Blackcurrant Ribena Jam

Cranberry who?

This Jam came out of nowhere. I had no idea we had a blackcurrant tree. My mom came in the kitchen Friday morning asking me If I knew the Ribena tree was loaded. I was like, the Ribena who? I promptly took a stroll to the front yard with Lizzie to have a look and a taste. That bite was intense. Imagine the driest, sour, tartest cranberry you ever had, and times it by 100. That is what this tasted like, I was shook, but intrigued. I knew Saturday morning this had to become a jam.

Nutella filled banana bread muffins, with Pistachio streusel.

"Quarantine Cooking"

My sister said, what is it about being stuck at home that makes you want to bake? My answer to that was I do not know. But I for one am in the mood to just cook and bake up a storm. I am even contemplating making some doughnuts and bagels. This banana bread is a quick tweak to my existing chocolate chip banana bread recipe. If you got that recipe down pact, then all you must do is top it with some streusel and you are good to go.

Grilled Pineapple Icecream

"We be Grillin"

This month is all about grilling, every recipe will include a grilled food, and the first on the chopping block is pineapple. Grilled pineapples are a summer staple, in salsa, burgers, on pizzas. Its usually the opening act to someone else’s show never really the headliner. So here we are, grilled pineapples first official gig as the star.

Peaches and Blood orange mascarpone cream pie

3.14 

Where do I even start with this pie. The pie that I put in a pie dish that was too deep, causing my beautiful braided crust slid down the sides. The same pie that everyone adored none-the-less. I bring to you, the iconic peaches and cream, made with love, and a bit of disaster, greedy girl style.

Fresh Strawberry Rosemary Pie

3.14 

Hello one and all and welcome to yet another blog post with a strawberry pie recipe. According to google a quick search of the term “strawberry pie recipe” yields 91,100,100 results. So safe to say the world will not suffer a lack of strawberry pie recipes any time soon. In an effort to stand out a bit from the crown, I brought rosemary to the party. Let’s all welcome my strawberry pie recipe number 91,100,101.

Caramel Apple Pie

3.14  

No way I could have a month of pies and not do an apple pie. In the world of pies, apple pie is president and pumpkin pie is vice. I had some caramel sauce left over from some bread pudding I made and decided it would be perfect with some granny smith apples. Quite possibly the best use I have ever found for left over caramel. 

Gizzada Pie

3.14  

Gizzada is a Jamaican coconut tart. It's usually made in little pastry rounds about the size of your palm. I decided that I would try my hand at a giant gizzada, essentially turning it into a huge gizzada pie. I mean what’s the difference between a tart and a pie anyway, depth?

Blueberry-nut pie

3.14  

This month its all about that round crust, filled with goodness and baked to perfection. As a child my mother made pies every single Sunday; lemon meringue to be exact, that was beautiful and toasted. I’m sitting here thinking that she was wonder woman. Get three kids ready for church, go to church, come home and cook dinner, which included freshly juiced carrot juice and a lemon meringue pie? Its no wonder she hates cooking now! I guess its my turn to take the baton.

Chocolate orange shortbread cookies

"Feast of Saint Valentine"

It’s time for some cookies, once again I am using my favorite flavor combination of chocolate and orange. My sister is probably going to be very annoyed when she sees this recipe because she is the shortbread cookie queen. But hopefully she will go make these and enjoy them and get over her annoyance real fast. Crunch, buttery, sweet cookies with an orange flavor dipped in chocolate.

Tea poached pears in chocolate sauce

"Feast of Saint Valentine"

Have you ever seen a dish on dessert menus, Instagram, basically everywhere and feel as if it’s on some French culinary institute unattainable level? That’s how I once felt about poached pears. The stem is still intact, the pear is perfectly soaked and it’s so delicious in flavor. Who knew you could make a poached pear at home with such amazing results?

Peach schnapps mojito ice cream

"Icy Cool"

This is such a good ice cream flavor. It’s not all the time that ice creams can really take on the flavor of the alcoholic drink they are based on. The peach schnapps really shines through in this one, especially since I expected the cream and sugar to mask it.

Jamaican Sweet potato cornmeal pudding

"JAMAICAN FLAVORS"

Who doesn’t love a warm slice of Jamaican pudding. It’s warm, cozy, sweet and satisfying goodness. I have been trying my hand at pudding for a few week’s now. Slowly getting better and better at it. MY favorite pudding is sweet potato pudding so it’s not a surprise that I would attempt to make one. This one is a little different than your average sweet potato pudding. Get your rum cream ready.

Chocolate chip Banana bread

"Feast of Saint Valentine"

Time to redeem myself from the fail that was the de-panning of the mango crunch cake I did last year. Against my better judgment, I tried to remove a hot cake from this very special Bundt pan and the cake broke in half. So here I am today with the same bundt pan and a whole lot more patience. Today I give you my exceptionally yummy banana bread recipe with some added chocolate chips.

Apple pie & Lemon icecream Sandwich

'Sammies'

I was thinking about a chocolate chip cookie and ice-cream sandwich. But I got to thinking and there are soooooooooo many chocolate chip cookie ice-cream sandwiches out there. I’m borderline sick and tired of ice-cream between chocolate chip cookies.  Well, let me take that back, I will never be tired of chocolate chip cookies. So I went back to the drawing board, tried to think of a unique but easy to make cookie that I can use for my dessert sandwich. I also wanted a dessert that I’ve never seen anyone make before. It’s the new way to have an apple pie a la mode.

Disastrously delicious Mango crunch cake

Mango is in season! 

Have I told yall that I hate to bake? I’m sure I say it in every single cake post. But this next disaster takes the cake (no pun intended…well…maybe a little). The flavors are on point, the texture on point, would I make it again yes, but with some serious changes.

Mango Ice-cream

Mango is in season! 

Its yummy time once again; If you thought my ice-cream making days were over think again, I have so much more creamy love to give. Last year July was all about ice-cream. Today we are taking it back, using Jeni’s splendid ice-cream base again to make a delicious treat

Banana bread pudding with cinnamon streusel

Potluck

It’s the final recipe for May. No this is not bread pudding made from banana bread (that's coming soon) this is bread pudding with the addition of bananas. Yes, believe it or not, I’m adding another bread pudding recipe to the blog. I think this is like the fourth one. There is the hazelnut bread pudding, the breakfast bread pudding with pears, and the cheesy chocolate brioche bread pudding. Who knew bread pudding was so versatile?

Bacon cinnabon with chocolate nutmeg ganache

"Feast of Saint Valentine"

I have a tried and true recipe for cinnamon buns, it is perfect.  The buns are gooey, tender, doughy and just …..Perfect. These are not those perfect buns. Why? Because I am super, super, super, super lazy! In all fairness that cinnamon bun requires making the dough and chilling it overnight, removing it from the refrigerator, kneading, allow it to rise, then forming the buns and allowing it to rise again. It’s truly a task and a half. Pillsbury to the rescue… Not so much.  

Cheesy chocolate brioche bread pudding for two

"Feast of Saint Valentine"

The one thing I look forward to when I come to NY is my visit to whole foods.  And not just for the experience, for the French brioche bread. The French bread by Euro Classic is the most delicious brioche bread I have ever eaten in my life; has me wanting to book a flight to France. I could literally eat the entire bag. With that said I can’t lie to you, it really pained my soul to use the bread to make a bread pudding. Hence today I bring you a very small bread pudding for two.

Dark Chocolate Chip coffee cookies

 

"Feast of Saint Valentine"

Sweet chewy and chocolaty with hints of coffee undertones; that’s the next chocolate recipe today. There always seems to be an endless array of cookie flavors to choose from. I always try to do a spin on my classic chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies whenever I can. This year we welcome the addition of coffee and dark chocolate. It adds an absolute punch to the chewy sweet cookie.