Saffron Poached Pear Cakes

These gorgeous little Saffron Poached Pear Cakes are the culmination of a lot of different ideas and inspirations. They started as a little inkling in the back of my mind when I was perusing cookbooks at Terrain last Christmas and came across Homemade Winter, by Yvette van Boven. The gorgeous photo of a pear cake on the cover stuck with me, even after I’d read the recipe and decided not to make it (white chocolate just isn’t my thing). Then, months later when paging through Jerusalem, I loved the recipe for Saffron Cardamom Poached Pears and was reminded of the image from Homemade. While the pears are absolutely a lovely dessert on their own, they also seemed perfect for sinking inside a moist, flavorful cake. I played around with different versions of cake that would work with but not overpower the strong yet subtle flavor of saffron and I think this cake strikes the perfect balance. The slightly floral aromatic qualities of the almond flour, orange zest and marmalade work well with the saffron and cardamom. There’s a lot going on, but it’s well balanced and the result is beautiful Saffron Poached Pear Cakes that are full of a golden … Continue reading

Snowstorm Hot Chocolate

Today it’s the first big snow in Philly (and lots of other places, I’m sure) and with that came Snowstorm Hot Chocolate. If you were watching the Eagles game, you saw that it was a near whiteout. Marc and I celebrated our afternoon walk with a little Snowstorm Hot Chocolate by the fire. The little dash of cayenne and hint of cinnamon along with the scent from the orange peel add a little zing to warm you up and balance the rich chocolate making Snowstorm Hot Chocolate delicious, decadent, and comforting enough to welcome you in from the snow on a Sunday afternoon and shake off even the chilliest of chills. And don’t worry friends in far away places, Snowstorm Hot Chocolate is just as delicious without the cold and the snow- lucky you. And the beautiful and rich chocolate is a lovely excuse to take out those tiny but beautiful tea and coffee cups you never use. Aren’t they gorgeous? You may recognize this shot from my Holiday Card from last year. Now if that isn’t motivation to put yourself on my mailing list, I don’t know what is. Who doesn’t love beautiful and tasty snail mail? If you don’t … Continue reading

Dying for Summer Apple or Pear and Cherry Almond Crisp

When you grow up in sour cherry country, you develop a very expensive problem, and this Dying for Summer Apple or Pear and Cherry Almond Crisp is a great solution. Your problem? You need sour cherries. Too bad they’re really difficult to get outside of cherry country. And outside of cherry season. And definitely really expensive when outside of season and county. In college I used to make sure that I horded some cherries in July and ferried them home with me on the plane. Then travel changed and frozen cherries in their own juice became considered a dangerous hazard, cue eye roll. But despite the change in airline regulations, I still had a strong need for cherries. To be sure, there are some fancy companies that will ship frozen cherries anytime of the year for a small fortune, and now that I have a friend with access to sour cherries here in Philly, some of my problem has been solved by freezing them in July. But just in case, I have come up with some workarounds for myself when cherry fever hits and I’m without sour cherries. This Dying for Summer Apple or Pear and Cherry Almond Crisp is one … Continue reading

Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

For me, a Super Bowl means football. Football means the Packers. Packers mean Wisconsin. Wisconsin means sour cherries. This is quite the causal chain, huh? If you followed me this far, you’ll probably agree that the obvious dessert for a Super Bowl Party is Door County Cherry Oatmeal Cookies. I can’t really claim credit for these cookies as an original idea. The recipe is based on the cookies I used to have in Door County at places like Wagon Trail and Seaquist Orchards and years of making the Toll House recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Even though I now make the Jacques Torres recipe (always), I still have the Toll House memorized and I use it as the basis for most of my cookie recipe improvisations. These cherry oatmeal cookies are really easy to make. They’re really delicious. You could make the dough this weekend and store it in the fridge until next weekend. Then you could preheat the oven during the third quarter and surprise your guests with hot cookies during the fourth quarter. Or you can bake Cherry Oatmeal Cookies ahead of time and serve them whenever. And once you’ve learned how to make these, they just might … Continue reading