots made an appearance at the grocery store, I made a salad with them and the first sprigs of tarragon from my garden.  The combination was good, day-dreamy good, and my mind wandered to familiar territory: butter, baking, and scones.

Do you remember a few weeks back when I shared an apricot and strawberry cobbler with you?  I told you how the apricots had actually been meant for a batch of scones but (because life happens) they wound up in a cobbler instead.  Don’t get me wrong, that cobbler was outstanding and if you haven’t tried it yet, or at least tried the combination of apricots and strawberries, you should.  Now.

Just because those apricots became a cobbler doesn’t mean I gave up on my dream of fresh apricot scones.  I finally got to them and they were as good in my real world as they were in my day-dreamy fantasy world.  Buttery baked goods and ripe stone fruits are always a winning combination in my book (uh, peach pie anyone?) and the presence of tarragon adds an air of intrigue.

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Strawberry Apricot Cobbler

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Strawberry Apricot Cobbler

We’ve gotten to know each other well enough that I feel I can be completely honest with you.  Want a dose of full-disclosure truthfulness?

I don’t dream in chocolate.  You’re probably never going to find a brownie archive on my site.  Sure, I’ll choke down a chocolate chip cookie from time to time and I’m not above eating nutella by the spoonful, but a really good fresh fruit cobbler or pie is the kind of dessert that actually makes me weak in the knees.

Here’s a good one: warm, just-sweet-enough baked apricots and strawberries, with a rich biscuit topping, dolloped with a spoonful of whipped cream.  Ahhhh…it was my first cobbler of the season and I was taken aback by how much I enjoyed it.  Over the winter, you forget just how good ripe stone fruits and berries are.  Then you encounter a display of fruit you haven’t seen in almost a year, throw together a cobbler, and quickly remember.

This whole cobbler was sort of an accident.  I had thought the apricots were destined for Saturday morning scones, but Saturday morning turned into Saturday afternoon, turned into Sunday evening, turned into OMG–I better do something with these apricots before it’s too late.  I snapped into action and turned them into dessert.

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Best-Ever No-Knead Pizza Dough

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No-Knead Pizza Dough

I’m the type of person who is, sometimes really annoyingly, resistant to change.  Even if it’s the kind of change that might enhance my everyday living, like trading in my old flip phone or upgrading my decade-old, leaky, stained $10 coffeemaker, I’ll insist that my old way is just fine.  So naturally, I never had much interest in trying Jim Lahey’s famous no-knead pizza dough recipe that has been sweeping the rest of the nation for the last couple of years.  What good was that for someone like me?  I like spending time in the kitchen, I like getting my hands dirty, and I like kneading my dough.

An unfortunate side effect of being resistant to change is the tendency to hoard.  My old magazines had finally stacked up to the point of bothering me, so I recently started weeding through old issues of Bon Appétit and came across the no-knead pizza dough recipe again.  Fine!  I gave in and decided to give this crust a shot.

Thank goodness I did–it’s amazing!  It’s like the pizza crust I seek out in restaurants, made at home, in my ordinary oven.  The center is thin and crisp, the edges chewy and bubbly.  Plus, if you make the full recipe, you can keep balls of dough in the freezer and have pizza whenever the mood strikes.  So daily.

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Orange, Anise & Sesame Seed Crêpes

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Orange, Anise & Sesame Seed Crepes

Anise and sesame seeds may seem like unlikely additions to your next batch of crêpes, but trust me–it’s outstanding.  Together, the anise, sesame, and orange taste mysterious, somewhat exotic, and completely addiction-worthy.

I wish I could tell you that I just pulled this brilliant flavor combination out of my head, but, unfortunately, that’s not the case.  The idea came from the wildly delicious Spanish crackers that I’m totally obsessed with.  They’re awesomely olive oily, large, round crisps, dotted with anise and sesame seeds, and sprinkled with sugar.  Even the packaging is delicious; they come wrapped in beautiful wax paper printed with poetic-sounding blue type.  Legítimas y acreditadas.

Spanish Olive Oil Tortas

I could easily form-a-pack a day habit if they weren’t so danged expensive.  But it’s okay.  It’s okay because I came up with these crêpes.  These crêpes emulate the essence of my beloved crackers without the hefty price tag.  The flavors are subtle, but intriguing and craveable.  You’ll love them with coffee for breakfast, as an afternoon snack, or stacked into a torte for dessert.

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