A buckle was one of my signature cakes when I worked as pastry chef for the Gjelina Group. Every bite is tangy, tart, and deliciously rich. I love this cake with mixed berries, but using one single variety can also be nice. If you’re serving it after dinner, add some fresh berries and a little whipped cream on the side.
Chocolate and coffee – a match made in heaven. The roasted notes of the coffee give the chocolate a boost, a solid backbone, both perfectly accompanied by the rich flavour that comes from using dark brown sugar, packed full of molasses. To make sure both the coffee and the chocolate have their chance to shine, the two are heated together with the butter and milk, allowing the flavours to bloom. When choosing your coffee, you want to use something ground very finely, so the texture of the cookie isn’t gritty. And, if your instincts say this would be good with a little chopped chocolate added to the cookie dough, trust your instincts.
Blue cornmeal gives this cornbread its haunting corn flavor and lavender hue, but yellow or white cornmeal will work equally well. You can find blue corn meal in co-ops and online. Store it in the refrigerator or freeze.
During my childhood, many people in the country were poor, and their daily staple would have been wholemeal bread. White flour was more expensive than brown so white soda bread was considered to be more luxurious – a treat for special occasions.
Almond butter is pretty mild in flavor, but crisp almonds, chocolate, and punchy freeze- dried strawberries make these a special little snack. Feel free to substitute peanut butter or any other nut butter for the almond butter. If your almond butter is unsalted, add an additional pinch of salt to the dough. Toast the almonds in the oven while the bars are baking to save yourself some prep time.
A good molasses cookie should achieve a harmony between the sweetness of brown sugar, the bitterness of molasses, and the gentle heat of spices. This cookie does all that, but where it really delivers is the texture: perfectly soft and chewy. The dough can be portioned and frozen ahead of time, making these your all-purpose holiday cookie.
This is my version of a flourless orange cake which I love to eat. It’s based on a classic Italian whole orange cake that is traditionally flourless (and gluten-free), relying on eggs to bind it, and whole oranges (pick seedless varieties) boiled in water until soft, then puréed. Polenta (cornmeal) lends a beautiful golden colour and the cake utilises a whole orange to provide a wholesome orange flavour! The skin contains a huge amount of aromatic oils that impart their beautiful citrus flavour and a hint of bitterness, and the pithy skin contains large amounts of fibre and pectins. Use a gluten-free baking powder to keep it gluten-free.
Serves 12
Okay, now don’t freak out, but there is mayonnaise in this cake. I know: crazy. But it takes the place of the oil in the recipe, as well as the eggs (though, yes, I do throw in one, for good measure). And the texture is so perfect, as well as the flavor, that you need to put any mayo-phobias behind you and get baking. The marshmallow frosting here is epic, but if you’re just not feeling like pulling out your stand mixer for it, I totally understand and suggest you glaze this cutie with Cream Cheese Glaze instead.