Before I dive into this delicious creamy artichoke and fig pizza, I wanted to share some fun news with you. I’m hosting a free virtual class all about working with natural light in photography, I’ve been shooting with a camera for over 18 years now and am sharing my go-to lighting tips and strategies in this 1 hour class. I’ll also go over the gear I use to light my images (which costs less than $45 total). It’s a super fun class, it’s free, and I’d absolutely love to see you there! I’m hosting a couple live sessions, and you can save your spot here 🙂

Now, onto the pizza! This recipe actually makes two pizzas, because it tastes so good that you’ll definitely want that second one around for extra servings. It’s also really, really easy to make. The most time-consuming part is the dough, which isn’t difficult, it just requires rising time. But if you’re in a hurry, you can always use store bought pizza dough instead. My favorite part of this pizza is the sauce, though. It’s a mixture of artichoke hearts, garlic, parmesan cheese, lemon, walnuts, and rosemary blitzed together in a food processor until creamy and smooth. When it’s spread on the pizza dough and baked along with the grapes and shallots, everything caramelizes and creates the most wonderful amalgamation of sweet and savory flavors.

And because I simply cannot eat enough figs this time of year, I put some raw ones on top along with fresh basil, some microgreens, and a drizzle of good balsamic. Turns out, fig pizza = HEAVEN. The result is a truly Mediterranean pizza, celebrating the best parts of late summer produce in those regions (and luckily for me, Portland, too!) This pizza goes really well with a crisp white wine or vino verde, too, if you want a tasty little beverage to go with it. Enjoy, my friend!

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Artichoke Shallot and Fig Pizza

Recipe makes 2 pizzas.

Course Dinner

Cuisine Italian

Keyword pizza

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Pizza Dough

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons bread flour
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Artichoke Sauce (makes about 1 1/3 cups sauce)

• 1 10 ounce jar artichoke hearts, drained and rinsed
• 8 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 ounces about 3/4 cup walnut halves and pieces
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Topping. (for 2 pizzas)

• 3 ounces about 1 1/4 cup grated pecorinno romano cheese
• 1 ounce about 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 4 large shallots thinly sliced
• 1/ cup dark red or black grapes
• 6 fresh figs halved or quartered
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup microgreens optional
• 2 tablespoons of balsamic

Instructions

Dough

• Mix together the dough ingredients in an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment at low speed for 3 minutes (pausing to scrape down the flour on the sides of the bowl as needed). Cover and allow to rest at room temperature out of direct sunlight for 15 minutes.
• Then knead the dough with an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment at low speed for 3 minutes. Place the dough on a well-floured surface (like a cutting board) and divide it in 2. Form each into a ball, then pat into a circle. Cover each with a lightly oiled piece of beeswrap or plastic wrap or tin foil and allow to rise at room temperature out of direct sunlight for 3 hours, or covered overnight in the refrigerator.

Artichoke Sauce

• Blend together all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.

Topping + Assembly

• Preheat the oven to 500°F (260°C) with a baking stone inside of it. Alternately, you can cook the pizza on a metal round pizza pan.
• Place a piece of parchment paper on a large cutting board. Place one of the pizza doughs on the parchment paper and stretch out the dough until it's about 10 to 12 inches in diameter, leaving a 1-inch crust border around the edge that is slightly elevated.
• Spread half of the artichoke sauce on the center of the pizza, leaving a 1-inch (2.5-cm) border for the crust. Sprinkle half the cheese on the pizza, and evenly distribute the half of the shallots and the grapes on the pizza.
• To transfer the pizza onto the baking stone, open the oven and hold the cutting board next to the baking stone, using your other hand to pull the parchment paper off the cutting board and slide it (along with the pizza) onto the baking stone. Close the oven and bake until the crust is deeply golden and the crust turns gold, about 15 minutes. Repeat with the second pizza.
• Evenly distribute the fresh figs, basil leaves, and microgreens over the two pizzas. Drizzle each pizza with 1 tablespoon of balsamic each, and serve.

Notes

Pizza dough recipe adapted from the New York Times

These summer days are getting away from me. They’re flying by faster than my teenage self on a highway, and to be honest, I can’t say that I’m very upset about it. This has been the hottest and driest summer on record here in Portland, and I’m bone tired from a combination of heat exhaustion, endlessly watering the plants, and constant physical discomfort. Our house, you see, has no air conditioning. It was also built in 1937, which means it also essentially has no effective insulation, and all the windows are single pane and very drafty. Basically, whatever temperature it is outside, our house is within 10 degrees of that. So in short: I. Am. Over. It.

But to keep myself from going insane until it’s nice and rainy and cloudy again, I’ve been focusing on appreciating the delicious late summer fruits + veggies that are flowing from my garden, my parents yard, and the farmer’s market. And with that attempt at a positive mindset, I’ve made this delicious plum charlotte cake. Okay, I lied. Not about the delicious part, I promise it tastes good. It’s actually not really a charlotte. It’s just baked in a cake pan that’s moulded to emulate the shape of a charlotte. And if you’re wondering “why is she going on about a charlotte and what the heck is it, anyway?”, I don’t blame you. A charlotte is basically layers of cake and fruit puree or custard kept in place with a wall of lady finger biscuits. It’s also known as an icebox cake, (you’ve probably seen them on the Great British Bake Off, if you watch that show).

Anywho, now that we’re all on the same page about what a charlotte is, let’s talk about what’s actually in this cake. It’s a simple cake batter with lemon zest, plum juice, a touch of whiskey, vanilla, and some finely chopped plums stirred in. You can also feel free to substitute any other stone fruit in place of the plums, like peaches or pluots or nectarines. I will also say that this cake is a lot easier to make than it looks, the fancy cake mould does all the legwork here. All you do is make the batter in your stand mixer, pour it in, bake it, and voila! It’s lovely. And then you can just top with some optional glaze and fresh fruit, if you want to dress it up a bit. It’s delicious just the same, with or without the toppings. I hope you enjoy it, my friend, and that it encourages you to tolerate the heat just a tad bit longer.

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Plum Cake Charlotte

Course Dessert

Keyword plum cake

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Servings 12 people

Calories 235kcal

Ingredients

Plum Cake

• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 1/3 cup milk room temp
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed plum juice
• 1 tablespoon bourbon whiskey
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh plums or other stone fruit folded in at end

Whiskey Glaze + Toppings (optional)

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 tablespoon whiskey
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Sliced or halved stone fruit for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Plum Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, cardamom, and salt until combined. Set aisde.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar at medium speed until combined, light, and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce the mixing speed to low, and alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk in two increments. Add the plum juice, bourbon, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated, taking care not to over mix. Fold in the finely chopped fresh plums by hand.
• Pour the batter into a well-greased and lightly floured 6-cup capacity cake pan. Bake in the oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out relatively clean (a bit of plum goop is fine, just no wet batter), about 25 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack and unmolding the cake. Allow to cool to room temperature, then top with the glaze + fruit.

Whiskey Glaze

• Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, whiskey, and vanilla extract in a small bowl until combined. Feel free to adjust the quantities to your desired consistency (so if you want the glaze to be thinner, use more milk. If you want it to be thicker, use less milk).

Nutrition

Calories: 235kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 64mg | Potassium: 78mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 305IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 1mg

It certainly has been a while since I shared an update about the homestead. Now that I look at it, the last time I wrote about it was in the spring of 2020 when we’d planted some saplings out there to diversify the future forest. Since that time, there honestly wasn’t much going on for a while, and then a whole lot happened really fast. In terms of the low-key maintenance things, we did another planting of saplings in the spring of this year (2021), and our landscape specialists Mulysa + Michael of Resilience Design did some more invasive species control. They also built some check-dams to slow the waterflow of the creeks on the land, which helps prevent erosion, while also raising the water levels of the creeks, which in turn makes the water cooler and more habitable for animals. And all during that time, we’ve been saving up for a construction loan. Building out on relatively wild land is a lot more expensive than buying a ready-made home, but it’s so much more rewarding in terms of space and nature and privacy. So, we’ve taken the slower route and have been saving away to create a downpayment for the construction loan we’ll need to build out the homestead.

And now, we’ve saved enough to where that’s actually possible. And that brings us to the realm of “really fast things”. The past few months we’ve assembled a really amazing team consisting of our interior designer, Sam Struck, our landscape + site plan architects at Resilience Design, our green builder JRA, and our amazing architect Dylan Lamar. Sam is a friend of mine, and she has built a house from scratch in the Columbia Gorge as well, so I was picking her brain about the process, and we started talking about what my and Jeremy’s plans were for our home. When I said that I really wanted to make the house environmentally friendly and possibly off-grid, she recommended that I reach out to JRA as a builder. They have a lot of experience in green building, and when we spoke with James (from JRA) it was such a great fit. And then he connected us with Dylan, and the whole group kind of came together.

So after we figured out who all was involved, Dylan started designing the home after talking with us about what we wanted in the structure and looking at some example images I’d shared with him. I’ve spent a LOT of time over the past year reading through design books, and had narrowed it down some favorite images/spaces/architects/exteriors on a Pinterest board I made. After looking everything over, he created the below designs. We’ve got through a few iterations, so I have them marked as V2 and V3, for Version 2, and Version 3. The later the number, the more recent, so basically Version 3 is the current design of the home. It’s still going to change because of budget flexibility, etc, so it’s still a work-in-progress, but it gives you a rough idea of where we’re headed and what we hope to create.

As far as the basic power/water/waste dynamic for the house, Dylan also did some calculations based on the house’s size + location for the energy load. We were hoping to be completely off-grid and use entirely solar energy, but we won’t be able to harvest enough in the winter to keep the house powered because of the energy load that the heating will require, so we will have to be connected to the local energy grid. On the bright side, the solar panels will create more energy than we need in the summer, so we’re hoping we can put that back into the grid (and maybe even get credited for it on our winter energy bills). And Mulysa made a good point, that part of building a resilient home means having back-up options in case things fail. And being connected to the grid will be a good back-up in case a crazy storm hits and we aren’t able to get snow off the roof’s solar panels.

The county also requires a back-up power source for the well pump, so we’ll also have a small propane generator out there, which could be another potential temporary back-up energy source in case a tree falls on the power line or something. And I strongly prefer cooking with gas rather than electric, so we’re going to have a large propane tank (ideally buried) that we’ll get filled a few times a year, and it will go to the stove and also to the generator by the well pump. And if you couldn’t tell from the mention of well pump, we’re planning on doing well water for the house. We’re also hoping to do rain water catchments and store that either in underground tanks or in ponds, and use that for watering the garden + small orchard. And we’ll be doing septic for waste.

Exterior + layout-wise, we’re hoping to do dark stone on as much of the exterior as we can afford. And the rest we’re thinking of dark vertical siding. The house is two stories with a partial basement that’s made up of the garage and a little guest room area, so it’s more like three stories in total when you count the basement. The layout is otherwise very traditional, with the kitchen + living room + my photography space (aka the ‘Dining Room’) on the main floor, and all the bedrooms on the second floor. You can see how the plans have been tweaked below, and off of the drawings/design are by our architect Dylan Lamar of Cultivate Place. So, that about sums up where we are at the moment with things. There’s lots more in the works, and I’ll share another update in a couple months with where we’re at, what’s shifted, and all that good stuff. Right now, I’m just really excited + grateful that we have such an incredibly talented and like-minded group of people working on this project. It’s such a relief to have the homestead plans in motion after years of saving and imagining and thinking. I can’t wait to see where it takes us!

This has been a season filled with highs and lows. I don’t know how to make this easier or soften the blow, so I will just say it as it is. I became pregnant with my first child, and then we lost the baby. I won’t go into more detail than that here for a trigger warning, but I talked about it more in depth in this instagram post if you’re comfortable hearing more about what happened. Needless to say, it’s been really, really hard. When I first made + photographed this recipe, I didn’t know we’d miscarried yet, but thinking back over the past couple months, our little one’s existence lined up with strawberry season, so writing this post and editing these images has been really therapeutic. I feel like it’s a way for me to honor them through making and sharing something beautiful + joyful. They brought so much beauty and joy to our lives during the couple months we had them, so it feels only right to share that through a preservation of a sweet and too-short season with this strawberry liqueur.

The recipe here is as simple as they come, it’s just strawberries, sugar, and vodka. But there are a couple key things to keep in mind to ensure the most flavorful + bright flavors possible. 1) Use strawberries at the heigh of their season, and as local as possible. If you cut the strawberry, it should be red or at least pink inside. If it’s white in the center, it was picked unripe and the strawberry flavor won’t be as strong. If you’re buying strawberries from the store, avoid the ones in the plastic tubs, and opt for the ones in the aqua cardboard-y crates instead. And 2)—only allow the mixture to infuse for 2 days. This ensures you’re preserving the brightest, freshest notes from the strawberries in your strawberry liqueur, and not any notes of decomposition or fermentation. And if you want to make another batch of liqueur while you’re out purchasing vodka and sugar, this is also the season for harvesting green walnuts for nocino, and I have a recipe for that here, as well.

As for me, I’m taking it one day at a time and accepting my emotions as they come. Creating and cooking have been really helpful ways to work through what happened. I was really sick and sensitive to smells during the pregnancy, so I only cooked a handful of times because the scent of it made me feel too nauseous. Getting back to cooking + enjoying a variety of foods again has been a deep source of comfort. It helps to focus on doing things that make me feel good. And I know it’s not the end of the road for us, either. We will keep trying, and I hope with all my might that things will be different the next time around. ♡

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Strawberry Liqueur

Course Drinks

Keyword strawberry

Prep Time 30 minutes

Resting Time 2 days

Total Time 2 days 30 minutes

Servings 40 ounces

Ingredients

• 1 cup of sugar
• 30 ounces ripe strawberries cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
• 5 cups vodka
• 64-ounce mason jar with lid
• Multiple smaller mason jars for storing the finished liqueur

Instructions

• Add the sugar to the mason jar, then add the strawberries and the vodka. Screw on the lid as tightly as possible and shake to combine and until half the sugar dissolves.
• Soak for 48 hours, shaking it again on the second day until all the sugar dissolves. Strain through a mesh colander lined with two layers of cheesecloth placed over a bowl. Discard the strawberries and keep the liqueur. Use a funnel to transfer the liqueur to multiple smaller mason jars and screw on their lids. Store in a cool dark place. Will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 year.

A couple Saturdays ago we drove out to the future homestead site and spent the morning picking wild blackberries. Well, I spent the morning picking blackberries, and Jeremy spent it taking some amazing shots with his old-timey wet plate camera. But I didn’t mind being alone one bit, I get into a kind of weird zen state when I’m berry picking and I can pick a LOT of berries if I am able to zone out and just kind of get into the rhythm of spotting them in the brush. It can be really tricky, since they’re matte black when they’re ripe and are hard to spot tucked into the shadows—but literally nothing compares to their sweet, floral, tannic flavor, and it’s well-worth every thorn-scratch and bug bite. I had the recipe for this blackberry coffee cake in mind while I was picking them, and couldn’t wait to test it out when I got home.

When we did get home, however, I was pretty exhausted from the heat, so I made this blackberry coffee cake the next day. And I’m glad I did, because I was able to take it to my friend Mona and Jaret’s house afterwards so it could be enjoyed by a group of food-loving folks. (Yay!) I was REALLY pleased with the flavor and consistency of this cake, it came out incredibly moist, lightly lemon-y, and the little bursts of blackberry flavor from the fresh blackberries baked into the cake are pretty fantastic. Plus, the blackberry glaze is the icing on the cake, both literally and figuratively.

The color of the glaze is completely natural, and it just comes from cooking down some blackberries into a wet jam, then straining it to get a syrup, and then mixing the syrup with powdered sugar and milk. It’s super easy and has such a delicious bright flavor to it, and really helps make the coffee cake shine!

And if you’ve never made coffee cake before (or blackberry coffee cake, for that matter), it involves adding the cake batter to the pan in layers, with a sprinkling of spices and brown sugar between each layer. That’s how you get the signature cinnamon swirls and lines in a classic coffee cake. I personally have always loved the flavor combination of blackberries and cinnamon, so that’s why I paired the two together here. And I was very, very happy about it. I think this is going to be a blackberry season classic at the Kosmas Flores household, and I hope it becomes one at yours, too! 🙂

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Blackberry Coffee Cake with Blackberry Glaze

Course Dessert

Keyword bundt cake, coffee cake

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Cooling Time 1 hour

Servings 12 people

Ingredients

Blackberry Coffee Cake

• 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup almond meal or almond flour plus extra for dustin the pan
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1/3 cup olive oil melted coconut oil, or vegetable oil
• 4 eggs room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 heaping tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 ounces blackberries cut in half
• Baking spray I recommend Baker's Joy for bundt pans in particular

Blackberry Glaze

• 3 ounces blackberries
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Blackberry Coffee Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, almond meal, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
• Cream together the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment at medium speed until smooth. Add the olive oil and continue mixing until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
• Add the sour cream and mix at low speed until incorporated. Then add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and mix at low speed until combined (it's okay if the batter looks a little separated at this point). Add the flour mixture at low speed, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed, until a smooth thick batter forms.
• Spray a 12-cup capacity bundt pan with baking spray and sprinkle with almond meal. Use a spoon to scoop the batter into the bundt pan just enough to make a 1-inch thick layer on the bottom of the pan. Fold the blackberries into the rest of the batter, then fill the bundt pan with 1/3 of the batter. Sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture over the batter in the pan, then spoon another 1/3 of the batter over the top. Then sprinkle with the remaining brown sugar mixture, and top with the remaining 1/3 of the batter.
• Bake in the oven until the top of the cake is golden, the edges pull away from the sides of the pan slightly, and a toothpick inserted into the deepest part of the bundt comes out clean, about 1 hour. If the top is browning too quickly, cover it with foil and return it to the oven.
• Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature for 10 minutes before unmolding the bundt cake onto a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely, then drizzle with the blackberry glaze and serve.

Blackberry Glaze

• Bring the blackberries, sugar, and water to a boil over medium heat in a very small saucepan. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for 5 minutes, crushing the blackberries with the end of a wooden spoon to help release the juices. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. If you want to speed up the cooling process, you can use an ice bath to help cool the blackberry mixture to room temperature. Strain the mixture through a wire mesh sieve over a bowl. Reserve the liquid and discard the pulp. Makes about 1/4 cup of liquid blackberry concentrate.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and the liquid blackberry concentrate. Add the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the desired thickness of the glaze is reached, whisking constantly. If you want it thicker, you can omit a tablespoon. If you want it thinner, you can add a tablespoon.

The nettle patch in the garden has returned in full force this spring, so much so that I’m planning on digging up a large chunk of it because it’s been steadily encroaching on more and more of the yard every year. But before I hacked away at it, I harvested a few baskets’ worth for freezer nettle pesto. I don’t like canning in the traditional sense that requires boiling and all that, the heat processing can damage the flavor of more bright and delicate ingredients, like the fresh basil and lemon in this pesto, so I much prefer to just throw it in some cans, label them with a piece of tape and the date the pesto was made, and then stack them in the ol’ chest freezer in the garage.

This nettle pesto gets its herbaceous flavor from another seasonal spring flavor, and that’s raw fennel fronds + stems. Most recipes call for fennel bulbs, but they usually have a good amount of stems + fronds attached at the top, so when I’m making this pesto I like to schedule some kind of fennel-based dinner for the same week as my pesto-making, so that nothing goes to waste. (I actually have a fennel roast chicken that I’m going to be sharing here in a week or two, so keep an eye out for that! But in the meantime, this caramelized fennel bulb with goat’s cheese is a real treat.)

I also like my nettle pesto very bright in flavor, so there’s a hefty dose of lemon zest and juice in here, plus a wonderful subtle sweetness from the pistachios. And the nettle adds such a rich savory umami element to the mix. A word on raw nettle, though, it will sting you if it touches your skin, so take care when harvesting it or working with it pre-blanching. Once you blanch the leaves in boiling water for 1 minute, though, it neutralizes the enzyme that causes the stinging sensation, and it’s totally safe to touch and eat (and very delicious, to do so!)

I hope this encourages you to take advantage of the bounty of spring while it’s here 🙂 Oh! And my dear friend Bea Lubas and I have opened enrollment for our Virtual Workshop, and it’s closing in just a few days. I’d love to share more about my creative process and my photography behind-the-scenes with you, you can read more and join us here!

Spring evenings still get pretty chilly around here, and I always want to start the day with something hot + comforting when I wake up in a slightly chilly bedroom. I love hot beverages of all kinds + varieties, from both the coffee and the tea realm, but rooibos holds a special place in my kitchen. There’s just something about this earthy, warm, and very slightly fruity drink that hits all my flavor hot spots. In you’re unfamiliar with rooibos, it’s an herbal tea made from the leaves of the aspalathus linearis plant and it mainly grows in Africa. I especially love having it with a generous bit of milk, and that’s the rooibos latte recipe I’m sharing with you here.

You can make it as simple or complex as you’d like in terms of the milk froth. I have instructions in the recipe for both simply heating the milk with the honey, or if you want to get fancy, how to froth the milk with the honey coffee-shop-style. When I do it at home, I just heat the milk with the honey and leave the frothing to the professionals, but it’s completely up to you. From there all you do is add some strongly brewed rooibos tea, and voila! You have an insanely delicious and creamy herbal latte in your hands. And if you want to add even more flavor to the mix, you could swap the honey for my lilac syrup for an extra spring-y floral kick.

Now, the overall taste and flavor of rooibos tea can vary a lot depending on the quality, tea maker, and source. This isn’t a sponsored post or link, but if you want to go with my personal favorite rooibos blend, it’s the Vanilla Rooibos from my local tea shop The Jasmine Pearl (they ship pretty much everywhere, though!) It has the perfect balance of sweetness and warmth, and the vanilla complements the flavors of the rooibos perfectly. I hope you enjoy this cozy rooibos latte, and that it keeps you nice and warm on these cool spring mornings 🙂

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Rooibos Latte with Honey

Course Drinks

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups whole milk or your preferred plant-based milk
• 2/3 cup strongly brewed rooibos tea
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 tablespoons honey

Instructions

To Froth the Milk

• If you want to froth your milk, you can follow the below instructions. Note that not all non-dairy milks will froth, if you're using a vegan milk. If you don't want to froth your milk, you can skip the next two steps and simply heat your milk in a small pan on the stovetop over low heat until hot but not boiling, stirring every 30 seconds or so.
• To do it manually with a metal milk-frothing pitcher (basically a very tiny pot) and a normal whisk or handheld electric milk frother, pour the milk and honey into the metal milk pitcher and place the pitcher on the stovetop over medium heat until the milk teaches 140 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring it every 30 seconds or so. Remove the pitcher from the heat. If you're using a normal whisk, it has to be small enough to fit inside the metal pitcher.
• Place the whisk in the pitcher and clap your hands flat together on either side of the handle. Rub them back and forth (like you would if you're warming your hands) to spin the whisk around. Slowly, foam will form on the top. If you're using a hand-held electric frother, submerge the whisk end of the frother into the milk, and turn it on. Froth until a layer of foam forms on top that's about 1/2-inch thick. (Also, make sure to turn your frother off before removing it from the milk, otherwise it will flick drops of milk everywhere).

To Assemble

• Evenly distribute your milk and foam between 2 heat-safe serving glasses. Evenly distribute the hot brewed rooibos between the 2 glasses. Serve immediately and enjoy!

I’m feeling all sorts of inspired by spring at the moment. The longer days, the flush of beautifully colored flowers appearing in the garden, the birds happily chirping from their perches in the trees around the house…it’s making me feel really, really hopeful. And that optimism is showing through in my images lately, too, I think. They’ve taken a turn for the brighter these past few weeks, and I can’t say I mind it! And this orange blossom cake is definitely solid evidence of that.

It’s nice to have that feeling of lightness and color and joy in the food that I’m making and the images I’m shooting, especially after the long, dark winter we had. And Jeremy and I also got our first COVID vaccine, so I’m feeling especially happy and hopeful about that, too. It feels like a really big weight has been lifted, one of stress and anxiety and fear, and one that I didn’t realize I was carrying around until it was gone. I’m also extremely grateful and both my parents and Jeremy’s parents are fully vaccinated, too, which definitely helped relieve a lot of that anxiety, as well!

Oh! And the 26th of last month was my 34th birthday, and hopefully the last birthday I have to have on zoom 😬 And to celebrate, I made myself this cake a few days beforehand. Some might find it weird to make your own birthday cake, but I like it because that way I get to put precisely what I want inside of it, no matter how weird or strange others might find the flavor. And this flavor combination was definitely not something you’d come across at a local bakery. Instead, it’s inspired by the flavors of a land very far away, and that land is Greece.

Greek cooking tends to use floral flavors in desserts much more liberally than in the western world, it’s pretty normal to come across rose or orange blossom-flavored sweets. And one of the flavors that pairs best with them is pistachios and honey. So, I combined them all in this very delicious honey and orange blossom cake with pistachio buttercream. The cake has orange blossom water and honey in the batter, and *also* in a syrup that’s poured over the baked cake and allowed to absorb into it. Then you just make some pistachio butter by pureeing shelled pistachios in a food processor, and make a buttercream with it. Slather that all over the cake, and you’ve got yourself a prettttttty nice dessert situation. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and that it brings some of the brightness of spring into your kitchen + home.

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Honey Orange Blossom Cake with Pistachio Buttercream

Course Dessert

Cuisine Greek

Prep Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Servings 12 people

Ingredients

Honey Orange Blossom Cake

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 8 ounces butter room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 eggs room temperature
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 cups buttermilk room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons orange blossom water
• 1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

Honey Orange Blossom Syrup

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water (I used Nielsen Massey brand)

Pistachio Buttercream

• 1 cup shelled pistachios
• 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup finely chopped pistachios for garnish

Instructions

Honey Orange Blossom Syrup

• In a small saucepan, bring the honey, sugar, and water to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, then remove from heat and allow to cool until warm, then stir in orange blossom water. You can use more or less of the orange blossom water in the recipe depending on the strength of the brand you have. I used Nielsen Massey brand, but the flavor concentration can vary depending on the brand you have, so giving the syrup a taste and adjusting to your personal flavor preference is a good idea.

Honey Orange Blossom Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease (3) 8-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together the flour, almond meal, baking powder, cardamom, baking soda, and salt. Set it aside.
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar at medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, waiting until the egg is fully incorporated into the batter before adding the next one. Add the honey and mix to combine.
• With the mixer running at low speed, alternate between adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk in 4 increments until combined. Stir in the vanilla extract, orange blossom water, and orange zest. Evenly distribute the batter between the cake pans and place them in the oven. Bake until golden around edges, lightly golden on top, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
• Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then poke top the top of each cake 1 dozen times with a fork pour, and drizzle the syrup evenly over the three cakes. Allow the cakes to cool to room temperature and absorb the syrup, then flip them out onto a wire rack and allow them to continue to cool while you prepare the buttercream.

Pistachio Buttercream + Assembly

• Place the shelled pistachios in a food processor and blend until creamy and smooth (like a thick peanut butter in texture), about 1 minute. Set the pistachio butter aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until utter until pale and smooth, about 1 minute. Add the pistachio butter and beat until incorporated. Then add the powdered sugar and beat at low speed until combined, then add the milk and salt and raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 to 4 minutes.
• To assemble: layer and frost the cake with the pistachio buttercream. To create the round icing decorations around the top edge of the cake, use a pastry bag with a large round tip and follow the icing method in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl24VWJZFMI
• Sprinkle the finely chopped pistachios around the lowest inch of the icing around the bottom edge of the cake. Sprinkle any excess chopped pistachios on top, and serve.

I was looking through instagram last week when I came across a beautifully golden forsythia blossom syrup from Colleen Codekas, dotted with yellow blossoms I recognized from a large shrub we have along our driveway. I had no idea it was edible until I saw Colleen’s post about it, and dove right into the recipe on her blog Grow Forage Cook Ferment (which is an AMAZING resource for gardening, seasonal recipes, herbs, and the like). I’ve been on a lemon kick lately, so I included some zest in the recipe here to add that vibrant-yet-delicate lemon flavor to the mix, and the result is a bright and springy floral syrup, adapted from Colleen’s lovely recipe.

I love how crazy bountiful the array of edible goodness from nature is—even neighborhood shrubs that you thought were just there to be pretty have healthful + flavorful benefits for you, too! It will still be a few weeks before any blossoms appear on our lilac shrubs, but I’m very excited to make more lilac syrup with them once they’re here. That syrup and this one are SUCH great additions to any tea for a touch of sweetness and a floral kick.

This past winter felt very long and isolating, so seeing the flowers opening up, the ground becoming green instead of brown, and the rainbow of plant life bursting forth all around the city feels so, so good to see. The longer days and sunshine sure are helping with the happy vibes floating around our household, too! It’s been so nice to be able to sit near the living room window and knit with just the natural daylight pouring through until 7 pm. What a treat!

I hope you’re enjoying the spring so far, and that this lovely forsythia syrup recipe gives you something fun to do with the bright and sunshine-y forsythia blossoms in your own backyard 🙂 And P.S. If you’re wondering about the adorable tiny daffodils in the frame, they’re a new variety I planted this past fall and I am OBSESSED with them! They’re called ‘avalanche’ and I got them from Old House Gardens—they are sooooo fragrant and each stem sends out a spray of tiny, delicate, vibrant blossoms. They’re highly productive, and I definitely recommend them!

The daffodils have emerged from their long winter slumber inside our raised beds, signaling to everyone within viewing distance that spring has officially arrived. Early spring is always such a funny time for produce, it’s still too cold for most of the traditional spring goodies like rhubarb and spring onions to be readily available, but the colorful signals from nature are beginning to arrive, letting us know that it has much, much more in store for us if only we can wait just a bit longer. And to hold me over until the colorful array of fruits and vegetables hits the market and my garden, I’m making do with the last bit of winter citrus season in the form of this blissfully tart + bright tangerine whiskey sour.

Traditionally, a whiskey sour is made up of whiskey, lemon juice, and a touch of honey or simple syrup as a sweetener. Since tangerines are sweeter than lemons and have more natural sugars in their juice (while still being more sour than your standard navel orange), I significantly cut down on the amount of sweetener needed in this. That being said, if you like your whiskey drinks on the sweet side, you could add a touch more honey if you like. I, however, very much enjoy tart and sour flavors, so I’m all in for the full force of this tangerine and lemon juice concoction.

As for the preparation of this tangerine whiskey sour, it’s pretty easy and straightforward. Just mix the lemon juice and honey together until the honey dissolves, then mix it with the whiskey and tangerine juice, shake with some ice, and serve. It’s the kind of cocktail you can have within 3 minutes of thinking of it, including juicing time. Yes, you’ll have to get some juice out of a tangerine, but it’s very easy. I’m sharing with you my trick for getting an obscene amount of juice out of citrus, but BE CAREFUL. I’m not going to be liable for anyone stabbing their hand with a fork, okay? Promise? Okay.

So first, just cut the citrus in half. Easy enough, right? Ha! Not so fast. It *must* be cut in half across the equator, because you want to open up as many of the “cells” of the citrus as you possibly can (which means more readily accessible juice for us later). Next, you hold one of the halves of the citrus in the palm of your right hand, with the cut side facing out. Then, you take a fork in your left hand, and stick it into the citrus in your right hand, and start twisting the fork around while applying just enough pressure to burst the juice cells, but not enough to stab yourself with the fork. And this should be done over a glass or bowl or whatever you want to catch all the juice in. And if you’re worried about seeds, just put a little strainer over the bowl or glass and it will catch them for you. And that’s it! Pretty simple really. It’s slightly more dangerous than using a reamer, but you get SO much more juice out of your citrus that it’s more than worth it, in my opinion. Hope you enjoy this tart little beverage, and that you get lots of use out of this juicing tip. I’ll be back again soon with some sweeter recipes on the horizon!

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Tangerine Whiskey Sour

Course Drinks

Keyword whiskey sour

Prep Time 3 minutes

Total Time 3 minutes

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2- inch peeled zest of organic tangerine
• 1/2 cup bourbon whiskey
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed tangerine juice

Instructions

• In a small glass or bowl, whisk together the honey and lemon juice until the honey is completely dissolved. Set aside.
• Rub the inside of two serving glasses with the orange-colored side of the tangerine zest, then discard the zest and set the glasses aside.
• Add the lemon honey mixture, the whiskey, and the tangerine juice to a cocktail shaker with some crushed ice, seal the shaker, and shake for 15 seconds. Strain the whiskey sour into the two serving glasses and enjoy.

This was a very, very old post that I originally made back in 2012 (over 9 years ago now), and the years have shown me better ways to make a no-bake cheesecake. This one didn’t have any gelatin in it, so the cheesecake filling was still very soft and messy when sliced, so I’ve spruced it up with a touch of gelatin to firm it up, and some lemon and ginger curd to add even more brightness and zing to the mix. There’s also an insanely delicious pistachio and almond crust, which does require baking, but is very much worth the minimal effort of turning on your oven.

Something about toasted pistachios and almonds baked together makes the most floral, sweet, and aromatically nutty crust. The crunch of the crust at the bottom of the cheesecake contrasts soooo nicely against the soft creamy filling—I definitely have a penchant for alternating textures in desserts, so this lemon ginger cheesecake ticks all my check boxes.

One thing to note, though, is that you need to chill it overnight for the gelatin to really firm up. So if you’re making this for a special occasion, it needs to be prepared at least 1 day beforehand. The other nice thing about gelatin, though, is that it keeps well in the fridge, so you could easily make this 2 or 3 days ahead of time and just keep it covered in the refrigerator until it’s time to serve it forth.

And if you’re wondering what those glistening golden twists are on top of the cheesecake, they’re candied lemon slices. Tart and sweet, they add another layer of texture and flavor to the mix. And they’re also just really pretty 🙂 They are totally optional, though, so if you want to simplify things you can certainly omit them and still get plenty of lemon goodness from the curd and the cheesecake itself. I hope you enjoy it, my friends, and that you’re enjoying all the lovely spring sunshine that’s been peeking out these days. It’s getting me so excited for the garden again—I can’t wait!

Time has certainly got away from me these past few weeks. I’ve been working on creating some new additions to my photography course, and that’s been soaking up all my time and creative energy as of late. But it’s nearly wrapped up, and now I’ve gotten a nice little moment to write up this coconut lime tart recipe that I’ve had in my back pocket for over a month now.

It’s an excellent treat for this time of year, when you’re craving something bright and zesty after soooo many hearty stews and soups (at least that’s how I feel about it. If you never tire of soups and stews, God bless you.) I’ve found myself wistfully thinking about a coconut lime margarita and a warm sandy beach more than once this winter, but since that’s not really an option for me for a variety of reasons, I decided to make myself a tropical getaway in food-form. Enter, coconut lime tart. While the crust might look like a sandy beach, the flavor + texture is much more along the lines of a coconut-y graham cracker cookie. Plus, it’s an easy one to whip up in the food processor (it takes less than a minute.)

Filling-wise, it’s basically your standard custard base with some coconut milk, lime juice, and lime zest added in. There’s also a touch of tapioca flour to thicken it up, but you could use normal flour if you don’t have tapioca flour on hand. I also added some natural powdered green food coloring to give it a lime-green hue, but you can skip this step if you don’t have any handy, or you can try it with matcha powder, but just be aware it will probably add a matcha flavor to the custard, too. If you use liquid non-natural food coloring (i.e. artificial food coloring), it is MUCH more concentrated than the natural powdered stuff, so you’d probably only need 1 or 2 drops of it.

After the coconut lime tart is all baked, you can top it with an Italian meringue for a wee bit of extra-sweetness and a little of that delicious toasted marshmallow-y flavor. You can keep things simple and just spread the meringue on top with the back of a spoon, making sun little swirls and swooops, or if you want it to look a bit fancy like it does in the photo, you can use a pastry bag with a star tip to pipe out rosette swirls and little stars. The choice is yours, but it will taste fantastic either way. I hope you enjoy this little burst of summer flavor, and I’ll do my best to be back with another recipe sooner rather than later, my friend! ????

January’s always a bit of a weird time. The exciting kerfuffle of the holidays is over, and you’re left with short dark cold days, and lots of quiet time to think about the year ahead. I did quite a bit of reflecting on what I wanted to focus on this year, with our plans for the homestead and all, and in the midst of that I was also getting all my work prepared for opening up Creative Business School again (which I’m now accepting new students for, but will be closing enrollment again on the 4th). So basically, January flew right past me in a flurry, much like the intense rain storms our house has weathered these past few weeks.

I’m here now though, on the 1st of February, halfway between the winter solstice and the first day of spring, to share a little bit of cozy comfort food with you in the form of a green, hearty, and delightfully smokey soup. This is based on my grandpa’s recipe for split pea soup, and being a born and bred southern Indiana boy, he always cooked his with a smoked ham hock floating around in it. If you’re unfamiliar with a hock, it’s basically the knee/ankle joint of the pig. It’s usually smoked, and can be enjoyed as-is in all its fatty chewy smokey glory, but its true super power is its ability to make any liquid you boil it in taste wickedly good. In short, the best possible way to make split pea soup requires you to use a smoked ham hock. Or at least that’s how my grandpa felt about it.

If you don’t have one handy, you can chop up some bacon and throw it in there to still add a touch of that smokey flavor, but you’re missing out on all the richness from the cartilage of the hock itself breaking down, and the tender little bits of meat that come off of it and become at one with the muddled green stew. So I recommend trying to get one, if you can. To add some brightness to the mix, I really like stirring in frozen peas at the very end of cooking, so you still get little bursts of that bright, fresh spring-y flavor that fresh peas are packed with, plus the comforting heartiness of cooked up mushy split peas. And throwing some fresh thyme and parsley on top right before serving helps with this, too.

And while I didn’t put up a new post in January, I did re-test and update this absolutely delicious avgolemono soup recipe from the archives, so if you want to keep the soup train a-moving I’ve got you covered on that front. Wishing you all a very wonderful 2021, and I’ll be back again soon with a little lime tart to help you enjoy winter citrus season to its fullest! ????

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Split Pea Soup with Smoked Ham Hock

Course Dinner

Cuisine American

Keyword split pea soup

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Total Time 2 hours

Servings 10 people

Calories 379kcal

Ingredients

Split Pea Soup with Smoked Ham Hock

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion chopped
• 10 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 pound carrots peeled and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
• 3 stalks of celery cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
• 4 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 smoked ham hock or shank
• 1 pound dried split peas rinsed
• 7 cups chicken turkey, or vegetable stock
• 1 cup fresh or frozen shelled peas
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves
• Kosher salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• 2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds optional
• Bread for serving alongside

Seared Shallots

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 shallots, cut in half lengthwise

Instructions

• Heat the olive oil in large pot over medium low heat. Add the onions and raise the heat to medium, then sauté until softened and translucent and some pieces turn lightly golden around the edges, about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every 4 minutes or so. Add the garlic and stir to incorporate and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the carrot, celery, 2 teaspoons of the thyme, and the bay leaf and stir to combine. Allow to cook for another 10 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so.
• Nestle the ham hock in the vegetable mixture, then add the split peas and the broth and reduce heat to low. Cover the pot and allow to cook until the split peas have mostly disintegrated into the soup mixture, about 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes.
• During the last 30 minutes of soup simmering, you can prepare the seared shallots. Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots, cut-side facing down, and cook until lightly golden and fragrant on each side. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Remove the ham hock from the soup and place it on a wooden cutting board. Remove any meat pieces from the hock and chop the meat into roughly 1/2-wide cubes.
• Stir the pieces of meat into the soup, remove the pot from heat, and immediately stir in the fresh or frozen peas, the remaining 2 teaspoons of thyme, and the parsley. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking. Serve with the toasted pumpkin seeds and seared shallots on top and some good bread on the side for dipping.

Nutrition

Calories: 379kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 43mg | Sodium: 101mg | Potassium: 802mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 7922IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 64mg | Iron: 3mg

Today is Christmas Eve, and with all the festivities in the air I wanted to share one more holiday recipe with you. It might be too late to make it for Christmas proper, but there’s no reason why you can’t make this wreath bread on New Year’s Eve to celebrate waving a giant goodbye to the emotional rollercoaster that was the year 2020. I know I will most definitely be celebrating in the form of excess baked goods. ????

As for this bread, I’ve always been in love with the shape of traditional French bread-style wreath bread, but I am also pretty obsessed with stuffed breads, (as is evidenced here, here, and here), so I figured out a way to combine the shape of the first with the flavor of the second, and ended up with this savory little number.

The flavors here draw very deeply from the Mediterranean, where at least one instance of saffron, cured pork, olives, or pistachios can be found at every dinner table. The wreath tastes like the smell of a Spanish market—where delicious salty pork, aged cheese, aromatic saffron, and briny olives abound. It’s been 4 years since I’ve been to Spain, but the amazing flavors within its borders have been seared into my taste-memory, and I doubt they’ll ever fade because they’re so darn good.

To make the bread a bit easier to prepare, I have an overnight rise so that the process is broken up into two days. So on day 1, you make the basic bread dough, cover it, and chill it in the fridge. And you make the caramelized onions so that they’re all cooled down and ready for layering the next day. You can also make the cilantro olive pistachio pesto on day 1, or you can do it on day 2—it’s up to you how much you feel like doing on the second day vs the first.

As for baking the wreath bread, I highly recommend using a baking stone. It will make sure the bread rises properly in the oven, since the heat coming from the bottom of the stone will help bake and cook through the bottom of the bread and make it nice and crisp on the bottom. If you don’t have one, you can use a baking sheet, but it may take longer to bake than the time described in the recipe below.

I have two recommendations to make it easier to keep the lovely shape of the wreath. One is to use a 5-inch cake pan placed in the center to hold the perfect circular shape of the middle of the wreath. It’s fine if you don’t have one, the circle just won’t be as perfectly round when it baked up. And the second is to create the wreath shape on a piece of parchment paper, that you then slide onto the baking stone. Sliding the parchment paper onto the baking stone makes it SO much safer and easier to move the dough onto the baking stone without damaging the shape of the wreath.

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Saffron Wreath Bread with Prosciutto, Gruyere, and Cilantro Olive Pesto

Servings 14 Slices

Ingredients

Dough

• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons water lukewarm
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole milk lukewarm
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 3 cups flour
• 1 egg room temperature
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Caramelized Onions

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 pound yellow onions diced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Pesto

• 1/4 cup shelled pistachios
• 1 cup chopped cilantro leaves and stems
• 1/2 cup chopped pitted Spanish green olives
• 4 large cloves garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Additional Fillings

• 4 ounces gruyere cheese grated
• 4 ounces thinly shaved prosciutto
• 1 egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water egg wash
• Flour for dusting

Instructions

Dough

• Mix together the saffron threads and the water in a small bowl and allow to rest for 5 minutes. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the saffron water, milk, yeast, and 1 cup of the flour at low speed until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula if necessary to incorporate the flour. Cover and set aside to rest for 20 minutes.
• Switch to the dough hook attachment, and add the remaining 2 cups flour, the egg, the olive oil, and the salt. Mix at low speed until a smooth dough forms around the hook, about 3 to 5 minutes. The dough should bounce back when poked when the gluten is developed enough. Lightly grease a mixing bowl with olive oil, form the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight (for about 12 hours).

Caramelized Onions

• Heat olive oil in large frying pan over medium low heat. Add onions and salt and stir to coat. Cook, uncovered, until the onions soften and are transparent, about 8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking until the onions turn golden brown, about 30 to 40 more minutes, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes in the beginning and then more frequently towards the end of the cooking process to prevent burning. When the onions are golden and fragrant, remove and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Pesto

• Pulse the ingredients together in a food processor until a thick and grainy paste forms— the texture should resemble very coarse hummus. Cover and set aside.

Assembly

• In a small bowl, stir together the caramelized onions and pesto and set it aside. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temp for 30 minutes. On a clean large and very lightly floured working surface, roll out the dough into a long rectangle measuring 25 x 8 inches.
• Use a rubber spatula to spread the pesto-onion mixture over the surface of the dough, leaving a 1-inch border around the shorter ends and one of the long ends, but going up to the edge on one of the long ends.
• Evenly sprinkle the grated cheese over the dough, and repeat with the prosciutto slices, evenly covering the dough with 1 layer of thinly shaved prosciutto, leaving leaving a 1-inch border around the shorter ends and one of the long ends, but going up to the edge on one of the long ends.
• Starting at the end with the filling right up to the edge, beginning rolling up the dough to form one long cylinder. Leave the seam at the bottom of the cylinder, and press down gently on the dough to seal it. Roll the cylinder gently until it reaches 26 inches in length.
• Dip your finger in water and brush around one end of the roll cylinder. Insert that end into the other end, and compress to seal, forming a circle. Transfer the circle to a large piece of parchment paper. Grease the exterior of a 5-inch cake pan and place it in center to hold the circle shape. Cover and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 45 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit with a large baking stone inside. Lightly brush the exposed dough with the egg wash, then dust with flour.
• Hold a pair of kitchen scissors at a 45-degree angle to the parchment paper and cut deep slits in the dough about 2 inches apart, pulling the points of the slice slightly away from the wreath as you cut them to expose more of the interior of each slice. Rotate the parchment paper as you're cutting to keep the same 45-degree cutting angle. Cover loosely and allow to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• To transfer the wreath bread onto the baking stone, keep the bread on the parchment paper and put it on a flat surface like a large cutting board. Open the oven, partially pull out the rack the baking stone is on, and hold the cutting board next to the baking stone, using your other hand to pull the parchment paper off the cutting board and onto the baking stone (you can also have someone else hold the cutting board to make it easier for you to pull the parchment paper + bread onto the stone).
• Close the oven and bake until the crust is deeply golden and a thermometer inserted into the densest part fo the dough reads 190 degrees Fahrenheit, about 25 to 35 minutes. If the dough is browning too quickly but isn't cooked through yet, cover it with foil. Remove form the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Continuing on my pistachio kick this winter, I decided to try my hand at some tasty little pistachio shortbread cookies. This recipe has a simple shortbread cookie dough studded with finely chopped pistachios, plus a little lemon juice, lemon zest, amaretto liqueur, and vanilla extract for some citrus and aromatic zing. I love the combination of lemon and pistachio together—there’s something very delicate and almost floral about the two of them combined, and it makes for one helluva cookie when combined with a lot of creamy butter. ????

I iced these pistachio shortbread cookies with a simple royal icing, and used a few sets of snowflake cookie cutters that you can see here and here to cut out all the shapes. It’s nice having staggered sizes of the same pattern, because then you can variate the size of the border and cut-out center bits if you want to make the cookies hollow like I did. So you get a lot of variation between the shapes of the cookies, and then with the decorative icing options, you end up with cookies where no two are exactly the same, just like with real snowflakes ????

I kept some extra chopped pistachio bits and put them on the royal icing on top of the pistachio shortbread cookies as a decorative element, too, and I love how they ended up looking like little gold-green gems on them. And if you’re wondering how and why I’ve been using SO many pistachios the past month, it’s because my family in Greece has a pistachio farm on the island that my dad is from, Aegina. They grow the most delicious pistachios in the entire world, no exaggeration. Their imported to Paris and all the big European cities because their quality and flavor is something really special—you can tell it’s an Aegina pistachio because the skin on the outside of the nut is flecked with magenta. it’s pretty wild! I have a close-up photo of them all chopped up below so you can see the colors, they’re my absolute favorite. Of course you can use any pistachios for this recipe, though (they don’t have to be Greek).

I’m going to try and share *one* more recipe before Christmas, so stay tuned for that one! And I know, I’ve been sharing a lot on here lately—I’ve just felt especially inspired by the holidays this year. I think part of it is being home for the holidays and feeling really cozy and calm, which then makes me feel much more creatively inspired because I’m not stressed or rushed, and I can take things at my own pace, recipe-test as much as I’d like, etc. This past year has made me realize how much traveling, as much as I loved it and loved exploring new places, stressed the bajezus out of me. I feel more relaxed than I have in a long, long time, and I think being rooted at home for an extended period is a big part of that. Aaaanyhow, I hope you enjoy these cookies, and I’ll talk to you again soon my friend!

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Lemon and Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

Course Dessert

Cuisine Greek

Keyword shortbread

Servings 48 cookies

Calories 153kcal

Ingredients

Pistachio Lemon Shortbread Cookies

• 3 1/4 cups flour
• 1 2/3 cups finely chopped raw pistachios
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 12 ounces unsalted butter softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon amaretto liqueur
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Royal Icing

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons warm water
• 3 tablespoons meringue powder

Instructions

Pistachio Lemon Shortbread Cookies

• In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, pistachios, salt, cardamom, and cinnamon until combined. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar at medium low speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice, amaretto liqueur, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Reduce the speed to low, and add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 3 increments, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as-needed, until a thick dough forms. Divide the dough into two equal portions, pat each into a rough circle shape, cover with beeswrap, foil , or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove one of the dough portions, unwrap it, and roll it out on a clean + lightly floured working surface until it's 1/4-inch thick. Cut out shapes with your desired cookie cutter and place them on a lipped baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving 1-inch of space between the cookies. The cooler the temperature of your room and work surface is, the easier it will be to handle the dough.
• Place the pan in the oven and bake until the edge of the cookies *just* get the palest tint of gold, you don't want them to the edges to turn deep gold. The time depends on the size of the cookies, I found that the larger snowflake cookies took about 11 minutes, and the smaller cookies and the ones with very thin edges baked in about 7 to 8 minutes.
• Repeat the above process with the remaining dough while the first batch of cookies are baking. When the cookies are done baking, allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Royal Icing

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the powdered sugar, warm water, and meringue powder at low speed for 8 minutes. Allow to rest for 15 minutes for any air bubbles to rise out of the icing. Transfer the icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip, and begin icing your cookies (the cookies MUST be completely cool before icing).
• If you want a thicker royal icing to create 3-dimensional effects, add more powdered sugar to the icing. If you want it thinner, add a little bit more water to the icing.
• Depending on the water content of your icing and how dry/humid your environment is, the icing can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours to dry after it's been applied to the cookies. Once it's dry, it's safe to stack them (i.e. in a cookie box) for storage without destroying the decorative icing.

Nutrition

Calories: 153kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 62mg | Potassium: 55mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 195IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 1mg

winter

It doesn’t feel quite like the holidays until I’m hit with the smell and taste of fresh gingerbread. Sweet, spiced, and earthy—the classic gingerbread flavor as we know it today comes from a special combination of gooey molasses, piquant fresh ginger, and warming spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. And this particular gingerbread loaf cake-rendition is a celebration of Christmas in the Pacific northwest: the dried dark sweet cherries leftover from summer, a snifter of brandy warmed in my hands by the fire, the smell of douglas fir, and dark rainy evenings spent knitting by the light of the Christmas tree.

I always enjoy a little extra booze in my baked goods this time of year, and as such, the cherries are simmered in a bath of brandy until the liquid is absorbed and the dried cherry bits become plump and juicy. These are then folded into the gingerbread loaf cake batter, making for a moist and delicious gingerbread loaf cake with a kick! It is very important, though, to follow the instructions in the below recipe and make sure that you chop up the dried cherries into small pieces, otherwise the cherry bits will be too heavy and they’ll all sink to the bottom of the pan when the cake is baking. And if you’re using a decorative molded loaf pan, then those big pieces mean that your loaf won’t unmold properly and keep its design. Long story short—smaller is better when it comes to dried cherry chopping.

And for a little sweet and creamy contrast to the warm and boozy cake, there’s a cream cheese glaze that goes on top. Consistency-wise, I’d rate this glaze as  medium-thickness, but if you prefer your glaze thinner or thicker, just add more or less milk accordingly and stir until smooth. I also really love the contrast in flavor and color that fresh red fruits bring to the mix, so I have some raspberries and pomegranate jewels on top. There’s also some raw cranberry—but that’s really just there for decoration (you don’t want to eat them raw…they’re pretty intense uncooked). I hope you enjoy this simple and flavorful little cake, and that it brings as much holiday cheer into your home as it brought into mine ????

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Gingerbread Loaf Cake with Brandy-Soaked Cherries and Cream Cheese Glaze

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword gingerbread

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Cooling Time 1 hour

Total Time 2 hours 50 minutes

Servings 8 people

Calories 483kcal

Ingredients

Brandy Soaked Cherries

• 1/2 cup finely chopped dried cherries
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Gingerbread Loaf Cake

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk room temperature
• 3- inch piece of fresh ginger finely grated
• Brandy-soaked cherries

Cream Cheese Glaze + Fruit Garnish

• 1 cup powdered sugar sifted
• 2/3 cup cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/4 cup milk at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup fresh raspberries
• 1/4 cup pomegranate jewels

Instructions

Brandy Soaked Cherries

• Bring the chopped dried cherries, brandy, water, and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the liquid is absorbed by the cherry pieces/evaporated from the pan, stirring every 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Gingerbread Loaf Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and lightly flour a small 6-cup capacity loaf or bundt pan (if you have nut flour (i.e. almond, hazelnut, etc) handy, use this to lightly flour the pan—it helps prevent sticking even better than gluten-based flour). Set it aside.
• In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and salt until combined. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and brown sugar at medium-low speed until smooth and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the egg and mix until combined. Add the molasses and vanilla extract and mix until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as-needed.
• Reduce the mixer's speed to low, and alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk in four increments until the flour is *just* incorporated. Fold in the grated ginger and the brandy-soaked cherries until evenly distributed through the thick batter. If you're using a decorative molded loaf or bundt pan, spoon in the batter to prevent air bubbles from forming within the edges of the mold. If you're using a regular loaf pan, just dump the batter in there like normal. Smooth the surface with a spatula, and place the pan in the oven.
• Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing the cake from the mold and allowing it to cool completely on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Glaze + Fruit Garnish

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the powdered sugar and cream cheese at low speed until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as-needed. Add the milk and vanilla and mix until a smooth glaze forms. Drizzle the cake with the glaze, and top with the fresh raspberries and pomegranate jewels. For an extra-wintery look, you can dust the raspberries with powdered sugar before placing them on top of the cake. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 483kcal | Carbohydrates: 70g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 66mg | Sodium: 199mg | Potassium: 293mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 49g | Vitamin A: 852IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 112mg | Iron: 2mg

When the fresh fruits of summer are long gone, it’s time to soak up every bit of flavor from their dried counterparts by embedding them into a decadent holiday panettone. Every culture seems to have its own dried fruit-based sweet bread, from the julekake of Norway (my mother-in-law’s recipe is amazing! I’ll make it for the blog next year) to the stollen of Germany to the panettone of Italy—they’re all delicious and slightly unique in their chosen flavor combinations and forms. Panettone is a wonderful way to make use of dried local fruits, and spend some time in the kitchen soaking up all the incredible smells that this recipe will bring into your oven and your home.

I worked on this recipe for a few days to get the texture, rise, and flavor of the dough juuust right, and it’s certainly a special one (this isn’t your grandma’s panettone! Unless your grandma really likes orange liqueur—in which case give her a high-five from me.) There’s a couple things you need to know before diving into this recipe, and the first is that it takes two days to make, because the dough requires an overnight rise in the refrigerator. So make sure to read through the whole recipe before you get started, so you know how to pace things out.

The second is that you need a paper panettone mold, I used these ones and they worked great! You can just place it on a lipped baking sheet to make it easy to take it in and out of the oven as the panettone bakes. If you want to use something else, I can’t really speak to that, since I’ve only made it with the paper molds. If you want to make sure it comes out right, it’s worth nabbing a paper panettone mold, in my humble opinion.

As far as what you can expect from this panettone, it’s got a really wonderful citrus zing to it thanks to the fresh orange juice and zest in the dough, and the orange liqueur that the dried fruits are poached in. The boozy dried fruits are incorporated into the dough after the overnight rise, as well as some chopped pistachios for extra floral and Mediterranean flavor. It makes for a really light and fluffy panettone that tastes wonderfully bright and citrusy!

There’s also a mascarpone glaze that goes on top to sweeten the whole thing up a bit, and if you *really* want to take the citrus flavors up a notch, you can make the very optional (I know this recipe is a kinda complex one in the first place) candied clementine twists in the recipe below. I put those on top of the panettone along with whole peeled mini-clementines for some additional citrus flavor and a bright and festive pop of color and texture. But you know what? This thing tastes good either way, so it’s really your call if you want to make them or not.

And I know folks like to bake a lot of cookies this time of year (I’ve got a recipe for them coming in a couple weeks!), so if you’ve got cookies on the brain I’ve got some recommendations for you! Namely these Greek butter cookies, these cinnamon roll cookies, and these melomakarona (an old traditional Greek Christmas cookie from deeeeep in the blog archives, this recipe makes enough cookies for a large Greek household, so probably cut it in half unless you’re craving a few dozen cookies). Enjoy my friends!!

This is hands down the best pie I’ve ever made or had. No exaggeration, my friends. The combination of the fragrant cardamom-stewed pears on top and the creamy pistachio paste at the bottom, all encased in a buttery flaky and perfect crust studded with *even more* pistachios is just absolute pastry heaven. I’m not trying to toot my own ‘pear and pistachio pie’ horn—just calling a spade a spade. I’ve baked a lot of pies in my day, some good, some great, some mediocre, and none even come close to comparing with this heavenly gem.

I think the pistachio is one of the most under-utilized nuts in cooking, if I’m being honest. When you puree pistachios into a paste, it frees up the oils in the nut, and there’s something almost floral that comes out of it. A truly shockingly delicate flavor, it’s strong enough to hold up to the heat of the oven and yet still taste like a sweet, nutty blossom afterwards. My favorite pesto recipe uses pistachios instead of walnuts, and this new-favorite pie uses their nearly magical flavoring powers instead of the more traditional domineering pecans and almonds of the pastry world.

But the pistachio doesn’t give itself away willy nilly. No, no. It makes you work for it. By shelling each little nut, one at a time. Of course, you can buy them already shelled, but it will cost you quite a bit more. And besides, I recommend buying pistachios shell-on anyway, (unless you’re planning on eating them all within a week), since the shell helps protect them and keeps them at optimum freshness longer. Plus, I feel like I always appreciate something more when I’ve had to work for it. My first car (which is still running all these years later), our house, the approval of my parents (kidding!…kind of.) It just feels all the more satisfying when you get it after you’ve put some elbow grease into it. This pear and pistachio pie is kind of like that—the reward is in the journey.

Eh, who am I kidding, the reward is most definitely in eating the pie, but I will say that the journey certainly helps enhance that experience. So, if you’re ready to roll up your sleeves, throw on a podcast, and do a modest amount of pistachio-shelling, you’re in for a real treat. Oh! And if you’re really into the pattern on the top of the pie, I used this pie cut-out to create it. It didn’t actually cut cleanly through the crust, so I had to go over the imprinted design with a paring knife to really cut cleanly through the crust, but it still looked really lovely.

And one more important thing to note—because there is no added sugar in the stewed pear mixture, it’s of the upmost importance that you use ripe pears. It will make a HUGE difference in the flavor of the pear filling. Ripe pears should have a little give to the skin when you squeeze them, and should be *very* fragrant when you give them a sniff. Best of luck!

This was a dusty old post from the archives that I wrote nearly 9 years ago, and darn it this pie is so good that I wanted to give it a refresh and truly do it justice in a second go-round. If you’ve never had or heard of chess pie before, it hails from the southern states and its main characteristics are that it’s 1) a baked custard, and 2) has corn meal as the thickening agent in the custard instead of flour. Over the years of making this chocolate chess pie, I’ve started pulsing the corn meal in a blender or food processor to get it nice and fine, since most of the cornmeal you find at the store is coarsely ground and more geared towards polenta or heavy-crumbed cornbreads. Those few minutes of pulsing that corn meal into a fine powder have made all the difference in upping the silkiness factor of this custard base, and I highly recommend taking the few seconds to do so.

I’m a bit obsessed with salted chocolate, so I sprinkled some flakey sea salt over the pie once it was done, and the nice salted crunch against the sweet chocolate filling was very, very good. It’s a very small step that makes all the difference in terms of flavor and texture. And you probably noticed, but I dressed up the top a bit by making a crescent shape out of some extra pie crust dough. I have all the details on how to do this in the recipe below, and don’t worry, it’s a lot easier than it looks (don’t you just love things that look fancy but aren’t actually that difficult? I know I do!)

I hope you enjoy the recipe, my friends, and that it gives you something cozy and comforting to enjoy during the cold months ahead. Oh! And one more thing. The original post has a verrrrrry old giveaway in it for a set of cookbooks, and one of the entry requirements was to leave a comment about your favorite cookbook. So if you scroll down to the comments section, there’s LOADS of amazing cookbook recommendations for your viewing pleasure (maybe you can find some Christmas gift ideas in there, too!)

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Chocolate Chess Pie

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Cooling Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Author Eva Kosmas Flores

Ingredients

Chocolate Chess Pie Filling

• 2 Eggs beaten
• 5 ounces Evaporated Milk
• 1 Cup White Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
• 1/4 Cup Butter melted
• 2 Tablespoons Finely Ground Corn Meal (Can pulse normal corn meal in a blender or food processor to make it extra fine)
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons Flake sea salt, such as maldon salt

Pie Crust

• 2 3/4 Cups Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 8 ounces Unsalted Butter very cold
• 9 to 12 Tablespoons of Ice Water
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon milk

Instructions

Pie Crust

• Grease the pie pan, place it upside down on top of a piece of paper, and trace the circumference of the pan. Then nudge the pan a few inches to the side to reveal a crescent shape in the tracing. Trace the edge of the pan to create the crescent shape. Place the pan right side up again and set it aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt until combined. Using a box grater, grate the butter using the large hole setting of the grater above the bowl, stopping to stir and coat the butter bits in the flour mixture every 10 seconds or so. When all the butter is in, pinch the mixture together with your fingertips until it resembles the texture of damp sand. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, mixing it with a fork, until the dough just holds together when you squeeze a fistful of it in your hand.
• Divide the dough into two portions, one slightly larger than the other (about 1/3 vs 2/3). Roll out the larger quantity of dough until it is 1 cm thick and transfer it to the greased pie pan. Press the crust into the pan, trim off the excess leaving a 1-inch overhang. Fold the 1-inch overhang under the edge of the crust all the way around and pinch the edges. Cover and place the pan in the freezer for 30 minutes.
• Roll out the smaller dough until it's 1 cm thick. Cut out the traced crescent and place it over the dough. Use a pizza cutter, pastry cutter, or sharp paring knife to cut out the crescent shape. Discard the paper. Use cookie cutters or pie cutters to cut out more decorative shapes, or you can cut them out of the dough by hand with a knife.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk to create the egg wash. Place a piece of parchment paper on a small baking sheet and place the crescent on top of it. Brush it lightly with the egg wash, and brush any decorative cut-outs with the egg wash. Arrange the decorative cut-outs on the crescent, and place the pan in the freezer for 45 minutes.

Chocolate Chess Pie

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cornmeal, and cocoa powder at low speed. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until fully incorporated. Then mix in the evaporated milk, butter, and vanilla extract until completely combined.
• For the top decoration, place the baking sheet with the crescent on it in the oven and bake at 350 degrees until golden, about 30 minutes (it can be in the oven at the same time as the pie that follows). Allow the crescent to cool to room temperature.
• Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust and bake on the second lowest rack of the oven until the filling is set around the edges and the center has a *very* small wiggle to it, about 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. (If the crust is browning too quickly, cover the edges with tin foil but don't let the tin foil touch the filling). Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes before sprinkling with the flake sea salt, garnishing the top with the crescent, slicing the pie, and serving.

There’s nothing like the smell of homemade biscuits. Just breathing it in feels like you’re being hugged (at least it does for me). And when you add Cabot cheddar, garden-fresh rosemary, and piquant garlic to the mix, you’ve got a very aromatic and flavorful biscuit, indeed. I used Cabot’s 1 Year Naturally Aged Cheddar both inside and on top of the biscuits; using an aged cheddar like this adds a much deeper, richer, and more savory flavor to them than a younger un-aged cheddar. Plus, when you enjoy Cabot cheese you know you’re also supporting the 800 families that make up Cabot’s dairy co-op, and their passion for making and sharing natural, award-winning cheese here in the US. Cabot is also a certified B-Corp, and were the first dairy co-op to do so. I love that with Cabot I not only get to enjoy delicious cheese, but also know that I’m supporting a small business that’s rooted in sustainable practices.

The base of this biscuit is a traditional buttermilk, butter, and flour pastry dough. It’s important to keep all the non-dry ingredients cold, because the butter needs to stay firm and chilled until it bakes, otherwise the flaky layers of the biscuit won’t form correctly. When all the ingredients are incorporated into the dough, I like to roll it out into a rough rectangle, then fold it up in thirds (like a letter) to create even more flaky layers. Then I roll out this folded up dough and cut the little biscuit shapes out of it, I recommend using a 2.5-inch round cookie cutter for this.

Once it’s all baked up, the grated Cabot cheddar bits give you salty little flavor bursts between the flaky and buttery layers of buttermilk-based dough, and combined with the herbal rosemary and umami garlic, it makes for a deeply flavorful biscuit that I know will be a new holiday staple for you, as it is in our house. Oh! And to find some delicious cabot cheese near you, you can use this nifty ‘where to buy’ locator on Cabot’s site. Enjoy it, my friends!