Category Archives: Fruit

Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake

I love that strawberries are in season now in California. Whenever we’re at the farmer’s market, we cannot help but pick up a basket or three of them to take home. And besides eating them fresh, this is one application that I love to do using strawberries (the other is the vanilla layer cake that I’ve blogged about before).

I have been wanting to share this strawberry shortcake recipe with you for a while now. This was the recipe that I told you about in my other scones post. This dough is more moist and yet still buttery and flaky enough that it works for so many applications. As a matter of fact, Fine Cooking calls it a multi-purpose baking mix and I’ve used it to make scones, cobbler toppings, savory biscuits and of course, these strawberry shortcakes.

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Pavlova Recipe

Pavlova With Blackberry, Raspberries, Mandarins, Kiwis and Strawberries

Pavlova With Blackberry, Raspberries, Mandarins, Kiwis and Strawberries

A Pavlova is a baked meringue dessert. It is made by beating egg whites and other ingredients to stiff peaks, then baking the mass “low and slow” so that the outer crust becomes crisp like a cookie but the inside remains soft like a marshmallow. It is then usually topped with whipped cream and fresh fruits. The Pavlova was created to honor the famed Russian dancer Anna Pavlova after one of her tours to New Zealand.

Our friend Felicia made a Pavlova for us at a previous dinner at their house, so I asked her to make another one for dessert for our recent Ultimate Ribs Showdown meal. I also asked her to provide the recipe and take pictures (I know, such a demanding host!) so that I could post the Pavlova recipe later. Here is that recipe.

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Blueberry Muffins Recipe

Blueberry Muffins

These days, I don’t bake as much as I used to. I just can’t afford the sugar and calories anymore. At least while I was a graduate student living in a graduate dorm, I could always pass out my baking to all the hungry students and not eat them all myself.

These days, I’m being more careful to only bake when I have an occasion to bring them somewhere or when I have people over. Otherwise, being a stay-at-home mom, these baked goods somehow find their way into my hands and quickly into the safest place possible (my tummy! ^_^).

So even though I love to bake, I’ve resigned myself to doing it occasionally rather than as often as I would like. Last night though, I really wanted to bake even though I had no reason to (seriously, do we ever really need a reason?) nor any occasion for it!

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Our Favorite Layer Cake Recipe

Daniel’s 7th Birthday Cake

Daniel's 7th Birthday Cake

When I first had children and started celebrating their birthdays, I’d bake my own birthday cakes for their parties. The very first one I did I used a recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Cake Bible book and it turned out really well. However, the frosting called for buttercream. While it was a really delicious and not-too-sweet buttercream frosting, it was still a LOT of butter! And I’ve always preferred fresh whipped cream whenever possible.

This recipe from Fine Cooking magazine has been my go-to cake recipe for all special occasions now. I’ve used it to bake birthday cakes and baby shower cakes. Just about any occasion that calls for a cake, I’ve made it. I’ll tell you why.

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