Brownie with Berry Cheesecake Squares (gluten free)

According to my boyfriend, I ruined the brownie.
According to me, I would kiss this cuty (if it didn´t look a bit weird)
So you decide which side do you prefer (you should prefer mine, of course) .

Olive Oil and Lemon Cookies (no butter)

I hope you do not scare with the "olive" in the title, keep reading because these cookies are really good and easy. Sometimes it happens to me, don´t know about you, that I like a recipe, but it calls for a weird ingredient, and then I don´t do it because of this weirdness. And the recipe keeps witing me in my to-do list.
I have several of those.

Quick Gingerbread

This is a recipe I started doing on Christmas, and I did a lot. In fact, I have some slices in the freezer that I like to eat a bit warm with my tea.

It´s more like a coffee cake than a bread, and it´s very easy to do. It does not take more than 10 minutes if you have all the ingredients on hand.

Nutella Stuffed Cookies

These cookies could have been called "Anti Jinx Cookies" or "I Love You". They are not everyday cookies, Nutella is not very cheap in these neighborhoods (yes, I know, in my country in general) .
But "occasionally" is something else.

Mandarin Orange and Cinnamon Marmalade

When a new season arrives the fruit should be sized, don´t you think? With fruit, jam jars and enthusiasm. 

And to make a jam or a marmalade you need this three. Without fruit, nothing happens. If you are reluctantly, all goes wrong. Without jars, it won´t preserve well.

This jam can be done at any time of year, we always have mandarins, at least here, in Argentina. But also it can be done with oranges.

Passion Fruit Cookies

I had plenty passion fruit pulp, or maracuya as we say in Argentina, in my freezer. And I wanted to use it for something never seen.
I checked for cookies with this, and nothing satisfied me. So I made the recipe.

Mango and Ginger Cake

The story of this recipe begun with a comment from a reader. He commented about a mango cake he usually makes when the mangos are still green.

And like the phrase, curiosity killed the cat, I had to make my mango cake.

Passion Fruit and Orange Muffins... with surprise

Have a little of something and don´t know where to use it?
I had a small size cup of passion fruit pulp, and wanted to use it but it needed to be a good thing, not just something.

This muffins are great, fast and full of flavour. But if you don´t have passion fruit, never mind, use any other pulp or juice from the pantry or fridge. It needs to be something with a lot of flavour. I wouldn´t use pear juice for example.

Orange Financiers

An edible gift. That was what my mama received for her birthday. Not that I´m cheap gifter, she likes this kind of gift. Handmade.

Originally the financiers were prepared in shapes of bite size ingots. And are name because of that. Or perhaps they were sold in the financial district of Paris. Who knows the truth.

But the truth about the smell and flavour is that they are so good that one is nothing. 
They have almound flour and noisette butter, this is the distinctive smell of these. I added orange, just to play with the flavours a bit more.

Caribbean Eclairs: Homemade Vanilla Mascarpone, Passion Fruit Curd and Mango

In the fruit salad I have at work occasionally appears a bit of mango. And it's like a party in a boring salad.
Thinking about it, I bought a mango. I always liked it, but resent the fibers.

Inspired by Paris (I´ll be visiting for the first time in October!!!), Pierre Hermé dessert and homemade mascarpone, I saw the opportunity to show how to prepare it .

The homemade mascarpone was on my pending list for the blog, and I wanted to show how easy it is to prepare, but did not want to incorporate it into the typical tiramisu, of which there are many recipes around. You can do many things, is like a basic cream.

Chocolate and Prune Cookie Sandwich, a great alfajor

An alfajor, in Argentina, is a cookie sandwich with dulce de leche inside. Is the most common snack for children and adults. You can find them at any kiosk, or vending machine. We are the largest consummer, and the one that wins is the chocolate cookie, with dulce de leche and covered in chocolate.

I made another version, a grown up. I don´t think that there are many kids that enjoy eating dried fruit. Not in my country, unless we cheat them and hid some inside a preparation.

I accept that this wasn´t my choice a few years ago. I din´t eat any dried fruit. I don´t know when I started or why.

Pear, Rooibos Tea and Chocolate Cake

Some weeks ago I returned to have tea at Chez Pauline. Its a beautiful, very french, place. Then, after leaving the place, bought a super spiced tea. Actually it´s an infusion, it don´t contain tea leaves, but rooibos, an African bush, and lots of spices, like cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, cardamom, and others I don´t remember. I love rooibos, because of it´s lack in caffeine and the other beneficial characteristics. 

Chouquettes, a French treat

As always, I'm always looking for something new around here.
The chouquettes (shukets) are mini balls of "pâte à choux" or pastry puff, covered by coarse sugar.
Little crunchy semisweet balls. Start with one and won´t stop easily.

I had this recipe on my list for some time, but I was waiting for this sugar, "granela". Here we use this type of sugar for Easter thread cake, on top of the pastry cream. 

Super (Extra) Moist 2 Apple Pound Cake, almost like a Fruitcake

This recipe has a story, a small, about how it was done, and is as follows.

There were two apples, only two. And there was a girl, who liked to cook, That´s me. That didn´t know what to do with the apples. Thinking, thinking, thinking, an apple pound cake came up. But what about the other apple? Eating as it comes wasn´t an option. And as I checking the recipe, butter was out and the apple was in.

This is the brief summary of how I replaced butter, (110 g), for a red apple. The apple gives the same characteristics of butter without the fat content.

Spicy Jam Cookies

The opportunity to make these cookies can be none, or that I just want to eat some cookies with something else, something moist and tasteful.

Or perhaps, to celebrate an occasion, that can be no occasion for you, but valuable to me, which is my 4 years* in the same company. Of course, these weren´t  years of relaxation, I changed area and position with bigger responsibilities, in an excellent team and I didn´t loose the desire to improve. That's something, right?

Mixed Berries and Nibs Crumble Cake

Memory is something that sometimes does not help me, I realize that the 30´s are starting to show details of factory.

I don´t know how it started but, somehow I felt like eating mixed berries in a cake for breakfast or maybe as snack.And I guess one thing led to another and here we are.
With a cake to honor a friend or yourself, to enjoy, and feel like you need another portion. It's a cake you won´t forget by the tasty mixed berries, the aromatic spices, the moistness and crunchiness (yes, both at the same time).

Pink Grapefruit and Chocolate Tart

I don`t know if you know it, but I can repeat it anyway: I like desserts that are made in 2'
Well, you can not do all within 2 minutes, but half an hour works great for me.

Went to bed at night thinking about a dessert to take to a lunch, a fast, with whatever is in the fridge/pantry, not gourmet flavors, and good, of course.

Chai tea and pear tea cake

A few post ago I made the chai tea concentrate with spices to flavor the tea, and as I said at that time, I like spices. And to be redundant, now come with chai tea cake.

The idea came thanks to the pears leftover from the cinnamon Baba. Ideas go, ideas come, the tea is added to the pears and then came the spices ... Ready! Have a chai tea cake with pears in syrup.

I´m not going to lie, was delicious! As tea cake was spectacular, and for dessert, with ice cream on top? Chocolate ice cream? Awesome!

Black and White dessert: condensed milk mousse and bittersweet ganache

Long ago I made a cake for a rare mousse, like dulce de leche, but white. And I lost the recipe. It was my recipe, because at that time had not found anything like it.

I remembered a few days ago, and after years and changing location, I didn´t make an effort to find it. Again, searched the Internet with no result. How strange, but well, an opportunity to make my recipe.

Then again, this is my invention. The Argentinean classic: chocolate and dulce de leche. But black and white.
This is the dessert of differences, contrasts, sweet and bitter, creamy and airy.

Chai concentrate for a spiced tea

If you are reading this blog regularly may have noticed that I like spices. I confess, I love them. All the majority. I learned that all serve in their measure to improve a dish, give it as an added value. 
Some I didn´t like them before, like cloves, but if used sparingly gives a refreshing taste.