Lavender-Honey Shortbread Cookies

I've been meaning to post the recipe for these cookies for more than a month; that they're going up just a few days before Valentine's Day is purely coincidental.  Well, maybe not, but what better day for heart-shaped cookies than Valentine's Day?

I made these cookies as favors for Matt's brother Doug's wedding in late December.  Doug's wife, Tracy, had gone for a vintage/rustic theme (and well at that - their wedding was just featured on Ruffled, a wedding blog for vintage and DIY weddings) and one of the decor components was lavender: it was used in the place settings and centerpieces as well as in a variety of other places throughout the decor. 

Floral Rhubarb-Strawberry Crostata

Ah, the classic combination of strawberry and rhubarb. As you may know, I got a whole lot of rhubarb and 2 quarts of strawberries and I didn’t want them to sit around until the next week, when I would likely be getting more of them, so I had to use them up.

I wasn’t feeling too original nor was I in the mood to think, so I whipped up my standard galette/crostata dough and mixed up the rhubarb and strawberries with sugar and cornstarch. But, of course, not one to be content with simplicity, I added some floral notes, courtesy of dried lavender buds in the crust and rosewater in the filling. I’ve seen rhubarb-lavender desserts, and strawberries and rosewater is fairly common, so I figured I’d incorporate both flavors to play off the sweet-tart strawberry-rhubarb action. Nothing earth-shattering, but a little unexpected twist to the classic combination.

Middle Eastern Agrodolce Strawberries

I couldn’t resist buying the strawberries that were staring me in the face at the supermarket last week. I’m actually not a big fan of strawberries (I prefer raspberries, big surprise, and blackberries), but, hey, sometimes we all make impulse purchases. At least this one wasn’t a $600 pair of killer metallic lavender stilettos that were 40% off…not like I’ve ever done that…

Anyway, I had no idea what to do with these strawberries, especially because, as I mentioned above, I don’t so much care for them. For some reason the word “agrodolce” (which, in Italian, means “bittersweet”) was stuck in my head all week (as were many other Italian words; this was probably because I was singing some songs by Bellini in the shower earlier in the week and then I couldn’t get them out of my head), and then at one point “agrodolce” and “strawberries” ran into each other somewhere in the grey matter inside my little dome. 

Goodnight Rose Cupcakes (Pistachio Cardamom Cupcakes with Rosewater Meringue Buttercream Frosting)

I was kind of bored the other night and decided that I was going to make interesting cupcakes despite the fact that my beloved KitchenAid mixer has been dead for the past month and its replacement is nowhere in sight. I’ve been on a bit of a rose water kick lately, so I decided to use a combination of flavors that are very common in Indian and Middle Eastern sweets: rose water, pistachio, and cardamom. Because the flavors are so delicate, I decided on a chiffon cupcake, but coming up with the recipe took me a while because I couldn’t find anything decent on which to base mine. After much scientific analysis (ha ha, not really) and studying of other recipes, I came up with these. (The cakes are best within 2 days of baking them – their texture is very delicate and light but they start to lose that quality after a few days.)

These might be my favorite cupcakes that I have made to date - the silkiness of the floral meringue buttercream beautifully complements these delicately fragrant and nutty cupcakes, and the finished product is really just so pretty and perfect for a special occasion (or just a boring Wednesday night).And if you’re wondering about the name, it’s because I’ve been listening to way too much Ryan Adams lately, and I found the name to be perfectly fitting.

Zucchini Blossom and Taleggio Pizza

Summer is winding down and that means saying goodbye to, amongst other things, my pseudo-garden. My zucchini plant hasn’t given me any flowers in the past week, and I think that zucchini blossoms will shortly be gone from stands at the market.

I came up with this recipe one afternoon a few weeks ago when I was trying to figure out what to do with all the blossoms my zucchini plant was sending my way. I had already stuffed and fried some of them, but I didn’t know what to do with the rest. I had seen recipes for fritattas and tacos, but none of them appealed to me or seemed as if the blossoms would even be discernible amongst all the other bold flavors in the recipe.

I have also recently become obsessed with making pizza after my recent purchases of a pizza stone (at the Ohio State Fair, of all places) and a peel, which I learned is essential when you bake pizza on a stone – try pulling a pizza out of an oven that is 500° F and a stone that is even hotter with just a spatula and you will be met with disaster and possibly burns. The stone makes for an incredibly crisp crust, but you could just as well cook your pizza on a baking sheet.

Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms

Almost two months ago, I bought quite a few (read: 12) vegetable plants at the farmer’s market on a complete whim. They were really cheap and I had to have them because I decided that I needed a summer project. I know, I’m kind of impulsive. They were supposed to be planted in the ground like a proper garden, but, for a variety of reasons, they ended up in pots on my balcony. Surprisingly, they are thriving – probably because it has been so incredibly hot in Baltimore this summer.