Pi(es), Glorious Pi(es)

Happy Pi Day! And what better way to celebrate Pi Day than with pie? That's what a group of friends and I did this past weekend as we celebrated the occasion with a potluck Pi(e) Day, hosted by my friend and superstar hostess Jen. The rule of the game? Everyone bakes a pie, sweet or savoury, and brings it to the party to share.

Chocolate pecan rum "pi"

If I thought Cookie Day was overwhelming, I'm not quite sure what to call Pie Day—epic, that's for sure. There were fourteen bakers expected at the gathering, and when all the pies were assembled at the table, we were faced with 23 pies. Twenty-three glorious pies. Tourtière du shack. Curry beef. Chocolate pecan rum. Strawberry rhubarb. Banoffee with candied bacon. Tarte d'érable. Yuzu meringue. The list of pies goes on!

Tourtière du shack

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Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Day in and day out, we're faced with so many choices and decisions. What makes one thing better than the other? What's right? What's wrong? Don't you just wish that you didn't need to make a decision, and you could have it all?

That is what happened to me one day, and it resulted in this Peanut Butter Cheesecake. I was left in a dilemma of whether to bake something with peanut butter or bake a cheesecake before I thought, "Hey, let's just put the two together and beautiful things will happen."

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Almond Butter Blondies

You know when you have that love-at-first-bite moment? You tell yourself you're going to have just one piece. And then you (quietly) go back for a second. And before you know it, you want to hoard the whole pan all to yourself. Yeah...I had that moment when I made these Almond Butter Blondies. Thankfully, I did NOT hoard the whole pan (although I did keep a few extra slices for myself), because these blondies are definitely worth sharing with others.

Throughout my January detox, I wasn't allowed sugar. Or carbs. And that meant no baking for me. Which is totally fine post-holidays, after I had spent the previous month and half baking non-stop. But after three weeks of salads, raw vegetables, and green smoothies, I was more than ready to bring out my mixer and turn on the oven again. I had this recipe flagged for some time, as they came highly recommended by a coworker, and I thought a gluten-free baked good would be a great reintroduction to sweet treats.

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Twelve Cookies of Christmas #11: Candied Cardamom-Coconut Cashews

These candied cashews are the second non-cookie item on my holiday baking list this year. I already had a confection added to the line-up (see Peppermint Marshmallows), so I wanted to have some spiced or candied nuts to mix things up a little.

At first I wanted to do some spiced pecans, but quickly changed my mind when I came across a recipe for Candied Cardamom-Coconut Cashews. The coconut and cardamom gives these candied cashews an exotic, tropical twist, and smell absolutely incredible.


What's so great about these is that they are so easy to make and keep very well, so you can make them well in advance during the holiday madness when life gets busy.

I got the recipe from the amazing Alice Medrich and her most recent cookbook Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts.

Follow along with my Twelve Cookies of Christmas.

Twelve Cookies of Christmas #7: Walnut White Chocolate Snowballs

If you’re into melt-in-your-mouth cookies, then these ones have your name written all over them. Also known as Mexican Wedding Cakes or Russian Tea Cakes, these cookies are super delicate and take a little bit of patience to make, especially with the double-rolling in the powdered sugar, but they will be sure to impress once they make their appearance on your holiday table.

I love the use of walnuts in these cookies—such a beautiful, subtly sweet nut that smells delightful when baked—although next time I would up the quantity. The white chocolate gets caramelized during the baking process, adding a nice crunchy texture.

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Twelve Cookies of Christmas #4: Pecan-Cocoa Nib Florentines

These were probably the most labour-intensive cookies on my list this year. What had originally started out to be (what I thought would be) an easy project turned into a three-hour-plus affair that took me well into the wee hours of the morning.

It's not that the recipe itself is complicated—the dough comes together in a matter of minutes. What takes so long is the actual baking time. Because florentines, like any tuile cookie, spread while baking, there are only so many cookies you can fit on one pan. Then you have to let them cool properly before you can even move them off the pan without deforming then. And being the neurotic baker that I am, I also had to use a circular cookie cutter to "cut off" the raggety edges to get as close to a perfect circular cookie as possible. All those different steps and waiting adds up. (I should also add that the recipe made a LOT more dough than I thought it would on paper, which meant that it felt like the never ending bowl of cookie dough).

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Quinoa Granola

There's always a batch of granola in my house, as it's my morning ritual to have a bowl of yogurt with homemade granola and honey for my breakfast. This basic granola recipe I rely on still remains one of my favourites, but the most popular post on my blog here is actually this granola recipe made with steel-cut oats.

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A Sweet Start to the Year of the Dragon

Gong hei fat choy! The Chinese/Lunar New Year is upon us once again (it officially began yesterday), and this year, we're celebrating the Year of the Dragon, supposedly the luckiest of the 12 Chinese zodiacs. The year has certainly started off lucky, as I've been stuffing my face non-stop with delicious New Year's foods.

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Twelve Days of Christmas, #5: Almond-Orange Biscotti

I often like making two to three kinds of biscotti during the holidays. One, because I do have a soft spot for biscotti. Two, they keep very well so that I can make them ahead of time and know that they'll still taste great days later.

Day Five of my Twelve Days of Christmas Treats: Almond-Orange Biscotti.

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Twelves Days of Christmas, #3: Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

This is another staple that always makes my holiday line-up of Christmas cookies. So fitting with all its festive colours.

Day Three of my Twelve Days of Christmas: Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti.

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Homemade Halloween Treats

If adults were allowed to go trick or treating, these are what I'd like to be getting in my loot bag.

Homemade candy. Like chocolate-covered sponge toffee. Or soft caramels. Or peanut butter cups.

I made all three. And boy, were they good!

They were a far cry from the sad excuse of candy bars we gobbled down as kids, not knowing how to pronounce half the ingredients on the wrapper and being even more clueless as to how bad most of those ingredients actually were.

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Sour Cream Coffee Cake

What was originally going to be an impressive lemon tart morphed into a fairly pedestrian-looking coffee cake.

Okay, so my laziness was purely to blame. But I was always taught to never go to anyone's home empty-handed, and I certainly couldn't show up to my aunt and uncle's with nothing to offer them, so I turned to a tried-and-true recipe that I knew would be really easy to make.

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French Fridays with Dorie: Beggar's Spaghetti

Now, I love Dorie Greenspan. I have great admiration and love for her, and am such a big fan of her books and her recipes. All the recipes that I have tried so far from her latest book, Around My French Table, have turned out wonderfully.

So I had my doubts when I was reading through the latest "French Friday" recipe, Beggar's Linguine Nuts, dried fruit...and pasta? I do like all those elements individually, but I had a hard time trying to conceptualize all of them together in my head.

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Chocolate Hazelnut Meringues

Back in December, I raved about this book. Well, I'm back to rave about it some more.

Lately, it seems that whenever I talk about cookies, I make mention of Alice Medrich. And it’s really no wonder. I consider her latest book, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies, my cookie bible. Alice has tested each recipe in the book meticulously, and you can tell. I’ve not once had a failure from any of her recipes.

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Pecan Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

Is there anything better than spending a lazy Sunday afternoon than in the kitchen and filling the air with the irresistible scent of baked treats?



I love the weekends (who doesn't?). They're a time to catch up with friends and family and run my weekly errands. They are also a time for me to unwind, and I usually do that in the kitchen.There is something so therapeutic about baking, with the measuring out of flour and sugar, creaming together of butter and the eggs, and being surrounded by the sweet embrace of vanilla, cinnamon, citrus or whatever ends up perfuming the kitchen that day.

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The Ultimate Granola

I think I'm in love. In love with this granola, that is.



I've been such a huge fan of granola in the past year. My favourite way to start a morning is with a bowl of yogurt, some fresh fruit and homemade granola, drizzled with a bit of honey or maple syrup.

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A Peanut Buttery Surprise

There were two birthdays going on this week (a co-worker's and a friend's) and that was good enough of a reason for me to whip up a batch of cupcakes to celebrate the occasion. I love making cupcakes filled with a little something extra in the middle—a nice little surprise with every bite. So, inspired by the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (which ironically I absolutely can't stand), I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes with a sweet surprise inside...

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Nutty Goodness

Creamy peanut butter. Decadent chocolate chips. Crunchy peanuts (or in my case, walnuts). What’s not to love?



It’s no wonder Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours remains such a perennial favourite to so many people. Her recipes work, and they’re absolutely irresistible too!

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Detox Diet - Homemade Almond Milk

When I first went on this detox diet over a week ago, one of my biggest worries was having to give up dairy. I love my dairy. Milk. Cheese. Yogurt. Ice cream. Bring it on!



Clearly, there was no need to worry on my part.

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Year of the Tiger, Year of the Walnut...

I wasn't always a fan of walnuts. As a kid, I would hate it if banana bread or brownies were studded with the nut. But as I grew older, like many of the things I disliked eating as a kid, I slowly began to like the nut, with its subtle sweetness and how incredibly flavourful it is when toasted.

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