I made a Black Forest Buche de Noël, and it wasn’t all that hard! Granted, the only decorations were merengue mushrooms. But a chocolate-frosted, cocoa cake filled with cherries and cream doesn’t need a lot of dressing up.
Baking
Post in this category use keywords like “bake,” “baking,” and “baked.”
Sicilian Fig Cookies
Sicilian Fig Cookies are an old-school Christmas tradition at my house. Rolled-out crescents of flaky dough with a rich fig filling. Freeze well. Fantastic recipe.
How to Make Homemade Flour Tortillas
How to Make Homemade Flour Tortillas: a flexible, recipe that steps you through traditional (water and shortening) to deluxe (milk and bacon fat). Rated E-I for Easy-Ish (requires brief rolling pin use).
Classic Lemon Buttercream Frosting
Classic Lemon Buttercream Frosting gets its smooth, citrusy tang from both lemon juice and lemon extract. It’s a French buttercream, which means its sweetened with a hot syrup that’s beaten into egg yolks, and then blended with butter. Easy-ish recipe (“-ish” because it requires a candy thermometer, and I know that scares some people).
Cherry-Coconut Bread
This recipe for homemade Cherry-Coconut Bread makes a large, dense loaf from yeast-risen dough. Man up, because it requires a lot of kneading. Cheer up, because it’s delicious, makes great toast, and freezes well.
Instant Cookies, Yo! Like, for reals.
Here’s a cute bit of everyday cooking: instant cookies! By simply keeping your dough in the fridge, you can bake up fresh, homemade (chocolate chip, for instance) cookies in any quantity, on a whim. Just ask Jacques Torres. (Cookie dough freezes well, too.)
Simple, Super-Tangy Lemon Bars
Simple, Super-Tangy Lemon Bars. Sounds good, right? What if I told you that the filling uses fresh lemon juice as well as lemon zest, which gives them twice the zing as you usually find the typical version? What if I also told you that they’re fairly simple to make, once you understand how to go about it? If you like lemon bars, you’re going to love this recipe.
Blueberry Eclipse Cake Put yourself into the path of its totality.
This homemade (from scratch) three-layer (two-layer) Blueberry Eclipse Cake is made from butter, eggs, fresh berries, and sour cream, and it has an extraordinary color. It’s whipped cream and lemon curd frosting is celestial.
Fraisier Cake: Almond Genoise with Pistachio Mousse and Fresh Strawberries
This Fraisier Cake recipe (Almond Genoise with Pistachio Mousse and Fresh Strawberries) will blow your mind.