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April 27, 2016
At Home with Friends

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Chocolate Prune Croissant Bread Pudding

I figured dessert would be simple and easy and I headed out to the freezer to the cookie stash, but someone had gotten to it before me. It was then I vaguely remembered invading the cookie stash for several tea and cookie afternoons. I kept searching the freezer, looking for hidden treasure, and I found […]

April 13, 2016
At Home with Friends

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Dinner with the Guys

Last week, I was in my car, driving to my favorite big box store Costco with my radio tuned to KCRW, my local public radio station. I was listening to a conversation between Evan Kleinman and Jonathan Gold about a Texas barbecue crawl they did together. In case you didn’t know, Evan Kleinman had a […]

March 14, 2016
At Home with Friends

1 comment

Freshly Baked Blueberry Focaccia Bread

I love fresh focaccia bread. My usual recipe calls for 00 bread flour and requires a triple rise. This requires time, planning, and a fair amount of work. If I wanted to make it for brunch, I’d have to get up way too early. This recipe is just the opposite. No special bread flour required, […]

March 10, 2016
At Home with Friends

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Blueberry Muffin Cake

I really love blueberry muffins, freshly baked and overloaded with berries. I’ve been saving this Blueberry Muffin Cake recipe I found in the Fine Cooking Magazine for 2 years. It’s supposed to be made in the summer when blueberries are fresh but I couldn’t resist making it for New Year’s Day, especially when I discovered […]

February 29, 2016
At Home with Friends

2 comments

Breakfast Parfait with Homemade Granola & Berries

There is a Pain Quotidien restaurant near my office that serves these glorious breakfast parfaits. They have several layers of yoghurt, granola and fresh berries. Whenever I order this, it feels like I’m eating a sundae for breakfast. The only problem with these is that they are too big. I wanted to serve something equally […]

February 22, 2016
At Home with Friends

4 comments

Ricotta, Almond, Raspberry Cake

I am always trying to come up with gluten free cakes that taste great and no one suspects are gluten free. Too many recipes use odd ingredients to compensate for the lack of gluten and they end up missing the mark. Sometimes the taste is wrong, sometimes the texture is wrong and sometimes the presentation […]

February 18, 2016
At Home with Friends

3 comments

Chocolate Chip, Banana, Cherry Cake

I’ve been making variations on this recipe for more years than I can remember. It’s always slightly different depending on what I add in and depending on the ripeness of the bananas. The basic recipe stays the same and there are never any leftovers. The original was loaded with golden raisins, chocolate chips and walnuts. […]

February 15, 2016
At Home with Friends

2 comments

Individual Baked Croissants with Caramelized Fruit

I’ve been experimenting with ideas for breakfast bread puddings or baked French toast. I didn’t want too much bread and I wanted to include caramelized fruit. When I saw a package of fresh croissants at Costco, the idea came together. I wanted to bake them in individual containers. There’s something very appealing about having our […]