With so many of us dealing with food allergies such as wheat, gluten or dairy, as well as wanting fresh entree ideas that can be made ahead of time for weeknight dinners, I’ve been rewriting some of our recipe base to brighten up our meals and make them both healthy and weeknight friendly.
Jam cakes are a quick-to-make dessert with ingredients usually found in refrigerators and pantries. The recipe makes six or more cupcake size “cakelets,” depending on the size of your tins. You can use whatever type of jam you’d like. In the photo above I’ve used raspberry jam. In the photo below I used lemon curd. The cakelets were very lemony and delicious. I’ve also sometimes skipped the glaze and used powdered sugar instead. Perfect for an afternoon treat or packed for lunch at school or work.
Excerpted from Flavor Flours by Alice Medrich (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2014. Photographs by Leigh Beisch.
Chestnut Jam Tart
Makes 10 servings
Alice says, “A jam tart seems like a relaxed, simpler-to-make linzer torte, with an Italian accent instead of a German one. A jam tart is called fregolata in Italian, and it’s pretty and festive and giftable, too. I thought it fitting (and extra delicious) to swap the usual shortbread crust for a chestnut crust. The dough is quick to make by hand and is then pressed flat into a tart pan with no worries about the sides since the dough forms its own edge as it bakes. Any jam will do for the topping, but the prettiest and most flavorful are red fruits like cherry, plum, raspberry, blackberry, or even strawberry. The jam is topped with crumbled bits of dough and sliced almonds and pushed into the oven to do its own thing.”
This recipe comes via Janet Sawyer, who got the recipe from Lalu Mahato, head chef at Nepal’s Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge, which was opened by Edmund Hilary. A long journey, but a lovely way to enjoy yogurt as a breakfast or dessert. If you’re serving it as a dessert, it would match well with our Cardamom, Pistachio and Vanilla Shortbread.
Sweet Breakfast Breads with Flavored Shell-Shaped Toppings
From Yucatan: A Culinary Expedition by David Sterling
David says, “The Conchas I enjoyed on my first trip to Mexico many years ago still stand out as the benchmarks: gently sweet, yeasty dough–almost creamy–topped with crumbly, sugary caps in different flavors. None that I have tried since come close to that original ecstasy–except for homemade ones. “Conchas” means “shells” and refers to the characteristic pattern traced in the flavored toppings.”
If you are unfamiliar with lassis, they are a traditional Indian yogurt-based beverage designed to refresh and to cool you down. They can be served any time of day or in the evening. This is a sweet lassi which also contains rose water an ingredient used in beverages and desserts in India. If you don’t have rose water, don’t worry; it’s not essential.
Bananas are a perfect fruit, full of potassium, conveniently packaged, and while sweet actually have a low glycemic index, meaning that the sugars break down slowly and won’t spike your blood sugar.
Did you know that bananas are botanically a berry? Neither did I.
I’ve combined these two pancake recipes together as they’re both unusually light pancakes as well as high protein. I couldn’t decide which one I like better so you get two to choose from! I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I do. Be sure to check out the recipe for Maple-Vanilla Walnut Syrup below the second pancake recipe.
Away from the Kitchen by Dawn Blume Hawkes
Recipe by Chef Robert del Grande
There is something about the sound of “buckwheat” when you say it before “pancakes.” It suggests another depth of flavor—an old-time flavor, a bit of tradition, something a little more intriguing than the usual. Buckwheat adds a wonderful nutty, earthy flavor and a deeper, richer color to pancakes. It gives the pancakes a nice country feel. When you add the pecans and the blackberry syrup, it becomes another wonderful world.
I think you’ll agree that pancakes are a tempting comfort food that we’d secretly love to have almost daily but don’t because we usually eat them smothered in butter and syrup or jam whether they’re thin like crepes or thick and hardy.
If you have teenagers, you’ll probably want to skip this blog as the main ingredient in trifle is stale cake. If you actually do occasionally have stale (or extra) cake — with or without teenagers — read on!
If you’re unfamiliar with trifle, it’s a British invention for using stale cake. Which does lead one to wonder if stale cake is a common problem for the Brits because their teenagers are sent off to boarding school.
On a journey toward permanent weight loss? Want to kick up your immune system? Looking for new ideas for healthy eating? If so, put fresh pineapple on your weekly shopping list.
From the first moment I tasted maple sugar I have been addicted to its sweet, complex flavor. I honestly don’t remember the first time I tasted it, but I’m assuming it was either a maple leaf or little figure made from the sugar, or perhaps it was the syrup. I do remember riding
Courtesy of Carol Fenster, PhD, from 125 Gluten-Free Vegetarian Recipes
Carol says, “Historians tell us that amaranth was a primary food for the ancient Aztecs (and also other indigenous cultures in Mesoamerica as well as Incan culture; Ed). Known as one of the most nutritious grains on earth, it is an excellent choice for the gluten-free diet. Here, it is cooked into a hearty porridge. Make a batch and refrigerate it; eat it throughout the week for a good start to your day.”
This delicate cake was conceived as a coffee cake but it deserves to be elevated to an afternoon and evening tea cake. Feel free to substitute brandy for the rum if you prefer.
I always associate gingerbread as just right for a cozy evening at home when it’s chilly outside. Of course it’s terrific any time of the year, and if you’re a ginger lover, this is an especially good recipe as it has both powdered and crystalized ginger as well as complementary spices that enhance the flavor. It’s also quite moist as it contains applesauce and has a delicate lemon-vanilla glaze. Gingerbread served warm from the oven with whipped cream is hard to beat, but it’s also good lightly toasted with butter or cream cheese on a leisurely weekend morning.
Courtesy of Stephany Zonis
My mother made a variation of this baked pancake for Sunday morning breakfasts. There really isn’t much to it, but it somehow manages to rise dramatically as it bakes. I have improved the original recipe by adding a little sugar and lemon zest–and, of course, vanilla!
