 Tradition and food have always been very closely knitted together. All of our family traditions are intertwined with food in some way. For every event, milestone or holiday, we have a meal or a particular food that become synonymous with it. It's hard to even imagine birthdays without cake or Thanksgiving without turkey. I shutter at the thought of a cookie-less Christmas. 🤣 Today is April 15th - it's Good Friday and it's the start of Passover! People all over the world, from different faiths and communities will be celebrating with great food today. For the Jewish community, a Seder meal will mark the beginning of Passover, this evening. There's no stronger example of the link between food and celebration than a traditional Passover feast. Jews all over the world will be celebrating tonight and sharing a traditional Seder meal. Every food that is served at this feast is intentional. Each has a significance and a purpose and guests partake in the 15 step meal as the story of Exodus is retold.
I am not Jewish and all of the Passover information that I shared with you, is new to me. I did some research on the Passover after I was asked to prepare some desserts for a traditional Seder dinner. I was so enthralled with learning about this fascinating holiday, that my investigation went far beyond recipe collection. Needless to say, I was honored to play a small role in two local Seder meals this week. And I actually got to attend my first Seder dinner this year and and it was impactful. 
Chocolate Toffee Matzo Crunch 4-5 Matzo squares 2 sticks butter 1 cup brown sugar 12 ounces dark chocolate chips 1/2 cup chopped pecans 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
 Sprinkle pecans over chocolate and allow to set.  Remove from pan using foil.  Cut into squares.
I mentioned that I made two different desserts with the Matzo crackers. The second dessert was a Chocolate Matzo Mousse Cake. I will post the recipe for that soon. If you need the recipe before it gets posted - drop me a note and I'll email to you. 😅 It's equally delicious.
Ciao!
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 Yesterday, I made my very first King cake and now I'm wondering why in the world it took me so long to jump on this bandwagon. 🤷🏻♀️ This might just be the best kept secret in the cake world. A traditional King Cake is made from a super soft yeast dough with a swirled cinnamon filling and topped with a sweet vanilla glaze and LOTS of sprinkles. Think giant cinnamon roll smothered in brightly colored sprinkles and not a traditional birthday cake. For those of you who are new to the world of King cake, like me, you should know that this cake is both a dessert and a game. The baker hides a tiny plastic baby somewhere inside the cake before it is served to the guests. 👶🏻 The person who finds the baby in their slice of cake is named King for the day. 🤴🏼 The only catch is that the recipient is bound by custom to host the next Mardi Gras party and provide the next King cake. 😉  My initial attempt at a King cake was a success - which isn't the case with every new cake recipe, so you can imagine my surprise.😅 The hardest part of the whole process was finding a "baby" to hide inside my cake. The baby in a King cake is supposed to represent Jesus but the best thing that I could come up with to hide inside my cake was a plastic bear. 🐻😅 It worked. 🤦🏻♀️ If you're lucky enough to be the recipient of the prized King cake "baby", I suggest you do two things. 1.) Hang onto that baby for the next cake. They're harder to find than you might think. 🤣 And 2.) Save the link to this recipe so that you can make the next King cake that you are now expected to provide.  There are a lot of steps to this cake but not to worry - I've broken it down into simple, easy to understand, instructions to help you through the process. And keep in mind that the entire cake will be generously covered in brightly colored sprinkles which will mask any imperfections and let's be honest - the sprinkles are the only thing that anyone will notice about your finished dessert. 💛💜💚  King Cake 3 1/2 cups flour 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast 1 cup milk 1/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, cut into 12 pieces Cinnamon Filling 2/3 cup packed brown sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 4 Tablespoons butter, softened Icing 1 cup powdered sugar 1 Tablespoon milk 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
 Bake the cake until it is golden brown, 20 – 35 minutes at 350.
To hide the baby in the cake, make a small slit in the bottom of the cake and put the miniature plastic baby in the cooled cake.
 Sprinkle generously with purple, green and yellow sugars.
Caio!  I don't want to downplay the significance of my role as a parent BUT... I have to say that my lemon tree is one of my greatest accomplishments. 😂2021 was a good year for the 13 year old tree. It produced giant Meyer lemons in abundance. 🍋 I think my favorite 4 year old said it best when he saw the oversized yellow lemons hanging from the branches and announced to everyone - "She's growin lemonade!!!" Unfortunately, despite my diligent care and watering schedule, my lemon tree isn't always so prolific. By this time in the year, my potted tree should be covered in tiny, lime colored fruit. Safe to say, 2022 will not be a good year for lemons because even though I had lots of blossoms earlier this Spring, for some unexplained reason, they've all fallen off and now I'm left with zero fruit. 😥  “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” You know the saying. It's not intended to be taken literally but - you know me. 🤣 This year, life gave me lemons and I made lemon bars, lemon cake, lemon scones, grilled lemon chicken and lemon fettuccini. It was so much fun to walk to the porch, pick a lemon from my tree and use it to turn the sour fruit into something sweet and delicious. 😋 If you're a fan of citrus in your food - I recommend that you go to the recipe index and type the word "lemon" into the search bar in the upper right corner and browse through all of my lemon recipes. And just in case you wondering - my newest (and favorite) lemon recipe are these Lemon Cookie Squares. If you're a fan of traditional lemon squares you really need to meet their even more delicious and more portable cousin - the lemon cookie square. You can thank me later.  Lemon Cookie Bars Bars 2 1/4 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups sugar 6 Tablespoons butter, melted 1/3 cup oil 2 ounces cream cheese 1 egg + 1 egg yolk 5 teaspoons lemon zest 3 Tablespoons lemon juice 2 teaspoons vanilla Glaze 1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice 1 Tablespoon cream cheese 1 cup powdered sugar
 Spread evenly over bars.  Decorate with sprinkles. Let set 1 hour.  Cut into 24 pieces.  I recommend these lightly frosted, slightly tart, sweet treats for any summer gathering. I don't want to throw shade at traditional lemon squares but these are definitely easier to make and easier to transport and eat. Trust me on this one - these cookie squares are amazing.
Ciao!  Over the last 5 weeks - I've been working my side hustle as part time strawberry picker (and taster). 🍓I'm not a professional - but picking enough fresh berries to keep up with my family's demand and my catering needs has turned into more than a casual gig. 😅 I sell a lot of chocolate dipped strawberries at this time of year but we eat a LOT of fresh strawberries too. Can you blame us? Who doesn't love homemade pound cake, drizzled with chocolate and topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream?  This Spring, I made strawberry cake, strawberry ice cream, chocolate drizzled strawberry skewers, strawberry cupcakes, strawberry pie, strawberry cheesecake muffins and strawberry cookies. Are you starting to see why I spend hours and hours at the strawberry farm every Spring?
To me, the best strawberry desserts are the ones that highlight the fresh flavor of the berries and don't mask it behind more dominant flavors. If I'm going to go through the trouble of picking each and every berry by hand, I want to taste them in every bite of my dessert. I adapted this recipe for Strawberry Cream Pie from the Magnolia Table cookbook. If you have the cookbook, you'll notice that my version is quite a bit different from the original recipe. I really wanted to create a pie that was light and fluffy but also firm enough to hold its shape when sliced. A pie that everyone will love. 🍓  Strawberry Cream Pie 1 cup frozen strawberries 2 cups heavy cream 1/4 cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 7 ounces condensed milk 2 Tablespoons fresh strawberry puree 1/2 fresh strawberries, diced graham cracker crust
Swirl in the leftover strawberry solids. It makes more sense to do this before you pour it into the crust but... I forgot. 🤦🏻♀️   Garnish with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.
Ciao!  In classic Amy fashion - I'm posting my super cute Easter desserts 2 days AFTER Easter. 🤦🏻♀️ Sorry. I realize that it's too late to be making yellow chick macaroons for your Easter dinner guests but I'm hoping that just maybe you can find another reason to make these adorable, buttercream filled cookies. 🤷🏻♀️🐣 Two days late is pretty much my new normal these days. Laundry - cleaning - sending out birthday cards - yup - pretty much 2 full days behind on all of those things this month. 😅Contrary to what my social media accounts might lead you to believe - I don't have it all together. It's probably more accurate to describe myself as just barely holding anything together. 😂  Macarons are a perfect example of how disorganized my life can be at times. I've gone through the process of making macarons dozens and dozens of times and I still manage to mess them up --- every single time. 🤦🏻♀️ I get lumpy cookies or I end up with cookies that spread too much or I don't get the much desired "feet" on the bottom of my macarons. It doesn't seem to matter just how much macaroon experience I have - there's always something that goes wrong with my first batch and I end up remaking them.  It's safe to say - macarons are finicky, quirky and temperamental little cookies. Ironically - those are the same adjectives that I would use to describe myself on most days. I'm basically a macaron in human form. It takes at least 2 tries for me to master most tasks and I really am mostly made up of mostly sugar. 😅😅 Now that I've pointed out all of the difficulties and frustrations that I've experienced in my macaron making, you're probably thinking "Why would I ever make those?" My goal wasn't to discourage you but to challenge you. That's the reason that I continue to make macarons over and over again. The process is hard but the rewards are soooo sweet.  Macarons 3 egg whites - room temperature 1/4 cup white sugar 2 cups powdered sugar 1 cup almond flour pinch of salt 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar Buttercream 1/4 cup butter 3/4 cup powdered sugar 1 Tablespoon vanilla
 Pipe circles onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Tap pans on counter to release air bubbles. Let sit 30 minutes. Bake 20 minutes at 300.
 Pipe buttercream on the bottom of half of the cookie shells.  Top with another cookie shell.
Since Easter is over - I hope that you'll save this recipe for next year or better yet, find another reason to make these super cute chick macarons. Fourth of July yellow chick macarons anyone? Ciao! |
