Coconut Milk Pudding with Fresh Fruits

When entertaining a large party, it’s always a good idea to serve a dessert buffet, with small portions of a few items, that the guests can help themselves to, according to their taste. On such a buffet, dairy-free, gluten-free, low sugar or vegan options are likely to please not only those who have dietary concerns, but rather, all the guests, especially after a fairly heavy dinner.

Coffee Cookies with Dark and White Chocolate Chips

These “all in one bowl” cookies, are quick and easy to assemble, and can be made in less than 30 minutes from start to finish. The combination of buttery coffee flavored dough, with both dark and white chocolate chips, is just perfect when served with coffee or with strong tea. The cookies are chewy and soft, and burst with flavors, and are a great snack any time of the day. Try them and enjoy.

Poppy Seeds, Almonds and Golden Raisins Tart

With a thin layer of crumbly dough, and a generous amount of poppy seeds filling, this tasty tart will delight anyone who is fond of poppy seeds. Their unique nutty flavor is enhanced even more with the addition of almond flour; while the lemon, strawberry jam and raisins balance it with their subtle acidity. Try it and enjoy.

Rosemary and Parmesan Savory Freezer Cookies

I make my Blue cheese, Rosemary and Pecan crackers often. However, this time, I wanted to create a different version of it, of thicker savory cookies, that can also work as a base for canapés.

Peanut Butter, Jelly and Salted Peanuts Bar Cookies

Quick and easy to prepare, these tasty bar cookies will please anyone who loves the combination of peanut butter and jelly.

Banana and Dried Fruits Muffins

While these quick, “all in one bowl”, muffins look somewhat plain, they are loaded with healthy and tasty ingredients, such as banana, dried fruits, pumpkin seeds and spelt flour, – all that is needed to make them a perfect guilt-free snack.

Hazelnuts, Cocoa Nibs and Cardamom Cookies

Hazelnuts and chocolate is one of my favorite combinations, so it’s no wonder I’ve decided to use both in the form of cookies. To this, I added some cardamom powder, which enhanced the cookies with its wonderful, warm aroma.

Upside-down Pear and Cranberry Cake

Once again, I’m back to baking one of my favorite cakes – an upside-down cake. This time I chose Bosc pears to be the star of the fruit layer, to which I also added brown sugar and five spice powder. The powder, which is an aromatic blend mix of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorns, paired beautifully with the pears, and deepened the brownish color of the topping.

Vanilla Scented Chouquettes

Chouquettes are the humble, no fuss, relatives of the more stylish Profiteroles, (or as they are known in the US, Cream Puffs); as they are made from the very same dough – Pâte à Choux. Éclair pastries are also made from this dough. Unlike both, Chouquettes are not filled with any cream and are meant to be eaten as a simple snack, soon after baking, or at least on the same day.

Freezer Butter Cookies: One dough, Three Flavors – Take 2

I posted the original recipe for these tasty cookies  almost three years ago (recipe can be found HERE). Since then, I’ve made various variations of the basic dough, but neglected to photograph these variations.

Sponge Cake with Cranberry Juice and Orange Juice

This tasty cake is yet another variation of my all time favorite sponge cake recipe (posted HERE). In this version, I substituted half of the orange juice with cranberry juice, which gave it another layer of both acidity and sweetens, and pinkish color.