Almond flour has been a pantry staple in Paris for as long as anyone can remember. It happens to be less expensive than it is here and, perhaps because of the turnover, usually quite fresh. In the States, it’s still seen primarily as an alternative to flour for people with gluten sensitivity or for the health conscious, who like it for its protein content. Almond flour provides texture and taste, and it keeps a cake moist, as almonds are naturally high in fat. It’s for this reason that I use less oil than in an all-flour yogurt cake. The downside is that almond flour cakes don’t rise quite as high. Made with equal portions of flour and almond flour, however, lets you capture the best of both worlds. This cake is light, tender and moist and lasts for days. Like the classic yogurt cake, it plays well with spices, extracts, liqueur, syrups and floral waters. Here I’ve added sliced almonds to the top, for crunch.
Kneading by hand: A heavily enriched dough, like this one, will naturally be on the stickier side. Using an electric stand mixer for kneading will be a lot easier, but it is not impossible to knead this dough by hand. All you need is an extra 1/4cup of bread flour on standby.
Gai mei bao is my favorite baked bun. There, I said it. I love a good pineapple bun as much as the next person, but I’m in the minority that enjoys a buttery, coconut-heavy cocktail bun a little more. Cocktail buns originally were created as a way for bakers to salvage day-old buns. The stale buns were ground into crumbs, then mixed with sugar and shredded coconut as a filling for fresh dough (like a“cocktail” of bakery leftovers). Nowadays, bakers make the filling fresh.
Frangipane is something I have always enjoyed: the intense almond flavour and very delicate texture is simply delicious. In this recipe I have added another texture, encasing the frangipane with crispy filo pastry, while a nutty base gives it a lovely crunch.
Here’s another one of my favorite riffable emergency desserts. I often throw it together if I’m entertaining unexpectedly because it’s super easy (if I have pie dough in the freezer) and really pretty. You know the drill by now: use any nut you like and your favorite jam. Some combinations I’m awfully fond of are apricot jam and pistachios (pictured), raspberry jam and peanuts, or blackberry or cherry and hazelnuts. Be sure to bake your tart on a rack set in the lower third position of the oven. This helps the bottom of the tart get nice and golden at the same rate as the top. Baking to a deep golden brown also ensures the leftovers are sturdy and portable.
These baked eggs are such a fun way to use squash. I’m partial to butternut, but acorn or spaghetti squash would work equally well. Roasting the squash before adding the egg ensures that the squash will be tender and slightly caramelized, while the eggs will be cooked to perfection in the center.
These incredibly easy cookie bars use cornflour (cornstarch) to make a wonderfully tender shortbread-style bar that is topped with a lime curd: impressive yet simple. While I would always encourage you to use homemade lime curd for optimal flavour, I will look the other way if you want to use a shop-bought version.
WHEN YOU BAKE APPLES with caramel sauce, you get a juicy mixture—juicier than a traditional apple pie filling, because there are no thickeners. You also get one that’s less sweet— “burning” the sugar to caramelize it gives it pleasantly bitter undertones. These are the characteristics that make this filling a good match for a topping that’s sweet, earthy and crunchy. It’s a topping that began life as streusel and ended by welcoming whole wheat flour (the earthy element) and oatmeal. You can swap the apples for pears or make this with quinces or, better yet, a combination of quinces, apples and/or pears. While you’re fiddling, think about adding toasted nuts (walnuts or pecans) to the mix.
Crispy around the edges, chewy in the middle, and delicious all over -- it's virtually impossible not to fall in love with these tahini cookies. As their name suggests, the star of the show is the sesame paste that you may know as the crucial component of hummus, but it also works wonders in sweet treats. In this recipe, tahini gives an incredible depth of flavor, and a coating of sesame seeds makes the cookies as pretty as they are delicious.