Candied Pomelo Rind

The following recipe came from my maternal grandmother, who was raised in the Sephardic Jewish community of Izmir. The making of jams, confitures and sweets was an important part of every household, and the guests were greeted with an assortment of small plates of these delicacies, along with coffee.

Walnut and Raw Cacao Cookies

I recently realized that, while I use walnuts in various recipes, I don’t use them as often when baking cookies. With this in mind, I was set to create cookies with walnuts as the main ingredient.

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Apricots and Pecans

The following tasty cookies are another version of my earlier all-oats gluten-free cookies (find the recipe HERE).
This time, I decided to rely even more on both oats flour and rolled oats, instead of using nut meal in the dough. I chose to add a lemony flavor to the cookies, which worked well with the other additions, of chopped pecans and dried apricots.

Almonds, Dried Cranberries and Maple Cake

The following cakes will indulge anyone who is into moist, syrupy cakes.

Carrots, Almonds, Coconut and Golden Raisins Breakfast Bars

While I mostly prefer a protein-based breakfast, I also like to have other options every now and then. The following super-healthy bars are a good example of that: they are loaded with high fiber ingredients, fairly low on sugar and fat, and are a great tasty way to start the day.

Orange, Ricotta and Cardamom Cake

As the days are getting shorter, and citrus fruits rapidly replacing summer fruits at the stores, I felt it’s time for a comforting orange flavored cake, and the result was the following quick and easy “all in one bowl” cake.

Filo Purses filled with Apples, Honey and Golden Raisins

The Jewish New Year is celebrated tomorrow, and this brings back memories of traditional foods, even to an agnostic such as myself. One of the culinary traditions for this event, is to dip a slice of apple in honey, and eat it as a symbol for a sweet New Year. Plenty other sweet dishes are added to the table as well, in order to emphasize this hope for a sweet New Year.
The following dessert was inspired by this tradition.

Coffee Sponge Cake with Coffee Icing and Chocolate Glaze

The following tasty cake is yet another variation of my all time favorite sponge cake recipe (posted HERE). In this version, I substituted the orange juice with coffee, enhanced the coffee flavor by pouring coffee syrup over the baked cake, (leaving a bit aside for serving), and topped the cake with coffee icing and chocolate glaze. All this created layers of flavors that will please anyone who loves coffee and chocolate.

Lime and Lavender Cake with Peaches

Lime and lavender is one of my favorite flavor combinations: their fresh and floral fragrance enhances one another beautifully. So, when I decided to bake a light summer cake, I wanted to use this favorite combination again, and came up with the quick and easy to assemble cake you see here.

Apricot and Cardamom Muffins

Apricot season is very short, and on top of it, they tend to soften quickly after buying. So when I ended up with some that started to soften, I decided to bake some quick muffins with them.

Cherries and Almonds Clafoutis

Clafoutis is a simple French dessert, in which fruits are baked in a light custard. The dish is traditionally made with cherries, although there are plenty of versions with other fruits as well. As cherries season is at its peak right now, I decided to prepare it using them.