SMiLes by Meg

Tag: walnut

Danish Puff

Last week, my mom suggested I try a recipe of Grammy’s that I hadn’t tried yet – Danish Puff. My aunt sent me the recipe, confirming that it was always a treat when Grammy would make it on Sundays. I’d never heard of it, but decided to give it a go this Sunday, since we all deserve a treat to keep celebrating yesterday. I love getting recipes of Grammy’s, because they often come to me like this: No nonsense, easy to find ingredients, minimal instructions assuming you know what you’re doing in the kitchen. And at this point in my …

Banana, Date and Walnut Tin Can Cake

This is a recipe I’ve been excited to make since getting the Sweet by Ottolenghi cookbook. I started saving tin cans as soon as I saw it, and finally had an extra banana and some time to give it a go. And I’m so glad I did – this is like banana bread but better. There’s banana. There are walnuts. AND THERE ARE DATES. Which I love, and think make all things better. So this one starts by briefly toasting the walnuts. Spread them out on a baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. …

Baklava

Baklava is one of those recipes where you think it must be super complex (there are so many layers!), but when you actually make it, you realize there aren’t that many ingredients, and the process is fairly simple. I wouldn’t have believed any of this, but Sandy, whose recipes have appeared on my blog in the past (Trout Farm Apple Pie, Mud Pie, Oh Henry Bars), gave me a pan and her recipe for Christmas. So obviously I had to give it a try. Now, to be honest, this was actually my second attempt at Baklava. When she first gave …

Granola Bars

Sometimes, when I lost track of time, I realize two days before I’m going on vacation that I don’t have a recipe lined up for the weekend. Occasionally, I get lucky and already have something saved that I can post. But most of the time I have to scramble and see what I can find that is fast and doesn’t require a trip to the grocery store. This recipe hits both of those requirements: It takes less than 30 minutes to put together, and as long as you have some staples on hand, you can probably find some granola at …

Harvest Pie

Imagine this: you’ve been assigned “dessert” for Thanksgiving dinner. You ask around and get a recommendation for a good fall pie (Thanks, Michelle!). You send the recipe to your mom so she can have all the ingredients ready for you when you get to the house. You should have plenty of time – the train gets in at 8:15am and guests don’t arrive until 11am. And then, the night before Thanksgiving, you double check the train schedule… And the train doesn’t leave Boston until 8:30am.

Chunky Pumpkin Ice Cream

I’m officially in Boston on a weekend for the first time in forever and on my run this morning, it finally felt like Fall. I recognize that I’ve been living in a perpetual Fall for the past month and a half, as Alaska has been in the 50s with changing leaves since the beginning of September, but last week I was in Florida, where it actively did not feel like Fall, so today felt absolutely magical. The air was crisp, the leaves were starting to turn, everyone was wearing flannel and vests, and I even saw a few pairs of …

Walnut Halvah Cake

Fun fact for my Instagram followers (@smilesbymeg): while 76 of you took the time to watch my Instagram story in which I made this cake, only 24 of you could bring yourselves to like the post itself. I’m not really sure what that says about my respective video/photo editing abilities, but I think it means I have to work on my food photography. Also, despite now having posted 7 different Ottolenghi recipes, I still haven’t been selected in his #IBakedOttolenghi compilations. Further proof that my food photography needs work. Looks like I have my project for post-bar-exam life!

Zucchini Walnut Bread

My last recipe from my Cambridge apartment! And, unfortunately, it’s going to be a short post because I’m very much still in the middle of packing. When I was picking this recipe, I was looking for a quick bread, mostly because it was graduation week and I didn’t want to be spending a ton of time on it. And I needed breakfast food that would last awhile. So I looked back through the breads I had made in the past, and was surprised to find that I had only made zucchini bread once, a long time ago, with chocolate chips …

Carrot Bread

What do you do when your boyfriend asks you to pick up his root vegetable CSA? Google carrot recipes, thinking you’ll be able to get through them quickly, and realize that even carrot-based recipes don’t use enough carrots to make a dent in your bag of produce. Guess that means I’ll have to make carrot cake for Easter! (Also, if you can think of any other carrot recipes, any at all, please send them to me. Doesn’t have to bae a baked good!)

Rugelach

Last week, I baked my first recipe out of Sweet, but did so down in DC with Cate and Jonathan. This week, I baked my first recipe out of my own copy of Sweet, and did so here in Cambridge, during a much-needed weekend without travel. I had originally planned on making Torrone, but decided to wait on that. Then, I thought I’d make Ottolenghi’s peanut butter s’more cookies, but again decided it seemed a little too involved. Finally, I settled on Rugelach: impressive looking, but not overly time-consuming. And, as luck would have it, they got one of my …