bounty chocolate: July 2011

Lemon Meringue Ice Cream

Even though it doesn't feel much like summer in Seattle, we're churning out some ice cream today.

This happens to be one of my favorite ice creams, one of the best to come out of my kitchen. Best of all, it only required 10 minutes to throw together. A bright lemony ice cream with swirls of lemon curd and bites of softened meringue cookies. A pie in a pint (or a quart). No baking or stove top custard making required.

Cinnamon crunch muesli and an important question for the readers

I have finished reading "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest", therefore finishing the Millennium Trilogy – the books are fantastic and it’s a pity that Lisbeth Salander’s adventures have come to an end. My idea now is to go for one of the classics, maybe "Moby Dick", but I’m not sure yet. That is why I ask you for suggestions: would you help me out choosing the next book I’m reading? I’m all

Strawberry and rose hazelnut tart, music and a baking bonus

When I was 10 years old I got the Arena album as a gift from a cousin I deeply love. I used to listen to it nonstop, 24/7. I still have the album but since I no longer have a record player I bought the CD a while ago – I love listening to it while I drive to/from work. So good.
The CD version has two bonus tracks, but unfortunately “Girls on Film” and “Rio” are songs I never cared about (and

Pear, apple, brown sugar and maple syrup cake

People who like to cook and bake – myself included – get mad at recipes that do not work – I think it’s only natural to feel that way about something that involves time, ingredients ($$) and expectations. I get really angry sometimes, to the point of cursing like a character in a mafia movie. :D

But if the recipe works and the food tastes good, I’m OK with a couple of details that might be

Halloumi & Herb Cheese Rolls

Happy Sunday, folks! I'm testing and reworking cake recipes this weekend so today I have a guest post from Mother Humble: Her Halloumi rolls. The family is very fond of these soft, cheese filled rolls (a bit more so than we are of her bottomless bag of cheese jokes).

I promised Ms. Humble before the newest adorable little humble was born that I would help her with her blog. Well, I quickly realized that I don’t enjoy writing about food as much as I enjoy cooking and eating it. I also realized that my lovely daughter, Ms. Humble, has more patience and skill than I when it comes to making food look good and photographing it well. (Really - all that time in photographing really should be spent scarfing down the fresh and yummy just cooked foodstuffs. It is agonizing.)

Baked lemon ricotta doughnuts - all the deliciousness of doughnuts without frying

I love doughnuts – as do many of you, I believe – but the idea of frying them... Not so much. I’m not a fried food kind of cook – I love eating it, not making it. That is why I was quite taken by this recipe: the doughnuts are baked instead of fried and they turned out beautiful, very tender, absolutely delicious.
The filling is oh, so good – I ate several spoonfuls of it before actually

Passion fruit poppy seed pound cake

I bought a bag of beautiful, fragrant passion fruit to make Tessa Kiros’s passion fruit ice cream, but since there still was some strawberry cheesecake ice cream in the freezer I had to think of another use for the fruit. I thought of my good friend Ana Elisa, who I’d discussed Tessa’s book with once: I’d told her that I’d bought the book but hadn’t cooked from it yet, and how disappointing

Caramel brownies and changing my mind in a matter of moments

One of my cooking/baking pet peeves – and I have several – is that I hate it when I choose a certain recipe and it says there that there will be some frosting/filling/whatever left: it immediately puts me off making it because I know that the frosting/filling/whatever will probably go to waste.

After much delay I decided to make these brownies – even though there would be caramel sauce left.

Cardamom Shortbread Cookies

Quick post today to break up the parade of ice creams. Last week, Mother Humble came through the door and thrust a half eaten cookie at me, insisting I try it. She had been at the Bastille Café in Seattle earlier that day, enjoying some yummy french treats, including this rather ordinary looking cookie.

For whatever reason, my general ban on food--particularly half eaten sort--fished out of purses wasn't being rigorously enforced and I scarfed the cookie down.

While it was no science cookie (making a new batch soon!), I had to agree with her, it was quite good. Sandy, buttery, laced with cardamom and worth reproducing.

Pea soup, my sister's high school graduation and too many caipirinhas

I wish I could say that I made this soup for a noble reason, but the truth is that I made it for lunch because of a massive hangover. :S

It all started the night before: we’d all gone to my sister’s high school graduation prom and had a lot of fun there (I shed a few tears during the ceremony, too, I’ll admit it). Then my brother told me that I “had to try” the caipirinhas that were being

Tangerine chocolate marble cake with tangerine icing

I keep telling you about recipes that go wrong and how I do not give up on them. This cake is sort of an example: I made the chocolate orange marble cake from DH mag (#44) and it turned out miserable - an 8-cup capacity pan would not hold that much batter, but I insisted on trusting the recipe. I ended up tossing the whole cake. :(

I decided to make it again – I adore marble cakes – and used a

Strawberry cheesecake ice cream and a very, very scary movie

I’ve come to the conclusion that my courage, these days, is pretty much having ice cream (the one on the photo, delicious) in very cold days.

My sister wanted to watch “Insidious” and since I cannot say “no” to her I went along. I spent most of the movie with my eyes closed and that did not stop me from having nightmares about it for days. She left the theater laughing and told me the movie

Red Rose Raspberry Sorbet

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

It is one in the morning and I'm up with my newborn. So why not wrap up a little blogging between feeding and bouncing, right? Today we have yet another frozen dessert and a particularly pretty one at that.

I absolutely love the combination of raspberry and rose, so a sorbet featuring those flavors seemed like a natural summer time choice for the blog.

Gorgeous, isn't it? Such an vibrant red it almost makes me want to double check the settings on my camera. This dessert isn't just pretty to look at, it velvety smooth and packs bright fresh raspberry flavor and the sweet fragrance of rose.

Milk & Honey Ice Cream

Milk & Honey
Not just a metaphor for all things good

Believe it or not, I've actually gotten back into my cooking grove this month! I'm completely recovered from my cesarean and sitting on dozens of photographs of many yummy things. All I need to do is settle down at my laptop and do a little blogging.

Broccolini rigatoni - delicious food in almost no time at all

I love being in the kitchen, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying quick meals too – they have been a great idea in these cold days, when all I want is to be wrapped in a blanked, reading or watching TV.

After watching several episodes of the wonderful “Jamie’s 30-minute meals” I ended up buying the book - which is absolutely beautiful - and the first recipe I tried was this pasta dish:

Apple cranberry croustade with cornmeal crust and another childhood favorite

Because I’ve been on a nostalgic mood lately, I bought an insane amount of Granny Smith apples last week – they were my favorite apples growing up (actually, they’re still are), and would lose only to strawberries in a favorite fruit contest. My dad used to find it quite funny that I loved something that tart as a kid – maybe it was a sign of the sour future to come in terms of flavor

Lime cupcakes and a crazy dream I had the other night

I had one crazy dream a couple of nights ago: I dreamt that people were planning a remake of “Blade Runner” (can’t tell you how much I adore that movie) and Daniel Craig had been chosen to play Roy Batty. Don’t know about you, but in my dream it seemed to be a very smart decision. :D

I guess that the only thing I love as much as movies are citrus flavors. So there you have it, lime cupcakes. :

Chocolate chip peanut cookies

When I was a kid my favorite chocolate bar was one studded with peanuts – my dad would bring one from work from time to time and mom would only let me eat it after dinner (of course), when I would sit on the couch and read comic books till bed time.

Biting into one of these cookies made me instantly think of those chocolate bars – the difference was that this time I was reading a graphic novel

Raspberry Port linzer tartlets and a list of the movies I love

I’ve finally finished something I’d been meaning to do for ages: a list with my all time favorite movies – the ones I deeply love. It was rather difficult putting the list together – and I might have forgotten something, only time will tell – but it was a lot of fun doing it. It is posted here, if you’re curious. :)

These lovely tartlets were a similar challenge: the pastry was very difficult