Friands with Lime Curd

Friands (mini almond cakes), are one of my favorite quick and easy type of desserts. In a recipe I posted HERE a few years ago, I used cardamom powder in the batter, and served them with lemon curd. This time, I’ve decided to omit the cardamom, and serve them with lime curd – and the result was just as delicious.

Apple, Cherry, Lime and Honey Cupcakes

Quick and easy to assemble and prepare, the following tasty cupcakes will fill your kitchen with wonderful fragrance of honey and lime.

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.

Apple, Honey, Almond and Rosemary Muffins

The Jewish New Year is celebrated today, and this brings back memories of traditional foods, even to an agnostic such as me. 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 muffins I have created here were inspired by this tradition.

Farmer Cheese and Raspberry Muffins

These beautiful and tasty muffins were inspired by thumbprint cookies, which have a tasty jam center.

Carrot, Walnuts, Coconut and Raisins Muffins

There are so many recipes for carrot muffins, but it’s seems there’s always room for one more…

Cranberry, Orange, Almond and Banana Breakfast Muffins

Fresh cranberries can be now found in the market, and I’ve been playing with ideas for using them other than in the traditional cranberry sauce. In the muffins here, the cranberries are pureed whole, along with other good ingredients like almonds, orange and bananas.

Poppy Seeds and Lemon Muffins

Poppy seeds and lemon is a classic combination. The acidity in the lemon balances the fatty and crunchy poppy seeds beautifully.

Vanilla-Chocolate Marble Cupcakes

Marble cakes are the best solution for those who prefer to enjoy two flavors instead of one. Using the same principle in cupcakes creates an even more pronounced contrast between the batters. The addition of mini chocolate chips to the chocolate batter, as I’ve done here, adds another layer of flavor.

A SWEET NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Here is a selection of a few of this year’s desserts. Happy New Year to All! 

Sponge Cake with Rum-Maple butter cream

Chocolate Crackles Cookies

Aromatic Pineapple-Cherry Cake

Fragrant Lime and Dried Apricots Cupcakes with Lime Icing

Apple-Cranberry Cupcakes with Cranberry Icing

Brown Butter, Pecan and Maple Cake

Apple-Cranberry Cupcakes with Cranberry Icing

My weakness for apple cakes knows no end. I also love cranberries in all their forms; so obviously, it was time to combine the two in one tasty cake.
The experiment ended up with these moist, sweet with a hint of sour cupcakes. A pinkish cranberry icing on top felt like a good thing and indeed added the perfect finishing touch.