eggs on sunday

“Clafouti”…fun to say, but even more fun to eat! (Actually, I’m not sure if it’s “clafouti” or “clafoutis.” I’ve seen it written both ways, and I think either is acceptable. We’ll just go with “clafouti,” shall we?)

This was actually my first clafouti. I’ve been meaning to make one now for about a month. I think about making one every week, and every week for some reason I’ve gotten sidetracked. One of the things I love about blogging is all the events you can participate in — Sugar High Fridays, Daring Bakers, Weekend Herb Blogging, etc. — but sometimes it’s hard to fit everything in! About a month ago, I saw that the theme for April’s Hey Hey it’s Donna Day event was going to be clafoutis, and I thought to myself, “great! now’s my chance to finally give this dessert a try.” (more…)

As I sit here thinking about what to write about these cupcakes — they’re dark chocolate cakes with peanut butter frosting — all I can do is smile. They are just make-my-day, grin-ear-to-ear delicious! Rather than writing a long story about them, I think I’ll just say this: MAKE them. You won’t be sorry! They’d be a perfect surprise for any chocolate & peanut butter lover in your life.

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Yes, I don’t think of these as mere cheesecake pops — I say “cheesecake pops!!!” every time I eat one. What a cute idea for this month’s Daring Bakers challenge! I’ve been enamored of the dessert pop idea ever since I saw Bakerella’s cupcake pops (aren’t those amazing?), and I was thrilled to have these as my second DB challenge.

The pops are a New York-style cheesecake — smooth and creamy — rolled into balls and coated with melted chocolate. According to the rules for this month’s challenge, we had leeway as far as flavoring the cheesecake (though it had to remain white), as well as what we used to decorate the pops. I divided my batch of cheesecake batter in two and made half raspberry-flavored (with Chambord) and the other half hazelnut flavored (with an organic hazelnut extract.) I rolled both kinds of pops in dark chocolate, and then drizzled white chocolate over the raspberry pops and rolled the hazelnut pops in finely chopped toasted hazelnuts. They were really delicious, and I’ve been keeping ours in the freezer…which makes them OH so good. Like frozen chocolate-covered cheesecake! We’ve been having some every night for the past week; no one is complaining.

Here’s how the cheesecake pop adventure unfolded: (more…)

Waiting for me this morning, there was a lovely note from Lori, aka Recipe Girl: I was one of the blogs she named for the “Blog of Distinction” award! Aww…thanks, Lori! I’m so flattered, and really, it made my day! If you haven’t yet been over to her blog, you should make a visit: I’ve recently been really enjoying her string of Ina recipes, and she has some great suggestions for Cinco de Mayo (coming up!)

Part of the idea behind this award is that you share the love: i.e., pass it along to others. I knew right away who I wanted to pass this award along to. (more…)

These little tartlets were the second big hit of my foray into tartlet-making a few weeks ago — and they confirm to me that putting chocolate ganache in, over, under, or around anything is a good idea. I used the same chocolate sweet pastry crust as I did for the strawberry chocolate cream tartlets, but filled these with a dark chocolate ganache to which I had added some seedless raspberry jam and Chambord. I snuggled a raspberry into the center of each, and they were off — tartlets on parade! (Parade into my mouth, that is…) (more…)

…along with some ginger, cream and sugar. Then I scooped ‘em both up.

Yes, every time I think of this ice cream, I get the Coconut Song stuck in my head. (more…)

Using my new mini cheesecake pan for the little lemony ricotta cheesecakes was only the start of the fun with my new baking supplies from pastrychef.com. Mini cheesecakes are great and all, but I was over-the-moon excited to try out my new tartlet pans! (more…)

This recipe practically leaped out of the pages of the latest issue of Bon Appetit at me. I think it was the words “little” and “cheesecakes” in the same phrase that perked up my “miniature dessert” radar. You know I really like little individual serving sweets — see apple cup pies, individual chocolate guinness cakes, molten chocolate babycakes, etc. — but there was another reason I was excited to make these, too.

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…that are really meyer lemon pudding, meyer lemon curd and toasted cinnamon cake slices!

I saw this recipe from Gourmet on Epicurious a little while ago and have had it on my “to cook” list…what better occasion to make it than on April Fool’s day? I am most definitely not someone who lives for April Fool’s Day and all the pranks to be played — but I’m a sucker for foods that are created to look like something other than they are. The clever factor gets me every time! (more…)

One of the very first things I did when I began this blog back in January was to join the Daring Bakers — a group of talented bloggers who, every month, take on a different challenging baking recipe. The idea is to make the recipe as is, resisting the temptation so many of us have to fiddle with ingredients, and to go outside our comfort zones a bit: baking something that we might not normally choose. All the members post their results on the same day at the end of the month, and it’s always so much fun to see all the variations that arise when a large number of people take on the same baking task!

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