These festive shortbread cookies, also known as Russian tea cakes and Mexican wedding cookies, are rolled in powdered sugar, resembling snowballs. The rich dough is typically packed with pecans, walnuts, or almonds. My favorite recipe, from The Good Cookie, by pastry chef Tish Boyle, is delicious as is, but I couldn’t resist swapping in some … Continue reading Pistachio Walnut Snowballs
This delightfully creamy yet relatively healthy version of a classic autumn dessert can be served as pie slices or bars – or both; I served bite-sized pieces to my infant sons on Thanksgiving. The original recipe, from the food blog Minimalist Baker, is vegan and gluten free. My adaptation calls for Greek yogurt, rather than … Continue reading Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Oat Crust
This quick bread, adapted from a recipe on the blog Tutti Dolci, is one of my all-time favorites. It has a decadent streusel topping, a marzipan-like almond flavor, a hint of citrus, and sour, tangy bursts of fresh cranberry. Mashed banana, which I substituted for about half the sugar in the original recipe, yields a … Continue reading Banana Cranberry Streusel Bread
These flavorful thumbprint cookies are inspired by my 9-month-old twin sons’ favorite “dessert:” dried Turkish apricots, simmered in water, and then pureed along with almonds or other nuts. The cookie is rich and chocolatey, the apricot filling tangy, earthy, and subtly sweet. Crunchy pistachio pairs nicely, and adds vibrant color. To thin out the apricot … Continue reading Chocolate, Pistachio, and Apricot Thumbprint Cookies
The other day, I was craving brownies, but happened to come across a recipe for pecan pie bars. So I set out to make a fusion, of sorts, of the two classic American desserts. I adapted an excellent brownie recipe from Smitten Kitchen, swapping out sugar for maple syrup, adding toasted pecans, and substituting a … Continue reading Maple Pecan Brownies
This recipe is my latest twist on jeera biscuits, a traditional South Asian shortbread cookie studded with toasted cumin seeds. (My vegan coconut cumin cookies and cumin fennel biscotti were also inspired by the classic teatime snack.) Fennel seeds lend a warm, licorice-like flavor to these savory-sweet cookies, and shredded coconut adds a nice crunch. … Continue reading Fennel Coconut Shortbread
The other day, I roasted some honeynut squash, a slightly sweeter version of butternut squash, and incorporated it into one of the lightest, fluffiest quick breads I’ve ever tasted, adapted from a pumpkin chocolate chip bread recipe on one of my favorite baking blogs, Tutti Dolci. I subtracted the chocolate chips, sweetened the bread with … Continue reading Pumpkin Walnut Bread
One early fall morning, while snacking on apple slices coated with peanut butter, I wondered how the classic flavor combination would taste in a seasonal dessert. The resulting apple butter and maple syrup cake, with peanut butter and apple cider frosting, is featured in my latest Knockturnal food column. Apple & Peanut Butter Cake Cake … Continue reading Apple & Peanut Butter Cake
Jeera biscuits, a South Asian shortbread cookie studded with cumin seeds, and mukhwas, a popular Indian palate cleanser and digestive aid made with fennel and other seeds, are the inspiration behind these savory-sweet, entirely non-traditional biscotti. Thanks to the addition of butter, they are a little softer in the middle than the classic twice-baked Italian … Continue reading Cumin Fennel Biscotti
I developed this recipe for an online Rosh Hashanah baking class for preschoolers. The kids had fun tearing the challah into pieces, and watching it soak up a simple custard mixture sweetened with honey. Studded with apples, it’s a wonderful fall dessert (you don’t need to celebrate Rosh Hashanah to enjoy it) and it’s a … Continue reading Challah Bread Pudding with Apples and Honey
Kitchen tales from Cape Town - a recipe blog by Teresa Ulyate
Fresh, vegetarian and vegan recipes with homegrown roots
A daily guide on “What to cook?" And "How to cook?”
....and quite well as well !!
