Valerie

Creamy Lemon Squares

By: Valerie May 9, 2020December 3, 2020

Cookies, Bars and BiscottilemonLeave a Comment

For the last dessert that I would make before gradually going back to work, I made these creamy lemon squares by popular, or should I say repeated but polite, requests. My boyfriend simply loves anything lemon so I wanted to make this for him before I left. However, my sister makes amazing lemon squares and he often talks about them and compares other (non-lemon) desserts to it, so the bar was set high! Due to this I almost expected to be defeated and not do The Lemon Square justice. Fortunately, as usual with Anna Olson’s recipes I need not worry.

Spiced Coconut Cupcakes

By: Valerie May 2, 2020December 3, 2020

Cakes and Cupcakescoconut, cupcake, spicesLeave a Comment

I had been craving cupcakes since the beginning of the quarantine and had yet to bake some. Normally I would go for moist comforting chocolate cupcakes, but yesterday I decided to try something new and made these spiced coconut cupcakes. The spice blend for this recipe seemed interesting and I was quite curious about the black pepper. I don’t think I’ve ever used black pepper in a dessert recipe before! Turns out that it works very well indeed.

Lime Coconut Medallions

By: Valerie April 29, 2020December 3, 2020

Cookies, Bars and Biscotticoconut, cookies, limeLeave a Comment

The next quarantine baked goods that I decided to try was these cute lime and coconut medallions. These cookies are essentially shortbread, as they are tender and a little crumbly. When I formed the logs the mixture seemed quite dry and I was doubtful that it would bake properly and hold its shape, but I needn’t worry. Once in the oven the butter melted and held everything together.

Langues de Chat

By: Valerie April 24, 2020December 3, 2020

Cookies, Bars and Biscotticookies, orangeLeave a Comment

Since these langues de chat cookies are based on the same batter as the Tuile Cookies, I made these in the same day and this was quite time efficient. I simply prepared the batter, used half to make the tuile cookies and the other to make these adorable langues de chat, this way I got more variety of cookies with the same amount of work.

Tuile Cookies

By: Valerie April 20, 2020December 3, 2020

Cookies, Bars and Biscotticookies, orange, tuile3 Comments

During these difficult times, I have found myself baking more and more. Bread, pavlovas, croissants, and so on. One thing that is always necessary in our household is some cookies or baked goods to go along with tea in the evening. As we had the last banana mini loaf recently and thus the last sweet thing in the house, I thought it would be a great time to go Back to Baking since it had been a while. The ingredients that I had on hand allowed me to make tuile cookies.

Dobos Torte

By: Valerie January 5, 2020December 3, 2020

Cakes and Cupcakescaramel, chocolate, dobos, hazelnutLeave a Comment

This recipe is one that I have been avoiding for years. Every time I was looking for a beautiful and impressive dessert to make for a special occasion, I would look through the cookbook, come across the Dobos Torte and immediately think to myself that it looked way too complicated, so I would pass on it and do something else, something that was in my comfort zone. Again, looking for an elegant dessert, ideally a cake, to make for our New Year’s Eve party at friends’ place, I stumbled upon this recipe.

Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream

By: Valerie January 1, 2020December 3, 2020

Frosting, sauces and garnishesbuttercream, chocolate, hazelnut3 Comments

For New Year’s Eve I offered to bring a dessert for our hosts since they were taking care of everything else. I wanted to make a beautiful-looking cake that would be tasty as well, and this is the chocolate hazelnut* buttercream required for the recipe. This is a more involved buttercream that requires more steps than simply whipping eggs with sugar and butter, but I enjoyed making it and the flavour was delicious.

Very Fruity Mini Whiskey Fruitcakes

By: Valerie December 28, 2019November 30, 2025

Cakes and Cupcakesdairy-free, dried fruits, pecans, raisins2 Comments

My dad is a lover of Scotch and maybe even more so of fruitcake, especially during Christmas. Since I got him a bottle of Scotch for Christmas, I thought that these little whisky fruitcakes would be a very appropriate afternoon or evening snack to go with it. I made only half of the recipe because, frankly, I didn’t have that much whisky on hand, and the result came out even better than I expected. My dad loved them, and so did I.

Maple Raisin Scones

By: Valerie December 16, 2019December 3, 2020

Breads, Muffins and Sconesdairy-free, egg-free, maple syrup, raisins, sconesLeave a Comment

The main reason why I decided to do these scones was because I had almond milk in my fridge, a rare event, and thought it was the perfect opportunity use it for a recipe. I must admit that I had serious doubts about how good this recipe would be. Not because I don’t like scones, I love scones, but I thought the texture of the raisins would be very strange in a fluffy crunchy scone. I am a texture person, after all.

Green Tea Ginger Crème Caramel

By: Valerie December 5, 2019December 3, 2020

Custards, Puddings and Souffléscaramel, custard, ginger, green teaLeave a Comment

Last weekend I had several egg yolks leftover from making Swiss buttercream for a birthday cake, so I decided to take the opportunity to make this crème caramel recipe to use them up. It was an interesting dessert to make and not too complicated. I really enjoyed making the caramel, letting it harden and topping it with the egg and green tea-infused milk mixture. These little green tea ginger crème caramel were pretty and very flavourful.