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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Lunar New Year Cookies

Gong hei fat choy! It's hard to believe that another year has flown by, and we are now ringing in a new year. But I guess the days do fly by when you're having a delicious time. The Lunar New Year is the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar, and like most holidays in any culture, it revolves around food. Last year I thought it would be fun to make some Lunar New Year-themed treats for the occasion, and I had so much fun making them that I came back with a trio of Lunar New Year-themed cookies this time to ring in the Year of the Snake.

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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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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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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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French Fridays with Dorie: Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Flan

This whole post can really be summed up in four words: I. Love. This. Recipe.

I haven’t been able to stop raving about Dorie Greenspan’s Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Flan all week because it’s that good. I’m sure many French Friday with Dorie followers will also agree.

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Wordless Wednesday #18: Una pausa caffè