Desserts

My Mother’s Hands

My Mother’s Hands

May 13, 2012

These hands turn 80 this summer. These hands have picked strawberries, made jam, kneaded bread, rolled pastry. They have decorated birthday cakes, anniversary cakes and wedding cakes. They have changed diapers, washed clothes, sewn dresses, mended seams, darned socks, stitched buttons, ironed pleats. They have tied shoelaces, braided hair and wrapped presents. They have stroked [...]

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Recipe: Butter and Maple Blondies

Recipe: Butter and Maple Blondies

May 4, 2012

According to my mother, I have loved butter ever since I was old enough to sneak a one-pound brick of it out of the grocery bag, quietly peel back the foil, lick off a good inch, rewrap the evidence and slip it back in the bag. I think I was about 4. Today, I consume [...]

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Recipe: Perfect Elephant Ears (Palmiers)

Recipe: Perfect Elephant Ears (Palmiers)

March 5, 2012

These are elephant ears. Or palm ears. Or palmiers. Or French hearts, or butterflies or glasses. No matter what you call them, these sugar-laced puff pastry treats are one of my all time favourites. Like most things worthwhile, they are a labour of love. And I love my father. So I made a batch to [...]

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Thumbnail image for Recipe: Homemade Eggnog

Recipe: Homemade Eggnog

December 6, 2011

I’m trying not to be resentful but a certain celebrity llama has more Twitter followers than I do. And his first name isn’t Dali. To be fair, the llama is a talented goat herder, so I can see the appeal. Why all the fuss over a shaggy camelid? Polka Spot belongs to the Fabulous Beekman [...]

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Thumbnail image for Recipe: Walnut Rumballs

Recipe: Walnut Rumballs

December 5, 2011

Walnuts are the hard-done-by, neglected middle child of the nut family. Between the mature and established almond, with its fancy frangipane and marzipan pastes, and attention-grabbing, TV-diva baby of a macadamia (I’m looking at you Roseanne!) walnuts are easily overlooked. Sure, you can find them huddled in a corner with the maple syrup, but have [...]

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Thumbnail image for Recipe: Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts

Recipe: Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts

October 19, 2011

May I drop another name this week? How about Jess Thomson? She’s an award-winning food writer, a photographer and a recipe developer who once completed a marathon recipe-writing stint by producing a recipe a day — for a whole year. I wouldn’t be surprised if she flew helicopters or designed subway systems in her spare time. Her [...]

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Thumbnail image for Apple and Tonka Bean Crisp

Apple and Tonka Bean Crisp

October 4, 2011

No peaking. Just answer the question. What are tonka beans? Are they: a) a line of kids’ toys b) an ancient Polynesian percussion instrument c) urban slang for “I don’t care”

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Thumbnail image for Recipe: Butter Rum Pound Cake

Recipe: Butter Rum Pound Cake

September 16, 2011

I was going to post this on Monday, September 19th, official Talk Like a Pirate Day. But I used up all my lame pirate jokes back in 2006 when I needed a tie-in for my rumball recipe. Despite getting so tipsy spliced t’mainbrace sampling the rum-laced glaze that I came this close to bellowing out a sea [...]

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Recipe: Black Cherry and Raspberry Galette with Walnut Frangipane and Ginger

September 11, 2011

Do you really need me to write out the instructions with a recipe title like that? Clearly I didn’t name the dish with Twitter in mind. Instead, I created this for my parents’ anniversary. When asked what he wanted for dessert, Dad requested a “red galette.” After a bit of probing, I learned this was [...]

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Thumbnail image for Recipe: Pavlova

Recipe: Pavlova

September 2, 2011

If you asked me to describe my father’s taste in desserts, I’d tell you he’s a lemon man. When he turned 65, Mom and I baked 13 lemon meringue pies for his party. He squeezes fresh lemon juice into his tea and sometimes even orders lemon pie as an appetizer when we dine out. He [...]

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Thumbnail image for Recipe: Roasted Strawberries

Recipe: Roasted Strawberries

September 1, 2011

Writing about strawberries in September seems unreal to me. When I was a kid, September meant corn. Cobs and cobs of hot corn slathered in butter. Strawberries ushered in the summer holidays. They didn’t close them.

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