• Baking Recipes,  Cupcakes & Muffins,  Product Reviews

    Expectations and wishes over coffee and Chocolate Financier

    Every time I sit down to write my first few posts of the year, I can’t help but think about the year that was. I guess that’s normal, considering I’m fairly sentimental, but I’m pretty sure by now you’re all tired of hearing about how quickly 2015 went by. And even though that’s applicable to me to some extent, it feels more appropriate right now to talk about how thankful I am for 2015 regardless of how long or how short it felt. I feel like 2015 is the year I truly began to understand my purpose for becoming a blogger. I’ve been doing this a couple of years now,…

  • Baking Recipes,  Brownies & Bars,  The Breakfast Bin

    Bakewell Slices for an almondy mood

    My week is finally winding down. With just little bits of business left to tie up, I’ve managed to squeeze in some time to write about these lovely bars. These bars, as you might have guessed, is based on the English Bakewell Tarts, which is something I have yet to try. (If anybody knows a good recipe for the tarts, please do link away!) I actually made this quite some time ago but had planned to share it only after trying the tarts. Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to make them, but it would be such a shame to keep these bars to myself for so long. These bars…

  • Baking Recipes,  Christmas & holidays,  Cookies,  Dearly Dreaming Dorie,  From the books

    {Countdown to Christmas} Of Linzer Sables and snow

    I’ve always wondered about snow. The only time I was ever in a country with snow, it had already fallen and was beginning to melt away on the ground, leaving only wet, icy signs that it was ever there. I want to see it falling on me at least once in my lifetime, and then I’ll be okay. However, given that I am afraid of very cold weather, I would have to be wrapped in at least 5 layers of clothing, and I would probably only stay outside for no more than an hour. I guess that would be enough to appreciate the magic of falling snow right? Snow is…

  • Baking Recipes,  Bread-making,  Christmas & holidays,  Yeasted breads

    {Countdown to Christmas} A Holiday Wreath for hanging in your tummy

    Is it just me or does my title sound just a tad morbid? Anyways, since we were on the subject of yeast breads coming from my previous post, I was contemplating on doing some sort of Christmas yeast bread that is not a panettone. It wasn’t until I caught this very interesting-looking wreath bread on the cover of a local food magazine that I decided I would. It’s a little bit like a panettone in that it makes use of dried fruits, some of which inevitably end up within the bread. However half of the dried fruits do end up speckled all over the top as in bright red decorations,…

  • Baking Recipes,  Cookies,  Dearly Dreaming Dorie,  From the books,  Pies & Tarts

    {Dearly Dreaming Dorie} Cobblers and Thumbprint Cookies

    So I’ve recently been going through Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home To Yours. I just finished reading the whole book last night, and it’s no surprise that I’ve bookmarked almost every recipe! I can understand why Dorie’s book is a must have. Every recipe seems well thought out and homey, literally something you would enjoy serving in the comfort of your home to the family you love, or occasionally, to impress the guests. Being relatively new to the cookbook-collecting business, I scour the review sites just to make sure the books I buy are topnotch and worth being part of my beloved collection. And I must say, there’s not a…