Wordless Wednesday #117: Dessert Tasting, Richmond Station

saffron kulfi, smashed blackberries, pistachios

frozen yogurt, dulce de leche, chocolate wafer, smashed raspberries, maldon salt

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Twelve Cookies of Christmas #9: Salted Orange Toffee Slices

I instantly fell in love with these cookies when I first tasted them last year. A good friend of mine had gifted me with a box of her homemade cookies, which included these Salted Orange Toffee Slices. Along with the cookies, she also gave me a copy of Anna Olson’s cookbook, Back to Baking, where she got the recipe. Orange is one of my favourite flavours, and I’m a sucker for anything salty-sweet. So when it came time to put together this year’s holiday baking list, including these cookies was a no-brainer for me.

These are the easiest cookies to make. The dough comes together in mere minutes, and because it is an icebox cookie, you can prep the dough in advance and bake them a few days later, or even freeze the dough for some other time.

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Twelve Cookies of Christmas #6: Orange Creamsicle Cookies

It took me a while to figure out which sandwich cookie I wanted to make this year. For the longest time, the linzer cookie was the favourite, but in the end I decided to scrap it as I already had a jam cookie on the list (see Raspberry Cream Thumbprints). I also briefly flirted with the idea of making Thomas Keller’s TKOs from his new cookbook Bouchon Bakery, before deciding that wasn’t a wise decision for my Twelve Cookies of Christmas list. And then I came across this recipe for Orange Cream Star Cookies from Fine Cooking. Perfect.

I remember having orange creamsicles as a kid. There was something very satisfying when you bit through that tart, orange layer and got to the creamy vanilla ice cream inside. I’ve played with this flavour combination before with cupcakes, so I thought it would be equally as fun (and delicious) in cookie-form.

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Twelve Days of Christmas, #9: Ambrosia Macaroons

I love a good macaroon, but mine have always failed if I made them the traditional way, using only whipped egg whites. No matter how they're whipped, or even with some cream of tartar added as a stabilizer, my whites will eventually start separating during the baking process. What I'll end up with is a very ugly, flat looking macaroon cookie with big blogs of chewy meringue mixture running every which way.

Day Nine of my Twelve Days of Christmas Treats: Ambrosia Macaroons.

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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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