Food can be a small, or a big, comfort. There’s something about warm bread or flavors of childhood favorites or family recipes that envelope us in something akin to a culinary hug – holding us in the realm of blurry nostalgia or in a space where no harm can befall us. There are so many families hurting right now – from the effects of police brutality or the unrelenting COVID or other loss, or just day to day struggles. To any and all of you who are hurting now, we send our support and love, and hope that tomorrow feels a little lighter, or holds you a bit tighter than…
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Gluten Free Strawberry Hibiscus Cupcakes
Doing what you love and contributing to something bigger than yourself is always a good mix. This post, and these cupcakes, are part of a bigger thank you to chef and pastry chef, Rob Rubba, and Paola Velez, for organizing what has become a worldwide coalition of #BakersAgainstRacism. If you haven’t heard of this yet, check it out here! It was started in early June by the two aforementioned professionals in the baking space, in hopes of gathering other bakers across the country to participate in a virtual bake sale, from which fundraised dollars would go to any number of foundations and organizations in need of support to continue the…
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Gluten Free Strawberry Lemonade Tiered Cake
Summers are for lemonade and sunblock and big, cloudless skies that seem to expose more of the world than in any other season. If you’re still stuck inside (or if you also live in San Francisco or various areas up in the PNW) then those big skies might still be a little out of reach, depending on your windows. But lemonade and sunblock are totally in-season, and anything that involves the two sounds like a plan for a great sun-soaked day. One positive adjustment that many folks seem to be making during shelter in place is a newfound love of parks. Now, it’s arguable whether your neighborhood 2×2 block green…
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Gluten Free Strawberry Rhubarb Cupcakes
There’s a photo that I love, taken in my Grandma Charlotte and Grandpa John’s front yard up in Lake Oswego near Portland, Oregon. It’s of four- or five-year-old me, wearing a short-sleeve yellow patterned dress, hair cut short into a strawberry blond bob, little arms lifted and little hands propping up two massive rhubarb stalks, complete with plate-sized floppy leaves. I’m making a face, of course, thrilled to be showing off my crazy elephant ears plucked straight from the garden – tongue out, eyes crossed, probably just about to burst into a fit of giggles. I’m not sure who took the photo but it’s a gem. It was either right…
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Blue Ribbon Blueberry Cobbler
Does it ever bother you that blueberries aren’t actually blue? Sure, they appear so from the outside, but deep down they’re just a purple mess masquerading as royal blue perfection. Aren’t we all. There’s nothing a good-quality coat can’t hide. This cobbler, though, celebrates the internal mess – it’s actually quite lovely to Jackson Pollock your plate in the deep, runny purples and red-tinged violets of blueberry guts or gaze at the ethereal glow of a fuchsia stained glass pie plate. The neat little circles of topping that crown the entire mess just furthers our affinity for this self-reflection-in-cobbler: lighter, slightly crunchy clouds of biscuity dough that tuck everything in…
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Vanilla Swiss Roll with Strawberry Balsamic Reduction
Sometimes, a swirl is all you need in a slice of cake – and hopefully a more elegant one than appeared in this one the first time I made it. But hey! Even when it’s a mess, it can taste fantastic (thank the Eton Mess for calling this out by name). Swiss rolls are definitely daunting baking endeavors (if you really want to feel the stress, watch the British Baking Show’s episode on Swiss rolls), but ultimately, they’re a fairly simple dessert, despite the nerve wracking presentation and actual rolling. The lightness of the sponge cake base is perfect for a gluten free dessert because it relies heavily on egg…
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Peach + Plum Crumble
Crumble, crisp, cobbler, a rose by any other name would smell (and taste) as sweet, and while crumbles and crisps and cobblers are actually quite different, they all celebrate the caramelized glory of fresh fruit and buttery toppings in all forms and flavors. This peach+plumb crumble is no exception. Honestly, this one may be toeing the line between crumble and cobbler, though cobbler does specifically distinguish its topping from all the rest as “biscuit” dough, so I think we’re safe here with crumble. While this is a great way to add one final hoorah to stone fruit season, it can be done year round with frozen (and thawed) fruit options.…
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Gluten Free Strawberry Ginger Snacking Cake
Dusky summer evenings or hazy summer afternoons are best enjoyed with friends. And by friends I mean wedges of cake – namely, this gluten free strawberry snacking cake. I realize I’m a bit late to the pool party (unless you’re in the southern hemisphere, in which case, get ready for a summer full of this ruby-studded dream, we’re jealous), but if you happen to pick up a pint or two of the season’s tail-end strawberries, by all means make this cake and enjoy it too. This baking endeavor was inspired by the ineffable genius of Bon Appetit mag, who made it their mission earlier this summer to create THE strawberry…
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Key Lime Pie Tartlets
Key Lime Pie is one of those mouth-wateringly-tart treats that simply melts you into a puddle of glee that summer is still here. Full disclosure: I’ve never actually made a real key lime pie, in fact, I didn’t even know that key limes were an entirely separate fruit than regular everyday limes until I was about 12. Upon learning this, though, I changed nothing and went on making key lime pies with all the regular lime juice I could squeeze. Because, in all honesty, who wants to search around for key limes or key lime juice when you’re one can of condensed milk and three limes away from creamy, tart,…
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Ricotta Tart with Figs and Rosemary Honey
Sometimes, you just want to make a pretty dessert. I mean, it’s ideal if it’s both pretty and tastes fantastic, so we’re gunning for the two, but pretty things are so lovely to place on a table for friends just for the satisfaction of watching everyone pull out their phones and happily snap away in competition for the best instagram photo. Remember when people just looked at food and then ate it without a single care to preserving the moment in filtered glory? Those were not the days, in our opinion – it’s actually quite wonderful to see so many folks with a newfound passion for photography simply because of…
