Treats for appetites of every size
Yesterday, I got back from a 10-day vacation in Italy with Erik. Last week, I promised a recipe for amaretti cookies, which I thought I’d be making while I was there. We did lots of fun things (biking, hiking, exploring new cities, making pizza dough…), but amaretti baking was not one of those things after all. However, a promise is a promise, and my mom insisted that I should make something with an “Italian flair”, so here’s an amaretti recipe anyways!
This week’s recipe is inspired by Zoe’s, a diner in Cambridge, and some sweet potatoes I needed to get use. Zoe’s has sweet potato pancakes, which they serve with brown sugar butter, and which are amazing. Erik and Emil, though, have a waffle iron, so I thought I could try something a little different from the breakfast item that inspired these. Over breakfast, we did have a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of waffles vs. pancakes. While I agree that pancakes are the superior breakfast food (someday soon I’ll post my dad’s recipe – they are the best …
Christmas is a week away and I still haven’t made my cookie tins! Looks like I know what I’ll be doing in my five days post-finals (other than all of the shopping I’ve been neglecting). You can count on the fact that I’ll be making these again for my tins. They were surprisingly easy, and seem to hold up really well when rattling around in a tupperware all day, which means they are perfect cookie tin cookies. Bonus: they look super impressive.
I will never take my electric mixer for granted again. I don’t even feel bad about using a breakfast recipe this week after the feat I undertook to make these pancakes. True dedication to your craft is hand-whisking egg whites until stiff peaks form. I feel like this is a big milestone in my baking career.
It turned into Fall yesterday. No warning, no gradual changes, no typical New England back-and-forth. Friday it was hot and sunny shorts-and-a-tank-top weather. Yesterday it was cool and crisp flannel-and-jeans weather.
Cakes seem like they have it pretty good. Always out on display in bakery windows, drawing people in. Frequently the centerpiece at special occasions. Oohed and ahhed over when they’re particularly well designed. But I’d argue that they actually get the short end of the stick when it comes to baked goods.