I wanted to take a moment to thank my fellow bloggers, Molly at Batter Splattered and Mercedes at Desert Candy, for two delicious recipes that I tried this past week. With holiday season and cold weather upon us, my willpower to avoid sweets has been weakened, and seeing their lovely pictures of these treats didn't help. Luckily we have plenty of people to help us eat anything I make so that it isn't devoured at two in the morning.
The two desserts that I just had to try were almost opposite from each other in texture, taste and type. One, Mercede's recipe for cardamom biscuits or kleeja, was dry, sweet but not too sweet, and slightly crumbly (like a good British-style biscuit should be) with a wonderful flavour and aroma of cardamom. Perfect for dipping in tea, coffee or some masala chai. Plus, they seem to keep well in a tin, which is great in case you have friends unexpectedly drop by one afternoon.
These biscuits were a big hit at the office, and disappeared with astonishing rapidity. They are also easy to make, rolling out nicely with no chilling time needed, and are only 50 calories each if you use a 2 inch cutter to make them. If you like cardamom, as I do, I highly recommend them. Once you try these cookies you will probably end up making them regularly just so you can have one around to nibble on with your afternoon tea (or latte). Plus, for all you vegans out there, I think this recipe could easily be veganized with some soy milk and that the results would still be great. Visit Desert Candy here for the recipe.
The other dessert I tried was Molly's recipe for pumpkin-cranberry pecan upside-down cake. I love upside down cakes, as does my father. His birthday cake every year is a pineapple upside down cake dripping with butter, sugar and pineapple-y syrup. This seemed like a great seasonal twist on my standard pineapple. I was, however, put off by the 2 sticks of butter, to Molly's dismay. I know, I know, upside down cakes require butter. There is no such thing as a dry upside down cake, and to achieve that beautiful and tasty topping, lashings of fat and sugar are required.
To salve my health-obsessed conscience just a tad I cut the amount of butter in the recipe to 1 and 1/2 sticks and it still oozed and dripped sugary-buttery goodness in every slice, to everyone's delight. The cranberries and pecans cooked to syrup- glazed perfection and the pumpkin batter was the best complement I can think of. Did I mention that four of us ate half the cake in one sitting? And that I am making it for Thanksgiving? This cake is so beautiful when turned out that it is THE perfect thing to make for holiday season potlucks. Everyone will ooh and ahh and you won't get to take any home. For the recipe to make this delectable creation, visit Batter Splattered here.
Labels: Baking, Desserts, Miscellaneous Meanderings
The two desserts that I just had to try were almost opposite from each other in texture, taste and type. One, Mercede's recipe for cardamom biscuits or kleeja, was dry, sweet but not too sweet, and slightly crumbly (like a good British-style biscuit should be) with a wonderful flavour and aroma of cardamom. Perfect for dipping in tea, coffee or some masala chai. Plus, they seem to keep well in a tin, which is great in case you have friends unexpectedly drop by one afternoon.
These biscuits were a big hit at the office, and disappeared with astonishing rapidity. They are also easy to make, rolling out nicely with no chilling time needed, and are only 50 calories each if you use a 2 inch cutter to make them. If you like cardamom, as I do, I highly recommend them. Once you try these cookies you will probably end up making them regularly just so you can have one around to nibble on with your afternoon tea (or latte). Plus, for all you vegans out there, I think this recipe could easily be veganized with some soy milk and that the results would still be great. Visit Desert Candy here for the recipe.
